Defining Canada » publicity

Meeting Peter Gzowski

kmcmullin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Peter Gzowski week on Defining Canada. My header today is misleading, I’ve never officially met Peter Gzowski. I listened to Morningside semi-regularily in my 20s. I knew that Peter liked to golf, and that he loved anything to do with the Arctic. Once upon a time, I worked for Owl Books (at the time an off-shoot of Owl magazine). We published a book on Inuksuks. I thought it might be something that Peter would enjoy so I took the liberty of sending a copy over to his office at the CBC. I can’t remember if he actually replied, which makes me think he probably didn’t. Until this month, that story was the only connection I had to the celebrated journalist and broadcaster. Now I am connected on a whole other level, through R.B. Fleming’s Peter Gzowski: A Biography. I knew the book would be big, I knew it could be political – did I want to be responsible for potentially showing the cracks in a Canadian icon? Careful to seed the manuscript with a few select contacts, the positive feedback was instantaneous beginning with Maclean’s magazine (Lies Peter Gzowski Told Us), and Robert Fulford’s column in the National Post (A Complicated Canadian Romancer). Following that came the Canadian Press (Biographer Claims Peter Gzowski had Secret Child). Each headline has become more and more sensational, but the articles associated with those headlines have all proven to be very thoughtful and reflective, based on the reporter’s own experiences with Peter. R.B. (Rae) Fleming has spent the last two weeks discussing all angles of Peter’s personality and history with the media (many of the producers worked on Morningside). Peter was a complicated man, to say the least. Warm and engaging on the radio, he could be distant and downright rude to guests and friends. The biggest revelation is of course the ‘discovery’ of Peter’s son, Robert Perkins, now in his 50s. The Toronto Star ran a front page exclusive interview with Robert this past Sunday (A Life in the Shadows as Gzowski’s Secret Son). Thrilling as it was for me behind the scenes to see this sort of coverage, it’s the first time for me as a publicist that a book I’ve worked on has made an impact on someone’s life to the extent that this one has. I’d be interested to hear about your stories of Peter Gzowski – please feel free to share them this week with us.

Greetings from the Promo Lounge!

kmcmullin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:11:07 +0000

Hello, welcome to Dundurn, thanks for taking the time to check in. I thought I’d start my first official blog for Dundurn with a recap of my hectic day.Publicity is a fun department simply because each day is completely different, whether you’re sending out media alerts, booking interviews, or assisting with author requests.

This morning started with issues with my computer (now fixed), followed by news that Girl on the Other Side, a YA novel written by Deborah Kerbel, was, as of yesterday, shortlisted for the Canadian Library Association’s Young Adult Book Award. She’s in excellent company, as the other nominees include Shane Peacock, Arthur Slade, Janet McNaughton, and Carrie Mac, amongst others. The award will be announced on June 3rd, in Edmonton. I had the distinct pleasure of contacting Deborah to inform her of her nomination (the first she’s had for one of her books).

Next came a scheduling issue with Phil Edmonston, author of the Lemon-Aid Car Guide series. Phil and I have worked together over many years so we’re a great team – I’ve asked him to do some crazy interviews (I’ll tell you the story about Phil at the Toronto Airport someday). Tomorrow he’s scheduled to talk to the Toronto Star, CBC Montreal and Goldhawk Fights Back on Zoomer radio…two on location, the third as a phoner…all within a two hour time frame. Can he do it? We’ll find out.

Advance reading copies of some fall titles just went out the door to the top ten media contacts, and now I’ve got some time to contemplate my presentation next Wednesday night for CANSCAIP (a children’s author and illustrator assocation), I’ve been invited to talk about the marketing and publicity process for children’s books…no sweat, right? Except that I’m presenting along with Arthur Slade (on Skype)…that’s HUGE! Check in next Wednesday for a preview of my presentation!

Got any questions about how the publicity train works? Let me know and I’ll get back to you!

New On The Scene

Marta — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:36:19 +0000

Hi, have we met? I’m Marta, the recently hired and very excited but still disoriented and a tad nervous publicity assistant. It’s great to meet you!

Today marks the end of my very first week at Dundurn, and boy, has it been a jam-packed five days! I’ve been assigned the titles I’ll be working on, sat in on my first meetings, and was even able to set up a media interview for an author I’m working with. I’m slowly learning my way around the office and each day I get more comfortable. I can only imagine what things will be like a week or month from now.

As a public relations student I interned with a television news station, so my decision to move into publishing came a bit from left field for many of my friends and family. I’ve been fielding the same question since announcing my new job: why publishing?

To me, publishing is the perfect harmony of my personal and professional interests. I’m a self-professed book nerd (I’ve read close to 50 books in the last six months) and would gladly trade an evening out for a good book and mug of tea. Professionally, I’ve always loved writing, meeting new people, and using my skill set to help others achieve their goals. Publicity affords me all of these opportunities and more.

It seems I have started at a busy time and I have much to look forward to in the next month. We have two big tradeshows coming up and this will be my first time attending. We have a launch event next week, another event shortly after for which I will be assisting the author with media, and not to mention getting into the routine of daily responsibilities: press releases, media requests, and more.

There is still much for me to learn, but I’m delighted to be aboard the Dundurn Team. My plan is to blog again one year from now and see how things have changed since today. In the meantime, If you’re ever in the office wondering who I am, chances are I’m still trying to figure out how to use the photocopier.

A Day in the Life of a Publicist

Erin Winzer — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:02:30 +0000

Oh what an exciting day! Not only did today see the launch of Bookarmy, but it is also Canada Book Day and Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.Â In light of it being Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day we here at Dundurn thought why not tweak the name a bit to Take Our Readers to Work Day, that way you, our readers, can see what goes on during a day here at Dundurn. So without further adieu here’s what the day has broughtÂ

9:00:A yummy start to my day – eating a bowl of oatmeal while checking my emails and twitter. The majority of the emails I received had to do with an upcoming launch for Susan Papp’s Outcast, which a heart warming true story about a couple that is separated during the Second World War and who are reunited years later in Canada. UpdateÂ RSVP list.

9:30:Finishing up the copy for a flyer annoucing the release of Art and Politics by Sarah Jennings which the OttawaÂ Writer’s Festival has kindly aggreed to put on display for us. Â

10:00:EmailingÂ copy for the flyer to my colleague Erin (yes there’s two of us!) and I’m now finalizing the titles that we will be submitting to the QuillÂ & Quire for their Fall Preview edition.

10:35: My boss Beth (VP of Sales & Marketing) arrives back from the London Book Fair. Chatting about London and what’s going on here ensues.

10:45: ReceiveÂ the Art and Politics flyer from Erin. It looks wonderful! Really eye-catching. Proofread it and send her a few changes that need to be made.

11:00: Working on one of my favourite projects – the Teachers’ Resources Guides that we are developing and have been postingÂ online. Click here to seeÂ our webpage which is still in development.Â Right now I’m working on getting the tables and graphs for Speechless ready for Erin to design.

11:41: All done with the Art and Politics flyer! And I’m back to working on the Speechless guide.

12:30: Now working on an invitation list for the upcoming Toronto book launch for Art and Politics. Hmm … now that I think about it it’s been pretty much of an Art and Politics day.

13:00:Lunch time! Mmmm! Going to run some errands and enjoy the fresh air after a healthy lunch of soup.

14:00: Quick update meeting with Beth

14:05: Back to working on invitation list – trying to track down mailing addresses

15:00:Â Fielding queries about whetherÂ I or my colleague Ali will be doing the publicity for certain upcoming titles.

15:15:Â Looking into how to getÂ 38 boxes of books that are cluttering up ourÂ front office back toÂ our warehouse. Â

15:30: Argg!!!! Email isn’t working! Drats!!!!

15:45:Yay! Email is back up and working

15:46: Still working on that invitation list

16:30: Now blogging about my day.

17:00: And that’s a wrap!

Hope you enjoyed this brief snap shot of what aÂ day is like for this publicist.