Jocelyn

Katie Couric's New Gig

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:03:51 -0500

Just received my December (Women of the Year) issue of GLAMOUR. This issue is the debut of Katie Couric’s new column.

I have an incredibly busy weekend ahead of me. Traveling, a...

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:09:10 -0500

I have an incredibly busy weekend ahead of me. Traveling, a wedding in Newport, work, Oprah’s webcast. I’m exhausted just writing it down. But mark my words, the minute this weekend is over and things slow down I am making this deliciously simple and hearty meal that I found at one of my favorite blogs, Joanna Goddard.

Oprah's List of the Top 20 Things She Knows For Sure

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:48:01 -0500

Oprah's List of the Top 20 Things She Knows For Sure

Oprah's Webcast

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:13:51 -0500

I will be appearing on Oprah’s webcast on Monday night for SAY YOU’RE ONE OF THEM by Uwem Akpan. If you haven’t read this book, I strongly recommend you give it a try. If you RSVP for the event through Oprah’s website, you can receive a free download of one of the stories from this extraordinary collection.

Typically, I gravitate towards light-hearted books. I was on the Bridget Jones craze the minute those books came out and I have always loved a good “chick lit.” However, nothing, and I mean, NOTHING, makes you think like these stories do. It pushes you to look at things and immerse yourself in such heartbreaking tales that you almost want to look away, but you don’t! You keep reading because you can’t put it down and afterwards you feel changed. You feel like you understand the power of hope and grace, of resilience and gratitude.

I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of SAY YOU’RE ONE OF THEM!

Have a great weekend!

walkwhilereading: Dave Eggers yes that Dave Eggers, reviews...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:02:39 -0500

walkwhilereading:

Dave Eggers yes that Dave Eggers, reviews Kurt Vonnegut’s new short story collection Look at the Birdie, for The New York Times.

I truly believe that we need to re-discover the classics as...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:51:41 -0500

I truly believe that we need to re-discover the classics as adults. They hold completely different meanings and leave completely different impressions on our souls.

walkwhilereading:

Currently Reading……

Is this book going to be my Great Gatsby…? Read fifty pages this morning before I started work and was completely captured. I was in awe. I was smiling from ear to ear thinking, now this my kind of book. I know I know, you’re thinking, what you’ve never read this before. Believe it or not, there’s a lot I haven’t read. I took my early twenties off, remember.

Seventy-year-old Canadian author, Margaret Atwood, could teach...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:40:04 -0500

Seventy-year-old Canadian author, Margaret Atwood, could teach her successors a few things about online promotion. To help generate attention for her latest novel, THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD, Margaret Atwood is blogging, tweeting and creating a YouTube contest.

Here is an interview she did with Reuters about her latest online activity.

Price War Over Books!

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:14:00 -0500

Price War Over Books!

"We must try not to sink beneath our anguish… but battle on."

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:46:39 -0400

“We must try not to sink beneath our anguish… but battle on.”

- J.K. Rowling (via julie911)

Tune in to tomorrow’s Oprah Friday’s LIVE. I will be...

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:34:31 -0400

Tune in to tomorrow’s Oprah Friday’s LIVE. I will be Skype-ing in to talk about the upcoming worldwide webcast for Uwem Akpan’s SAY YOU’RE ONE OF THEM.

debbiestier: hilarious. That’s...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:49:19 -0400

debbiestier:

hilarious. That’s it.

merlin:

systems:

nevver:

Chris Ware cover, Forbidden Planet

missworld: (via bookshelves)

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:43:17 -0400

missworld:

(via bookshelves)

Tips for Publicity

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:23:20 -0400

I am going to try and use this blog as a place to disperse some pertinent information regarding strong publicity tactics. With publishing houses shrinking in staff and budgets dwindling, many authors will have to put their own time and effort into an effective campaign.

Here’s an insider tip:

MAKE YOUR PRESS RELEASE COUNT!

When faced with tight deadlines and mounting article assignments, journalists need as much information as possible at their fingertips. The press release can also spark an idea or give the journalist incentive to include your book in an article or segment they are already working on.

Here are three things a good press release should offer.

1.) What problem will your book or your expertise solve.
2.) Why are you a good authority. Why should you be called on?
3.) Explain what you would like to offer to help solve the problem or bring light to a situation.

Self-Publishing Today

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:04:00 -0400

Great piece by Jonathan Fields in The Huffington Post about the changing face of self-publishing. It is especially delightful because two of my clients, Lisa Genova and Brunonia Barry, are referenced in the piece.

My company, Kelley & Hall Book Publicity, worked with Brunonia Barry when THE LACE READER was self-published and we were able to secure her coverage that brought the attention of agents and a major seven figure deal with William Morrow. We were then hired by Lisa Genova to help promote her self-published novel, STILL ALICE, about a woman suffering from early onset alzheimer’s. Once again, the coverage we secured led her to a dream agent and a major deal with Simon & Schuster.

Here is a quote from the Huffington Post piece.

“What so many people don’t realize is that self-pubbed writers are not a group of frustrated, no-talent writers. Rather they include established authors like Stephen King, intellectuals like Noam Chomsky and Lisa Genova and Brunonia Barry, writers who couldn’t find anyone to publish their books, did it themselves, and landed on the NY Times bestseller list. It is my belief that there are many more great works and writers out there, just waiting to be found by adventurous readers.”

I was thrilled to work with both of these authors at the very beginning of their careers and to help provide them with the guidance and publicity they needed to lead them to immense success. As the publicist, I am the behind-the-scenes person, but I truly love seeing my hard work and dedication to my clients pay off…BIG TIME!

Off to see John Irving in Boston. He’s speaking at the...

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:15:28 -0400

Off to see John Irving in Boston. He’s speaking at the Coolidge Corner Theater tonight through Brookline Booksmith.

He is currently doing his promotional tour for Last Night in Twisted River.

I am a huge fan of John Irving. A Prayer for Owen Meany was one of my favorite books by Irving (which was turned into the Ashley Judd movie Simon Birch) and I am smack dab in the middle of A Widow for One Year and loving it. No one writes like John Irving, he is truly a master at what he does.

In the Mood for Food

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:57:21 -0400

There have been a number of popular food books making very public rounds, as of late. Most notably, Jonathan Safran Foer’s book, Eating Animals has been on Ellen as a “Book Ellen Read.” He also received quite a powerful write up from Natalie Portman on The Huffington Post.

Other notable books about food that are having me reconsider my current dietary choices (I am a guilty fan of deli sandwiches!) are listed below:

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Natalie makes an interesting observation about something she learned while attending Harvard:

I remember in college, a professor asked our class to consider what our grandchildren would look back on as being backward behavior or thinking in our generation, the way we are shocked by the kind of misogyny, racism, and sexism we know was commonplace in our grandparents’ world. He urged us to use this principle to examine the behaviors in our lives and our societies that we should be a part of changing. Factory farming of animals will be one of the things we look back on as a relic of a less-evolved age.

It certainly makes you question your choices…

fromme-toyou: Colonial Bookshop~ Salem, Massachusetts

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:01:48 -0400

fromme-toyou:

Colonial Bookshop~ Salem, Massachusetts

fromme-toyou: This bookstore was literally books floor to...

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:01:10 -0400

fromme-toyou:

This bookstore was literally books floor to ceiling.

~ Salem, Massachusetts

This bookstore is down the street from where I used to work in Salem, MA. It is almost frightening in the precarious nature of the stacked books, you feel they could topple over at any moment. However, it also gives you the feeling of stumbling into an attic filled with books. A veritable treasure chest of undiscovered literary gems. I have left this store with some of the most random, and yet most memorable, purchases.

heyfriday: quote-book: (via gatekeeper)

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:42:06 -0400

heyfriday:

quote-book:

(via gatekeeper)

Why I am officially in love with CBS....

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:31:07 -0400

CBS News deserves a medal! Jeff Glor is the host of AUTHOR TALK, a place for authors and readers to come together and learn about what is going on in the world of books. Author Talk is “a place to find the best new books, and get answers directly from the authors who wrote them.”

The most recent book covered is WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGED: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins.

Every day we hear about book sections folding and the lack of interest surrounding literature, authors and publishing, and yet it is still one of the most influential and inspiring areas of our culture. It fills me with hope when I see news outlets adding book coverage to their schedules.