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The Tip Sheet
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issue of : May 2005
- Quotation of the Month
- PTA - PTA Faith
- PTA's Upcoming TeleSeminars
- Surfin' - A source for websites
- What Have You Done For Me Lately? - Our latest media bookings
- Tips From the Top - Our monthly advice column: Self-Promotion
- Look What's Coming Up - A calendar of upcoming events
- Media Training
- Getting to Know You - An interview with Breanne Heldman at the New York Daily News
- Upcoming Publishing Events
Quotation of the Month
"Never judge a book by its movie."
—J.W. Eagan
If you've got a great quote you want to share, send it to us at kohand@plannedtvarts.com. Thanks!
PTA
PTA Faith is the full service Christian division of Planned Television Arts. Headed by an experienced and dedicated team of Christian publicists, PTA Faith has worked hand in hand for more than 25 years with many Christian publishers and authors to promote their books, and bring their message to both the CBA market and general mainstream market.
PTA Faith has established an excellent reputation for not only helping religious publishers reach the mainstream media with their crossover titles but also for helping mainstream and Christian publishers reach the secular and Christian media with their religiously themed titles. In addition, PTA Faith has represented a number of Christian organizations that want to reach both Christian and mainstream audiences for their events, such as, The National Bible Association promoting National Bible Week, Women of Faith (New Life Clinics) promoting their conferences, and others.
- Actor, Chuck Norris - Against All Odds (Broadman & Holman Publishers)
- S. Truett Cathy, Founder of Chick-fil-A - It's Better To Build Boys Than Mend Men (Looking Glass Books)
- Ruth Graham & Sara Dorman - I'm Pregnant, Now What? (Regal)
- Former ABC News Science Correspondent, Michael Guillen - Can A Smart Person Believe in God? (Nelson Books)
- Dr. Neil Clark Warren - Falling in Love For All the Right Reasons (Center Street)
- Dr. Robert Schuller - Don't Throw Away Tomorrow (Harper San Francisco)
- Gracia Burnham - To Fly Again (Tyndale House Publishers)
- Charles Colson - The Good Life (Tyndale House Publishers)
PTA has developed relationships with religion writers at Associated Press, Time, Newsweek, USA Today, Religion News Service, and the major dailies across the country. Recent campaigns have included national broadcast appearances on NBC's Today Show, ABC's The View & Good Morning America, Fox News Channel and CNN. PTA Faith also maintains close ties with all major Christian media (The 700 Club, Hour of Power, Life Today with James Robison, FamilyLife Today, Christianity Today, New Man Magazine, Today's Christian Woman and CBA Marketplace, etc.).
We also offer unique signature services, such as the Morning Drive Radio Tour, which can be done in one day reaching 18-20 major Christian stations, as well as the Teleprint Conference that offers major Christian authors the opportunity to speak to religion writers around the country in a news conference format done entirely over the phone.
Please contact: Sharon Farnell at 212-593-6337 or farnells@plannedtvarts.com
PTA's Upcoming TeleSeminars
- Wednesday, May 25th from 2:00-3:00pm ET
Author, book-marketing consultant, seminar leader, television host, and president of Book Marketing Works, LLC, Brian Jud shares his expertise on special sales beyond the bookstore. - Wednesday, June 8th from 2:00-3:00pm ET
Founder and President of PR LEADS Expert Resource Network, Dan Janel will speak about how to use teleseminars to get publicity, build brands and extend marketing efforts both online and offline.
Here's how to participate:
Please call 580-474-3600
Then press in the code: 222089 and hit #.
Remember, our TeleSminars are free, costing you only the price of the phone call. If you missed our last Teleseminar, you can dial the replay line at 580-431-2837 (Press the # after you dial in) or go to our website www.plannedtvarts.com.
Surfin'
www.thebookstandard.com is a one-stop online information center for the publishing industry. In our world of numbers and charts, they provide Nielsen BookScan-powered best-seller charts, book-market analysis, news (on rights, sales figures, book-buying trends etc.), reviews (from Kirkus among other sources), commentary, and job boards, plus extensive database resources. They also include information on bookstores, e-commerce retailers, publishers, agents and publicists. In their own words, they want to offer "nothing less than the measure of all things book."
From 8 tracks to iPods, we've been careening rapidly down the technology highway. What do you do though when you have great music you can no longer listen to? The album you can't replace because it never came out on CD? Or a mix you made eons ago that hisses because the cassette is so old? www.ferrismastering.com offers a brilliant alternative to packing your albums and tapes into a box in the attic or chucking them into the wastebasket. For a minimal fee, they will convert your albums and cassettes into high quality CDs and clean up the sound in the process.
What Have You Done For Me Lately?
Here's a sampling of our latest bookings. They do not include all of the bookings for each campaign just the highlights.
Bible Literacy Press Conference on April 26th at the National Press Club in Washington, DC had the following media attend (among others):
- CBS Evening News
- CNN Headline News
- FOX News Channel
- ABC Radio
- Associated Press
- Education Week
- NEA Today
- The Washington Times
It's Her Wedding and I'll Cry if I Want To By Leslie Milk (Rodale)
- CBS Saturday Early Show
Get Them On Your Side By Samuel B. Bacharach (Adams Media)
- New York Times Sunday Business Section (April 3rd & May 1st)
- Fast Company
To Fly Again By Gracia Burnham (Tyndale House Publishers)
- The 700 Club (Christian Broadcasting Network)
- Midday Connection (Moody Broadcasting Network)
- Spirit Led Woman Magazine
- Associated Press
Fearless Investing Series Edited by Christine Benz (Wiley)
- Bloomberg Personal Finance
- "Stock Doctors" (Investor's Radio Network)
- Tribune Media Syndicate:
» Sun Sentinel
» Herald Tribune
» Los Angeles Daily News - Sacramento Bee
- The Times-Picayune
- Omaha World-Herald
- Consumer Reports Money
- CNNMoney.com
- Reuters Online
Tips From the Top
Building the Best Network
"The quickest way to the top is to take everyone with you."
— Bernhard Dohrmann, cofounder IBI Global, Inc.
To build great networks you need great people. Identify the best people, don't just find out who services computers, discover who the best people are who service computers. Learn all you can about them and then work backward to figure out how you can meet them. Continually expand and upgrade your existing network.
Part 1: Focusing on the Best
To expand and upgrade your network requires focus. Continually look for new and better network members. Identify and keep lists of the best people in every discipline, even if you are not interested in them or their specialty area. Ask you friends, family and associates who they would rate as the best. Write down names from the web or articles. Search for links that tie your network members with the names on your list. Find opportunities to approach your targets and ways that you can help them reach their goals. Follow the example of the successful people in your life. Examine how the successful people you know process new information. Then apply their methods to your situation.
The above is an excerpt from the National Best-Seller NETWORKING MAGIC by Rick Frishman and Jill Lublin.
Look What's Coming Up
These are dates that just might relate to a Morning Drive or Satellite TV Tour topic:
July 2005
| June 20th - July 3rd | Wimbledon (Tennis) |
| 1st | Birthday of Diana, Princess of Wales (1961) |
| 1st | Opening of the First US Zoo (1874) |
| 4th | Independence Day |
| 6th - 14th | Running of the Bulls (Pamplona, Spain) |
| 10th | U.S. Lifts Sanctions Against South Africa (1991) |
| 12th | Major League Baseball All-Star Game |
| 19th | Release of Elvis Presley's First Single (1954) |
| 28th | WWI Begins (1914) |
| 30th | Paperback Books Introduced (1935) |
August 2005
| 1st | First US Census (1790) |
| 1st | Premier of MTV (1981) |
| 1st | Air Force Day |
| 2nd | Official Signing of the Declaration of Independence (1776) |
| 4th | Coast Guard Day |
| 7th | Friendship Day |
| 9th | Resignation of President Richard Nixon (1974) |
| 11th - 14th | PGA Championship (Baltusrol Golf Club in N.J.) |
| 16th | Elvis Presley was declared dead (1977) |
| 19th | National Aviation Day |
| 26th | Women's Equality Day |
Media Training
We are often asked about media trainers. Do we provide media training or do we just throw our authors to the media wolves? PTA would never send an author out unprepared to do an interview. After all, it's our reputation on the line as well as yours! Former talk radio co-host on KABC in Los Angeles, Joel Roberts is our media trainer extraordinaire. Joel has trained authors, corporate executives, celebrities and others on how to handle the media. He will be doing a Teleseminar on June 15th to share his expertise. In the meantime, if you wish to reach him, please call (310) 441-2560.
Getting to Know You
Based on the "Getting to Know Your Friends" E-mail that comes around every few months, here are some fun questions and some serious questions that the Tip Sheet posed to adventure, feature writer Breanne Heldman of the New York Daily News.
Q: What was the last film you saw at the movies?
A: "Sahara." I have a Loews card that allows me to see unlimited movies for a year. (I actually just got it last week and it was burning a hole in my wallet).
Q: What is your favorite TV show?
A: "Lost," "The O.C.," "Eyes" and "Grey's Anatomy" are my appointment television shows. I also watch "Carnivale," "Entourage" and just about anything on MTV.
Q: What is your favorite cuisine?
A: Anything my mom makes. But, since she lives elsewhere, lately it's been Italian.
Q: What foods do you dislike?
A: Indian food, cilantro - it's the #1 killer of good guacamole.
Q: What is your favorite CD at the moment?
A: You ask too many tough questions.
Q: If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation where would you go?
A: CinqueTerra, Italy. Wouldn't mind Egypt or Australia either. I'm going on a cruise with my amazing boyfriend to the Bahamas next month, so that'll do.
Q: Where would you like to retire?
A: Villa in Tuscany, cabin in Colorado, penthouse in NYC. You can never aim too high.
Q: Where were you born?
A: Cincinnati, Ohio
Q: Favorite sport to watch?
A: Red Sox v. Yankees. It's a sport in and of itself. (Go Sox!)
Q: Do you have any pets?
A: I used to have this awesome goldfish named Hairy. He was very loyal and liked to dance. He lived for 5 months and died more than a year ago. But his legacy lives on.
Q: What did you want to be when you were little?
A: Big-breasted. Seriously. Last time I was home, I found this book of drawings that we made in kindergarten. On the page where we had to draw ourselves as grown-ups, I drew a stick figure with HUGE boobs.
Q: What characteristic do you despise in a publicist?
A: The characteristic where the publicist keeps calling. One call is OK, but I still would rather you say what you have to say in an email. Actually, I'll take it one step further - this happened to me yesterday (now I'm venting). This publicist sent me an email about his client's event happening in a few weeks. On Outlook, I can read an email and delete it without it showing up as "read." So when I wasn't interested in his event, I deleted the email. He had the nerve to call me and ask me why I deleted it without reading it and tell me he was going to send it again and would I please open it this time. Unbelievable. I told him if he was not going to respect my decisions, I would be deleting all of his emails without opening them, so he needn't send them at all.
Q: What's the best characteristic in a publicist?
A: Now you've got me all fired up and you want me to say something nice? One who is appreciative and respectful that my time is VERY limited and I am constantly on deadline. One who does not use the phone - email will get you a faster and more pleasant response.
Q: Do you really read press kits?
A: Yes, but it doesn't have to be a full-blown, 50-page folder. Just a release and a one-sheet usually does the trick. And that I will take a look at.
Q: E-mail or Phone - what's your preference?
A: Email
Additional notes: When we press folk are requesting images, we usually need hi-resolution jpgs that are 300 dpi or better and typically at least 1 MB in size. Make sure you guys know what that means and can provide it.
Upcoming Publishing Events
PUBLISHING SEMINAR
May 31, June 1-2, 2005 in New York
Attention: Authors or Publishers (or aspiring authors or publishers) who want to make serious money in the publishing business. The vast majority (99%) of authors make less than $50,000 a year. This is the seminar to show you how to be in the other 1%! In Three Content-Packed Days Top Publishing And Marketing Experts Reveal a SYSTEM to Double or Triple Your Income as an Author or Publisher.
The experts include: Jerry Jenkins, Rick Frishman, Paul Hartunian, Alex Carroll, Dave Frees, Fred Gleeck, Phil Huff, Perry Marshall, Shawn Casey, Steven Schragis, Sean Roach and Pamela Brodowsky.
For more information and to register go to http://publishingseminar.com/.
BOOKEXPO AMERICA
June 2-5, 2005 in New York
BookExpo America (BEA), the national trade show for the book publishing industry, will be held June 2-5, 2005 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. BEA will have more than 2,000 exhibits and special pavilions, and over 80 educational and conference sessions. Most sessions are included with event registration.
The Author Autographing Program has been a highlight of BookExpo America for many years for both the new author and the best-selling author.
For additional information on BookExpo America, go to www.bookexpoamerica.com. For additional information on participating in the autographing programs at BookExpo America, contact Dave Holton at dholton@aginet.com.