EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Theresa Collier, Publicity

If you're reading our little publishing blog, chances are you're already a lover of literature. But as a devotee of the printed word, do you ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes at an independent book publishing company? How a jacket gets designed or how a manuscript becomes a book? For curious minds, there's no better way to learn the nuts and bolts of the book business than to meet the people behind the magic. That's where we step in.

If you've been following our employee spotlight series, you've already met some of the creative individuals responsible for bringing Overlook titles to the shelves of your favorite neighborhood bookstores. We've introduced editors, designers, marketers, and even our publisher Peter Mayer to highlight the ins-and-outs of the job of book production. Today we're thrilled to bring to the blog publicity pro and social media maven Theresa Collier to shed some light on her role as a publicist at Overlook.

Theresa hails from north eastern Pennsylvania, where she attended Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia and has been a New York native for more than two years. When she isn't coordinating author tours, writing press releases, or pitching story ideas to journalists, Theresa can be found whiling away her time in her tiny NYC kitchen. Please welcome Theresa!

OP: Describe your job in 140 characters or less.

TC: I've turned procrastination into a valid job: I read umpteen magazines, papers, blogs, even Twitter & Pinterest to stay up on news & trends.

OP: What are you currently reading?

TC: Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith, Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, and roughly 101 cookbooks. Those count, right?

OP: What is your favorite book that Overlook has published?

TC: Graphic Design by Milton Glaser and Deadline Artists ed John Avlon.

OP: If you didn't work in publishing, what would you be doing?

TC: Scheming a way to open a bakery or letterpress studio...preferably both.

OP: What is your favorite word (Can be in any language—bonus points if there is a funny/interesting story behind it).

TC: Pamplemousse. I love grapefruit. I love saying grapefruit en Français more.

Notes from a Publicist: Yes, I Really Do Like Penny Vincenzi This Much

A Love Story, by Kate in Publicity



This is a picture of my bookshelf, taken last night. I don't really have an organizational system and promise I didn't re-organize it to look more impressive (or I definitely would have replaced that Adriana Trigiani book with David Foster Wallace or something equally highbrow).

Those of you familiar with Overlook's highest-selling titles might realize the books in the middle--the Penny Vincenzi "Spoils of Time" trilogy. I actually applied for this job having read most of Penny's books, and am ridiculously excited to be working on her new one, Forbidden Places, that comes out in October.

But as I pitch these books, I find myself trying to prove that I'm not just being a publicist--these are historical romances that I actually think are fantastic. Sure, they're not the most literary thing we publish here, but they're pretty high-end commercial romance and I love the historical aspects as well.


I kind of want to attach this picture of my much-loved copy of No Angel to the pitches I'm sending out to reviewers, producers, and bloggers. "I'm one of you!" it seems to say. "Once upon a time, I wasn't a publicist. I was just a reader. And look how many times I read this book!"

In my cover letter that I submitted when applying for this job, I mentioned how I recommended these books to all of my girlfriends (after my grandmother recommended them to me. Generations coming together!). The upside? They loved the books too, and are badgering me for advance copies of Forbidden Places. The downside? I have to explain to them that my job is just slightly less glamorous than that of Lady Celia Lytton.

Anyways, I just wanted to share that it's incredibly fun to be a fan of an author and also get to work with her titles--and that this isn't me fluffing Forbidden Places, I actually AM that big of a fan of Penny Vincenzi.

Do you love her, too? Leave a comment, and be sure to pre-order Forbidden Places (or the paperback of Windfall, out this month!)--I think it's the best non-Celia Lytton book yet. And Penny fans know that that is high praise, indeed.

Happy reading!

Negative Reviews: What's the Point?

Yesterday, PWxyz asked a question that hit pretty close to home for me, as a publicist--"what's the value of negative reviews?" A good question, and something that I've wondered about myself when breaking the news to an author that a review--and it's worse when it's a major review or a first-time author--has panned his or her book.

PW's question was actually originally found on Sarah Rees Brennan's blog, in this thought-provoking entry. She brings the interesting perspective of both a reader and a writer, and knows how hard it can be to read that sort of criticism about something over which a writer has labored.

Like any other person who reads a ton of books, I hate many, many books. Oh, how I hate them. I have performed dramatic readings of the books I hate. I have little hate summaries. I have hate impressions. I can act out, scene by hateful scene, some of these books. I can perform silent hate charades.

And in the past, I have reviewed a couple of books I hate. And then I would always feel crappy afterwards.

And I would wonder why. After all, I hated them! It was a public service to warn people off them!

This is why. One is that I am sort of terrible at reviewing things I hate. I am not reasonable about it. I do not add ‘Oh, but despite my loathing for the subject matter, the prose was excellent’ or ‘Still, the idea of a dragon in love with a tree is an intriguing one.’ And I feel that, especially since hate reviews are the most popular ones, because people love to see people hating on stuff, nobody is sure why but it is fascinating! – I feel it’s important to be able to write a hate review as close to objectively as you can, explaining why and wherefore, and not only getting your cruel mock on.

She also (wryly and somewhat hilariously, for anyone who's ever held the hand of a poorly-reviewed author) discusses her "addiction" to reading her own reviews. Really, the entire entry is worth a read, but it also leads to something that's important to realize--most reviewers will only review books they like.

Well, I start with only reviewing books I really, really like, or books I love. The books I hate? No. The books I'm 'meh' about? Also no. And sometimes I don't review books that I do love, because I forget or I don't have time. (Another good reason not to review books I hate: no time, and I already wasted all that time reading them!)

But does this mean that nobody in the world should write negative reviews? No - I think people should. And this is lucky, because people will whether I think they should or not.

(As an aside, this also reminds me of this post on BookSlut, which made me comb through their recent reviews hoping against hope that they weren't referring to one of my authors.)

But the larger question asked by both Rees Brennan and PWxyz is a good one, and one that I struggle with fairly frequently. PW sums it up well with this:

The value of negative reviews is endlessly debated in reviewing circles. Some reviewers really enjoy putting the boot in, while others find it distasteful. Some, like Rees Brennan, both enjoy it and find it distasteful. PW publishes mixed and negative reviews, but many other publications don’t. However, no one debates the value of positive reviews, even though exactly the same considerations apply: they affect a writer’s morale, a book’s sales, a reader’s approach to the book. Reviewers and review publications would seem to have the same responsibilities in either case. So why are negative reviews so polarizing? And can this debate ever be definitively resolved?

You'll never find me in the "any publicity is good publicity" camp, but I do think that it makes sense that most book reviews are somewhat positive--unless it's a popular or big-name book, without reviews (or excellent marketing and sales!) most people will never read it and chance wasting their time and money on it, anyways. Helping steer people towards books they might like, and distilling why the book is worth reading, does seem like it should be a main point of book reviewing. If a book is simply not very good, why waste precious review space?

What are your thoughts? Have you ever read a negative review and read the book anyways? What do you do when you read conflicting reviews?

The Fine Art of Setting Up Book Signings

There’s an interesting article in today’s Wall Street Journal from Joanne Kaufman—Authors: Where Do I Sign? It talks about the delicate balancing game publishers face when setting up author signings, and it’s definitely something that we deal with on an everyday basis here at Overlook. While we recommend reading it in full, here are a few excerpts, with our thoughts.

"Which authors get to sign at which New York locations is a tricky gavotte involving publishers, chain bookstores and other venues. In fact, independent bookstores or locales like the 92nd Street Y are sometimes more appropriate perches."

As an independent publisher, we particularly like working with independent bookstores. Their specialties and dedicated staffs are always a joy, and the unique personality of each bookstore can work really well with many of our authors.

However, working with Barnes & Noble and Borders is a crucial part of our jobs. Getting to know the big locations of their stores, particularly in Manhattan, is one of the first things every publicist learns to do. Their staff works extremely hard to accommodate our preferences and needs (and will also sell books off-site at events, which means those sales will be reported to best-seller lists—huge bonus!) and it’s an efficient and friendly business model.

“It's not that certain branches confer more bragging rights than others, according to literary agent Laurence Kirschbaum. It's just that certain branches are simply better for certain types of books. "There are definitely uptown authors and subjects and downtown authors and subjects," he said. "A lot of it has to do with where a writer has most of his posse. Thus, you're not going to put the latest Tea Party author at the B&N at 82nd and Broadway," Mr. Kirschbaum continued, alluding to the store in the heart of the famously liberal Upper West Side.

This rings particularly true to us. Even a chain store will have its own personality, whether it’s in terms of size, accessories (the Lincoln Triangle B&N has a piano and excellent video equipment), or the surrounding neighborhood. An author who’s a West Village or Upper East Side resident or native will often get the best response there.

“Whatever the location, "the key thing is the network the author can call on to show up," said Mr. Kirschbaum. Indeed, Ms. Gottlieb's publisher asked about the size of her mailing list and the number of people she thought she could recruit for her event. "And they had to provide that to Borders to justify why they should have me there," said the author, who ended up with a respectable crowd of 100.”

Interesting anecdotes: that sports books often get the lunch slot at the Wall Street borders, and that it’s no coincidence celebrity books are usually at the biggest B&N, in Union Square—there’s capacity for over 1,000 people.

Anyways, whether you’re an aspiring author, a harried publicist, or a reader who enjoys meeting and greeting authors, this article delves into an important part of book marketing and publicity that isn’t often exposed to the public. (Interested in book publicity in general? We enjoy Book Flack at Large and the Book Publicity Blog).

And as an aside, we’ve dealt with this recently—author David Carnoy will be reading, discussing and signing from KNIFE MUSIC on Thursday night at 7:30 at the Lincoln Triangle B&N. Want more info on David? Go here. Hope to see you there!