The PPA welcomed editors from top websites that provide book coverage.

Eric Gillin
Editor
Esquire.com
300 W 57th St
New York, NY 10019

• 90 percent of the print magazine also appears online.  (Eric is the editor of the web edition.)
• Two online features focus on books: 1) Napkin Fiction (for big-name authors) 2) Last Line
• He personally likes graphic novels and comic books
• Also likes random facts – they publish a lot of lists – and “cool” trends
• Since he only handles content for the website, we should continue to pitch the book contacts for the print edition

Michael Maiello
Associate Editor
Forbes
60 Fifth Ave
New York, NY 10011

• Usually covers hedge funds but reviews books in his spare time
• May run brief excerpts (but they will not pay for rights).  Feel free to suggest excerpts that might work for them
• Can also use original content from authors
• Not interested in how-to business books
• Can interview authors for pod casts
• Is personally interested in graphic novels and “angry young guy” fiction
• Although the lead time for the website is not as long as for a magazine, he needs time to read the books, so make sure to get him books well ahead of the publication date
• May consider covering reprints

Jeanine Edwards
Associate Editor
Instyle
1271 Ave of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

• Open to contests and giveaways
• Mostly interested in service-oriented books
• Website will soon feature blogs
• Majority of book coverage would be found online (rather than in the print edition of the magazine)

Andrea Sachs
Senior Reporter
TIME
1271 Ave of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

• Sometimes does author Q&As for website.  Also covers business books for site.
• Site occasionally features guest bloggers, but not often

PPA Workshop: Online Marketing and Publicity
February 25, 2008

With Jason Kincade (Knopf) and
Shawn Nicholls (Crown)

• The role of publicity versus online marketing

• Publicity and online marketing need to work closely now that more books are being sold online and budgets for online marketing are getting bigger

• Blogger outreach: Personal relationships and authenticity when dealing with blogs and websites

• Pitches to bloggers can be more informal (or sometimes, you can just send a book and let the blogger respond to you)
• Bloggers sometimes view contact from authors (rather than from publicists) as more authentic

• Websites versus blogs: Advantages and disadvantages

• Websites usually look good, but if they’re not updated often, they’re no better than an online flyer
• If an author is setting up a website, they may want to upload content at different times so that when readers check back they find new/different information
• Authors who are tech savvy and who want to be involved should be encouraged to blog since it’s:
• Free
• Can be managed / updated by the author
• Blogger and TypePad are easier to use; WordPress is a little more complicated
• A good time for an author to start blogging is about three months before a book comes out
• Amazon Connect allows an author’s last three posts to be fed directly to Amazon

• Best ways to get authors involved with their online presence

• Authors can set up Google Alerts or searches in their RSS reader to keep tabs on which sites / blogs may be appropriate for their book
• Authors can also start building an online following on reading sites like Librarything.com and redroom.com

• Social networking: Differences between the sites

• Facebook is becoming the dominant social networking site

• Tools for web publicity: Technorati, Alexa, RSS readers, booktour.com

• Sites like Technorati help you establish the authority / popularity of a blog
• Also be sure to check the blog rolls of “big” blogs since that will give you a sense of which blogs are popular
• Check the comments section of a blog to see how many people are posting and how frequently the blogger responds
• You can also check the ads on a blog to get a quick sense of how popular the blog is / how good their funding is

How to List Your Author Events at Booktour.com:

1. Sign up and add your author events by clicking here: http://www.booktour.com/readers/adding_events.  You can use the same document to add events for multiple authors.

How to set up an RSS reader:

1. Either open an account on a reader like bloglines.com (it’s really quick) or go directly to the publication’s/blog’s website.
2. Either way, you will need to visit / get the URLs of the individual websites.  If you are using a reader, you will need to add each URL to your reader.  If you use the orange RSS button on a website, you will need to click the button on each site whose feed you want and then you will access your feeds by clicking the RSS button on your Internet Explorer toolbar.  The advantage of using a reader is that you will be able to log in and access your feeds from any computer.
3. Here are a handful few literary / book section blogs you may want to follow:

• http://www.beatrice.com/
• http://www.bookslut.com/blog/
• http://blogs.suntimes.com/bookroom/ (Chicago Sun-Times book blog)
• http://books.beloblog.com/ (Dallas Morning News book blog)
• http://www.sarahweinman.com/confessions/
• http://marksarvas.blogs.com/elegvar/
• http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/ (Los Angeles Times book blog)
• http://www.boston.com/ae/books/blog/ (Boston Globe book blog)
• http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/ (New York Times Book Review book blog)
• http://blog.washingtonpost.com/shortstack/ (Washington Post book blog)

4. Don’t try to set up all your feeds at once since it’ll take a long time—add them gradually.

How to join the PPA group on Facebook:
This is an open group.  The exact name is PPA / Publishers’ Publicity Association and you should also be able to find it at: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6621909116.

Questions?  Contact yen.cheong@us.penguingroup.com.

• Tuesday, April 22nd – Luncheon
• Tuesday, May 20th – Luncheon
• Tuesday, June 17th – Luncheon
• June Workshop – TBD
• July Workshop – TBD
• August Workshop – TBD

GOOD NEWS!  “God of Blogs” aka The Huffington Post will be starting a new section. Here’s the inside scoop from political editor Tom Edsall:

The Huffington Post will soon have a book section.  It will have news and blogs about publishing, sales, agents, etc., and reviews.  Initially the reviews will focus on serious fiction and non-fiction, although the scope will likely be enlarged in the future.  Huff Post is seeking book bloggers and reviewers from its current readers and welcomes all suggestions.  One of the features in the section will be a list of fiction and non-fiction ‘must-reads.’  In addition to the initial focus on serious fiction and non-fiction, political editor Tom Edsall will write periodically on crime noir.

Tom asks that catalogs and appropriate books be sent to:

Nicholas Sabloff,
Book Editor
The Huffington Post
560 Broadway
Fl 4
New York, NY 10012

The Job Exchange is a confidential service provided for all PPA members. Here’s how it works. If you are looking for a new job, all submitted resumes must include a cover letter. Resumes will be kept on file for one month only. To view up-to-date listings, please go to the PPA website: www.publisherspublicity.org

If you would like to list a job opening in your department or firm, job listings may be placed by PPA members only. All listings must be submitted by e-mail. Each listing will appear in the next newsletter. Listings will run only once, unless re-submitted via e-mail to the newsletter editor.

Please direct resumes & job listings to Meg McAllister, meg@mcallrow.com

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