We can all benefit from reminders to keep our e-mail correspondence correct and professional. Because writers are expected to know how to write, it’s especially important for us to present ourselves properly in writing. Seth Godin’s e-mail checklist can help. His smart suggestions will work for an array of purposes, from pitching articles to promoting books. (Thanks to Business Email Etiquette for the tip.)
This may not seem on topic, but please bear with me!
If you read yesterday’s post, you may have noticed a comment from “Deb.” If you clicked through to her profile, you discovered that “Deb” is Debra Ross, and that, among her other accomplishments and activities, Deb is creator and publisher of KidsOutAndAbout.com, “a series of eight city web sites for upstate New York parents who want both local information on what’s going on for their kids, and general information about parenting and educational resources. KidsOutAndAbout.com is in Rochester, and also in Buffalo, Syracuse, Elmira, Utica, Binghamton, Watertown, and North Country.” (What you didn’t necessarily discover is that of all the people who read this blog, Debra Ross is among those who have known this practicing writer the longest: We met during high school when we were lucky enough to participate in this extraordinary program for New Jersey students.)
I don’t live in Rochester, and as you all know by now, I don’t have kids, but I do enjoy spending time visiting Deb’s online creation. And if you happen to be a children’s book author in the greater Rochester area, you’ll want to investigate its book promotion potential, in particular.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Joshua Henkin (our interview is here) has written up some reflections on interactions with book groups.
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Tons of content is available in the new issue of Luna Park (look over on the left side of the screen for the quarterly features on “little and literary magazines”). Learn more about Hobart, Five Points, Gettysburg Review, and others.
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And if you’re looking for yet another literary blog to keep track of, the New Yorker is at your service, with the new Book Bench.
Well, the premise interests me.
Publishers Weekly has reported on a novel (sorry!) way to use blogging for book promotion purposes:
Hachette is taking interactivity to the next level by bringing favorite fictional characters right to readers’ Web browsers. Beginning on April 1, Hachette’s FaithWords division will have the five main characters in its new All About Us YA series begin blogging.
The blog site, www.allaboutusbooks.net, went live on Monday with a chatty post from “Lissa,” a fictional teen whose exploits at an elite boarding school will be featured in the first novel of the series, It’s All About Us by Shelley Adina, which will hit stores in May with a 65,000 copy first print run. Lissa’s troubles with boys, fashionistas, and fitting in with the trust-fund set may sound like Gossip Girls, and indeed it is—with a Christian twist, since the books deal with questions of faith. Lissa and her “besties” (that’s “best friends” in MySpace-speak) will take turns starring in the books—with The Fruit of My Lipstick and Be Strong and Curvaceous scheduled to release in August and January, respectively—but the characters will all have a presence simultaneously on the blog.
You can read the full article here.
A few thoughts:
1) I went to the site, but it seems that you have to register to access the chatty post referenced, and I wasn’t up for that.
2) We all know authors who use blogs to promote their work, but do you know of authors who are blogging as their characters to do the same? How new an idea is this? Some months back I did notice “Margene’s blog” on the Big Love section of the HBO Web site, so the idea of fictional blogs and bloggers evidently has some precedent. I’m just curious about other–and book-based–examples.
3) Am I crazy for trying to see some higher purpose here? Might keeping a (private) blog as a character rather than as oneself help with that always challenging task of character development? Have we perhaps discovered a new, if ongoing, fiction exercise?
What do you think?
We’re now one week into March, which means we are one week into Small Press Month. My apologies for not bringing this list of suggested Small Press Month activities to your attention sooner. Hopefully, though, you’ll still be able to make use of it. Or at least, you’ll be able to start planning for next March.
(cross-posted on My Machberet)
Publishers Weekly‘s “Religion BookLine” newsletter ran an item yesterday about Anna Olswanger’s new Web resource, Host-a-Jewish-Book-Author.com, which provides information on authors of Jewish-themed books. I’ve come to know Anna “virtually” through my participation on the Jewish Book Marketing Internet discussion group she moderates. I’ve found her to be smart, energetic, and responsive, and I’ll be following the progress of her new endeavor with interest. And if the happy day comes when I have a Jewish-themed book to promote, I will certainly consider participating. NB: We can all benefit from the information the new site provides; for a listing of your own, however, you’ll have to pay a fee.