YOU CAN STILL WIN a signed copy of TINSEL
If you find it in a bookstore, take a picture of it, and e-mail me. You might also win a gift card to the bookstore of your choice. For the original posting of the rules, go here. I realize it’s not where you’re looking. Keep looking. Any day, anywhere. I know for a fact this…
Read MoreTinsel in November issue of Redbook
Nice, compact write-up of Tinsel by Anna Davies on p. 209 of the November issue of Redbook, on newsstands now. Anna was a solid interviewer and I am glad to be in Redbook (2.2 million circulation!), thus I am granting her very special dispensation from my ban on “Call it” leads, which I’ve campaigned against…
Read MoreMarketing 101
Boy, I am definitely going to keep this picture handy when people tell me Tinsel is too “negative” and bums them out about Christmas. Check out Wharton business school professor Joel Waldfogel’s new book: I totally have to send this to my editor, Andrea — after all our go-arounds in the hunt for the right…
Read MoreAll I want for Christmas is some screen presence
Here’s the video trailer for the book. (Don’t you know that the only way to get people to buy a book anymore is to throw together a three-minute movie?) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt arranged to have this done. Charles Halpin at Bookstream Inc. made it happen and a very nice videographer named Herb, from Silver Spring,…
Read MoreSo long, ol’ Century. Hello, Miller Time.
The Washington Post, my employer, is launching a redesign on Monday. It’s not an extreme makeover by any stretch, but it will be enough to get some readers upset, I guarantee. Already there’s been some kvetchin’ about the Sunday Magazine, which was the first to walk around in its new heels and new hairstyle. Erik…
Read MoreCONTEST! Win a signed copy of TINSEL and a $25 giftcard! Here’s how!
Today (Oct. 7) is the “ship date” of my new book Tinsel. The official release date is Nov. 12, but this ain’t no Harry Potter or Sarah Palin book or something like that, where sales are embargoed until midnight of the release date. That means Tinsel could show up in any stores, anywhere in the…
Read MoreRetailers Expect Lumps of Coal (And other Yuletide business section headline clichés)
The National Retail Federation committed to some numbers today (Oct. 6) with the release of its holiday sales forecast. Ylan Mui, as usual, has the smooth breakdown. Basically, the best case scenario for Christmas shopping is a 1 percent decline in 2009 from 2008 — which is good news only because 2008 showed a 3.4…
Read MoreJust like Christmas
The door buzzer rang this morning, about 20 minutes ago. UPS. Package from … Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. I was opening it and suddenly realized what moment this was about to be. My book. I took it upstairs and showed Michael the envelope. “Is that it?” “I think so.” I took it out. I held it.…
Read MoreThe Good Writer
Stand back, I’m gonna explode with praise. But first, a plug: If you live in Washington, go see David Finkel read from The Good Soliders tomorrow night (Monday, Oct. 5) at Politics & Prose. Now for the praise explosion, really just a mash note: If you’ve ever been a feature writer at a newspaper in…
Read More‘Pleasant but uneven’: A bad review! Ow-ie!
Yesterday my editor at Houghton sent me Kirkus Reviews‘ take on Tinsel from the Oct. 1 issue. Remember when I promised I would post the bad reviews along with the good? Well, here’s a bad one — not horribly awful, but far from glowing. First of all, you might ask: What is Kirkus Reviews? It’s…
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