Ashley Grayson Literary Agency Blog » Publicity

Rework Attack ad on Karl Rove

Ed — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:35:20 +0000

The founders of the website 37signals.com are also the developers of Ruby On Rails, the hottest new technology for building websites available. In addition to being innovative programmers, they are shrewd business people and www.37signals.com offers a variety of web collaboration tools for managing contacts, content, and tracking projects. Anyone can try these cloud applications for free and upgrade to paid services as business grows. We’ve used these cloud applications at the Grayson Agency since the first version to lower cost and improve productivity.

Now they’ve written a book on business innovation: Rework. It’s on my must read list, but today they innovated some book marketing; they released a gorilla marketing meme for their book (already a success) in the form of an attack ad on Karl Rove’s book: Courage and Consequences. I plan to read Karl’s book too, right after I finish all the books in the other great fantasies: Harry Potter, Twilight, and Kitty Norville. In case you’ve been living in Grand Fenwick or Narnia for the past decade, Karl is the popularizer (if not the inventor) of the angry political attack ad that plays fast and loosey with the truthiness of content. Check out these links. This is modern book marketing at its best. Hey, it got me to post their PR for a book we don’t even represent.

Stay tuned. This blog will shortly return to its regular program of revealing the real secrets of publishing.

Amazing Earthquake Trick

Ed — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:12:30 +0000

Los Angeles experienced a 4.7 earthquake last night. Carolyn and I were sitting on the sofa when the shaking began. This was the most sudden and violent quake I’ve felt in 20+ years in LA. Nothing broke and no damage is apparent, yet one, and only one, book out of a thousand on our shelves, jumped out of a bookcase and hit the floor with a resounding BAM. The book in question was Ricky Jay’s Journal of Anomalies, a collection of his essays on hoaxsters, hustlers, and cheats (to quote the cover). This flying book event is worth a blog entry because Jay’s profession, when not writing books, is making objects do unexpected things. How did he do this; he wasn’t even in the room? See Ricky at work on this youtube video. (Disclaimer: Ricky Jay is not a client; I just like his work.)

Reading publisher’s contracts is much like watching a card trick. Where did the author’s rights go? What’s the value of the contract? Everything seems to be clear in paragraph 5, but wow, paragraph 11 really controls the deal.

Wreck a Cake

Ed — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:09:58 +0000

Our relentlessly creative client, Lisa Mantchev, has begun a Wreck a Cake contest (includes explanatory links) at her website for her YA novel, Eyes Like Stars (Feiwel and Friends, July 2009). Bake. Wreck. Collect swag.

Kitty & The Silver Bullet on NYTimes Bestseller List

Ed — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 01:16:55 +0000

One large attaboy for Carrie Vaughn whose fourth adventure of Kitty Norville the werewolf disk jockey from Denver, CO made its debut at number 23 on the mass market paperback list. You can see the cover elsewhere on this blog.

Cat Yoga, purrrfect gift for your cat loving friends

Ed — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:59:33 +0000

Carolyn’s imaginative client, Rick Tillotson, is the creator of Cat Yoga, published by Clarkson Potter ($14.95). It can be found in the Humor section of most bookstores and online at Amazon.com and the usual suspects. You can visit the book’s website and send a Cat Yoga ecard from:http://www.catyoga.net