In Defense of Shia LaBeouf

Last weekend, Shia LaBeouf, the former Disney/Spielberg child actor, freaked out media at the Berlin Film Festival when he did the red carpet with a bag over his head with the words “I am not famous.” At the press conference to support his upcoming film, NYMPHOMANIAC, he insulted the press with a snide comment quoting a French soccer player: “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.” He then stormed out of the room.

I’ve written before about child actors – especially those who were raised by a single parent – but forgetting about Shia’s history, let’s look at what he did this past weekend.

• He was probably contractually obliged to show up at the film festival to promote his film.  When an actor goes to a film festival, they are there to support the project, the director, the producer and his fellow cast.  With his stunt on the red carpet and at the press conference – he definitely brought attention to the project! Mission accomplished.

• His “I am not famous” position was the result of a lot of attacks on his short film. He was accused of plagiarizing Daniel Clowes’s graphic novella Jusin M. Damiano for the short film HowardCantour.com.  LaBeouf has apologized repeatedly, even hiring a skywriter to apologize.  After weeks of tweeting apologies, he declared that he was NO LONGER FAMOUS. Though some press and public doubt his sincerity, the actual damages and rewards are in the hands of the lawyers at this point – so what more would you want from LaBeouf? He’s going to pay damages but he’s already apologized.  Believe him or not, LaBeouf’s repeated apologetic posture has kept the focus on his “penance” if you will.  And again, I believe him. It’s easy enough for a celebrity to have apologized once and then refuse to comment any further to diffuse the situation.

• After Berlin, LaBeouf has had an art installation in Beverly Hills where the public can enter a gallery and stare at him with a bag over his head.  Again, it seems to be performance art of apology. I find this pretty remarkable. Can you imagine if someone like, errr…. Alec Baldwin, welcomed people to say anything they want to him?

I think LaBeouf is sincere because he’s been willing to expose himself to ridicule. In fact, he’s welcoming the interaction and examination.  That doesn’t mean that I don’t think he’s >this< close to a nervous breakdown with very raw nerves, but in this phase of his grown-up career, I commend LaBeouf for bravely removing layers like this.  His decision to do frontal nudity in the Sigor Ros video, his decision to do explicit scenes in NYMPHOMANIAC, and now this very exposed penance.

LaBeouf has been an eager to please entertainer for a long time, ever since his starring turn at the age of 11 in the Disney TV series, EVEN STEVENS.  I had the opportunity to meet him at a Teen’s Choice Awards and he was very funny and witty.  When DISTURBIA clicked artistically and financially, he was demonstrating his acting chops. Each new film project shows him expanding his range – remember, he’s only 28. Subtract these recent episodes and you still have an actor striving to grow artistically – he no longer has to worry about money.  How he’s dealing with the very public attacks and it’s obvious to me that he was blindsided by the criticism.

If you do something wrong, you should apologize and pay damages if applicable.  LaBeouf has done that, but with the ongoing feeding frenzy of criticism, he’s probably at a loss as to what more he owes, and what more he can do to make amends.  He is welcoming the public stoning, but it’s time for a vacation, Mr. LaBeouf!  He doesn’t owe everyone in the world a pound of flesh.

Ender’s Game – Boycotting Principles in Hollywood?

I have to admit, I LOVE sci-fi movies and I’ve been pretty excited about the trailers for ENDER’S GAME.  I have not read the novel on which it’s based, and for the sake of full disclosure, I share the same publisher as ENDER’S GAME’s author, Orson Scott Card.

Recently, I heard about a grassroots boycott against this movie because Mr. Card has expressed anti-gay views.  This made me wonder about boycotts and consistency.

When I was an idealistic kid, I thought that in an ideal world, everyone should have “full disclosure” so that you can choose whether to see a movie, read a book, listen to music of anyone who’s principles you agree with.  But that’s pretty naive.

Let’s take any movie.  Do we know what the politics and beliefs are of everyone on the crew? In the studio? How about the theater staff?  Should we boycott a movie if we found out that the publicist is a neo-Nazi? Or that a special effects person denies the Rape of Nanking?  Would we know if someone in sound design doesn’t believe global warming is real? Or the person selling popcorn abuses her cat? What if you’re a hardcore Democrat- will you not watch a movie directed by a Republican?

But no one has exactly the same values and principles you have.  What if someone’s politics are identical to yours… but they eat meat and you’re a vegetarian? Boycott them?  What if your favorite actor delivers great performances but he doesn’t support the same charities? What if people the people organizing the boycott have differing principles than you?

See how hard it gets to apply principles and boycotting?

In the case of Mr. Card, as a famous author who has won numerous awards, he’s become a public person and his comments are open to analysis – aside from his anti-gay comments, I have no idea what else he believes in. And absolutely, if anyone feels that his books or the movie ENDER’S GAME has any anti-gay message, he will of course be called on it.

But should the movie be boycotted? Hmmm……

This brought to mind some examples of inconsistency in Hollywood.  Miley Cyrus has used openly racist language? Where’s the boycott cry? And Roman Polanski, who was convicted of drugging and raping a girl, is still a celebrated director. Where’s the boycott cry?  And just a couple days ago, talk show host Jimmy Kimmel let a kid say that America’s answer to its debt to China was “killing everyone in China.” Press coverage outside the US has been outrage.  Press in the US? Zero coverage.

I still plan to see ENDER’s GAME. I like Harrison Ford and will see almost anything he’s in. And I like sci-fi.  BUT, it will be my own opinion and taste that will decide if I like the movie at all.  It does remind me of the noise around BATTLEFIELD EARTH – the trailers looked like crap, I didn’t like Travolta, and it didn’t matter to me that Ron Hubbard wrote it. But I chose not to see it because it didn’t look like a good movie – I did not automatically dismiss it because of Travolta’s or Hubbard’s beliefs. I think if we’re automatically dismissing a book, a movie or a song without experiencing it firsthand and just because you don’t agree with the artist, it’s limiting and narrow-minded.

As far as Mr. Card’s politics and beliefs are concerned, I’ll take Entertainment Weekly’s advice and donate the cost of my movie ticket to a cause I believe in.  I think that balances out any economic gain I feel my movie ticket will contribute to Mr. Card’s coffers.

Ben Affleck as Batman – Hollywood politics rears its head

Last night, Warner Bros announced that Ben Affleck will be the new Batman in the 2015 BATMAN VERSUS SUPERMAN to be directed by MAN OF STEEL director, Zack Snyder.

Fan reaction has been mostly negative, and I can see why. In spite of Affleck’s recent successes with ARGO which won a Best Picture Oscar, few people think he has the acting chops and gravitas to replace Christian Bale.

Also, the WB had done something very different this time round. Back in 2000, when the WB was planning BATMAN BEGINS, the casting was wide open and the WB was determined to find a relatively unknown actor to reboot the franchise. The goal was to get an actor who could do the job, not a star who would be too costly. In fact, the part had originally been offered to Ben Affleck then, but his high asking price (reportedly $20 million) and his box office bombs (GIGLI, FORCES OF NATURE, CHANGING LANES, practically any of his movies in the early 2000s…) made the WB continue their Batman hunt with relative unknowns. What this meant was that it was an opportunity for Christian to get Batman fan support as well as the well-organized Baleheads to begin lobbying the WB to cast Christian as the Dark Knight.

Fast forward to this year. What do we get? Every rumored actor – from Ryan Gosling, Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana, Josh Brolin – was evaluated by the fan community. And when Christopher Nolan himself decided to support Wes Bentley (AMERICAN BEAUTY), it seemed as if Bentley’s chances were skyrocketing. Numerous web sites and news outlets confidently predicted that auditions were to begin in September. Bizarrely, a rumor began to circulate that the WB was offering $50 million to Christian to reprise the role.

So where on earth did this sudden Ben Affleck announcement come from?

Politics as usual. Affleck is represented by the same agent and agency as Christian Bale. And what an agent does is wheel and deal, so unlike the last Batman casting campaign, this time, the casting was done behind closed-doors with no eye at all toward fan lobbying. Christian’s agent managed to get Affleck on the list and convince a nervous WB that they needed a star to guarantee BATMAN VS SUPERMAN’s success. This wasn’t the case back in 2005 for BATMAN BEGINS, and it surely wasn’t the case in MAN OF STEEL when relative unknown Henry Cavill became Superman, so there’s absolutely no logic behind needing to cast someone like Ben Affleck who has the baggage of a decade of bad movies as well as the huge bomb, DAREDEVIL. Also DC Comics doesn’t have the same multi-movie strategy as the much more organized and prolific Marvel, so they are counting on this combination of their 2 legendary superheroes to be successful. (Sort of like ALIEN VS PREDATOR but without the stinkbomb factor.)

By making the sudden announcement, you can bet that the WB (as well as Affleck) are watching fan reaction now. Affleck knows what he’s up against, and it’d be foolish for him to do an imitation of Christian’s Batman. He is 11 years older than Henry Cavill so with the cowl and cape on, he might just end up making Cavill look really good.:)

I’m disappointed that Wes Bentley didn’t get the part. I’m disappointed that an unknown actor didn’t get a chance to surprise us. But the movie is 2 years away, and it gives everyone the chance to calm down, wait for Summer 2015 with sharpened knives…:)

Dodger – to an absent friend

Dodger not enjoying a sweater.

They say when you lose a dog, everyone says their dog was the best dog in the world.

I want to tell you why my dog was the best to me.

Dodger was 2 years old when we got him from a shelter in Canoga Park, California. He was a big, sad looking Dachshund. You had to do a double-take because he was larger than the typical miniature wienie dogs. Dodger was more the size of a Basset Hound.

His slave name was Tommy, but we named him Dodger after the LA Dodgers. When we got him home, even Christian liked his name because it rhymed with his old dog, Codger.

From the very beginning, we had inherited a dog rich with personality. He loved to eat, he loved to walk when he was younger, he loved to cuddle. He could smile, he could pretend to faint. When begged, he could also howl a tune. He marched around like an angry miniature hippo when he was in a mood.

He also suffered no fools and would grumble or snap if irritated. He famously bit Christian in the balls when he was prodded and poked beyond the limits of his good nature.

On moving day, when I was preparing to relocate to Austin, Dodger – quite out of character – buried a bone in the courtyard as if he expected to return one day.

We drove across the country to Texas, and he was a good dog, uncomplaining, sitting in the back seat with my dad.

He seemed to like Texas with many more critters to chase and eat. I took him to the Weiner Dog races in Buda, where his size and girth stunned the crowd, and people lined up to take pictures of him.

And in his old age, he was no longer so eager to walk, but he still like to grumble softly when he begrudgingly agreed to snuggle, enjoying the ear-licking attentions of his Texan companion, Odesssa.

Dodger was my very first dog, and I will miss him very much.

How to win the role of Batman

I want you to remember Clark in all the years to come. In all your most private moments, I want you to remember my hand at your throat. I want you to remember, the one man who beat you.

At Comic-Con 2013 last week, director Zack Snyder (MAN OF STEEL) thrilled the crowd by announcing that the sequel to MAN OF STEEL would come out in 2015 (!!!) and be based on the BATMAN VERSUS SUPERMAN tale from the graphic novel, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS.

First of all – go check out THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS – really wonderfully written gritty story about how and why Batman would be fighting Superman. Snyder has been careful to say that the new movie would be based on but not be an adaptation of DARK KNIGHT RETURNS to leave it up in the air who ultimately wins – Batman or Superman. Fans of Henry Cavill may not want to see him beaten up!:)

Secondly, the Baleheads are flipping out, hoping that Christian will change his mind and return to the role that has made him a star.

The Warner Bros press release pointedly said that Batman has yet to be cast, and Christian himself said that after his 3-picture contract, he would not play Batman again. More importantly to Christian, he isn’t going to take the chance of ending his role on a bad note, and obviously what made the Bale-Batman movies unique was that they were all directed by Christopher Nolan. So is he going to play the role if it’s not directed by Nolan? No way.

So who’s going to be the next Batman? The Internet fanboys are trying to draft Ryan Gosling who apparently doesn’t want to do a big movie franchise that would require a 3-picture commitment. A couple actors have already announced that they want the role – including Armie Hammer (THE LONE RANGER), Sam Worthington (Bale’s co-star from TERMINATOR SALVATION), Jensen Ackles (SUPERNATURAL), and Liam McIntyre (SPARTACUS) who was the first to tweet his interest with “dream big!”

I’m sure all of these worthy contenders have contacted their agents to start the lobbying. So let me offer all of these guys the same advice – make sure your fans rally behind you!

When Christian and I put together the campaign to go after the role of BATMAN, we knew that it was fan support that would make the difference – especially when he was originally facing off against actors with similar profile and stardom. If you haven’t read the Christian Bale biography, the actors on the Batman shortlist were: Christian, Jake Gyllenhaal, Henry Cavill, Joshua Jackson, Hugh Dancy and Cillian Murphy. At the time, none of these actors were A-list, so the deciding factor that put Christian over the top was that the fans all wanted Christian. Not just the Baleheads, but the Batfans who had to imagine if the actor would look good in a tux as Bruce Wayne and could be convincing as a fighter. With clips of AMERICAN PSYCHO and EQUILIBRIUM, I launched a campaign to get fan support. And soon fans were doing fan posters of Christian as Batman. The studio was almost sold, but the WB also ran a lot of online polls, and Christian swept every one of them. My other client, Jake Gyllenhaal, was interestingly always in 2nd place!

To my fellow Batfans – don’t waste your time on Gosling. He’s not going to be “drafted” into the role if he doesn’t want to play it. Have a look at the actors who’ve announced their interest, watch their work, and start voicing your opinions.

And actors, have some marketing smarts about this. BATMAN VS SUPERMAN is going to be an expensive movie. Cavill is now a star and will probably have a hit movie between now and 2015. The chances are high then that WB will cast a relative unknown to save some money, but if the unknown has huge fan support, that’s going to make all the difference in the world. The WB formula with BATMAN BEGINS and with MAN OF STEEL is to take the relatively unknown star and surround them with a large supporting cast. The WB doesn’t need a “name” for a franchise movie with the 2 most recognizable superheroes in the world – they need someone that can do the role and have the support of the fans. And remember, whoever plays Batman next will be compared to Christian’s performance and scrutinized very closely by the fan community. The battle plans are in the book – have a read, rally your fans, and draw up your campaign now!

By the way, the Christian Bale biography has swept this year’s book awards!:) Thank you all for your support!

Superman versus Batman

With the huge campaign promoting the return of Superman to the big screen next week, fans are hoping for a 2-part victory – a proper, successful movie version of the last son of Krypton and the subsequent JUSTICE LEAGUE movie which would finally provide DC Comics with their answer to the wildly successful rivals, Marvel’s THE AVENGERS.

So I was chatting with a couple friends and they were saying that they think Superman will be a dud. Superman, they said, represents ideals and values from a different time. Truth, Justice and the American Way. And in the post-9/11 world, it was Batman – the Dark Knight – who better captured the current mood of the country and the world – cynical, fatalistic, nihilistic.

And if you take this a step further, Superman and his god-like qualities and the practically Biblical story – Jor-El sends his only son to save Humankind – hits the screens right when people are more and more vocal about being atheists?

I’m not sure. All the MAN OF STEEL promos feature Christopher Nolan’s name – prominently promoted – hoping that some of that DARK KNIGHT box office magic rubs off on SUPERMAN. And when we look back at when Superman first appeared – in 1938 – it was during the Depression and the worldwide churn just before World War II. Times were pretty dark then too.

Everyone needs something to hope for, aspire to. I recently watched SUPERMAN RETURNS and was a little bored because the story-telling wasn’t particularly motivating. And let’s not forget that SMALLVILLE has kept the Superman torch burning bright for 10 years.

Here’s hoping that MAN OF STEEL is a good movie. Henry Cavill is a wonderful actor and looks the part. Zack Snyder can make good movies – check out 300 or his remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD.

ps
I originally wanted to blog a big thank you to everyone who’s bought the CHRISTIAN BALE biography. In the past 30 days, the book has won Best Biography by the Indie Excellence Awards, and was a finalist for Best Biography by the Indie Book Awards. As my first published book, I can’t ask for a greater reception than that! Thank you, all! I hope you stay turned for the next books!:)

Crowdsourcing – paying 3x for your movie?

So VERONICA MARS fans cheered when they raised $5.7 million for their movie, and Zach Braff using Kickstarter to raise $2.5 million (and counting) for his film project WISH I WAS HERE – not because his movie project is in jeopardy, but because he wants full creative control.

Crowdsourcing – the concept – started off as a way to raise funds for poor and starving independent artists to get support for their endeavors.  Ask anyone at a film festival, and they’ll tell you how hard it is to make a film.  But the use of crowdsourcing for celebrities to fund their pet projects is a warped way of essentially getting the fans to pre-buy their tickets.

Most fans will buy a movie ticket and then buy the movie on DVD/Blu Ray if they really enjoyed it.  Now imagine the fan that pre-funds a movie – sight unseen – just because they’d like to see a movie made?  So this fan is paying for the movie 3x?

Here’s the problem.  Even at the indie film level, financiers and producers INVEST in a movie with the expectation to make money back or to have tax write-off’s.  Since crowdsourcing doesn’t offer that, it’s essentially charity to help a celebrity actor, writer or producer get a project made to demonstrate that they have a large enough fan base willing to put up dollars.

By comparison, a couple years ago, Glenn Close made her pet project a reality – ALBERT NOBBS.  She and her production company chased after the funding, casting and creative.  Emma Watson was instrumental in getting PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER made. There are ways for a film to get financed when they have the backing of a star.  No guarantees, but there are ways!

Zach Braff, who, according to Celebrity Net Worth, was worth $25 million in 2010 could have crowdsourced with a dollar-matching campaign.  His pet project is the sequel to GARDEN STATE, a film that only cost $2.5 million and grossed $25 million.  So does that mean Braff can guarantee his fans a 10x return on their money?  Will Braff take a pay cut to invest in the film? What do you think?

How about VERONICA MARS? Kristin Bell was reported to be worth $8 million.  With the recent announcement of the return of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (also thanks to a loyal fan base but WITHOUT crowdsourcing), I know its a shame when your favorite TV show is cancelled before its time.

Fan power has always been key to a movie, music or TV career, but crowdsourcing seems to me like a cynical way of holding fans hostage: If you want a project made, pay for it yourself.  Imagine if George Lucas or Spielberg asked people to crowdsource the next STAR WARS movie? And why not? Doesn’t sound too far fetched – big fan base, highly anticipated sequel.  Why not get the fans to pre-pay for a ticket?  No risk to the actors. Less risk for the producers/financiers. 

Let’s save crowdsourcing for indie artists. Just don’t ask me for a hand-out – I donated to disaster relief for West, Texas.

 

 

Roger Ebert RIP

Noted film critic Roger Ebert died a couple days ago on April 4, 2013. He’s probably best known for his TV show Siskel and Ebert with their thumbs up or down movie reviews and their sometimes funny bickering. For me, Ebert was also one of the first people who showed me how powerful the Internet could be.

Years before the Web, Ebert had a very active message board on CompuServe – an online community that even preceded America Online (AOL). He posted his reviews there and invited people to discuss movie topics with him. He deftly handled arguments – even in the early days of online community, we had haters and flamers – and he never failed to use the power of moderation to bring silly, pointless arguments to an end.

Ebert had declared that the Toronto Film Festival was one of his favorites because Toronto wasn’t so star-struck nor industry-ridden at the time. It was a film festival for people who love film, plain and simple. I messaged Ebert that I was in Toronto and told him that I’d be happy to recommend any restaurant to him. To my delight, he responded. He wanted to know about vegetarian restaurants because he was trying vegetarianism to address a number of health issues. I sent him a list, starting with Chinese restaurants and then expanding to a number of restaurants in The Beaches area. He was very pleased and went to a couple, even making his way into The Beaches to have a look around.

I guess because I have a memorable first name, Ebert occasionally messaged me privately in response to a couple of my posts. He was intrigued by the “Talk about Actors” folders I was moderating and building for Christian Bale. Ebert did not like any of Christian’s early works, but he was fascinated by the growing active and vocal audience I was cultivating. Within the space of a year (this must have been 1991), Christian was the most talked about actor on CompuServe and AOL. From Ebert’s point of view, here was an obscure British actor with an unremarkable body of work, so he wanted to know why was there the interest in Bale.

Simple. I responded to Ebert. I’m following your example and interacting with the online people. They have questions? I answer them. They want to know more? I supply them with details. When the audience realizes that this is an active actor’s forum, they start to flock and congregate. This was exactly the lessons I learned from watching Ebert’s movie review community on CompuServe.

Ebert’s online model got me very interested in the possibilities of using the Internet to promote actors and movies. He also fanned my own love of movies, and I was happy to contribute to Ebert’s book Ebert’s Little Movie Glossary.

I remember after I moved to Los Angeles, I posted a public question to Ebert, asking him how he liked vegetarianism. To my surprise, I was flamed by angry people all thinking I was insulting Ebert’s weight. (Ahhh, the danger of the Internet.) By the next day, Ebert had posted a reply that I was an “old online friend” and that I was kindly inquiring about his health. Period. End of argument. I was impressed with his fast reply because it showed that he was still very active online, reading his audience’s every word.

Wowza 2013

Belated Happy New Year’s to everyone.  I was looking back at 2012, really amazed at how successful the Christian Bale biography was, and so thrilled with the support of my publisher and the reception of the community as a whole.

I can now go to parties and introduce myself as an author!:)  That’s so cool.  Hello, I’m an author!  I wrote the hit biography of Christian Bale!  Why did I write about him, you ask? Well, I worked for him for many years….  and the dinner or party conversation just gets crazy because of course everyone is curious about him, Batman and Hollywood.

The book has been on Amazon’s Top 100 Best Selling Celebrity Biographies for the past 3 months and has been a consistent seller.  To all of you who’ve remained interested and curious, thank you so much for your support!

I got to go to my first Comic-Con in almost 20 years – I can say that I sat next to Stan Lee to sign autographs!  And gee, he could charge $50 for his signature, while I gave away mine for free!:)

In a year of a lot of up’s, there were a number of sharp downs. I lost a couple of close friends, Dr. Chris Syed and Mrs. Jean McKay, two mentors who meant the world to me. It has taken me forever to decide to unfriend dear Chris on Facebook. And with the loss of Donna Summer, I lost the soundtrack of my formulative years.  Her career gave me a lot of perspective about the entertainment industry.

2012 was also the year I discovered Ezra Miller – very funny guy who was in Perks of Being a Wallflower and a very unfunny guy in We Need to Talk About Kevin.  I’ve very excited to see a formidable new talent on the rise.

So for those of you who wonder, what’s next?  Well, being a published first time author is like being, oh, I don’t know, Carly Rae Jepsen.  You have one big hit, and everyone wants to know, what’s next?

To that end, I have 2 more books on the way.  I can’t say much more about them. I’ve learned last year that I don’t even get to choose the title, but I’ll be happy to keep movie buffs, Baleheads, and writers posted about those projects.  One of them was really thanks to the success of all the social media marketing around the Christian Bale biography, and even though it’s hard to see a 1:1 correlation, it’s definitely important to keep the buzz going!

The best is yet to come!

Book Publicists – Why Authors Are Scared of You

This past weekend, I was at the Texas Book Festival in Austin, Texas, signing at the Writers League of Texas booth.  It was a great experience with great crowds – though it was mighty chilly in the tent!

An interesting thing happens when a bunch of authors get together.  We all compare notes to see how we handled agents, publishers and the matter of marketing and publicity.  We all want to know if we’re being treated fairly.

Of course, every author’s experience varies depending on the different people involved, the type of book, the kind of marketplace. I’m sure J.K. Rowling’s agent returns her calls and emails really quickly.  A new author might have to wait!:)  But the most common complaint among us all was about marketing and publicity.

We all want more marketing for our books.  That’s no surprise. Walk into a bookstore or skim a book web site, and you see how many books, new releases or old, have to compete for attention.  However, what was astonishingly creepy was that a number of authors I talked to at the Book Festival all complained about publicity.

As Christian’s former publicist, I decided to handle publicity for the book with my co-author and with my publisher directly.  We made the decision to go this route after interviewing a number of book publicists who didn’t really convey interest or demonstrate any clear strategies.  When a typical book publicist is asking for $2500 a month plus expenses (minimum 3 months), you can imagine that a newbie author wants to know what they’re going to get for their money!

So here’s the weirdest part of my weekend at the Book Festival – all of the authors I talked to had bad experiences…. with the same publicist!  I’m not going to name names, but it is a local publicist who is very active in Texas, trying to find new victims (errr… authors!) I’m so glad I didn’t sign with that company, but it’s so sad and demoralizing to know that authors – who generally don’t make gazillion dollars like a Stephen King or J.K. Rowling – end up falling victim to a greedy publicity company that knows how to prey on the insecurity and lack of marketing skills most authors have.

This publicist wanted to charge for phone calls, charge for emails over a certain length, and, of course, would promise no results or deliverables.  When she kept mis-reading an email, I offered a quick call to clear up issues, but she told me she’d have to charge – all of this before a PR campaign was even designed or launched!  To put this in perspective, it’s like a receptionist charging you for answering the phone when you’re trying to make an appointment to see the doctor!

Publicity is not an easy thing to create – especially to launch a new book.  It’s not just “PR for Dummies” or by the book.  No, because each book is unique, PR has to be custom tailored to the target audience, the projected market, mining existing contacts and developing new ways to reach a crowded marketplace.

When I was creating a marketing campaign for Christian’s career, we had to look at a lot of variables – what did he want to accomplish, who was his competition, what was the goal.  And because the Bales were penniless when they first moved to the US, it was really important to figure out how to run a campaign for the lowest cost possible.

So aspiring writers, when you’re not writing your book, think about marketing, imagine what your selling points are.  Just like when you sell a book proposal to an agent, who in turn has to sell it to a publisher, you need to “sell” it to the press.

Before any book publicists get cranky out there – I absolutely believe in publicity, but I think there are some real sharks.  An educated author has a better chance of getting the most out of their marketing dollar.  (If anyone knows of an Angie’s List or BBB list for book publicists, let me know!)  You could write the greatest book in the world, but if reviewers and press don’t know about it, how are they going to let their readers know?

As they say in Hollywood, you know what happens without publicity?

Nothing.