Getting the Word Out— the Power of Publicity As Part of Our Series of Monographs on Marketing Strategies for Literary Magazines and Presses

The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses is pleased to publish Getting the Word Out— The Power of Publicity as part of our series of monographs on marketing strategies for literary magazines and presses. This series has been generously funded by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund. Since 1991, CLMP has directed the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Literary Publishers Market- ing Development Program which has provided marketing grants to thirty-six literary magazines and presses. Participants in the Literary Publishers Marketing Development Program receive intensive marketing training and assistance in developing comprehensive marketing plans tailored to each grantee’s organization. The goal of this program is to help magazines and presses build larger and more varied audiences for the literature they publish. From the beginning of the program, it was clear to CLMP that a wide range of other publishers would greatly appreciate and benefit from this kind of marketing training. That led to developing this series of monographs as one way to disseminate marketing information. As a complement to the monographs, CLMP is also holding marketing workshops throughout the country. Getting the Word Out augments a guide that CLMP published in 1992, Publicity Basics: A Guide for Literary Magazines and Presses, which was a collection of publicity related articles and resources. Much of the information in Publicity Basics remains pertinent (although contact names and addresses may have changed), but Getting the Word Out takes an additional step and discusses the “how-to” of making the most of your publicity resources. (Publicity Basics is still available from CLMP). In addition to Getting the Word Out, CLMP has published monographs on circulation development, magazine fulfillment, retail promotions, reader surveys, textbook adoptions, and planning for marketing. These monographs are written to serve as primers in the subjects they cover and to present marketing methods that can be implemented by novices as well as more experienced publishers. The authors are professional marketing consultants who have worked with the Literary Publishers Marketing Development Program and publishers who participated in the program. ---CLMP Getting the Word Out— The Power of Publicity by Mary Bisbee-Beek

Mary Bisbee-Beek has When faced with having to define publicity (and after staring at the computer screen for quite a while), been involved in I realized that it was harder to explain what I do for a living than I had expected. In general, publicity is publishing for 15 years. In 1992 she opened her the result of defining your book or literary magazine to the media or public. Publicity efforts can be as own publicity and simple as describing what you publish to someone or as in-depth as writing a press release, setting up a marketing consulting tour and putting together an advertising plan. office, Beeksbee Books, in St. Paul, Minnesota. There are various ways to approach publicity, but many of the initial steps are the same. The Power of Mary works with both for-profit and not-for- Publicity is a guide to some simple ways to publicize your books or magazine. All efforts should be profit presses to help tailored to your budget, your level of creativity and energy, but most importantly, it must be tailored to them write press releases, each individual book or magazine you publicize. negotiate feature articles, arrange author tours, Much of publicity can seem mundane and perfunctory. The fun part is the conversations you have with work with the media and to develop marketing the media, bookstores and authors about your titles and competing titles; it’s also the creativity that can plans. Her literary go into publicity. One publicist working on a book of short stories about all types of personal clients include Graywolf relationships decided to place an ad for a reading of the book in the personals column of the local Press, Curbstone Press newspaper! It worked— over twenty people attended who might not have heard about the reading and Kaya Press. otherwise. However, before such creative publicity efforts will work, a number of basic strategies need to be in place. 2 CLMP Monograph

The Power of Publicity has been written for both the literary magazine and literary press. While the idea behind publicity is the same for both, the strategies may be different. Therefore, in certain sections there will be a PRESS category and a MAGAZINE category. This does not mean you should read one and skip the other! Ideas presented in both sections may be adapted to your organization. Certain activities, such as reading tours, initially seem more suited to books than magazines but, depending upon the circumstances, can be implemented successfully by both. Why Is Publicity Important?

Just as a publisher As a publicist, I always assume that literary publishers are committed to publishing the best material would never consider and also to seeing that material reach as many readers as possible. Part of that commitment is working to not rigorously editing a manuscript or journal, have the publishing industry and the public recognize your books or magazine. you should not leave publicity out of your I’ve heard people say, “I’m too small to be worried about publicity,” but publicity is one of the most marketing efforts. affordable marketing activities. You may not be able to afford direct mail or elaborate bookstore displays, but you can make a low-cost investment in your current publishing program by sending out press releases and other support material, and the name recognition gained will benefit your future publications. However, publicity does take time, and you’re not going to get a story about your books or magazine for every press release sent out because publicity is about building a name for yourself. One relatively new literary magazine actively sought out publicity in major newspapers of cities where writers they were publishing lived. They targeted columnists in both Boston and Pittsburgh by first calling and presenting the columnist with a local angle. They then followed up by sending an issue, a press release and a side-bar article which told the story of the local author. All this was followed up with a personal visit. Both columnists ran stories. The one in the Boston paper generated 173 responses; the one in the Pittsburgh paper generated none. Why? The columnist in Boston had invested himself in the story and didn’t treat it like just any other news item. By working closely with the reviewer or columnist to generate their genuine interest in the story, you can hopefully end up with stories like the one that ran in Boston. And when such a story does run, the results usually compensate for all the time and energy you’ve put into it. A positive review or feature article will send people out looking for your book or writing in to subscribe to, or at least purchase a copy of, your magazine. Publicity— Who Can Do It?

Often the most effective people to describe a book or magazine are closest to it— the editor or publisher. And once they are familiar with the basic ins and outs of publicity, they make great publicists. However, if you or a staff person do not have the time to dedicate to publicity, many of the tasks discussed in this monograph can be delegated to an intern or volunteer, as long as you help plan and direct the publicity efforts so that they complement your organization’s other marketing activities. To generate publicity, people only need a good telephone manner and a clear idea of what the books/ magazines are about. If you don’t normally work with students or volunteers, local colleges are great sources of people studying public relations or marketing who might enjoy the “real life” experience offered by your project. Whether you, an intern, a full-time marketing staff person or even a professional publicist works to generate publicity, there are other people whose cooperation you need— the people you hope will “give” you the publicity. Most often this means the media, but booksellers and librarians are also important. CLMP Monograph 3

If you only have the resources to develop face-to-face relationships with the media, bookstores and libraries in your area, you can still send publicity materials to people all across the country. Use your contacts, even those contacts you don’t know you have. Everyone knows someone who knows someone. Your staff, board members, authors, friends, even other publishers with whom you are friendly probably have contacts that might benefit your publicity efforts. An editor of a literary magazine recently encouraged a colleague across the country to let her review one of the books I was working on for his weekly paper. This allowed for coast-to-coast reviewing and greatly expanded the potential audience for the book. Find out who you know (however indirectly) and make it work for you by engaging their help. Sending out Support Material

Sending out informa- An all-purpose brochure may come in handy at conferences, when visiting bookstores or even at your tion about your press or magazine is the most family reunion. For publicity purposes, however, you need something more— you need materials aimed basic way to educate at getting someone so interested in your books or magazines that they want to go out and tell other people people about your about them. organization, develop relationships with the media and hopefully generate publicity. Support Material

Support material is, simply, any material used to publicize a book or magazine. Generating support material does not automatically mean spending large sums of money. It costs virtually nothing but time to assemble a standard publicity packet that includes information on the book/magazine, the author(s), and the publisher. Publicity packets are helpful for book review editors, sales representatives, wholesalers, newsletter editors and book/magazine buyers in stores. You don’t have to do massive mailings to all of the above but have packets available for anyone who would benefit from more information. All of the following can be assembled in a simple folder from an office supply store or neatly clipped together with a sturdy binder clip. Feel free to get as sophisticated as you want or can afford, but most reviewers will be willing to look at your material if it is neat and easy to handle.

PRESSES: Author Questionnaires Author questionnaires do not go in the publicity packet; rather, you send them to the author prior to See appendix II for putting together the following materials. Authors are your best source of information about the audience a sample author questionnaire. for whom their material is written, and they can collaborate with you in locating sources for publicity and marketing. The questionnaire itself only needs to be a few pages of questions and will provide you with all sorts of useful information that you may never have known if you hadn’t asked. For example, a questionnaire gives you a chance to find out who the author knows. After all, s/he might be friendly with other writers who can help in giving advance praise or might have journalist friends. Also gather names of people in general who would be interested in hearing about the book— these can be good names for your mailing list. Finally, a questionnaire gives the author a chance to make a wish list of everything s/he would like to see happen in the publicity/marketing process. If an author has unrealistic expectations (such as large tours, hundreds of review copies mailed to reviewers and expensive ads), explain early on what you can realistically do and enlist her/his help in accomplishing that. The only “right or wrong” with author questionnaires has to do with timing. You must send a questionnaire to the author far enough in advance of the book’s publication date so you’ll have the information in time to put together the pieces that will make up your publicity packet. It even makes sense to have an author fill out a questionnaire as soon as the contract has been signed! 4 CLMP Monograph

Author Information Via the questionnaire, devise an author biographical sheet. It should include some personal as well as See appendix V for a professional information with emphasis on whichever aspect is potentially the most intriguing to sample contributor sheet bookstores and the media. Author bio sheets should not exceed one page. The author might also provide a list of questions that s/he could be asked by the media and can even answer those questions in writing. Non-fiction authors often use this strategy, but it can be adopted for literary titles. The questions should hit upon highlights throughout the book; this helps media people as they often do not have time to read more than the first couple of chapters thoroughly. A list of questions that pertain more to the writer may also help introduce a new author to the media. If the author has published before, either with you or another press, include reviews of past books. Reviews mark your author as an established writer deserving of notice and provide information on the author’s scope, interests and ability. You can communicate all of this via the other materials; reviews simply provide reinforcement. If your budget allows, send along an author photograph. Generally a 5” x 7” black and white photo will do. If your budget can’t handle it, don’t worry. Another option is to get a photo of the cover as soon as the design is ready or to send along the actual dust jacket. As dust jackets are normally produced alongside finished copies, you obviously cannot send them prior to publication, but they are helpful to bookstores later on.

Press Releases The most essential of materials is the press release. A press release announces information to the media, See appendix III & IV such as the establishment of a new press, the upcoming publication of a book or an author’s tour dates. A for sample press releases press release should be short; try for one page (front and back), double-spaced. It should be punchy and should give an idea of the book’s content and of what makes it unique. Also include one or two sentences about the author(s), such as past books and accomplishments and current place(s) of residence. If you have any quotes from advance reviews, those would be good to include as well. Your press release must list ISBN, publication month and year, price, binding type(s), number of illustrations (if applicable), distributor’s name, and the address and telephone number of your office as well as the name of the primary contact person. Make sure the press release (and all material for that matter) is neat with no typos and contains all the correct information. You cannot overestimate the importance of effective timing of press releases. If you send your press release out at publication date, it will be too late to catch the interest of the media. In other words, a press release sent out too late might as well never have been sent out at all. At least four months before publication is standard for books. However, you may want to send a second press release, as a reminder, upon publication. Do not send out the same, form press release only slightly varied for every book you publish. Rather, revise your press release so that it fits the interests of the person to whom you are sending it. Providing a ready-made angle or “handle” may encourage someone to do a piece on your book, but everyone’s angle is not going to be the same. To attract the attention of a particular reviewer, you could stress the following angles: • New voice on the literary scene— what is “fresh” or different about this author, comparisons to other writers that have been made; • Writer who draws on hometown experience, history or locale in his/her work— how has community affected this writer’s work; • Story or book that relates to a current event of issue of concern (can be a local event or issue). CLMP Monograph 5

One way to simplify the “personalizing” of press releases is to have one standard press release to send out to all media sources, and whenever you can, also include a separate side-bar article that tells about a unique angle in which a particular reviewer may be interested. For more information on For generating interest in your press in general, devise a mission statement in press release form which press releases, see Publicity Basics talks about your press— who you are, your background and your primary goals. If you are a new, small Section II "The or relatively unknown press, a published mission statement gives you a chance to establish your identity Cornerstone of and, of course, gets your name out to the media. Promotion," p. 25.

MAGAZINES: Support materials for magazines are very similar to those for presses (see previous section) with a few exceptions.

Author questionnaire Because magazines work with so many authors each issue, you might want to have a simpler author questionnaire. Ask for your authors’ basic biographical information (hometown, alma mater, professional associations), their past publishing experience and who they know who might be helpful in the publicity process, and if they know of any bookstores that might be potential marketing sites.

Author information Accordingly, an author information sheet can include shorter bios of your authors. Generally, this would be a page or two listing the basic information about all the authors included in your upcoming issue. However, you might choose to do more extensive listings for just 3 or 4 of your authors. Or, if you wish to target one of your authors’ hometown papers or alma mater, do an author sheet just for that one.

Reviews Rather than reviews of your authors, include reviews that the magazine has received. Don’t worry if you don’t have any, but as soon as you receive an article or feature story, make sure you start sending it out with the rest of your support material because reviews are very effective in gathering more reviews. When one magazine covers something that it thinks is “hot,” you very often see similar coverage in competing magazines.

Press releases The press release is the mainstay of your support material, and the content of your press release will Always make sure that depend upon the circumstances. Is the upcoming issue a theme issue? Is it guest-edited? Are you your press release sending the press release to industry media or to one of your author’s home towns? Have a standard includes your vital statistics: address press release to send out prior to the publication of each issue, but whenever you can, personalize the and telephone, contact press release by pressing a certain point or aspect of the magazine which may “catch” your intended person, ISSN reader. Try to always work your name, address and phone number into the body of the press release and subscription information. (some newsletters and small papers print press releases word-for-word) and always make sure that you mention that single issues may be ordered from the magazine. If you’re interested in writing stronger press releases, talk to reporters or reviewers about what kind of press releases catch their attention. This is valuable information about what reviewers in general like, but you should also keep notes or even a database about what those individual reporters and reviewers look for in press releases. That information will help you “customize” future press releases for them. 6 CLMP Monograph

Samplers, Bound Manuscripts, Galleys and Review Copies

PRESSES: Whenever possible, provide the media with a sample of the book you are publishing, so they see for themselves that it is worthy of publicizing and will not have to rely on the support material alone. For books, you can send samplers, galleys or bound manuscripts, all of which cost money. Samplers contain one or two chapters from a book. They are usually produced four to six months in advance of the book and are wonderful pre-publication teasers for bookstores and media. A sampler can be as inexpensive as copying chapters of a manuscript and securing them in a labeled folder (label should include book, author and publisher’s names, and publication month and year). You can also put together a sampler more like a small booklet with pieces from two or three lead titles. This type of sampler would be bound professionally and would therefore cost more money. Samplers are not absolutely necessary but are useful giveaways for bookstore buyers, bookstore staff and book review media. Bound manuscripts are quite possibly the most reasonable way to go if you are producing something in advance and in small quantities. The local copy shop may have graduated prices for producing a multipage bound document. For more on galleys, see Galleys are printed and bound copies of the book pre-publication. They contain the basic text of the book Publicity Basics: after it has been edited but usually before it has been checked for typos and before the illustrations and Section II, "Bound Galleys and the Small cover art have been produced. Galleys are expensive to produce but help attract advance media. I Publisher," page 50. suggest bound galleys for anything above five copies. With bound galleys it can pay to do your research. Call around to a number of printers to get quotes; sometimes you can get lucky and find someone who can do the job for less than it would cost to copy the manuscript. Galleys are primarily used by sales reps as selling tools, by book review editors, and to persuade bookstores to set up a tour. When you send out galleys, manuscripts or review copies, always include a press release. You should, in fact, send out as much of the paper information discussed previously (author question-and-answer sheet, author biography, mission statement) as possible, but a press release is absolutely mandatory. As an alternative to sending galleys and bound manuscripts, you can send the actual book after publication as a review copy. Just change the official publication date in your press release and hold off on stocking bookstores until the revised date. This way you will give the book a shot at reviews without the expense of producing galleys. Always send a finished book to those reviewers you sent a galley, especially to industry media and newspaper reviewers. This gives reviewers an idea of the design, illustrations, typeface and cover art. In the case of newspaper reviewers, if the book hasn’t been assigned for review already, the finished copy may give it a second chance.

MAGAZINES: Magazines have an easier time sending a sample because the most recent issue will almost always do. When trying to gain publicity for a specific issue, have a mock-up prior to publication to send along with your press release and other materials. However, because that issue will be current until the next issue come out, it is less important for you to receive publicity immediately upon publication. It is great if a story or mention occurs just as a new issue comes out because publicity most often generates single copy sales. CLMP Monograph 7

Where to Send Material

If you only can afford to send out a handful of sample issues or galleys, give careful thought to whom you want to receive them. Get to know your various media source possibilities so that you are able to make educated decisions as to where to send your publicity materials. Obviously, you want to send them to the media sources where you have the greatest chance of getting coverage, but this will differ with each book or issue. The industry magazines discussed below can generally be found at a public library or at a sophisticated newsstand. If the masthead doesn’t explain which editor should receive the galley, call the publication and request that information. Sending it to the right person makes a big difference.

PRESSES: Industry Media For advance book material, your first priority should be the industry media. Industry media includes: Do not send industry Publisher’s Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Review, American Bookseller, the American Library Association’s media a publicity Booklist, and School Library Journal (if you are publishing children’s or young adult books). Because packet only; they require some form of bookstore buyers, media and librarians read these magazines, they form the most logical short list to the actual book in address. All industry media strive to set a galley deadline of four months in advance of publication. This advance to review. allows them time to assign a reviewer to read the material and schedule it to run in advance of the actual publication date. If you can’t send galleys four months in advance of the actual publication date, you should “change” the pub date to reflect the reviewer’s needs. An editor from Publisher’s Weekly once called me because she wanted to review a book I was working on but couldn’t fit it into the issue to which it would have had to have been assigned. We struck a deal and negotiated a pub date that fit both our needs. Don’t worry— this isn’t unethical. Rather, it’s a pragmatic way of life because it is worth changing the publication date and holding off giving the books to bookstores to have a chance at media reviews.

Major Newspapers The next tier of reviewers for books includes major metropolitan newspapers that have book review If you can only afford sections. Newspapers like material up to four months in advance. Mail to as many or as few as your five advance galleys, budget will allow. Examples include: you may want to choose one publishing- The New York Times based industry magazine, one library- San Francisco Chronicle based industry Boston Globe magazine and three Philadelphia Inquirer newspapers. This gives you a chance for both The Washington Post industry and consumer The Chicago Tribune reviews. The Los Angeles Times The Seattle Times

Feature Magazines The next tier of reviewers are book review editors at major feature magazines. I define this group as the glossy monthlies that cost between $3 to $5. These include: Vanity Fair, Vogue, Elle, Mirabella, Atlantic Monthly, Harpers. If you spend an evening thumbing through magazines (not just the ones listed above), you will notice that most give a page or two to reviewing books, interviewing authors, and excerpting chapters or portions of a book. Study the kinds of books each feature magazine includes to get an idea as to whether or not they would be interested in the type of material you publish. If you give a fair amount of time to research, you can come up with a substantial reviewer list customized to suit your own book list. 8 CLMP Monograph

Feature magazines look for material five to six months in advance. Some can work four months in advance, but you will have a better chance of being seriously considered if you give them six months. If you are looking for exposure in feature magazines, another possibility is serial rights. Serial rights are excerpts from a soon-to-be-published book. Before sending review copies of a book, evaluate whether or not your book realistically would be of interest to the magazine. To pursue this option, you must have materials far enough in advance (six months minimum) and should have some idea of which sections might work as excerpts. It used to be the rule that feature magazines paid for serial rights. Over the last five years, however, magazine budgets have gone through severe cuts and they are not always able to pay for the rights to publish advance material. Still, consider serial rights because the amount of publicity that a book receives from an excerpt is substantial, (especially if it comes out right around the publication date) and certain magazines still pay well.

MAGAZINES: Media sources that regularly review magazines are more limited— Industry media There are two publications which cover the library market: Library Journal and Choice. Library Journal is a major review resource for librarians and has a magazine review editor. Choice covers materials appropriate to the college or academic library, including literary magazines. Another resource you should be aware of, if you are not already, is Small Press Review/Small Magazine Review which reviews literary magazines on a monthly basis. Two other useful resources are the San Francisco Review of Books which occasionally reviews literary magazines and Literary Magazine Review which, as the name implies, has the sole purpose of reviewing literary magazines.

Major newspapers The major newspapers listed in the press section are not likely to review literary magazines but would perhaps mention them in a “Best Bets” section. However, there are two that regularly cover magazines. The Chicago Sun Times has a syndicated column on magazines, and The Washington Post covers magazines in the Style section.

Feature magazines Feature magazines are unlikely to do full reviews of or features on literary magazines. They may, however, like major newspapers, list literary magazines in a “Hot Tips” or “Things to Look Out For” section. “Hip” magazines like Might, Interview and Details or non-mainstream ‘zines tend to be more willing to cover literary magazines than the glossy feature magazines.

BOTH PRESSES AND MAGAZINES: Special Markets The “special markets” category includes magazines, newspapers and professional organizations with a particular focus related to the subject matter of your book/literary magazine. Because many literary magazines and presses have a very specific editorial mission (poetry, gay/lesbian literature, Asian Pacific literature), specialized media is very important. If you are a magazine that publishes only lesbian writers, than your first rung media sources would probably include national lesbian magazines that review books and magazines, weekly papers with a gay/lesbian readership, and association newsletters of support organizations. CLMP Monograph 9

However, a press or magazine that does not have a very specific focus that lends itself to specialized media can also find it useful for a particular book or magazine. For example, if you were publishing a book or issue with mountain climbing as a theme (obviously not a how-to) you could consider mountaineering magazines, outdoor activity and adventure magazines, nature magazines, and nature and outdoor organizations. Some presses/magazines are geared more toward special markets than others. For those that are, send materials to special market magazines, newspapers and organizations right after you send to industry media and before sending to major metropolitan newspapers. Don’t take “preaching to the converted” for granted by only sending the occasional press release; develop strong relationships with these media sources because they can be important advocates for your books and magazines and can help recruit other supporters. For other books/literary magazines, special markets are a low (or non-existent) priority. It will really be a judgment call made on a book-by-book, issue-by-issue basis.

Other Newspapers If you have sent materials to industry media and major metropolitan newspapers and still have materials For certain publica- left over or if you think that you would have better success targeting regional media sources, send to tions, it may make even more sense to target newspapers in smaller metropolitan areas. If you are working on a book/issue set in a specific region, some of these papers target smaller newspapers in that region— whether or not the author(s) lives there. than the major metropolitan papers. For example, if your press specializes in Latino/a literature than it may be more beneficial for you to get your books reviewed in the Miami Herald than in the Boston Globe. So don’t always assume that the big guys are the best to target. Think carefully about the book or magazine that you’re promoting before deciding where to focus your publicity efforts. The following are examples of metropolitan newspapers, but others not listed are also fair game: Miami Herald Minneapolis Star-Tribune Detroit News Baltimore Sun Dallas Morning News Arizona Republic Columbus Dispatch San Jose Mercury News Many weekly newspapers feature underground, non-mainstream books or literary magazines and will pay more attention to small publishers than the dailies. If you have an offbeat book/magazine, you may have better success sending to these papers than to smaller metro papers. Weeklies are also more likely to cover literary magazines than dailies. Examples of weeklies include: Chicago Reader The Stranger (Seattle) City Paper (DC) Boston Review City Pages (Minneapolis) Welcomat (Philadelphia) San Francisco Weekly The Village Voice (New York)

Miscellaneous Media Prioritize media from authors’ hometowns and any other places they have lived. Literary magazines will have a wide selection of this type of media to choose from as they have multiple writers per issue. Don’t forget alumni magazines; it certainly reflects well on universities to announce a published graduate! Another good place to send information is to bookstores that have newsletters; send to the editor of the newsletter and s/he may decide to feature the book/magazine. 10 CLMP Monograph

Follow Up Calls

Make your follow-up After you have sent out your galleys and advance materials, call most, if not all, of the reviewers to whom calls more productive by you sent materials. Generally, give your materials two full weeks to reach the reviewer before picking up confirming that you followed the appropriate the telephone. This not only gives the postal system time to work, but it gives the reviewer a chance to procedure and sent your thumb through the galley or issue (if one was sent), log it into the computer system and fully review the materials to the material. This may also give the package/letter plenty of time to sit on the floor collecting dust, but try to appropriate person. give the process the benefit of the doubt. For follow-up calls, I focus on smaller newspapers, radio producers and reviewers that I have met with or who have shown some enthusiasm about the book/magazine in question. Rely on instinct here and use your follow-up calls as an opportunity to develop relationships with media people that may prove useful down the road. When you make these calls, you primarily will leave messages on reviewers' voice mail as they receive so much material that they cannot possibly talk to everyone who sends it. At first this may make them seem unfriendly, but if you ever visit their offices, you will realize that they could not possibly keep up with this sort of interruption and work efficiently. However, this is exactly why you make the calls— to try to get your material to stand out, so if the editor doesn’t get back to you, make another round of calls. When you do talk with a reviewer, take the opportunity to brainstorm with them about possible ways to approach your book or magazine. Usually, if an editor still hasn’t gotten back to me after the second round of calls, I will wait and try again after I’ve sent the finished copy of the book/magazine. However, in this day and age, you can also fax or e-mail reviewers with your follow-ups. Most reviewers will let you know if they are going to do a review. However, industry media do not, so you just have to be patient and take a wait-and-see attitude. If a book reviewer has told you that they are not interested in your book, don’t try to convince them otherwise. They generally know what they can work with and what they can’t, and it will not benefit you in the long-run to try to tell them how to do their jobs. Coordinating Author Events

Beyond sending out printed material about your press or magazine, the next most common way (and perhaps the next most successful way) to generate publicity is to set up a reading. Some publicists and publishers view author events as simply a way to sell books directly, but they should not be overlooked as ways to generate publicity. Author events not only publicize the books or magazines to the people who attend, but because media are often interested in covering events, that coverage may be heard or seen by many more potential readers.

Preparing for the Reading

Note that most of these Work with your author before readings. Make suggestions about what sections or chapters the author ideas are really only might read. Get the author comfortable reading segments of varying length. A radio interviewer may necessary with first-time authors, as they want the author to read a three minute passage while a bookstore may want anywhere from 20 to 30 generally learn quickly minutes of reading. Mix it up; the author may quickly tire of reading the same passages. On the other from experience. hand, the author may feel it will be more captivating if s/he reads for 45 or 50 minutes. There is a saying that I share with authors about this: “the brain cannot take in what the ass cannot endure!” The author should always leave time for questions and answers and be prepared for banal questions from the audience. Sometimes there are wonderful and insightful questions, but often not; make the author aware of this. CLMP Monograph 11

Your authors should know what to expect from a reading and should understand that sometimes there may be only one person in the audience. This can stem from poor publicity, bad weather, competing events or the public’s lack of familiarity with the author; it happens and it does not mean that the author or the book is bad. Prepare the author for this phenomenon.

Local Events

Be careful not to Local events are inexpensive ways to generate publicity. Gather names of possible reading venues in your schedule too many authors’ hometowns (including bookstores, libraries, colleges/universities, even cafes) via your author events in one city/town using the same questionnaire. Organizations relevant to a particular book/magazine might be interested in sponsoring author(s)! events— a reading, a signing, a panel discussion, a lecture. A book on the Holocaust, for example, could be sponsored by the local Jewish community center or synagogue. For literary magazines or anthologies, you can pair more than one author from the same region for an event. This type of event can bring a lesser-known writer into the limelight if paired with a better-known writer. Two (or more) authors also increases the pool of relatives, friends, acquaintances attending a reading. Literary magazines can even bring in authors published in past issues to read with those published in the current issue. If the author lives in a small town, s/he can do only one bookstore event as there is just so much audience to go around. Bookstores also frequently ask for an exclusive when they have local competition. You could schedule a bookstore event and a visit to a university classroom or a literary center, but it would be wise to clear even this with the bookstore. Bookstores always have first priority as they are the ones selling the books and magazines. If you live in a city, target venues which are at least 10 or 15 miles apart and/or are in demographically distinct neighborhoods; avoid overlapping audiences. You can schedule more events by covering suburbs as well as cities or by scheduling events a month or two apart (although again, make sure that the bookstores are aware of each other’s events). Call bookstores, or other reading venues, about events 3-4 months before you would like to schedule the reading. For books, readings tend to be most successful when scheduled right around the publication date of a new title.

Regional Events

If you are having the The next step beyond a local tour is a regional tour. On a regional tour, the author reads in his/her home author pay for his/her town and in surrounding cities as well. The size of the region depends on how much free time the author tour or are splitting costs, make sure this is has to and how much money either the author or the publisher has for travel. Authors can use their home clear up front. city as a base and make day trips, or they may pick cities where friends can provide accommodations. A regional tour for an author based in New York City could include Philadelphia, DC and Boston, or smaller and closer cities such as Atlantic City, Trenton and Newark. Media publicity and co-op rules for a regional tour are the same as for a local tour. You will have to rely more on bookstores to find out about the local media. Also, if your author plans on staying with friends, have him/her ask those friends about media possibilities. Literary magazines seldom hold readings beyond the local level, but that doesn’t mean it cannot be done. If you are publishing a well-known writer who would like to donate some of his or her time to raising the visibility of your magazine, asking him or her to do regional readings might be an idea worth pursuing. You can also ask your authors to consider reading from the magazine (rather than from manuscript) if they have been engaged to read by a literary center or writing conference. If you have recently published an author who has a new book coming out and is doing readings for it, ask bookstores where readings are being held to stock and display your magazine as well as the book. This will, of course, need to be cleared with the author’s publisher, who would be covering the costs of the reading. 12 CLMP Monograph

National Tours

Because national tours cost a lot in time, energy and money, they will only be possible for a few literary publishers, and even those few should carefully question whether or not a book has national appeal before sending an author on tour. If you do decide to spend your resources on a tour, first figure out the details of finance and scheduling. If you cannot afford to pay all of the author’s expenses, consider a travel stipend. Perhaps you have frequent flier miles to donate to the cause. Also, find out how much time the author has and be shrewd about which cities you pick. For example, for an author who lives in New York but whose book takes place in Los Angeles, you might target those two cities and their surrounding areas. If you don’t know a particular city, ask the advice of people who live there where your author should read. There may be one very well known bookstore in an area but lots of smaller worthy bookstores more suitable to a particular book, i.e. gay/lesbian, feminist, travel. If you’re having someone travel any great distance, you certainly want to come up with the best possible author/bookstore match. If the author teaches or has teaching connections, you can sometimes defray travel expenses by having the author be a guest in a creative writing department at a local college or university. Schools often have a budget for guest speakers and will pay an honorarium. Schools generally plan guest speakers up to six or eight months in advance, so you need to have a good idea if this is a possibility long before you would be booking a bookstore event.

Adjunct Activities on a Tour (Regional and National)

When booking a tour, it helps to think as creatively as possible. If someone has travelled to a venue in another city, they might as well keep busy. Suggestions: speaking before a community bookclub/ reading group (often guarantees five or ten copy sales of a book); stock signings at bookstores other than where the reading is going to be; a late morning or mid-afternoon library reading; a guest in a middle school, high school, or college. (Again, check with the bookstore first to see that other readings are okay). Sometimes a bookstore staff person will volunteer to take your author around for sight-seeing or to act as an escort for the day to make sure they have an easy time finding interviews or other reading locations. This gives the person from the bookstore a chance to get to know your author, and an author/bookseller bond helps in handselling the book or magazine.

Publicizing Readings

One of the most helpful things an author can do for her/his own event (local, regional or national) is to get the word out. An author shouldn’t read in an area unless s/he can supply a mailing list of at least twenty-five names. It doesn’t matter if those on the mailing list are not direct contacts of the author; they can be friends of friends. Have the author ask each of his/her friends to bring one or two people to the reading. Even if all of these people don’t buy books/magazines, they have had direct exposure and might tell someone who might tell someone else who might eventually make a purchase. Don’t underestimate the marketing power of word-of-mouth! Co-op money is sent to Although the author may suggest local bookstores as reading sites, the publisher should schedule events the bookstore after the conclusion of an event to because bookstores may ask for co-op money, and only the publisher knows how much s/he can offer. share the cost of the The bookstore effort may include radio spots, mailings to their clients, small ads in community or advertising or publicity. alternative newspapers, listings in the bookstore calendar, and posters announcing the reading in the bookstore window. When you discuss co-op with bookstores, find out what they will be doing so your publicity efforts don’t overlap. CLMP Monograph 13

Many bookstores will understand if you have an extremely limited budget. Some may suggest a specific fee, but make a counter offer if you cannot afford it. Co-op money asked of nonprofit and small presses usually ranges from $75 to $125. However, a number of independents don’t even raise the question of co- op with small presses, and chains such as Border’s and Barnes and Noble will occasionally waive all co-op money for publishers with limited budgets. The bottom line is— if you cannot afford any co-op money, tell that to the bookstore right up front. Other reading venues, such as cafes, writing festivals and literary centers will not bring up the issue of co-op money and should also be approached as potential sites. I once heard through the publishing grapevine that a very well known New York City bookstore charged publishers $500 for a reading event. An author I was working with wanted, above all else, to read in this bookstore. Knowing that $500 was almost half the entire publicity budget for the book, I called the bookstore’s owner and asked if an exception could be made for this author. The bookstore owner didn’t know what I was talking about as she never charged anything near that amount of money and only asked that the publisher print some announcements and flyers. The event was a resounding success, and the book continues to sell well in that store eight months after the fact! So don’t believe all the war stories you hear; pick up the telephone and find out the facts for yourself! Once you book an event, generate as much media around it as possible. Often bookstores will help you, For more information on whether or not you have a co-op agreement. The local daily paper(s), as well as alternative weeklies, author events see the CLMP monograph From usually have a calendar of events. If you can afford to, send galleys or books to the book reviewers at Doughnuts to Cham- these papers. Radio (especially a local NPR affiliate) is also excellent publicity, and the author, as well as pagne: The Art of the bookstore, may know of good radio stations to try. Bookstore Promotions.

Working with Bookstores on Media

I once set up a tour for an author published by a small feminist publisher. The event was held in a chain bookstore and the special events coordinator, although very enthusiastic, assumed without looking at the galley that this would be an event of special interest to the lesbian community. The book was subsequently only advertised to that community, which was a shame because it was a book containing a lot of heterosexual sex. So don’t assume that the special events person will have an opportunity to look at the material. Give him/her a good idea of the content and audience. Stress to the bookstore that you are trying to augment advertising and publicity with radio and newspaper interviews. Sometimes bookstore people will help get a news person interested in a particular author. When dealing with media people to set up interviews, don’t bother trying to describe the book or magazine over the telephone; you need to send these people proof that it’s sensational. Galleys or samplers are very, very necessary in this case. You can do all the cajoling you want after they’ve received them. Don’t turn down taped interviews. It is fine if the interview airs after the event because the bookstore in that area will still have books or magazines available.

Other Publicity Opportunities Radio

Radio interviews work best when paired with an author event, whether it be local, regional or national. That way, the book/magazine not only gets the publicity from the interview itself, but the event is sure to be announced at some point. I once had an author from a small press in San Francisco who had an interview the day of her reading on an NPR affiliate in Chicago. The interview aired live, and immediately after the interview, all 35 copies of the book sold out at the bookstore where she was reading before the reading even took place! NPR affiliates are particularly good because they tend to have arts shows, and often the people who listen march straight to the bookstore after an interview! 14 CLMP Monograph

If you are not sending an author on tour, you can still do a “radio tour.” Like a reading tour, this involves picking various cities where you’d like to concentrate publicity and getting phone-in radio interviews in those cities. If your author lives in a city with a radio station, rent studio time for the interview to take place with professional equipment. The radio station doing the interview usually picks up the fee for studio time. While you do want to think about which cities are most strategic for your tour, you can be a little less discriminating as radio interviews won’t cost you any money. You will find the most radio interview activity in major metropolitan areas and university towns. However, if an author doesn’t have a particular connection to a city (s/he’s not from there and doesn’t have a reading scheduled there) or if the book does not somehow relate to the city, radio producers may be hesitant to book your author. This is where radio guides come in. Other media guides Radio guides, such as Ad Lib Publications’ Radio, Phone and Interview Shows, contain listings for radio include: New York Publicity Outlets, programs across the country and include a description of show content. If you have a novel set in a Metro California Native American community, look for shows which cover fiction, or deal with minority issues, or Media, The Broad- possibly even socio-political issues. Most radio guides, however, are not this specific and list only the casting and Cable stations and their contacts in particular areas, along with a brief description of each station’s focus— i.e., Yearbook. “Talk/News,” “Urban Contemporary.” Media guides can be found at the reference desk of major public libraries. After doing your research, call the station and talk to someone in programming. Ask if they have any shows which do phone interviews, and for those that do, describe the book/magazine briefly and ask if there are any shows that would be appropriate for your author(s). If there is a show that sounds promising, either send material and follow up in a couple of weeks, or talk to the producer and see if s/he is interested and then send material. Set aside galleys/review copies/material for major syndicated radio like Fresh Air, Voice of America, and National Public Radio. While it is extremely competitive to get on any of these (VOA being the easiest), you never know when one of your books/magazines will fit into one of their shows, and the publicity reaped is enormous. Radio can also be utilized through public service announcements. Many radio stations, especially your local stations, are willing to air 2-5 minute spots (taken from your press release) as a public service. As with so many of your publicity efforts, developing relationships with the local stations will give you a better shot at getting your announcement on the air.

Media Trips

On a media trip, a Media trips are great ways to build relationships but take time to prepare and cost money. Before you publicist or publisher goes to one or more run off to New York City, do a media trip in your own backyard because local newspapers, magazines, cities for the purpose of radio shows, and television shows should know of your existence. presenting new titles/ material to the media. To become acquainted, find out who the book review editors, lifestyle editors, art directors and pertinent producers are in your region. Write letters introducing yourself and your organization and send a book or magazine to show their quality and subject matter. Follow-up with telephone calls and offer to come and meet with them. The first meeting doesn’t take more then 20 or 30 minutes and can be the start of a friendly and mutually helpful relationship. Take some time to introduce yourself and your press or magazine and then focus on one or two books or a specific issue. If it is a first-time visit, find out how they best like to handle materials. What are they looking for? How can you work with them? How often should you follow up? If you are starting a new publishing venture, send out press releases including an announcement of your existence and mission, the first list you will publish (for book publishers), your distributor and a list of pertinent contacts. This will be helpful in getting people interested and will help them recognize your press when you call for your first appointment. CLMP Monograph 15

Eventually, you may want to make a trip to New York, the location of much of the publishing industry media, either because your organization is growing or maybe because you need to be in New York for other reasons. This trip will mean more to you and may seem less daunting after having spent some time on home ground. Regularly scheduled media trips are more important for books than for magazines, and trips should be taken approximately 6 months ahead of books’ publication dates. Two trips to New York per year (one per season) is standard for the publishing industry. However, if you have a smaller list, one well -timed and -planned trip will do the trick. Consider questions to ask the editors that you meet with: • What are they looking for at this particular time? • How far in advance do they work? • If they won’t do a full review, is there a column or section that mentions books/magazines, such as “Editor’s Choice,” “Hot Tips” or “Best Bets”?

Editors are generally eager to help and will honestly tell you if they think a book or magazine has a chance for coverage in their publication. However, before making appointments you should have a realistic idea of what various magazines and newspapers are interested in covering. What is the targeted general age/ socioeconomic/ethnic/gender group of each magazine and newspaper and do your books/magazines fit that group? This doesn’t mean that you need to subscribe to every magazine and newspaper on the market, but three or four times a year, spend some time with various feature magazines to see how books/magazines are represented in their pages. The more materials you take with you, the better; catalogues, press releases, author information and galleys are all helpful. If galleys aren’t ready, send them later, but you must at least leave a catalogue or press release information. If you do have these materials, make sure you have enough for all the editors with whom you are going to meet and one or two extra. When you get home, make a chart of who needs what materials, and send them as soon as they are available. Be sure to write letters to the editors with whom you met thanking them for their time, describing what you are enclosing (if anything), and offering to answer any questions about the books. CONCLUSION

The only trick to As someone who knows your books or magazine inside and out, you are in a great position to share that publicity, as with most marketing, is to enthusiasm. And whether you might send out support materials in a 42¢ folder or send an author on a evaluate your organiza- national reading tour, implementing some of the ideas in this monograph can help you generate tion and fit your efforts excitement around your books or magazine. to its strengths and resources. If you are Yes, as with everything else, money does help with publicity, but the real keys to publicity are timing, just getting started, don’t worry if you creativity, perseverance and a quality book or magazine to publicize. These four elements are easily aren’t ready to within the grasp of all literary publishers. As a smaller publisher, you can give publicity a personal touch approach the major that commercial publishers are often unable to provide. This personal touch is best used to your media, work on developing a presence advantage if you make a commitment to putting aside some time for publicity and integrating it into your in your local commu- publishing operation. nity instead. Integration is vital because the most common mistake I see people make, other than not even thinking about publicity, is to pursue it only as an afterthought. Support materials are not effective if sent out only when you have a free moment because inevitably that will be too late. Materials regularly sent out after publication will never generate interest, and the efforts will have been wasted. Too many times, a publisher’s response to that situation is “See, press releases don’t work. I never get any publicity.” That cyclical reasoning causes many to give up on one of the most inexpensive marketing strategies available. Don’t let it happen to you. 16 CLMP Monograph Appendix I: Media Contacts

The following is a non-comprehensive list of Kirkus Reviews The Philadelphia Inquirer print media contacts which have demon- strated an interest in literary magazines and 200 Park Avenue South #1118 400 N. Broad Street, PO Box 8263 press titles. In all cases, it is recommended New York, NY 10003 Philadelphia, PA 19101 to acquaint yourself with a publication before (212) 777-4554 (215) 854-2000 approaching the contact person about covering your magazine or title.

Library Journal Publishers Weekly 249 W. 17th Street “Forecast Section” New York, NY 10011 249 West 17th Street The American Book Review (212) 463-6819. New York, NY 10011 Illinois State University (212) 463-6758 Campus Box #4241 Normal, IL 61790-4241 (309) 438-3025 Literary Magazine Review English Department San Francisco Review of Books Kansas State University 126 South Park Manhattan, KS 66506 San Francisco, CA 94107 The Bloomsbury Review (913) 532-6716 (510) 286-2020 1028 Bannock Street Denver, CO 80204 (303) 892-0620 Los Angeles Times Book Review Select Fiction Times Mirror Square PO Box 1041 Los Angeles, CA 90053 Sharon, CT 06069 Book Week (213) 237-5000 (phone # not available) Chicago Sun-Times 401 N. Wabash Ave. Chicago, IL 60611 (312) 321-3000 Multicultural Review Small Press: The Magazine of 6 Birch Hill Rd. Independent Publishing Ballston Lake, NY 12019 c/o Jenkins Group (203) 226-3571 121 East Front St., 4th Floor Book World Traverse City, MI 49684 The Washington Post (616) 933-0445 1150 15th Street, NW Washington, DC 20071 New Pages: (202) 334-6000 Access to Alternatives in Print PO Box 438 Small Press/Small Magazine Review Grand Blanc, MI 48439 Dustbooks PO Box 100 Chicago Tribune Books (313) 743-8055 Paradise, CA 95967-9999 435 N. Michigan Ave. (916) 877-6110 Chicago, IL 60611 (312) 222-3232 New York Review of Books 250 West 57th Street, Suite 1321 New York, NY 10019 VLS (Voice Literary Supplement) The Village Voice Choice (212) 757-8070 36 Cooper Square 100 Riverview Center New York, NY 10003 Middletown, CT 06457-3445 (212) 475-3300 (203) 347-6933 The New York Times Book Review 229 West 43rd Street New York, NY 10036 Women’s Review of Books Feminist Bookstore News (212) 556-1942 Wellesley College PO Box 882554 Center for Research on Women San Francisco, CA 94188 Wellesley, MA 02181 (415) 626-1556 (617) 283-2555 CLMP Monograph 17 Appendix II: Author Questionnaire

Author: Title: Author’s real name (if above is a pen name): Address:

Telephone number (work, home, and fax, if appropriate): May we give your address and phone number to press, radio and television should they ask for them? Yes____ No_____

1. Biographical particulars The more informal the better. Please include any information connected with the writing of your book, your professional qualifications and posts held (academic or otherwise.)

2. Published works— Please list all books and articles you have had published, giving the publishers and dates.

3. Photograph Please supply a glossy black & white photo of yourself, suitable for publicity use and for possible reproduction on the jacket of your book. Preferably it should be non-copyright; if it is not, please indicate who owns the copyright. Also, where possible, please give photo credit.

4. Local publicity In which areas or towns do you think local publicity would be particularly useful? Please give reasons (hometown, studied there, have relatives).

5. Special displays Please list any bookseller, retailer, gallery owner who might be willing to mount a display of your book, and give reasons.

6. Individuals mailing list List family, friends, associates whom we should alert to your publication and possibly invite to such events as booksignings.

7. Mail promotion If a printed leaflet or flyer is decided upon, what groups or organizations would you suggest we mail to? Please indicate which of these publish journals, giving the journal’s name where known. Any addresses you can give will be most helpful.

8. Review copies These are distributed a month (or more) before publication. Those going to newspapers and most journals are generally addressed to their book review editors. If you think it would be worth sending additional copies to particular reviewers, with or without personal letters from you, please list their names and addresses.

Please list any local or specialist newspapers/journals which you wish to be considered for the review copies list.

9. Media contacts If you know of any live or print media contacts who might be willing to do features or articles on you or the book, please give their names and addresses here. 18 CLMP Monograph Appendix III: Sample Press Release for Magazine

Creative Nonfiction P.O. Box 81536 Pittsburgh, PA 15217-0336 Tel: 412 422 8404 Fax: 412 422 8405 RELEASE DATE: June 7, 1995 CONTACT: Lee Gutkind, Editor "Emerging Women Writers" Issue of Creative Nonfiction Showcases New Women Writers

Mining Talent-- Lauren Pittsburgh--One of the exciting aspects of working as an editor is the talent you sometimes discover Slater's "Three among the many unsolicited manuscripts you receive--the "slush pile," as it's called in publishing. Sphere's" For a while, nonfiction by poets dominated Creative Nonfiction for editor Lee Gutkind, and the One of the unsolicited result was the theme issue "Poets Writing Prose." Pulitzer Prize-winner Charles Simic's essay from that pieces Gutkind is issue was recently chosen by Jamaica Kincaid for the 1994 volume of Best American Essays. especially excited about is an essay by Lauren Recently, Gutkind says, the slush pile has been dominated by nonfiction by women-- "women Slater about her practice as a psychologist in who are really dealing with significant issues of the day." Boston and her own experiences with a So in the current issue of Creative Nonfiction, released in June, Gutkind decided to showcase debilitating mental "Emerging Women Writers." Essays include a women's rejection of her Mennonite upbringing and illness. After Gutkind another woman's protracted struggle with a dangerous childbirth. accepted Slater's essay, "Three Spheres," Mortality is a theme among these works. In one essay, poet and nature-writer Diana Hume Random House paid in the high six-figures to George is nearly blown off a cliff while hiking, bringing her face-to-face with her own mortality and her acquire Slater's first father's suicide. In another essay, a woman explores her fear of aging as she watches the elderly collection of essays, in swimmers at her pool. which "Three Spheres" appears. An essay by Jane Bernstein ponders the frustrations of mothering a child with serious disabilities. Bernstein is the author of Loving Rachel, a nonfiction book that has become a classic for families of children with special needs but, Gutkind says, has not gotten the attention it deserves. The lead essay in "Emerging Women Writers" is by Jeanne Marie Laskas, a regular columnist for the Washington Post Magazine and a frequent contributor to many national commercial magazines, including Life, GQ and Rolling Stone. "Emerging Women Writers" also includes an in-depth profile of Diane Ackerman, whose book, A Natural History of the Senses, was recently adapted into a PBS miniseries. New Writers and National Distribution Two years ago, Gutkind started the journal--the first literary journal devoted exclusively to creative nonfiction--with the twin goals of establishing and showcasing new talent. With that list of contributors and a subscription base of 2,500 and growing, he has achieved both. The journal is published by the non-profit Creative Nonfiction Foundation, an educational foundation dedicated to fostering this growing literary genre. Creative Nonfiction is available by discount subscription and is distributed nationally by B. DeBoer and Desert Moon Periodicals, and in Canada by Marginal Periodicals. CLMP Monograph 19 Appendix IV: Sample Press Release for Book News From Curbstone Press ...... 321 Jackson Street, Willimantic, CT 06226 TEL: (203) 423-5110 FAX: (203) 423-9242

For Immediate Release Contact: Mary Bisbee-Beek (612) 690-0907

The Other Side of Heaven Post-War Fiction by American and Vietnamese Writers

CONTRIBUTORS TO Edited by Wayne Karlin, Le Minh Khue and Truong Vu THE OTHER SIDE OF HEAVEN: Wayne A literary collaboration toward reconciliation on the 20th Anniversary of the end of the War in Vietnam Karlin, Le Minh Khue, Truong Vu, John Balaban, Bao Ninh, Richard Bausch, Larry “This book was born out of the meeting of two people who, Brown, Robert Olen Butler, Philip Caputo, if they had met twenty years previously, would have tried to kill each other.” Judith Ortiz Cofer, Da Ngan, Andre Dubus, — Wayne Karlin, Introduction to The Other Side of Heaven Gloria Emerson, George Evans, Lary Heinemann, Ho Anh Thai, Hoang Dhoi “We must teach each other to love so that war will never happen again.” Phong, Thom Jones, Ward Just, Thanhha — Le Minh Khue to writer W.D. Erhart in Hanoi Lai, Andrew Lam, Le Luu, Ma Van Khang, Bobbie Ann Mason, David McLean, Ngo The idea for The Other Side of Heaven (publication date September 1995) grew out of a series of meetings Tu Lap, Nguyen Mon between American and Vietnamese writers and War veterans at The William Joiner Center for the Study of Giac, Nguyen Huy War and Its Social Consequences at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. The participants felt they Thiep, Nguyen Qunag Lap, Nguyen Guang could achieve reconciliation and heal wounds of war through Vietnamese and American stories which Lap, Nguyen Xuan illustrate a common humanity. Hoang, Tim O’Brien, Breece D’J Pancake, The most comprehensive anthology of fiction about the Vietnam era, this collection is unique in that it Phan Huy Duong, brings together the fiction of former enemies for purposes of peace. These stories represent the “second Robert Stone, Tran Vu, Vo Phien, Vu Bao, wave” of fiction— works about the aftermath of the Vietnam conflict as it moved into both countries, John Edgar Wideman, touching and forever changing not only the veterans, but also their families and societies. U.S. editor Xuan Thieu. Wayne Karlin writes: “I look on this book as a true labor of love— a way to use literature to help heal the wounds of a war that neither country seems able to forget or forgive . . . . A book of fiction by former enemies (and co-edited by former enemies) is a powerful and unique idea . . . . Nothing like it has been done in the history of conflict and in the history of literature.”

(continued) 20 CLMP Monograph Appendix V: Contributors List

ABOUT THE EDITORS

For information about WAYNE KARLIN served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam. In 1973 he co-edited and contributed short the national tour for The Other Side of Heaven stories in the first anthology of Vietnam veterans’ fiction, Free Fire Zone. He has written four novels: featuring Wayne Karlin, Crossover, Lost Armies, The Extras and US. He has also worked as a Journalist and his non-fiction and Le Minh Khue, and Ho reviews have been published in Gannett Newspapers, The Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post. Anh Thai, contact: Alexander Taylor at LE MINH KHUE was born in Thanh Hoa Province. She joined the People’s Army of Vietnam at the Age Curbstone Press— Tel: of fifteen and spent much of her youth on the Ho Chi Trails serving as a member of the Youth Volunteers (203) 423-5110. To arrange print or Brigade. From 1969 to 1975 she was a war reporter for Tien Phong (Vanguard) and Giai Phong (Liberation) electronic interviews Radio. A short story writer and novelist, her works include Summer’s Peak, Distant Stars, Conclusion, with the editors or An Afternoon From the City and A Girl in a Green Gown. She won the Writers’ Association national feature stories, contact: Mary Bisbee-Beek, award for best short stories in 1987. Her most recent collections of short stories are Small Tragedies (1993) Beeksbee Books, and Collected Works (1994). She is an editor at the Writers’ Association Publishing House in Hanoi. 1489 Lincoln Avenue, St. Paul MN 55105. TRUONG VU, essayist, literary scholar and translator, sits on the editorial boards of some of the major Tel: (612) 690-0907; Vietnamese language journals in the United States. An ARVN veteran who left Vietnam in 1976, he lived Fax: (612) 699-9441. for some time in a refugee center and then moved to the Washington, D.C. area where he went on to earn advanced degrees in Electrical Engineering and Nuclear Physics. He is the editor-in-chief of Doai Thoai (Dialogue), a forum for Vietnamese intellectuals in Vietnam and abroad. ### .

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