NPR Books Watch — 4/23-4/29

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.

* indicates the interview is a rebroadcast.

***

TOTAL book stories for the past week: 25 (27 last week)

All Things Considered: 3 (4 LW)

Diane Rehm: 4 (4 LW)

Fresh Air: 3 (2 LW)

Morning Edition: 5 (3 LW)

NPR.org: 4 (5LW)

Talk of the Nation: 3 (4 LW)

Tell Me More: 1 (1 LW)

Weekend Edition Saturday: 2 (3 LW)

Weekend Edition Sunday: 1 (1LW)

All Things Considered	Age of Persuasion, The	Terry	O’Reilly
All Things Considered	Cleopatra	Duana	Roller
All Things Considered	Three Books … / Three Books To Get You Out Of A Political Wilderne
Diane Rehm	Anthill*	E.O.	Wilson
Diane Rehm	Slap, The	Christos	Tsiolkas
Diane Rehm	Landmark	Ceci	Connolly
Diane Rehm	Walk in My Shoes	Andrew	Young
Fresh Air	In the Place of Justice	Wilbert	Rideau
Fresh Air	Hellhound on His Trail	Hampton	Sides
Fresh Air	Song of Myself and Other Poems	Robert	Haas
Morning Edition	Art of Losing, The	Kevin	Young
Morning Edition	Dorothea Lange	Linda	Gordon
Morning Edition	War Lovers, The	Evan	Thomas
Morning Edition	Artist in Treason	Andro	Linklater
NPR.org	What We’re Reading, April 27 – May 3
NPR.org	Hand That First Held Mine, The	Maggie	O’Farrell
NPR.org	My Guilty Pleasure / Merde Encore
NPR.org	American Subversive	David	Goodwillie
Talk of the Nation	Anthill	E.O.	Wilson
Talk of the Nation	Paradise Beneath Her Feet	Isobel	Coleman
Talk of the Nation	Myths About Suicide	Thomas	Joiner
Tell Me More	Big Girl	Danielle	Steele
Weekend Edition Saturday	10 Laws of Enduring Success	Maria	Bartiromo
Weekend Edition Saturday	Baseball Codes, The	Jason	Turbow
Weekend Edition Sunday	Christianity	Diarmid	McCullough

When should an author begin setting up social networking profiles / blogs / websites?

Yesterday I spoke at an AAR / Association of Authors’ Representatives panel together with Connor Raus (who runs digital advertising agency CRKWD) about understanding social media and how to use it effectively — as you know, a favorite topic of mine here on The Book Publicity Blog.  I don’t have time to summarize the entire panel here (and you don’t have time to read a summary of the entire panel), but I did want to tackle the issue of timing, a common question among book publicists, authors, agents and others in the publishing industry, and one that we discussed last night: in order to most effectively promote a book, when do you begin setting up social networking profiles / blogs / websites?

It occurred to me that creating an online author platform — aforementioned social networking profiles, blogs and websites — is much like training for a marathon.  (Unfortunately, the marathon analogy only came to me during my shower last night — historically, my good ideas have all arisen near water — rather than during the panel, but fortunately, I now have the opportunity to share this with you now.)

If you have ever run a marathon — or if you know someone who has — you (may) know that typically, runners train between two and six months for the race.  Of course, it depends on your fitness level, how much you’ve been running, what your time goal is (if any), but the majority of runners will end up training between two and six months.  Which, coincidentally, is about how long before a book’s publication many would suggest authors start developing a web presence.

You may be thinking that if one can get into good enough shape to run 26.2 miles in six months, then imagine how much better shape one would be in if one trained (blogged / networked) for a year!  Except for the crazy ones, however, no marathoner does this (running, that is).  The reason is simple: there are only so many 5 a.m. 20-milers you can run weekly before completely burning out.  Likewise, (most) authors find it is simply not feasible to generate an unlimited number of blog posts or tweets or status updates for time eternal.

Just to be clear, I’m not discouraging an author from starting to blog a year before a book comes out — after all, unlike with marathoning, blogging and social networking is unlikely to result in injury (one hopes) — but I am saying that realistically, given the vast number of personal and professional commitments we all have, most authors probably will end up tapering their online activities after a few months.

That was my epiphany for the day.  What do you think?

NPR Books Watch — 4/16-4/22

Work’s been pretty busy — fancy that — but I hope to get some non-NPR Books Watch posts rolling soon …

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.

* indicates the interview is a rebroadcast.

***

TOTAL book stories for the past week: 27 (24 last week)

All Things Considered: 4 (2 LW)

Diane Rehm: 4 (3 LW)

Fresh Air: 2 (7 LW)

Morning Edition: 3 (2 LW)

NPR.org: 5 (4 LW)

Talk of the Nation: 4 (2 LW)

Tell Me More: 1 (1 LW)

Weekend Edition Saturday: 3 (2 LW)

Weekend Edition Sunday: 1 (1LW)

All Things Considered	Man Who Ate His Boots, The	Anthony	Brandt
All Things Considered	Crossing Mandelbaum Gate	Kai	Bird
All Things Considered	You Must Read This / George, Being George	Nelson	Aldrich
All Things Considered	Appetite for America	Stephen	Fried
Diane Rehm	Inheritance, The*	Simon	Tolkien
Diane Rehm	Super	Jim	Lehrer
Diane Rehm	Hubble	Edward John	Weiler
Diane Rehm	Anthill	E.O.	Wilson
Fresh Air	Cyber War	Richard	Clarke
Fresh Air	Bedwetter, The	Sarah	Silverman
Morning Edition	Black Nature	Camille T.	Dungy
Morning Edition	Secret Life of the Grown Up Brain, The	Barbara	Strauch
Morning Edition	Poetry Speaks Who I Am	Elise	Paschen
NPR.org	Beatrice & Virgil	Yann	Martel
NPR.org	What We’re Reading, April 20-26
NPR.org	Books We Like / Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg, The	Deborah	Eisenberg
NPR.org	Books We Like / Every Last One	Anna	Quindlen
NPR.org	Matterhorn	Karl	Marlantes
Talk of the Nation	Mandela’s Way	Richard	Stengel
Talk of the Nation	Moonlit Earth	Christopher	Rice
Talk of the Nation	Scent of the Missing	Susannah	Charleson
Talk of the Nation	America’s Captives	Paul J.	Springer
Tell Me More	Mixed	Kip	Fullbeck
Weekend Edition Saturday	Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future, A	Michael J.	Fox
Weekend Edition Saturday	Eastern Stars, The	Mark	Kurlansky
Weekend Edition Saturday	Tales from the 5th Street Gym	Ferdie	Pacheco
Weekend Edition Sunday	Beatrice & Virgil	Yann	Martel

NPR Books Watch — 4/9-4/15

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.

* indicates the interview is a rebroadcast.

***

TOTAL book stories for the past week: 24 (27 last week)

All Things Considered: 2 (6 LW)

Diane Rehm: 3 (3  LW)

Fresh Air: 7 (4 LW)

Morning Edition: 2 (4  LW)

NPR.org: 4 (2 LW)

Talk of the Nation: 2 (4 LW)

Tell Me More: 1 (1 LW)

Weekend Edition Saturday: 2 (3 LW)

Weekend Edition Sunday: 1 (0 LW)

All Things Considered	Simple Fresh Southern	Matt and Ted	Lee
All Things Considered	Animal Review, The	Jacob	Lentz
Diane Rehm	Inheritance, The	Simon	Tolkien
Diane Rehm	Every Last One	Anna	Quindlen
Diane Rehm	Birdology	Sy	Montgomery
Fresh Air	As They See ‘Em	Bruce	Weber
Fresh Air	Sixty Feet, Six Inches*	Bob	Gibson
Fresh Air	Supreme Power	Jeff	Shesol
Fresh Air	Secret Life of the Grown Up Brain, The	Barbara	Strauch
Fresh Air	Hotel Iris	Yoko	Ogawa
Fresh Air	Apple Trees at Olema, The	Robert	Hass
Fresh Air	How to Cool the Planet	Jeff	Goodell
Morning Edition	Oprah	Kitty	Kelley
Morning Edition	Character And Voice: Picks For National Poetry Month
NPR.org	Market Day	James	Sturm
NPR.org	What We’re Reading, April 13-19
NPR.org	Purge	Sofi	Oksanen
NPR.org	Eastern Stars, The	Mark	Kurlansky
Talk of the Nation	Whistling Vivaldi	Claude	Steele
Talk of the Nation	Life We Were Given, The	Dana	Sachs
Tell Me More	Not My Boy!	Rodney	Peete
Weekend Edition Saturday	Ticket to the Circus, A	Norris Church	Mailer
Weekend Edition Saturday	You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried	Susannah	Gora
Weekend Edition Sunday	Dog Boy	Eva	Hornung

NPR Books Watch — 4/2-4/8

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.

* indicates the interview is a rebroadcast.

***

TOTAL book stories for the past week: 27 (23 last week)

All Things Considered: 6 (3 LW)

Diane Rehm: 3 (2 LW)

Fresh Air: 4 (5 LW)

Morning Edition: 4 (4 LW)

NPR.org: 2 (4 LW)

Talk of the Nation: 4 (2 LW)

Tell Me More: 1 (0 LW)

Weekend Edition Saturday: 3 (2 LW)

Weekend Edition Sunday: 0 (0 LW)

All Things Considered	Lost States	Mike	Trinklein
All Things Considered	Anthill	E.O.	Wilson
All Things Considered	Three Books For The Closeted Francophile
All Things Considered	Bridge, The	David	Remnick
All Things Considered	You Must Read This / Passing	Nella	Larsen
All Things Considered	Pearl of China	Anchee	Min
Diane Rehm	13 Bankers*	Simon	Johnson
Diane Rehm	In the Neighborhood	Peter	Lovenheim
Diane Rehm	Solar	Ian	McEwan
Fresh Air	So Much For That	Lionel	Shriver
Fresh Air	Captain’s Duty, A	Richard	Phillips
Fresh Air	Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead	Jody M.	Roy
Fresh Air	In Pursuit of Silence	George	Prochnik
Morning Edition	Solar	Ian	McEwan
Morning Edition	American Readers, Waiting Impatiently For ‘The Girl’
Morning Edition	Bridge, The	David	Remnick
Morning Edition	This Time Together	Carol	Burnett
NPR.org	Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg, The	Deborah	Eisenberg
NPR.org	Imperfect Birds	Anne	Lamott
Talk of the Nation	Insectopedia	Hugh	Raffles
Talk of the Nation	Poisoner’s Handbook, The	Deborah	Blum
Talk of the Nation	Orange is the New Black	Piper	Kerman
Talk of the Nation	Bite Me	Christopher	Moore
Tell Me More	Known to Evil	Walter	Mosley
Weekend Edition Saturday	Lunatic Express	Carl	Hoffman
Weekend Edition Saturday	Between Two Worlds	Roxana	Saberi
Weekend Edition Saturday	High Heat	Tim	Wendel

Creating author platforms

“Creating Author Platforms” is … the name of the course I’ll be teaching this summer at NYU’s Center for Publishing!  It’s a weekly, evening, six-week course starting in mid-June.  Here’s the course description:

A successful online platform is one of the key selling tools for a book.  Learn the primary elements of reaching and engaging your target audience online through a robust website, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, e-newsletters, blogs, and online events.  Discuss what it takes to “go viral” and how online publicity and careful Web positioning can help you create interest in your books that can translate into strong sales.  Both book publishers and authors interested in self-publishing may benefit from this course.

So why would you want to take the course?  Sure, it’s a lot of what I blog about, but it’ll be hands on.  In other words, if you have been bookmarking my posts telling yourself that you’ll check back to set up your Facebook profile / Twitter account / blog but never got around to it (yes, I know how that works — I do it too) and if you’re in NYC, now you can have yours truly walk you through the steps!

For course details and to enroll , visit NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies site.

NPR Books Watch — 3/26-4/1

Formatting’s a bit wonky this week, but what can I say …

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.

* indicates the interview is a rebroadcast.

***

TOTAL book stories for the past week: 23 (23 last week)

All Things Considered: 3 (4 LW)

Diane Rehm: 2 (3 LW)

Fresh Air: 5 (2 LW)

Morning Edition: 4 ( 3LW)

NPR.org: 4 (5  LW)

Talk of the Nation: 2 (3 LW)

Tell Me More: 0 (0 LW)

Weekend Edition Saturday: 2 (0 LW)

Weekend Edition Sunday: 0 (1 LW)

All Things Considered    13 Bankers    Simon     Johnson
All Things Considered    For All the Tea in China    Sarah    Rose
All Things Considered    Solar    Ian    McEwan
Diane Rehm    Paul and Me    A.E.    Hotchner
Diane Rehm    Big Short, The    Michael    Lewis
Fresh Air    One Nation Under Dog*    Michael    Schaffer
Fresh Air    Ill Fares the Land    Tony    Judt
Fresh Air    Between Two Worlds    Roxana    Saberi
Fresh Air    Sabbath World, The    Judith    Shulevitz
Fresh Air    Hollywood Economist, The    Edward    Epstein
Morning Edition    New Kind of Christianity, A    Brian     McLaren
Morning Edition    Son of Hamas    Mosab Hassan    Yousef
Morning Edition    Rule of Benedict, The    David    Gibson
Morning Edition    Murder City    Charles    Bowden
NPR.org    What We’re Reading, March 30-April 5
NPR.org    Surrendered, The    Chang-Rae    Lee
NPR.org    Supreme Power    Jeff    Shesol
NPR.org    Solar    Ian    McEwan
Talk of the Nation    What is This Thing Called Love?    Gene    Wilder
Talk of the Nation    Life in Year One    Scott    Korb
Weekend Edition Saturday    Best Kind of Different    Shonda    Schilling
Weekend Edition Saturday    Hellraisers    Robert    Sellers