NPR Books Watch — 11/6-11/12
Here are the NPR interviews for the last week. Anyone who emails me the imprints of all the books listed (or houses if no imprint is available) will win the NPR Books Grid for the prior week that includes, in addition to the information below, interviewer, pub date, imprint, genre, post-interview Amazon ranking, pre-interview ranking (if the book was mentioned on Shelf Awareness and I was able to look up the number before the interview), and interview hyperlink.
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TOTAL book stories for the past week: 30 (29 last week)
All Things Considered: 8 (7 LW)
Diane Rehm: 4 (5 LW)
Fresh Air: 3 (4 LW)
Morning Edition: 3 (2 LW)
NPR.org: 6 (4 LW)
Talk of the Nation: 3 (3 LW)
Tell Me More: 0 (0 LW)
Weekend Edition Saturday: 2 (2 LW)
Weekend Edition Sunday: 1 (2 LW)
| All Things Considered | Push | Sapphire | |
| All Things Considered | Greatest Trade Ever, The | Gregory R. | Zuckerman |
| All Things Considered | Cowboys Full | James | McManus |
| All Things Considered | Men Who Stare at Goats, The | Jon | Ronson |
| All Things Considered | Good for the Jews | Debra | Sparks |
| All Things Considered | Red Book, The | C.G. | Jung |
| All Things Considered | Changing My Mind | Zadie | Smith |
| All Things Considered | American Original | Joan | Biskupic |
| Diane Rehm | Enemies of the People | Kati | Marton |
| Diane Rehm | Kids Are All Right, The | Diana | Welch |
| Diane Rehm | Defend the Realm | Christopher | Andrew |
| Diane Rehm | Children of Dust | Ali | Eteraz |
| Fresh Air | Tokyo Vice | Jake | Adelstein |
| Fresh Air | Department of Mad Scientists, The | Michael | Belfiore |
| Fresh Air | Open | Andre | Agassi |
| Morning Edition | Lacuna, The | Barbara | Kingsolver |
| Morning Edition | Tina Brown’s Must Reads | ||
| Morning Edition | Anonyponymous | John | Marciano |
| NPR.org | Invisible | Paul | Auster |
| NPR.org | War Damage | Elizabeth | Wilson |
| NPR.org | What We’re Reading | ||
| NPR.org | Paris Review Interviews I-IV, The | Philip | Gourevitch |
| NPR.org | Changing My Mind | Zadie | Smith |
| NPR.org | Going Rogue | Sarah | Palin |
| Talk of the Nation | World is Blue, The | Sylvia | Earle |
| Talk of the Nation | On Hallowed Ground | Robert | Poole |
| Talk of the Nation | Fly by Wire | William | Langewiesche |
| Weekend Edition Saturday | Predictioneer’s Game, The | Bruno | Bueno de Mesquita |
| Weekend Edition Saturday | Denialism | Michael | Specter |
| Weekend Edition Sunday | Blended Nation | Mike | Tauber |
How to save time in book publicity
I’ve posted a lot about what drives me crazy (what can I say — I can be a complainer) but I thought it would also be useful to post about a couple life savers from these past few crazy weeks.
Microsoft Outlook’s Calendar Function
When interview requests for authors are flying fast and furious, it can get really tricky figuring out when an author is available and, once an interview has been confirmed, getting him / her the correct booking information. Sometimes, this all must be done in a few hours, so anything that saves time and trouble — sending information directly to a calendar program, for example — can be more efficient than trading information in an email message or in Word, which subsequently must often be entered into a calendar program).
(Downside: I haven’t found a way to share an Outlook calendar I’ve created with colleagues — although I do know how to share my own Outlook calendar. Anyone know how to do this? Do tell.)
Google Docs
If you can’t / don’t want to use a calendar program and need to record the information in Word, Google Docs allows more than one publicist to access (and change) the document at one time. This means you’re not left frantically trading email messages: “Let me know when you’re out of the schedule ASAP so I can change something!”
(Downside: it’s harder to format text in Google Docs than in Word and it’s also a bit slower.)
***
I know we’re all busy in the fall. What saves you time?
NPR Books Watch — 10/30-11/5
Check out the new NPR Books feature “What We’re Reading.”
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Here are the NPR interviews for the last week. Anyone who emails me the imprints of all the books listed (or houses if no imprint is available) will win the NPR Books Grid for the prior week that includes, in addition to the information below, interviewer, pub date, imprint, genre, post-interview Amazon ranking, pre-interview ranking (if the book was mentioned on Shelf Awareness and I was able to look up the number before the interview), and interview hyperlink.
***
TOTAL book stories for the past week: 29 (30 last week)
All Things Considered: 7 (6 LW)
Diane Rehm: 5 (4 LW)
Fresh Air: 4 (5 LW)
Morning Edition: 2 (2 LW)
NPR.org: 4 (8 LW)
Talk of the Nation: 3 (4 LW)
Tell Me More: 0 (0 LW)
Weekend Edition Saturday: 2 (0 LW)
Weekend Edition Sunday: 2 (2 LW)
| All Things Considered | Give My Poor Heart Ease | William | Ferris |
| All Things Considered | Ayn Rand and the World She Made | Anne | Heller |
| All Things Considered | Eating Animals | Jonathan Safran | Foer |
| All Things Considered | Momofuku | Dave | Chang |
| All Things Considered | Googled | Ken | Auletta |
| All Things Considered | When the Game was Ours | Larry | Byrd |
| All Things Considered | Flood Of Palin Books To Hit Shelves | ||
| Diane Rehm | Year of the Flood, The | Margaret | Atwood |
| Diane Rehm | Her Fearful Symmetry | Audrey | Niffeneger |
| Diane Rehm | Man of Constant Sorrow | Ralph | Stanley |
| Diane Rehm | Dracula is Dead | Jim | Rosapepe |
| Diane Rehm | Lacuna, The | Barbara | Kingsolver |
| Fresh Air | Googled | Ken | Auletta |
| Fresh Air | Lit | Mary | Karr |
| Fresh Air | Lacuna, The | Barbara | Kingsolver |
| Fresh Air | Audacity to Win, The | David | Plouffe |
| Morning Edition | Nigella Christmas | Nigella | Lawson |
| Morning Edition | My Paper Chase | Harold | Evans |
| NPR.org | Three Books … / Devilishly Good Books Terrify … And Delight | ||
| NPR.org | Superfreakonomics | Steven | Levitt |
| NPR.org | What We’re Reading | ||
| NPR.org | Becoming Americans | Ilan | Stavans |
| Talk of the Nation | Dinner with a Cannibal | Carol | Travis-Henikoff |
| Talk of the Nation | Book of Genesis Illustrated, The | R. | Crumb |
| Talk of the Nation | Obamanos! | Hendrik | Hertzberg |
| Weekend Edition Saturday | American Fantastic Tales | Peter | Straub |
| Weekend Edition Saturday | Momofuku | Dave | Chang |
| Weekend Edition Sunday | I Know How to Cook | Ginette | Mathiot |
| Weekend Edition Sunday | Moon River and Me | Andy | Williams |
NPR Books Watch — 10/23-10/29
Here are the NPR interviews for the last week. Anyone who emails me the imprints of all the books listed (or houses if no imprint is available) will win the NPR Books Grid for the prior week that includes, in addition to the information below, interviewer, pub date, imprint, genre, post-interview Amazon ranking, pre-interview ranking (if the book was mentioned on Shelf Awareness and I was able to look up the number before the interview), and interview hyperlink.
***
TOTAL book stories for the past week: 30 (31 last week)
All Things Considered: 6 (10 LW)
Diane Rehm: 4 (4 LW)
Fresh Air: 5 (5 LW)
Morning Edition: 2 (4 LW)
NPR.org: 8 (1 LW)
Talk of the Nation: 4 (3 LW)
Tell Me More: 0 (1 LW)
Weekend Edition Saturday: 0 (2 LW)
Weekend Edition Sunday: 2 (1 LW)
| NPR.org | Chronic City | Jonathan | Lethem |
| NPR.org | B. Smith Cooks Southern-Style | B. | Smith |
| All Things Considered | War That Killed Achilles | Caroline | Alexander |
| All Things Considered | All Cakes Considered | Melissa | Gray |
| All Things Considered | Museum of Innocence, The | Orhan | Pamuk |
| All Things Considered | Selling of the American Economy, The | Micheline | Maynard |
| All Things Considered | Dreams, The | Naguib | Mahfouz |
| All Things Considered | Three Hauntingly Unforgettable Literary Houses | ||
| Diane Rehm | Superfreakonomics | Steven | Levitt |
| Diane Rehm | Public Produce* | Darrin | Nordahl |
| Diane Rehm | Louisa May Alcott | Harriet | Reisen |
| Diane Rehm | Ayn Rand and the World She Made | Anne | Heller |
| Fresh Air | Where the Wild Things Are | Maurice | Sendak |
| Fresh Air | Weekends at Bellevue | Julie | Holland |
| Fresh Air | Fourth Star, The | Greg | Jaffe |
| Fresh Air | Children of Dust | Ali | Eteraz |
| Fresh Air | Big Burn, The | Timothy | Egan |
| Morning Edition | Cartoons That Shook the World, The | Jytte | Klausen |
| Morning Edition | Palin Books Hit Store Shelves Nov. 17 | ||
| NPR.org | Fidel y Raul, mis hermanos | Juanita | Castrp |
| NPR.org | Blame | Michelle | Huneven |
| NPR.org | Noir | Brian | Azzarello |
| NPR.org | Humbling, The | Philip | Roth |
| NPR.org | Andre | Agassi | |
| NPR.org | American Fantastic Tales | Peter | Straub |
| Talk of the Nation | Age of Empathy, The | Frans de | Waal |
| Talk of the Nation | Woman Among Warlords, A | Malalai | Joya |
| Talk of the Nation | Living and Loving Out Loud | Cornel | West |
| Weekend Edition Sunday | I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil | Josh | Lieb |
| Weekend Edition Sunday | Wolf Hall | Hilary | Mantel |
Why email signatures are important
One of the reasons why I haven’t posted in a while is because it’s been really crazy — as fall often is for book publicists — and I’ve been madly booking interviews (and rescheduling them, as so often is the case). Lots of late nights and heading to the office on weekends. Now more than ever I’ve come to appreciate that some people are easy to reach and others … not so much.
For example, some producers routinely list three phone numbers in their electronic signatures — direct number, show / studio line, cell phone — while others don’t even have an esignature. Although I do prefer email to the phone, I still use the latter (particularly when I’m not getting a response by email). Guess who gets the hot, last-minute booking?
Many other people request review copies of books and when mailing addresses are included in email signatures, I can easily pop books in the mail. But some fail to include mailing addresses in esignatures. So on a busy day, when I barely have time to go to the bathroom, guess who doesn’t get the book?
Of course — the knife cuts both ways. Reporters and producers who can’t reach a publicist are liable to move on to the next book or author. At the end of the day, most of what this boils down to is an email signature. So make it a good one.
NPR Books Watch — 10/16-10/22
Here are the NPR interviews for the last week. Anyone who emails me the imprints of all the books listed (or houses if no imprint is available) will win the NPR Books Grid for the prior week that includes, in addition to the information below, interviewer, pub date, imprint, genre, post-interview Amazon ranking, pre-interview ranking (if the book was mentioned on Shelf Awareness and I was able to look up the number before the interview), and interview hyperlink.
***
TOTAL book stories for the past week:31 (25 last week)
All Things Considered: 10 (7 LW)
Diane Rehm: 4 (4 LW)
Fresh Air: 5 (7 LW)
Morning Edition: 4 (0 LW)
NPR.org: 1 (2 LW)
Talk of the Nation: 3 (4 LW)
Tell Me More: 1 (0 LW)
Weekend Edition Saturday: 2 (1 LW)
Weekend Edition Sunday: 1 (2 LW)
| All Things Considered | Warrior’s Rage | Douglas | Macgregor |
| All Things Considered | Book of Genesis Illustrated, The | R. | Crumb |
| All Things Considered | Megician’s Elephant, The | Kate | DiCamillo |
| All Things Considered | Nation’s Retailers Engage In Online Book Pricing War | ||
| All Things Considered | What to Expect When You’re Expected | David | Javerbaum |
| All Things Considered | Gloryland | Shelton | Johnson |
| All Things Considered | Straddling The Pacific: Books By Japanese-Americans | ||
| All Things Considered | Diary of a Wimpy Kid | Jeff | Kinney |
| All Things Considered | Some Parents Wary Of ‘Wimpy Kid’ Series | ||
| All Things Considered | Wimpy Kid’ Author Answers Kids’ Questions | ||
| Diane Rehm | Highest Duty | Chelsy | Sullenberger |
| Diane Rehm | Highest Duty* | Chelsy | Sullenberger |
| Diane Rehm | World Without Ice, A | Henry N. | Pollack |
| Diane Rehm | Public Produce | Darrin | Nordahl |
| Fresh Air | Too Big to Fail | Andrew Ross | Sorkin |
| Fresh Air | TOON Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics | Art | Spiegelman |
| Fresh Air | Wired for War* | P.W. | Singer |
| Fresh Air | Man in the Wooden Hat, The | Jane | Gardam |
| Fresh Air | I Am the New Black | Tracy | Morgan |
| Morning Edition | Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies | Julie | Andrews |
| Morning Edition | Book of Genesis Illustrated, The | R. | Crumb |
| Morning Edition | Wal-Mart, Amazon Trade Price Cuts On Books | ||
| Morning Edition | Waste | Tristram | Stuart |
| NPR.org | Generosity | Richard | Powers |
| Talk of the Nation | One and the Same | Abigail | Pogrebin |
| Talk of the Nation | Listen Up, Mr. President | Helen | Thomas |
| Talk of the Nation | Delete | Viktor | Mayer-Schonberger |
| Tell Me More | Tao or Wu, The | Robert F. | Diggs |
| Weekend Edition Saturday | Sixty Feet, Six Inches | Bob | Gibson |
| Weekend Edition Saturday | Superfreakonomics | Steven | Levitt |
| Weekend Edition Sunday | Rule Of The Undead: Zombies Invade Bookstores |
NPR Books Watch — 10/9-10/15
Here are the NPR interviews for the last week. Anyone who emails me the imprints of all the books listed (or houses if no imprint is available) will win the NPR Books Grid for the prior week that includes, in addition to the information below, interviewer, pub date, imprint, genre, post-interview Amazon ranking, pre-interview ranking (if the book was mentioned on Shelf Awareness and I was able to look up the number before the interview), and interview hyperlink.
***
TOTAL book stories for the past week: 25 (26 last week)
All Things Considered: 7 (3 LW)
Diane Rehm: 4 (3 LW)
Fresh Air: 7 (3 LW)
Morning Edition: 0 (7 LW)
NPR.org: 2 (3 LW)
Talk of the Nation: 4 (3 LW)
Tell Me More: 0 (1 LW)
Weekend Edition Saturday: 1 (1 LW)
Weekend Edition Sunday: 2 (1 LW)
| All Things Considered | From Every End of the Earth | Steven | Roberts |
| All Things Considered | Manhood for Amateurs | Michael | Chabon |
| All Things Considered | Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us | Ralph | Nader |
| All Things Considered | Fantasyland | Sam | Walker |
| All Things Considered | Buy Ketchup in May | Mark | Di Vincenzo |
| All Things Considered | Burning Plain, The | Juan | Rulfo |
| All Things Considered | Education of a British Protected Child | Chinua | Achebe |
| Diane Rehm | Of Mule and Man | Mike | Farrell |
| Diane Rehm | From Every End of This Earth | Steven | Roberts |
| Diane Rehm | Mom & Pop Store, The* | Robert | Spector |
| Diane Rehm | Man of Constant Sorrow | Ralph | Stanley |
| Fresh Air | Await Your Reply | Dan | Chaon |
| Fresh Air | Sixty Feet, Six Inches | Bob | Gibson |
| Fresh Air | Parallel Play | Tim | Page |
| Fresh Air | Diary of a Wimpy Kid | Jeff | Kinney |
| Fresh Air | Cheerful Money | Tad | Friend |
| Fresh Air | Not Becoming My Mother | Ruth | Reichl |
| Fresh Air | King of the Queen City | Jon Hartley | Fox |
| NPR.org | How to Paint a Dead Man | Sarah | Hall |
| NPR.org | When Everything Changed | Gail | Collins |
| Talk of the Nation | Bright-Sided | Barbara | Ehrenreich |
| Talk of the Nation | Don’t Be Such A Scientist | Randy | Olson |
| Weekend Edition Saturday | After | Amy | Efaw |
| Weekend Edition Sunday | Good Eats | Alton | Brown |
| Weekend Edition Sunday | Juliet, Naked | Nick | Hornby |
NPR Books Watch — 10/2-10/8
Here are the NPR interviews for the last week. Anyone who emails me the imprints of all the books listed (or houses if no imprint is available) will win the NPR Books Grid for the prior week that includes, in addition to the information below, interviewer, pub date, imprint, genre, post-interview Amazon ranking, pre-interview ranking (if the book was mentioned on Shelf Awareness and I was able to look up the number before the interview), and interview hyperlink.
***
TOTAL book stories for the past week: 26 (26 last week)
All Things Considered: 3 (3 LW)
Diane Rehm: 3 (4 LW)
Fresh Air: 3 (6 LW)
Morning Edition: 7 (3 LW)
NPR.org: 3 (2 LW)
Talk of the Nation: 4 (3 LW)
Tell Me More: 1 (1 LW)
Weekend Edition Saturday: 1 (3 LW)
Weekend Edition Sunday: 1 (0 LW)
| All Things Considered | Spooner | Pete | Dexter |
| All Things Considered | Past is Never Dead, The | Harry | Maclean |
| All Things Considered | Naked Lunch | William S. | Burroughs |
| Diane Rehm | Children’s Book, The | A.S. | Byatt |
| Diane Rehm | Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, The* | William | Kamkwamba |
| Diane Rehm | Justice | Michael J. | Sandel |
| Fresh Air | Heart of a Patriot | Max | Cleland |
| Fresh Air | Manhood for Amateurs | Michael | Chabon |
| Fresh Air | Dead Hand, The | David | Hoffman |
| Morning Edition | Return to the Hundred Acre Wood | David | Benedictus |
| Morning Edition | Testing the Ice | Sharon | Robinson |
| Morning Edition | Heart of a Patriot | Max | Cleland |
| Morning Edition | Lessons in Disaster | Gordon | Goldstein |
| Morning Edition | Defend the Realm | Christopher | Andrew |
| Morning Edition | We’ll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives | Paul | Shaffer |
| Morning Edition | In Afghanistan | David | Loyn |
| NPR.org | Informers, The | Juan Gabriel | Vasquez |
| NPR.org | Our Boys | Joe | Drape |
| NPR.org | Manhood for Amateurs | Michael | Chabon |
| Talk of the Nation | Plan B 4.0 | Lester | Brown |
| Talk of the Nation | Strangest Man, The | Graham | Farmelo |
| Talk of the Nation | Searching for Whitopia | Rich | Benjamin |
| Talk of the Nation | Clinton Tapes | Taylor | Branch |
| Tell Me More | Scared Silent | Mildred | Mohammed |
| Weekend Edition Saturday | Big Machine | Victor | LaValle |
| Weekend Edition Sunday | Bicycle Diaries, The | David | Byrne |
If you’re requesting a book, please, provide an address
Over the past week I’ve received no fewer than four review copy requests that were missing one key piece of information: an address. This means that instead of sending out the book immediately, I need to wait until I have a moment to respond to ask for the address and then when I do get the address I again need to wait until I have a free moment to send out the book. So basically, I need to jump over hurdles to get you something you’ve asked for?
At my publishing house, more than 100 publicists in dozens of imprints spread out over five floors in two buildings work on thousands of books each month. This means things can get really confusing really quickly. To increase your chances of obtaining a review copy of a book quickly, submit all your information. At once. This includes:
Basic information about yourself:
– Name
– Mailing address
– Phone number
– Email address
– Venue for which you are covering / plan to cover the book and a brief description if it is not well known
– Your website / your organization’s website (if applicable)
Information about the book:
– Title
– Author
– Publication date
– Imprint or ISBN
If you want, send the link to the book you are requesting rather than typing out this information. Also, keep in mind that much of the personal information can (and should) appear in an electronic signature so you needn’t retype it each time.
For a list of imprints at the large publishing houses — which will make it easier to get your request to the right department from the start — check this post, Media requesting review copies of books. And here’s lots more information about review copies in general.
For those of you who have looked through these posts about review copies — you know who you are (and I know who you are too!) — your time and attention is much appreciated. Please share this information with your colleagues (and feel free to share with me any questions / comments you might have about requesting review copies).
NPR Books Watch — 9/25-10/1
Here are the NPR interviews for the last week. Anyone who emails me the imprints of all the books listed (or houses if no imprint is available) will win the NPR Books Grid for the prior week that includes, in addition to the information below, interviewer, pub date, imprint, genre, post-interview Amazon ranking, pre-interview ranking (if the book was mentioned on Shelf Awareness and I was able to look up the number before the interview), and interview hyperlink.
***
TOTAL book stories for the past week: 26 (17 last week)
All Things Considered: 4 (1 LW)
Diane Rehm: 4 (5 LW)
Fresh Air: 6 (1 LW)
Morning Edition: 3 (3LW)
NPR.org: 2 (0 LW)
Talk of the Nation: 3 (4 LW)
Tell Me More: 1 (0 LW)
Weekend Edition Saturday: 3 (1 LW)
Weekend Edition Sunday: 0 (2 LW)
| All Things Considered | Drunk | Paul | Dickson |
| All Things Considered | Exquisite Corpse Adventure, The | ||
| All Things Considered | Her Fearful Symmetry | Audrey | Niffenegger |
| All Things Considered | Little Bird of Heaven | Joyce Carol | Oates |
| Diane Rehm | Homer & Langley* | E.L. | Doctorow |
| Diane Rehm | Fiery Peace in a Cold War, A | Neil | Sheehan |
| Diane Rehm | Kids Are All Right | Diana | Welch |
| Diane Rehm | Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, The | William | Kamkwamba |
| Fresh Air | Clinton Tapes | Taylor | Branch |
| Fresh Air | 86′ed | Dan | Fante |
| Fresh Air | Love & Death* | Forrest | Church |
| Fresh Air | Juliet, Naked | Nick | Hornby |
| Fresh Air | NurtureShock | Po | Bronson |
| Fresh Air | Descent into Chaos | Ahmed | Rashid |
| Morning Edition | Stephen Roach on the Next Asia | Stephen | Roach |
| Morning Edition | Read my Pins | Madeleine | Albright |
| Morning Edition | Reading 9-to-5: Richard Russo’s Favorite Office Lit | Richard | Russo |
| NPR.org | Case for God, The | Karen | Armstrong |
| NPR.org | Juliet, Naked | Nick | Hornby |
| Talk of the Nation | Connected | Nicholas | Christakis |
| Talk of the Nation | Walking English | David | Crystal |
| Talk of the Nation | House of Cards | David | Dickerson |
| Tell Me More | Bending Toward the Sun | Rita | Lurie |
| Weekend Edition Saturday | Only the Super-rich Can Save Us! | Ralph | Nader |
| Weekend Edition Saturday | London Cabbie’s Latest Book Recommendations | ||
| Weekend Edition Saturday | Anne Frank | Francine | Prose |
