Stories and Secrets: December 2007
The beauty of the military thriller is that most live it! Fiction is only one short step away from fact.
I remember my first true-life brush with the spy game. I was a lowly intern working for a Congressman in the final days of Richard Millhouse Nixon’s presidency. Our LA, or legislative assistant, as those who frequent the hallways of Rayburn and Cannon know, asked me if I would like to go with her to a couple of Embassy parties. I quickly said yes.
(As some background, many embassies celebrate their countries’ national holidays with a party, but schedule it a few days from the actual holiday to keep away party crashers. It takes years to get on an Embassy invite list, and perennial staffers on the Hill, like my boss, were often on them.)
The first affair I attended was at Greece’s embassy and, as I soon found out, the Embassy party fits well on the pages of James Bond. Tuxedoed waiters work through the crowd with silver trays of crystal. The ouzo flowed and the dessert table was covered with baklava. The upper echelons of attendees wore tuxes and the worker bees were attired in coats and ties. Among the women, glittering diamonds abounded.
Dealing with the unexpected is just what guerrilla marketers do. Linnea gave an example of a debut author she worked with as an editorial assistant. Her publisher put out a book of short stories by the new author expecting a tough sell, but then “the book started getting rave reviews in newspapers all over the country--the author was called the new Steve Martin, the new Woody Allen, the most important book of the year--it was incredible.”
The reviews couldn’t have been any better if the author had written them. And it turns out that he had. “He wrote all the reviews himself and sold them to newspapers under his grandmothers' names. Not only did he get stellar reviews, he made several thousand dollars selling the reviews to the local papers!” Talk about surprises.
My father was a teamster and I don't have TV, so I was doubly unprepared for picketing with the WGA writers in November. I took a morning off from my vacation, googled to find the nearest studio, and headed over. I hit the jackpot, because Disney and ABC are right across the street from each other so I could walk two lines. ME
I'm a writer. And I'm here to help.
Usually that just makes people collapse in gales of laughter, but this was a writer-friendly crowd.
Someone immediately gave me a sign and I marched back and forth in front of the Disney entrance with a group of picketers. It was weird seeing all those writers together outside, squinting at the sun. Mostly, we're an indoor species.
By Julie Kramer
Once upon a time I used to produce local television newscasts and talk shows. Authors and their publicists were always trying to get air time. I ducked many of their calls. But we were always glad to feature a live studio interview with President Carter about his latest book or get the inside scoop from a local author who'd written about the state's most famous murder. Novelists were our nemesis.
I've decided to share how these decisions are made. Not because I feel any guilt, but because readers might find it entertaining and writers might find it educational.
The beauty of the military thriller is that most live it! Fiction is only one short step away from fact.
I remember my first true-life brush with the spy game. I was a lowly intern working for a Congressman in the final days of Richard Millhouse Nixon’s presidency. Our LA, or legislative assistant, as those who frequent the hallways of Rayburn and Cannon know, asked me if I would like to go with her to a couple of Embassy parties. I quickly said yes.
(As some background, many embassies celebrate their countries’ national holidays with a party, but schedule it a few days from the actual holiday to keep away party crashers. It takes years to get on an Embassy invite list, and perennial staffers on the Hill, like my boss, were often on them.)
The first affair I attended was at Greece’s embassy and, as I soon found out, the Embassy party fits well on the pages of James Bond. Tuxedoed waiters work through the crowd with silver trays of crystal. The ouzo flowed and the dessert table was covered with baklava. The upper echelons of attendees wore tuxes and the worker bees were attired in coats and ties. Among the women, glittering diamonds abounded.
Dealing with the unexpected is just what guerrilla marketers do. Linnea gave an example of a debut author she worked with as an editorial assistant. Her publisher put out a book of short stories by the new author expecting a tough sell, but then “the book started getting rave reviews in newspapers all over the country--the author was called the new Steve Martin, the new Woody Allen, the most important book of the year--it was incredible.”
The reviews couldn’t have been any better if the author had written them. And it turns out that he had. “He wrote all the reviews himself and sold them to newspapers under his grandmothers' names. Not only did he get stellar reviews, he made several thousand dollars selling the reviews to the local papers!” Talk about surprises.
My father was a teamster and I don't have TV, so I was doubly unprepared for picketing with the WGA writers in November. I took a morning off from my vacation, googled to find the nearest studio, and headed over. I hit the jackpot, because Disney and ABC are right across the street from each other so I could walk two lines. ME
I'm a writer. And I'm here to help.
Usually that just makes people collapse in gales of laughter, but this was a writer-friendly crowd.
Someone immediately gave me a sign and I marched back and forth in front of the Disney entrance with a group of picketers. It was weird seeing all those writers together outside, squinting at the sun. Mostly, we're an indoor species.
By Julie Kramer
Once upon a time I used to produce local television newscasts and talk shows. Authors and their publicists were always trying to get air time. I ducked many of their calls. But we were always glad to feature a live studio interview with President Carter about his latest book or get the inside scoop from a local author who'd written about the state's most famous murder. Novelists were our nemesis.
I've decided to share how these decisions are made. Not because I feel any guilt, but because readers might find it entertaining and writers might find it educational.
