The Swivet, via slunch, offers an explanation of the book publicity process. It’s a great guide for authors (and publicists) because it offers a handy publicity timeline. One thing that I would add is that when authors provide the names and addresses of contacts to whom they would like galleys / books sent, it’s ideal if these names are provided in an Excel document. This way the information can instantly be imported into our publicity systems / mail merged into labels. If the contact information comes in any other format (in a Word document or in an email) we have to either copy and paste or retype all the information and that’s a waste of time. (And by “waste of time,” I do, of course, mean “probably gets passed to the intern.”) Lest anyone kick up a fuss about this, I’d like to ask, when was the last time someone wrote a book in Excel? Sounds pretty ridiculous, right? So why is it any less ridiculous to be submitting data in Word?
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The Washington Post’s book blog, Short Stack, will now feature daily posts including author Q&As and publishing trends.
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For authors who might be considering blogging, social media guru Chris Brogan offers some tips on starting and maintaining a blog. For those who prefer Facebook or Twitter, Marketinghackz posts A Quick Guide for Newbies.
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On Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, Sarah Weinman posts her sixth and final entry of the Publishing Imprint Report Card that explores the Random House imprints.
