Random thought of the day

So, we all know that book review sections are shrinking and we’re constantly having to “think outside the box” to get our authors covered in other ways. Recently, I’ve been trying the approach of pitching pieces an author has written to major publications in hopes of placement with a byline mentioning the book.

My question is, does this work? It’s hard to tell if that op-ed piece that ran in the Times had any more impact than the review that ran on Bookslut.com. And, yes, it’s nice for the author to say she had a piece in O Magazine (esp. if she got paid for it), but does this translate into sales?

Any thoughts? Or am I just wasting more of my time to stroke an author’s ego without actually helping their book?

—Ladytron

Lazy Lazarus and Caipirinhas for Three Bucks

This week's literary event of the week is the One Story cocktail hour and reading held at Pianos on Ludlow and Stanton. This kick-ass reading series takes place once a month and features a special on the author's favorite cocktail. Lucky for slunchies everywhere, this Friday's reader, Andrew Foster Altschul, has chosen the Caipirinha - and they'll be going for only $3 a pop. Nice.

Altschul will be reading from his debut novel, Lady Lazarus, which is the story of the daughter of a dead rock star - and, from the portion I've read, is AWESOME. I'm hoping to finish it before Friday. Odds are against me, but whatevs.

Bonus - the author usually reads for about 15 minutes, which means no long periods of squirming silently, hoping they will finish so you can run up to the bar for another drink.

Do tell,

The Editor

This was in my inbox yesterday...

PUBLISHERS PUBLICITY ASSOCIATION
www.publisherspublicity.org

President · Judith Haut
Random House Children’s Books


Invitation June 2008

JOIN US FOR OUR JUNE LUNCHEON

With special guest Sloane Crosley, Associate Director of Publicity at Vintage and author of I Was Told There’d Be Cake, who will share her perspectives as both author and publicist. Attendees will receive complimentary copies of her book.

DO NOT WANT

Literary Event of the Week: Whoops

Oh, huh, it's Friday and there's still no literary event of the week. Sorry, my bad. I'm still in a haze from BEA. Next week, I swear. It'll be a good one. And I'm taking suggestions so comment away! Requirements: this should vaguely relate to books and there should really be alcohol involved. That is all.

Do tell,

The Editor

There are no guarantees in publishing...

Publishers Lunch had a handy chart today which details the change in guard that has been occurring at a number of the houses/distribution companies over the past few months. I have nicely pasted it in below for your viewing pleasure. As you can see, not even the big-wigs are safe in these times of economic hardship. Now the question is, what does this mean for us lowly employees? Is this an indication of progress? Are publishers finally getting the clue that times are a changing, and we need to make room for a new generation? Or is it simply another way of cutting-costs and a scary sign that no matter how powerful you are, there’s always someone waiting in the wings to steal your ergonomic chair out from under you?

—Ladytron


June

• Brian Murray, HarperCollins (following Jane Friedman)
• Dan Farley, president, Henry Holt (following John Sterling, who transitioned to a different position at the company in February)

May

• Markus Dohle, Random House (following Peter Olson)

April

• Ellen Archer, Hyperion (following Bob Miller)
• Judy Hottensen, Weinstein Books, interim (following Rob Weisbach)

March

• Karen Rinaldi, Rodale Books, general manager and publishing director
• Colin Dickerman, Bloomsbury USA, publisher, with Richard Charkin as president (following Karen Rinaldi)

January

• David (Skip) Prichard, Ingram Book Group (following Jim Chandler)
• Jack Eugster, Baker & Taylor (following Richard Willis)Marcus Leaver, Sterling (following Charlie Nurnberg)
• Carolyn Reidy, Simon & Schuster (following Jack Romanos)
• Maureen "Moe" Girkins, Zondervan

December

• Brian Elliott, Alibris (following founder Marty Manley)

Discovery Delivers Relief

If you were at BEA you might have missed the news that the 17 MILLION DOLLAR crapper on the International Space Station broke down. Ummmmm, for 17 million dollars, that better be made out of solid gold, have an automatic asswiper that uses cashmere TP, and then sprays your butt with Mariah Carey's new perfume. Well, the Space Shuttle Discovery is on its way to rescue the impacted asstronauts today with a new pump which will hopefully fix the problem.

I feel sorry for the last person to have used the space toilet as I'm sure he's now on NASA's shit list.

-Slunchie

Is Rachel Ray a Terrorist?

The LA Times reports "It's a slow news day when conservatives attack Rachael Ray for wearing a kaffiyeh-style scarf in a Dunkin' Donuts ad," resulting in Dunkin' pulling their ad. Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin is an idiot for saying: "The kaffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad." Way to fan the flames of intolerance there, Ms. Stupid Face. And Dunkin', come on, grow some balls.

Now while Rachel may terrorize the airwaves and bookstores with her brand of happy drunk cooking (I love it when you can tell she's nipped a little too many times at the wine on 30 Minute Meals) what is the real threat here? Her fashion sense? Or could it be that Malken knows that Rachel has a recipe for an Ice Cream Bomb that's set to go off at any moment.

-Slunchie

ps: Ummmmmmmm, what's wrong with this photo?