The PPA welcomed book reporters Bob Hughes and Katherine Rossman who shared useful tips on getting review and feature coverage.

Robert (Bob) Hughes films interviews with authors for YouTube and is very interested in hearing about authors in New York (everyone from Slash to prominent literary figures).  He likes to be contacted by email (please don’t call to ask if he’s received the email) and some phone follow-up on big stories. Best days are Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. He said he’d like to see catalogs, galleys and finished books of major titles, but he’s open to emails about other titles. His lead time is about a month and would like to know about upcoming books two to three months in advance – he said he would like to see quarterly updates on new releases, via email. He said Chris Farley, editor at Weekend Journal, should definitely get books, and Kati MacLaughlin should get food books. Dorothy Rabinowitz should be contacted for the “Five Best” list.  Bob said he likes political books, but more in the vein of what it says about us culturally. No romance, unless it’s a trend story.  He mentioned that Pursuits is a magazine the WSJ is launching September 2008 and it will be a lifestyle magazine for the well-heeled.

Katherine (Katie) Rosman likes to be contacted by email and would like to know about upcoming books four-six weeks in advance since it takes her a while to read / think about / pitch ideas to her editor. She would like to see catalogs. She doesn’t review books per se, but she sometimes relies on books for trend pieces and she would love to have experts to approach to clarify an issue. The example she gave was a recent story she wrote about the disappearance of the Rolodex with the rise of Outlook and the Blackberry, and the social/cultural implications of that. She also wrote a piece about lists and interviewed the author of a book about To Do lists.

Generally, neither Bob nor Katie would feature a business book unless it talked about how the material might apply to life. They like to use books as springboards. They don’t work often with Erich Eichman and the Book Review section (both are on the Arts & Leisure staff) although they will keep Erich apprised of books they may be mentioning. They asked us to tailor email pitches, which have a better chance of getting read than blast emails. They said that with the new ownership of the WSJ, the editors want more book coverage and features with a broader cultural angle.

Some other key things to note:

Bob

• Weekend Journal Section
• Books, Lifestyle
• Increased book coverage
• Relying more on internet
• Playing video interviews on youtube
• Trying to get more authors to come in and do a video interview
• Writes summer book story
• Comes out in May
• Whittles down for readers what they will like and should be reading
• Need experts to clarify and add weight to stories
• Interested in trend pieces for Fri and Sat Issue
• Bio, Fiction, Lifestyle books
• Benefit greatly from the relationship with publicists to get story ideas and experts for stories
• Looking for stories on book trends, they do this type of story 4 times a year
• Beyond catalogs, would also appreciate an electronic list of upcoming titles
• Also looking for books that are coming out in clusters. 
• Reads PW, Publisher’s Lunch

Katherine

• Does trend stories
• No actual book reviews
• She does look at catalogues and publishers lunch

How will the Election impact their stories:

Katherine

• Democratic President will impact social trends that are covered, as well as if a Republic President is elected, there will be different stories covered.
• Mitt would impact more religion stories
• (Bob)-Guillani would impact more marriage stories

Bob

• will look at ways to get political books more coverage

What don’t they cover:

Bob

• Does not rule out anything really, except maybe romance novels…but even then there might be a story within a story. 
• Less likely to use a straight forward biography.

Katherine

• Likes to use books as a springboard to larger stories
• Not really into “how to” business books; would use business books that teach lessons that you can apply personally

*They both do not work closely with book review editors.  They just tell them if they will be using a book in a story.

Do they keep a list of experts?

Bob

• Yes, would like to know who the publicists have that would be useful as an expert.

Katherine

• Tends to look for the expert while writing the story.
• Also, she does not read blast emails that come into her about breaking news experts.

What magazines and publications do they read?

Bob

• PW, Entertainment magazines, Gawker, and other national newspapers

Do they require exclusivity?

Bob

• Generally want to have an exclusive.  Won’t cover a book if another competitor has already covered it.  They check to see if the any national paper has already covered it before they will run a story.

Pursuits Magazine

Bob

• Is being met with great enthusiasm from advertisers
• Will be a lifestyle magazine for well to do people
• Robert Frank will be covering books
• No editorial calendar yet

Website:

More book coverage is being added online

• Video interviews are a big part of the coverage
• Bob and Jeff Trachtenberg can both be contacted in regards to website content

Holiday round-up:

Bob

• Does gift guide for weekend section
• Deadline has past, must be 2 months beforehand

General info:

Bob

For week to week pitching tips, you should send ideas a few weeks ahead of time for book coverage

• Cultural contact is Chris Farley – can send him parenting, entertainment, and general books
• Try to pitch stories to the reporters and not the editors
• Within the weekend group, books are shared
• Doesn’t pass on blast emails; however if you email him asking about a certain topic, he will pass the email along to the correct reporter working on it
• Dorothy Rabinowitz is the one to contact for the “5 Best” column – she’s within the leisure & arts dept

• Tuesday, January 22nd – Luncheon
• Tuesday, February 19th – Luncheon
• Tuesday, February 26th – Workshop
• Tuesday, March 18th – Luncheon
• April Lunch – TBD
• April Workshop – TBD
• May Lunch – TBD
• June Lunch – TBD

The Center for Publishing at NYU

Looking to further your publishing career, or just brush up on or expand your publishing pr/marketing knowledge? Enrollment is under way for the spring semester (starting in February) at NYU’s School of Continuing Professional Studies. A variety of evening courses in publicity and marketing are being offered, with faculty made up of top publishing professionals (including Random House’s Russell Perrault). For more information and to register, visit www.scps.nyu.edu/publishing and click on continuing education.  For course advisement and information, call 212-998-7171 or email pub.center@nyu.edu .

New Jersey University Seeking Speakers

New Jersey City University (www.njcu.edu), chartered in 1927, is a state university located in Jersey City, with a very diverse population of 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. For the past couple of years, they have sponsored "Trends in Business," a speaker series targeted towards our business majors and the growing business community at the Jersey City waterfront. Past speakers have included Maxine Clark, founder and chief executive of Build-A-Bear Workshops; Steve Cone, senior marketing executive at Citibank; and Jane Hyun, executive coach who specializes in diversity issues.

If you have potential speakers for their program, please submit ideas/proposals to:

New Seattle Media Escort

There's a new media escort in Seattle – First Edition Media Services – specializing in children's book author and illustrator tours. With years of experience organizing local children's book events they have expert knowledge of the area and superb independent bookstores. To celebrate their first year in business they have a special, limited-time offer. Contact info@firsteditionseattle.com for details, or by phone at 206-214-7575.

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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