Ever watch an old re-run of your favorite childhood sitcom and wonder what happened to the lead star? Did they plunge into obscurity or are they no longer with us? What about the authors, royalty, sports figures or criminals that have invaded our consciousness at some point? Look no further than Tod Benoit’s Where Are They Buried? How Did They Die? This encyclopedic book has all the information you’ll need with brief biographies highlighting each entry’s career highlights (or lowlights) and directions to the cemetery and gravesite.
This spring we published Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview?, an essential guide for young job-seekers by Ellen Gordon Reeves, and what an adventure it has been. One could never have guessed from Ellen’s stellar performance on the Early Show this morning that just a few short months ago she had never been on television before.
An author’s readiness for the national spotlight is the source of anxiety for every publicist. Many new authors come in with a belief they could face anyone from Oprah to Charlie Rose at a moment’s notice, but very few manage to project the confident smooth-talking expert you’re used to seeing on your screen without many hours of lengthy (and expensive) media training and multiple Advils ingested by yours truly.
Thankfully Ellen Reeves’s training was capped off with a few easy-going conference calls and a small iced coffee at the Time Warner Center. Ever since Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview? launched in May, Ellen has taken her new-grad advice to such venues as CNN, NPR, ABC News Now, Fox News, EXTRA, and just this morning, the Early Show. Her natural eloquence and bullet-proof expertise have impressed producers around the country and she received the highest compliment an author can get from quite a few of them—an invitation to come back.
With all of this media success, one wonders if maybe Ellen’s new book should be “How to Ace an Interview.” But that might be a chapter in Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview? already.
With one miscalculated act, the life of Terrell Matheus is changed forever. The Lie by O.H. Bennett delves into family and race relations in this gritty, coming-of-age novel set in Evansville, Indiana, in the mid-1970s. Following one teenage boy’s attempt to cover up the truth about his unspeakable accident, the story reflects on redemption and honesty in the context of family.
I spent yesterday with music and culture critic Jessica Hopper while she was in New York promoting The Girls’ Guide to Rocking. A full day of radio and TV interviews ended at Barnes and Noble in Greenwich Village where more than 60 people of all ages showed up to support Jessica on one of the last stops of her multi-city tour.
Throughout the day, women kept thanking Jessica for writing the book they wished they’d had when they were growing up. But plenty of guys—a cameraman and even Craig Finn from The Hold Steady—said her book would’ve helped them too, when they were first getting into music.
As a publicist, I’m always imagining a book’s audience, but it’s easy to forget the way a single person can be affected by reading something, even if that person is a lot like me. Like lots of the women we met, when I was young and wanted to learn, someone said my hands were too small for the guitar. I didn’t want to play piano like that person thought I should, so I just got obsessed with bands and songs and records instead.
Hearing young girls ask Jessica how they might know if they had musical talent or which instrument they should learn to play, or how they could get people to listen to their new band, or what they should do when learning their instrument starts to get really hard, I was reminded of the ways books can make a difference especially to young readers.
Read an excerpt from The Girls’ Guide to Rocking.
Since it is summer, maybe you’ll be spending more time outdoors, one-upping your neighbors with your well-tended vegetable or flower garden. If so, it could be in your best interest to check out The North American Guide to Common Poisonous Plants and Mushrooms by Nancy J. Turner and Patrick von Aderkas. You’d be surprised to learn how many poisonous plants can be found in homes or gardens, and if there are small children or pets nearby, they can be at risk as well. With color photos for identification, a description of the plant, toxicity level, native growing area, and health consequences, it’s a valuable guide to keep around the house.
Last week, one of our authors, Sarah Stolfa, launched her new book, THE REGULARS, in her hometown of Philadelphia at Gallery 339, and in NYC at McNally Jackson Books. It was one of the hottest days in NYC this summer and despite the city heat, an impressive crowd gathered to hear her talk about the inspiration behind her award-winning photography series, “The Regulars”. (It didn’t hurt that The NY Times, Women’s Wear Daily and The New Yorker blogged about this event!).
As the publicist, I was pleased with the turn-out because July can be a slow month but apparently not for Sarah! Hundreds turned out for her event in Philly, but there’s a local connection as the bar fly portraits in her book were all taken at McGlinchey’s in downtown Philadelphia. The appeal of her work, however, is universal. It’s easy to understand why: her subjects (bar patrons) can be found in any watering hole in any American city.
Sarah told the NYC crowd: “I was a bartender before I was a photographer, and I got into photography to get out of the bar.” It was fascinating to learn how her interest and career as a photographer began. She had been working in this dive bar for 10 long years, and she was a frustrated photography student who was ready to quit. But one day her professor encouraged her to photograph her life so she started taking her camera to work at the bar.
The result: these amazing portraits. I was also struck by the fact that she waited 3 ½ months to capture one of her “regulars” in the right setting. Sarah just knew that this woman would keep returning so she could photograph her later at the perfect moment. Ah, the virtue of patience. Sarah’s story was not only interesting but inspiring.
–Amy Corley
Executive Director of Publicity
Artisan Books
Mystery, with a lighthearted twist, is the focus of Emyl Jenkins’ The Big Steal. Bringing back amateur sleuth and intrepid antiques appraiser, Sterling Glass, you’ll find yourself in a world of secret rooms, uncovered diaries, and a convoluted trail of provenance and deception as the pieces of this fascinating puzzle fall into place…
If you have a hankering for pop-culture and history, check out Front Page Photo Puzzles by Hal Buell. It’s all the iconic (collapse of the Berlin Wall) or infamous (J. Lo’s low-cut Versace dress at the Grammy Awards) photos you could want—with a slight twist. Each image has been slightly altered, and it’s up to the viewer to locate all the changes, but not to worry, solutions are included for the ones that elude you.
Celebrate the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11’s moon landing with these two experiments from The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science by Sean Connolly. Send a homemade rocket zooming off a kitchen launching pad with the Film Canister Rocket experiment, or have way too much fun with physics with the Tennis Ball Moon Bounce. Scroll down for instructions.
Ever watch an old re-run of your favorite childhood sitcom and wonder what happened to the lead star? Did they plunge into obscurity or are they no longer with us? What about the authors, royalty, sports figures or criminals that have invaded our consciousness at some point? Look no further than Tod Benoit’s Where Are They Buried? How Did They Die? This encyclopedic book has all the information you’ll need with brief biographies highlighting each entry’s career highlights (or lowlights) and directions to the cemetery and gravesite.
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