Showing posts with label Random House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Random House. Show all posts

Monday, June 13, 2016

Literary Landmarks Designated for New York City Authors - E.L. Doctorow and Erich Maria Remarque

MEDIA ADVISORY


Attention: Events, Metro, New York City, Books, Landmarks


Subjects: Authors, E.L. Doctorow, Erich Maria Remarque, Events, Literary Landmarks, Literature, New York, New York City, New York State,  Real Estate, Writers   


MEMBERS OF THE PRESS ARE INVITED TO ATTEND. Please RSVP


Literary Landmarks Launch
for New York Notable Authors:


E.L. Doctorow and Erich Maria Remarque Homes
To Be Designated New York City Landmarks


WHAT: Literary Landmarks Dedications to the Residences of Two New York State Authors, E.L Doctorow and Erich Maria Remarque. Event organized by the Empire State Center for the Book and United For Libraries. Plaques to be presented in a ceremony with talks. Rooftop reception to follow, at 320 E. 57, underwritten in part by Random House, a publisher of E.L. Doctorow.


WHO: Rocco Staino will speak on behalf of United for Libraries and the Empire State Center for the Book; New York City Councilman District 5 Ben Kallos on behalf of New York City; other literary scholars to be announced; and the Doctorow Family attending.


WHEN: Saturday, June 18, 2016, 2 PM


WHERE: 320 East 57th Street, New York, NY (Remarque’s building); Followed by 333 East 57th Street, (Doctorow’s building); and then returning to 320 E. 57 for a rooftop reception. (Reception is not open to the public; for the press and by invitation only)


WHY: The literary heritage of New York City, specifically two neighboring buildings on East 57th Street, will be recognized with the dedication of two literary landmarks. These will be the two closest literary landmarks anywhere in the United States.


320 East 57th Street is where writer Erich Maria Remarque rented an apartment on the 15th floor. Remarque is the author of All Quiet on the Western Front and used the apartment as a setting in his last novel Shadows in Paradise. He continued to live here with his wife, actress Paulette Goddard, until his death in 1970.


333 East 57th Street is where E.L. Doctorow lived at from 2000 until his death in 2015.  He was the author of such classic works of fiction as The Book of Daniel, Ragtime, Billy Bathgate and World’s Fair. While living here he wrote The March, Homer & Langley and Andrew’s Brain.


MEMBERS OF THE PRESS ARE INVITED TO ATTEND. Please RSVP.


RSVP:
Susannah Greenberg, Public Relations, 646-801-7477, publicity@bookbuzz.com
OR
Rocco Staino, Empire State Center for the Book, 914-475-3857 rocco.staino@gmail.com


MEDIA CONTACT: For further information or questions, please contact Susannah Greenberg, Public Relations, 646-801-7477, publicity@bookbuzz.com


DoctorowHF12.jpeg

E.L. Doctorow’s  (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) works of fiction include Homer & Langley, The March, Billy Bathgate, Ragtime, the Book of Daniel, City of God, Welcome to Hard Times, Loon Lake, World’s Fair, The Waterworks, and All the Time in the World. Among his honors are the National Book Award, three National Book Critics Circle Awards, two PEN Faulkner Awards, The Edith Wharton Citation for Fiction and the presidentially-conferred National Humanities Medal. In 2009 he was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize honoring a writer’s lifetime achievement in fiction, and in 2012 he won the PEN Saul Bellow Award given to an author whose “scale of achievement over a sustained career places him in the highest rank of American Literature.” In 2013 the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded him the Gold Medal for Fiction. (Photo by Ryan Brenizer)









Erich Maria Remarque photo by Jerry Bauer.jpg

Erich Maria Remarque  (22 June 1898 – 25 September 1970), born Erich Paul Remark, was a German novelist who created many works about the terror of war. His best known novel All Quiet on the Western Front (1928), about German soldiers in the First World War, was made into an Oscar-winning movie. His book made him an enemy of the Nazis, who burned many of his works. (Photo by Jerry Bauer).




The Empire State Center for the Book is committed to the book in all formats. Interests of the Center include the promotion of the culture of reading, literature, literacy, book arts, and book history throughout New York State. The Center will work with publishers, libraries, museums, educational institutions, scholars, authors, illustrators and other interested parties to enrich book culture for the people of New York. The Center for the Book relies on grants, sponsorships and the contributions of individuals who share the ideals and support the mission of the Center to promote literature, literacy and libraries. It is the New York affiliate of The Center for Book in the Library of Congress.


United for Libraries is a division of the American Library Association. It is an association of library trustees, advocates, friends and foundations. The mission of United for Libraries is to support citizens who govern, promote, advocate, and fundraise for all types of libraries.






MEDIA CONTACT: For further information or questions, please contact Susannah Greenberg, Public Relations, 646-801-7477, publicity@bookbuzz.com

Friday, May 25, 2012

"Fifty Shades of Grey" Publisher to Keynote at uPublishU at BookExpo America


Contact: Susannah Greenberg,
Susannah Greenberg Public Relations,
 (646) 801-7477,
publicity@bookbuzz.com


Jenny Pedroza of The Writer's Coffee Shop, Original Publisher of "Fifty Shades of Grey"


Jenny Pedroza, 
Discoverer of Bestselling Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy, 
to Keynote at uPublishU at BookExpo America


(New York, NY, Sunday, June 3,  2012)

As the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon impact is being felt throughout the book industry, BookexpoAmerica is launching a day of education devoted to self-published authors called uPublishU at the Javits Center in New York City.  The keynote address will be given by the discoverer of the best selling,  Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, Jenny Pedroza. The book was born out of the self-published eBook boom and may very well be pointing the way to a new publishing model for the entire book industry.

The  Fifty Shades of Grey erotic book trilogy by E.L. James, is now possibly the best selling book of all modern publishing. The trilogy was recently reported in Publishers Weekly to have sold over 10 million copies and to constitute 25% of the adult fiction market in the last few weeks.

And who is behind this publishing juggernaut? According to Christopher Kenneally of the Copyright Clearance Center,  this editorial miracle maker "is a third grade teacher named Jenny Pedroza from Mansfield, Texas, about to leave teaching and then step onto a plane to BookExpo America on Sunday June 3rd, to speak a uPublishU.  She is one of the founders of The Writer's Coffee Shop, the original publisher of the trilogy before Random House took it over.  She had no publishing background but was a writer of fan fiction.  She and the other founders of The Writer's Coffee Shop, an online reading and writing community, discovered and decided to go after E.L. James and publish her, so that others could enjoy her work.  Now Pedroza will be quitting teaching third grade because of the success of Fifty Shades of Grey."

Kenneally will be introducing Ms. Pedroza when she gives the keynote address at uPublishU and he will moderate the panel that follows.

"The self-publishing world is proving to be fertile ground for growing the next generation of blockbuster writers, a win-win situation for all involved," adds Kenneally.

Says Pedroza of her success:

"It should be a joy to big publishing houses and the book industry, too, that though we don't yet know the exact shape of the changes to come in this business, the love of reading has in fact been increased by eBooks and social media, and that the readers are out there."

"Fifty Shades of Grey's success combines the strengths of self-publishing, women's fiction,  eBooks, and social media for a winning formula.  This is great news for the book world, as it strives to adapt as fast as it can to digital change, and great news for aspiring authors as well"  observes Susannah Greenberg, of Susannah Greenberg Public Relations,  a veteran independent book publicist also slated to speak at uPublishU on a panel entitled Building The Buzz For Books—The New Book Publicity along with Jim Milliot of Publishers Weekly, the leading book industry magazine and PWxyz a reviews outlet for self-published books, and Patrick Brown of the social reading site Goodreads, a booster of self-published books through reader reviews.

BookExpo America has long been the annual signature event of the bookselling industry where the fall line up of books is showcased by book publishers to booksellers.  But as times change, with the digital revolution, eBooks, and the explosion of the self-publishing industry it engenders, Bookexpo America is evolving to recognize changes in the industry by expanding its educational events across the board in all aspects of the industry but especially the self-publishing world with the launch of its new day of education, uPublishU at BookExpo America.

Successful self-published authors Darcie Chan, of The Mill River Recluse; Brittany Geragotelis, of Life's a Witch; C.S. Marks, of the Elfhunter trilogy; and Theresa Ragan, of Return of the Rose will will all speak at uPublishU as well.

Greenberg's panel at uPublishU, "Building the Buzz for Books," points to another phenomenon supporting the tremendous tripartite boom of self-publishing, eBooks and women's fiction, which is the recent birth of new ways to build the buzz for books, especially social media.  Social media and reader reviews are becoming more important as traditional book reviews in print outlets such as magazines and newspapers are shrinking and disappearing, while social reading sites like Goodreads grow larger every day.  Goodreads has 7.3 million members, more than 100 million page views and 15 million unique visitors a month. It is a US Top 150 site, the 10th largest social networking site and growing. It is the world's largest site for readers and book recommendations.

"As the self-publishing world expands, discoverability amongst the thousands of self-published books out there, is a challenge.  Goodreads, with its vast community of readers and PWxyz with its book industry clout,  are critical bellwethers to readers and others in the industry that a new book is attention worthy, " says Greenberg, pointing out that Fifty Shades of Grey success was helped by the 11,000 plus readers reviews on Goodreads and that even more recently, a new women's erotica book is breaking through,  Bared to You by Sylvia Day and its ascent is assisted by the over 2800 ratings of it that have been posted in less than two months on Goodreads.

Says Greenberg about how the digital revolution has changed the practice of book publicity for  her, "Book publicity has been virtually transformed in the last five years both by the increase in the number of self-published authors I represent and the ways in which I can now publicize their books. Before eBooks and social media, I was loathe to take on self-published authors because of the obstacles of book distribution issues and the unwillingness of mainstream media to cover books which are self-published.  But eBooks and social media have changed all that.  And I think that the leadership at BookExpo America are to be commended for their vision, for recognizing that change has come, that self-publishing now has a seat at the table, and that with the launch of the uPublishU event, BookExpo America is working to educate the book industry and authors alike to work together for the success of all."


###

Related Links and Stories:

Fifty Shades Trilogy Tops 10 Million Sold http://pwne.ws/Kl8JFx

10 Million Shades of Green: Erotic Trilogy Dominates Book Sales

PW Daily: Berkley Touting Its Own 'Fifty Shades' Imitator
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/52041-berkley-touting-its-own-fifty-shades-imitator.html

Greenberg to Speak at uPublishU:
http://bookbuzzbysgpr.blogspot.com/2012/02/susannah-greenberg-to-speak-at.html





###

For further information, please contact:
Susannah Greenberg, Susannah Greenberg Public Relations,
(646) 801-7477,
publicity@bookbuzz.com