Reviews of Writing Books
The Complete Guide to Book Publicity by Jodee Blanco
Allworth Press, April 2000.Paperback, 277 pages.
ISBN: 1581150466
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
This comprehensive reference about
book publicity provides a great deal
of information about promoting books
and the book industry itself. The
book covers a variety of promotion
topics, including types of book
campaigns, media research, pitching
the media, how to interview, author
tours, promotional budgets, hiring
outside publicists and general, helpful
information about how the media operates.
A very good chapter, entitled "How to
Write the Perfect Press Kit,"
helps authors and publicists create a knock-out
press kit, and provides helpful advice, tips and
sample materials. The book also includes sample
press releases, author
bios and cover letters.
The section on author tours is also excellent,
providing information on books that
shouldn't be toured, the costs of book
tours, how to locate
media escorts and how to book features.
A final, helpful chapter entitled, "Crisis Management,"
provides suggestions for how to turn things around
when something doesn't go as planned, such
as when media arrangements are bumped
by breaking news.
Author Jodee Blanco is a prominent book publicist and president of the public relations firm Blanco & Peace Enterprises, Ltd. She has managed book campaigns for over fifteen New York Times bestselling authors. This is a must-have for any serious novelist in today's market, where marketing opportunities must be carefully planned and seized. In addition, this is also a great reference for professional book publicists and anyone involved with book sales.
The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style by Paul W. Lovinger
Viking, July 2000.Hardcover, 491 pages.
ISBN: 0670891665
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
This handy English usage and style
guide is presented in dictionary form
and cross-referencing is provided to
help readers find information quickly.
Readers can look up words and phrases
such as latter, nevertheless, imply and
infer, regardless, loose and lose and
"could care less" to find out
where and how to use them properly, and to locate answers to
any grammar or usage problems commonly associated with these
terms. The book provides special help sections as well.
Look up punctuation in order to
alleviate any
confusion you have about
colons, commas, hyphens, exclamation
points, parentheses and question marks.
Look up confusing pairs and
you will find advice on using commonly
confused pairs such as arrant and errant,
precede and proceed, moral and morale
and disassemble and dissemble.
Other helpful sections discuss plurals and
singulars, pronouns, series errors,
tense and modifiers. One of the more
interesting, and often humorous,
aspect of the book is that it
frequently points out grammar and usage
mistakes from newspaper editorials,
speeches, ads and other writings. This book is
packed with advice, tips and definitions
to help writers chose the correct
word form in their writing, and would be a
great addition to your reference bookshelf.
Return to the September 2000 issue of The IWJ.
More from Writers Write