By the way, I’ve signed with a new publisher!

Remember last summer when I posted about VerveStar? (July 11, 2010) They’re a highly-rated international PR firm now branching out into more comprehensive media services and publishing. I met one of the partners, Miranda Spigener, while they were doing some contract work for my previous publisher. Later I did a bit of work for them on their new website, http://www.vervestar.com/, which is still being renovated, and was thoroughly impressed by their capabilities and operations. So when they approached me about taking over the Ammanon series, it was, like, are you kidding? I’m there!

VerveStar has a radically different approach. Actually, it’s the way it should’ve always been. Sort of an “Ah-hah!” moment in the literary industry. As recognized leaders in the PR world, the VerveStar partners understand that it’s publicity that moves the market. Obviously, you can’t sell it if nobody knows about it, right? Therefore, VerveStar is developing the publishing around the publicity...the way most businesses have done for years!

It only makes sense to build a campaign around the author and his book, and then publish in the wake of that in-place and ongoing publicity. This will provide authors with a much better outcome than the hap-hazard, largely do-it-yourself marketing programs of today’s publishing houses. VerveStar believes that the first and final product needs to be the publicity, not the book. They are publicists first, publishers second.

Think about it. Why do it any other way?

Elle Newmark’s The Book of Unholy Mischief : the story is history and suspense, but the book itself is a mystery. It…uh…smells good

There is a whole lot to say about Elle Newmark. Her PR coup, a virtual book-launching party that reached 500,000 people and netted her a prestigious agent and a 7-figure advance from the likes of Simon & Schuster, is legendary. I “met” her on Nikki Leigh’s blog http://detailwithnikkileigh.blogspot.com/ where her uproarious “Better Late Than Early” article was posted. Finding we were the same age and both newly published, I shot off an email with sisterly congrats. She was packing for India at the time but answered me anyway. We had a few exchanges since, and I still frequent her blog.

As for the story, it immerses us in 16th century Venice. We live history through the eyes of an urchin named Luciano who is plucked from the streets by the head chef of the lavish Doges Palace. But in the midst of exquisite culinary details, we are caught up in a vicious search for a particular book of alchemy, said to contain the secrets of wealth, power, and life itself. Beautifully and cleverly descriptive, the story twists, turns, and finally emerges as a lasting testament to wisdom and truth. (That was excerpted from my own review of this book.)

But this isn’t about either of the above. It’s the physical book itself. It smells good. That’s right. It smells good. It filled the room with a mysterious, ethereal fragrance the second I pulled it from its wrapper. The hardcover binding was absolutely steeped in it. It’s not like anything I’ve ever smelled before. It’s a haunting, hypnotic floral incense type of thing. What the heck is it? I sniffed my way passed high-end department store fragrance counters. Nope. I ducked into candle shops, hobby shops, and boutiques. I even browsed extensively in a mix-your-own perfumery in the Bahamas. Nope again.

But never mind the what of the matter. It’s the how and the why. Is it some gimmick Simon & Schuster employs with its Atria imprint? I emailed Elle. No, she’d never heard of them doing that. Ever.

I contacted the Amazon distributor who shipped it. No, she hadn’t personally spilled anything on it and hadn’t noticed anything peculiar when she acquired it.

When I was at the Book Expo in NY back in May, I stopped by the Simon & Schuster booth and asked ‘em point blank. Why, no. They’d never heard of such a thing!

Could it have happened in transit? But there would’ve been stains and fragrance on the padded envelope, right?

Ah, well. One more deep inhale and I’ll return it to the bookcase. Some things are just meant to remain a mystery, I suppose…

A VerveStar is Born!

ENTERTAINMENT ∙ LITERARY PUBLICITY ∙ PUBLISHING ∙ MEDIA ∙ EVENTS ∙ PR

Okay, so VerveStar has been around for a while. It’s a literary PR firm I met through my first publisher. One of the partners, Miranda Spigener, happens to live in the area so I’ve actually met her. She surprised me by showing up to my first book signing a couple of years ago. She’s done a lot for me: got me on the shelf at Borders, got me translated into Indonesian, and wrangled me a neat display box. Much more, actually – guidance, encouragement, etc.

So what’s new? VerveStar is debuting their greatly expanded media services, now including special packaging and book publishing. They have a great new website: http://www.vervestar.com/ to which my miniscule contribution is to research the “Today in History” calendar feature.

Anyway, I find the whole thing terribly exciting. Miranda and her partners have been working sleeplessly on this launch for over a week now. They’re already well proven; real hard-hitters and go-getters.

Actually, everything in this field is pretty much over my head, but I'm learning!

In the meantime, I want to wish them all the best in their new ventures!