Tayari's Blog: Meet Lauren Cerand, My Publicist

Tayari Jones: How did you get into doing book publicity?

Lauren Cerand: Looking back, it's clear that there was a door open and I walked through it. But at the time, I was tired of feeling stymied in traditional public relations settings and situations, ready to boldly step out on my own, and needed a challenge. Many people will tell you there's nothing harder than persuading lots and lots of people to voluntarily consume literature but it's actually quite enjoyable when a little ingenuity is involved. I work on a wide variety of cultural projects -- fine art, film, etc. in addition to books and related endeavors, and I'll keep doing it as long as it's satisfying and it's been tremendously so thus far. I'll refrain from repeating myself on a few points, so for more details on my background and how exactly I ended up where I am, more or less, please see a guest piece I wrote for Conversational Reading/

TJ: Describe your dream client. (I am not fishing for compliments!)

L.C: Well, I can use you as a dream example, can't I (you are!)? First, I have to adore the concept, whether it's a novel, work of nonfiction, exhibition, film, performance, artistic body of work, whatever. And let me make it clear, that attraction is akin to that old chestnut people use when breaking up, but in reverse: It's not that I love XX, it's that I am in love with it. I remember the exact moment I finished reading The Untelling. I was on the Chinatown bus from New York to DC and it was late at night and winter and somewhere around Wilmington when I closed the book and held it to my chest, glanced out the window at what I think of whenever I leave Manhattan as "America," and said to myself, "I've just read the Great American Novel. One of the rarest things in existence is in my hands." It may sound over-the-top, but that's exactly how I felt when I finished The Untelling. And to make it clear, I receive many more inquiries (my business is conducted entirely through referrals and word-of-mouth) than I could possibly take on, and not many books make it to that stage. There must already be something that I instinctively like when I ask to be sent the work in question, but I've read books that I believed I would love and not felt that spark. There are different manifestations of that essential experience: it may be that I like the way an author has handled a particularly difficult subject in a new way, it might be political in a sense that I may admire, a genuinely beautifully-written story, or simply quirky and offbeat in a way that touches my heart. When I pass on a project, it's not necessarily because the book is/was a failure in any regard, but rather that it wasn't a good fit at the time, and it's certainly not personal. Well, once it was, so scratch that. Right now timing is a big issue for me because I have no desire to know what I'll be doing in 2010! And of course, the client has to be motivated, excited and willing to take risks. My work is too high-end and specialized not to be, at its core, a collaboration between many parties invested in the success of the book -- author, editor, agent, in-house publicist, marketing department and so on. My clients don't just sit back and wait for the reviews to roll in; with my guidance at every step of the way, they are expected to write guest pieces for appropriate publications, participate in the right events from readings in bars to bookstores and more, actively work with me to create and apply innovative strategies to our campaign, and be extremely proactive partners in the ultimate success of their books and careers.

TJ: Were there any particular challenges in promoting me, as an African American author? And, of course, the bright side, was there any aspect of promoting The Untelling that was easier because I am a black author? Or did it not make a difference at all?

LC: When we began working together, I came up with the idea of the first Emerging Writers Network live e-panel, "Emerging Southern Women Writers and Bloggers Discuss ... Labels," to shift the emphasis away from people's subconscious impulse to assess things without examining them, e.g. "Southern writing is like this, women writers are like that..." (I continued that meme a few weeks ago with another EWN confab, "Writing Women's Voices". Participating in that initial conversation helped me to conscientiously approach things from a more cosmopolitan, decidedly non-marketing perspective, e.g. the exact opposite of "Since you're black, there's your audience" and that professional shorthand that bored people who lack expertise use as an actual way of doing things. A truly good story is universally appealing. Which is not to say, there haven't been -- blessedly few -- instances that revealed the nature of racism in America and how subtle, frustrating, and enraging it can be. In one case, someone with whom I had an established relationship rebuffed my inquiry with a generic reply that I couldn't understand. I obsessed over it for hours, parsing the meaning of a few words constructed into a mystifing response, until I realized oh, I get it and shrugged my shoulders and moved on. But it obviously still burns. The thing I love most about working with books -- which are just ideas in a particular format, a fact that people often overlook, confusing the sterility of the medium with the potential vibrancy of the content -- is their power to ignite passionate debate and force people to assert their opinions in a society that too often seems preprogrammed to mindlessly shuffle us from one activity to the next. So to that end, working with you has been really fun, especially when you wrote The Colored Section for Maud Newton. I loved seeing people clip a sentence or two from that essay and post it on their own blog with lengthy, often provocative and intensely personal commentary, and the fact that those of us who engage with books professionally might learn something from your very poignant account of touring the literary world in two Americas.

TJ: I am sure you get a lot of queries from authors asking what they should do to promote their books. Are there three things you would advise an author NOT to do?

LC: 1. Don't trust your representatives at your publisher to make your book a success. They alone don't have that power. Have a clear-eyed conversation with your editor about what exactly will happen and how you can best make a positive impact on the process. Have the same conversation with your agent. And your in-house publicist. And friends and contacts who have published a book, made a film, started a small business, a bookgroup, a charter school, a church or community-based organization, and more. Every one of those people will give you at least one smart idea that is not "Check your Amazon ranking, preferably three or four times, but no less than once, a day."

2. Don't overlook the small things. For one, you have all those contacts I just mentioned. Consider your online presence. How do people get information about you? Would they have to "click around" for more than five minutes or do more than one online search? Guess what? Most of them won't. There are many options for authors today: A simple "just the facts" website, a blog, a MySpace page, a Flickr account, and so on. Pick one and plan to maintain it for at least the six months before and six months after your book's publication. Postcards are great. Get some and always have twenty with you for the same period of time (whenever I have coffee in my local cafe, I ask the owner if I may leave a few postcards as she's delighted by the idea that her cafe is a meeting place of exchange for local creative types. When I get home, I replenish the supply in my bag so I'll be ready for the next opportunity). They don't have to be expensive. Your publisher may make them for you, or may agree to design them if you'll pay to have them printed ( 4over4.com is a great resource).

3. Don't assume you can't afford a book party. Your most valuable asset is your unique network. An easy way to tap into it: make a list of everyone you have done a favor for in the last two years. Now add to it the names of everyone who has done a favor for you in the last five years. Next are people who you've met once or twice in the last year but would like to get to know better. And then a dozen people who are friends of friends but perhaps not acquaintances of yours (yet). That's half of your list. The other half should be comprised of friends, family, professional contacts and your "inner circle" of people with whom you have regular contact. Invite all of these people to a party to celebrate your new book on your official publication date. Use your postcards as the invitation. It doesn't have to be fancy. If you live in a city, fill your bathtub with bottled beer. If you have outdoor space, get a keg. If it's during the week, make it an after-work Happy Hour, and order a couple of pizzas as well. If you don't drink, you can have cake and coffee on the weekend instead for more of a Brunch feel. Ask a family member or friend who's an aspiring photographer to be responsible for getting some great shots that you'll post online with credit by name to your "event photographer." Make some eclectic mix cds in advance or plug your iPod into the stereo, set to shuffle, just as your guests arrive. Get a small glass bowl to fill with raffle entries -- slips of paper that guests will write their email addresses on to sign up for your mailing list -- and let different guests do the honor of picking winners as you raffle off 4-6 small prizes connected to the book, e.g. temporary tattoos, a CD, etc. Forget offering free books, but have a stack of postcards and bookplates you can sign and give to people who'd like one. Tell friends who specifically ask that it's "BYOB" - Bring Your Own Book. You've got the booze covered.

TJ: Lastly, what are the projects you are working on now?

LC: Well, The Untelling, of course, which is enjoying a vibrant new life in paperback! Two nonfiction books I've had the pleasure of working on this spring and early summer are The Power of Purpose: Living Well by Doing Good by Peter S. Temes, and Pulse: The Coming Age of Systems and Machines Inspired by Living Things by Robert Frenay. Just out in June are two superlative works of fiction, Triangle by Katharine Weber, a powerful novel that examines the nature of truth and history and how we know what we know, and Instant Love by Jami Attenberg, an exquisitely linked collection of deeply affecting stories that "explores what it means to be in love, what it means to be lonely, and what it means to be both at the same time." I'm also continuing to work with the filmmakers of Quality of Life, an award-winning, truly indie film set amidst the graffiti scene in San Francisco's Mission District. Out now is the Collector's Edition DVD, with the soundtrack to come, and Putting the Pieces Together: The Graffiti Model for Indie Filmmaking , to be published by Soft Skull Press later this summer (all expressions of the same global movement and cult following that the film has inspired). And jen bekman, an art gallery that I represent, is opening "Meditations in an Emergency," a group exhibition of work in various mediums inspired by and interpreting Frank O'Hara's poem of the same name (June 20 - August 4). Barnes & Noble is debuting a new summer series, "Upstairs at the Square," at its Union Square location in New York, hosted by Katherine Lanpher, and readers who plan to be in New York on June 21 should definitely join us for that. Anyone who would like to stay in the loop on my projects is invited to join the Luxletters email list at my blog, Lux Lotus, or can now subscribe to receive postcards and related ephemera the "old-fashioned" way, too.