Publishing Perspectives Article on Book Fairs Past and Present

Day one of Book Expo 2011 was great - saw many friends old and new...

Read my article from Publishing Perspectives recalling the many Book Fairs that I have attended over a 60 year (and counting) career. It is fun.

http://publishingperspectives.com/2011/05/no-business-like-show-business/

StoryCorps Update

I had previously posted the 40 minute StoryCorps PBS oral history interview with my two granddaughters on April 20th. Segments of the interview were rebroadcast on May 16th.

A listener to the rebroadcast send the following e-mail to the station:

"I was driving back to work near lunch time and listened to the StoryCorps interview with Martin Levin. That few minutes lifted my mood. I am 56 and after 13 months of unemployment, I finally had a job. Last week, I learned that my job will be eliminated as of 20 May. I am on the verge of losing almost everything now, and was wondering what to do. I thought my life was beyond repair at age 56, but listening to Mr. Levin, made me realize that I have many possibilities in front of me. He was 61 and started to fulfill a desire to become a lawyer.

I want to thank you for a story that was perfectly timed for me."

Yours truly,

Robert Moore

You may listen to the full interview here, or the rebroadcast in the StoryCorps Atlanta archive. Many thanks to StoryCorps and to WABE.org.

Don Linn to be Editor-in-Chief of the Golden Rules Newsletter

I am delighted to announce that Don Linn has agreed to be the Editor in Chief of the Golden Rules Newsletter that will be available exclusively to our readers!

Don has a a broad and diverse business background. He has worked as a Mergers & Acquisitions investment banker at two major Wall Street Firms, ran a large and diversified Agribusiness concern (including cotton and catfish farming) in the Mississippi Delta, and served as Head of Corporate Development for one of the country’s largest printers. In the publishing industry, he was in distribution (as owner/CEO of Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, which he sold to Perseus Book Group in 2006), publisher of The Taunton Press, and a serial entrepreneur.

He earned his MBA at Harvard Business School and graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University. He is endlessly fascinated by the convergence of technologies with media and with the challenges and opportunities arising from their collision. Don will continue his consulting practice.

Subscribe now to the FREE Golden Rules Newsletter!

StoryCorps Interview to air

Great news! WABE 90.1 in Atlanta have decided to air part of the interview I did for their StoryCorps project. It will air on Tuesday, May 17 around 7:30am and again around 12:20pm, and friends and family outside of Atlanta can stream WABE live from www.wabe.org.

It will also be on the StoryCorps Atlanta webpage beginning the day it airs and will remain on the front page for a week at which point it will be available in the online archive.

Dutch edition of All I Know About Management

Looking good! I am are very excited to share with you the cover to the Dutch edition of "All I Know About Management", from the wonderful publishing house of De Boekerij in Amsterdam.

Listen to my StoryCorps interview

PBS has graciously allowed us to make the entire 40 minute plus interview available!

Those who have heard it (other than family who cannot be believed) have said that it is warm, funny and very informative. I hope you enjoy listening to the interview as much as I enjoyed giving it. Listen Here.

Book Expo America 2011

This year's Book Expo America trade show at New York's Javits Center is coming up on May 24-26, and I have taken booth #4306. I hope to see you there!

Let's meet and take a picture together, and I will give you a free, personally signed copy of the hardcover edition of All I Know About Management I Learned From My Dog, a Reader's Copy of the forthcoming Letters From Angel, and we can share our dog pictures and stories.

There are limited times available: I will sign books on the 24th, 25th, and 26th from 10:30-12:30, and you can sign up in advance by emailing me at mlevin7276@aol.com. I will confirm your appointment by return email. See you there.

Martin

All I Know About Management on Beliefnet

Nice feature about All I Know About Management on Beliefnet.com!

PBS StoryCorps

This photo was taken after I appeared on the PBS StoryCorps program - an oral history project to provide a legacy for the future. I was invited and appeared at the PBS station in Atlanta Georgia on April 17th, and the interviewers were two of my grandchildren, Zoe Crowe and Jennifer Goebel. The interview ran over 40 minutes and portions of the interviews are played on NPR and on line each week. The producer of the Atlanta show called it one of the best interviews she had ever heard! I will be posting a link to the interview soon.

New features on my website

The website for my writing now has a few great new features. Visit now and you can read the first 36 pages of All I Know About Management I Learned From My Dog, subscribe to my free quarterly Golden Rules newsletter (and, for a limited time receive a reader's copy of my next book, Letters From Angel), see a slide show featuring Angel, and more.

I'm off soon to the London Book Fair and will be reporting back. In the meantime, please take a look at my site!

http://www.martinlevin.com

Martin

Amazon and B&N now shipping, London Book Fair news

Great news! The first edition of All I Know About Management I Learned From My Dog is now shipping from Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble well before the "official" on sale date of April 12. Angel and I would really appreciate your buying a copy and posting a review. Or, send it to me so I can share it.

In other news, I am all set to be at the London Book Fair from April 10 to April 14th. Lots going on - I am representing a US-based juvenile publisher with $4 million revenue, profitable, and I am also available to discuss not only All I Know About Management I Learned From My Dog (shipping from Amazon and B&N in the US now, rights sold in 7 countries) but also my upcoming book Letters from Angel, which will be available in October 2011. We will have readers copies of Letters From Angel at the fair, and there are great reviews on both books.

Buy the book from Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble now!

Meet the new star!

It is with great pleasure that I introduce the new star, 14-week-old true Golden Retriever Harvey, who takes over from Angel - a tough act to follow. Harvey is available for personal appearances in memory of Angel on April 12, 2011, the publication date of All I Know About Management I Learned From My Dog.

All I Know About Management I Learned From My Dog will be published by Skyhorse on April 12, 2011, and is available for pre-order now at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Borders.com, IndieBound, or your favorite online retailer.

The Unknown Author - Revealed

I do not know why it was such a shock to me when Linda Biagi, who represents Skyhorse in selling foreign rights, reminded me that I should be grateful for 7 deals she made. “After all, she said, you are an unknown author”. It never occurred to me that after decades in publishing and being the “go to guy” approving deals with authors such as Stephen King, Erica Jong, Ken Follett, Robert Ludlum, Harold Robins, Gay Talese, that I would be “unknown”. And beyond my connection with authors, how could an “unknown “ who with his partner made the deal that allowed the Reader’s Digest to be published in the Soviet Union without censorship. Or that in 1999, the Association of American Publishers, gave me a lifetime award. My mind ticked off the events of the past and considered how could anybody be “unknown” when he went to law school at night while holding his full time job running the fifth largest book publishing company, graduating at 65, passing the bar and having a very successful law practice, and at 92 write not one, but two books that will be published…..and so on, and on.

I was delighted that at least one person, Joan Lappin, was paying attention and wrote it all down in a review of my book, “All I Know About Management I Learned From My Dog.” I met Joan in 1969. She was the young analyst assigned to cover the Times Mirror Company. She was very, very good at what she did, getting important information for her clients that no other analystwas able to get. Her style was to ask only a few questions during the open session, then wait until the room cleared to ask you the tough questions. I knew I could expect a telephone call from her after the announcement of the earnings report and to hear the usual, “ tell me about this.”. She knew the industries she covered, made money for her clients, and then went on to establish Gramercy Capital Management which she still runs.

Until I read her review, I did not realize she knew so much about me. I am like most authors. We live with a book for a long time (and in this case a dog, too) so that once the book is published, we are not sure if we achieved what we set out to do. We need the reaffirmation from readers and reviewers. Angel taught me that “management” need not be that complicated. Joan showed me that I really was not “ unknown”. I would be pleased if you would read her review that follows.

Thank you, Joan.

Click here to read Joan's review and article at Deduced Reckoning, her blog on Forbes.com.

My book, All I Know About Management I Learned From My Dog, will be published by Skyhorse on April 12, 2011. Available for pre-order now at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Borders.com, IndieBound, or your favorite online retailer.