The business of being a publicist for a literary press is not an impossible task but it does take a barely describable synthesis of skills ranging from knowing what will work in getting a book some attention to listening to insane spitball ideas (usually from an author). Publicists also convince bar owners to give up choice event real estate to experimental poetry and fiction. Evan Munday has been doing all the above for Coach House Books for several years, as well as juggling a night job as the author of the YA series The Dead Kid Detective Agency.
Coach House is launching its fall books this Wednesday October 5th at The Dance Cave–yes, The Dance Cave. It’s free and will feature readings from The Dears’s Rob Benvie, as well as David McGimpsey, Sina Queyras and others.
Toronto Standard spoke with Munday about the secrets of his trade, including how to pick the best restaurant owned by an ex-member of The Guess Who and discovering that porn sites can be surprisingly literary-minded. I assure you, Munday is both acclaimed and hilarious.
Most unique venue you’ve booked an event in?
The Dance Cave is pretty interesting as a venue and I think a lot of people are excited our fall launch will be there, but the all-time most unique venue we’ve done an event in is the Value Village at Bloor and Lansdowne. Lisa Robertson’s collection of essays, Occasional Work and Seven Walks from the Office for Soft Architecture, includes a brilliant essay about Value Village. (Robertson herself is a big fan of the stores.) So we approached the Bloor and Lansdowne store and luckily, the manager was a big reader. He was thrilled with the idea. They set out chairs all around the jewelry counter and Lisa read the essay over the PA system. So even if you were just shopping for affordable pants, you became part of the book launch.
The runner-up is probably when we launched Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg at the Salisbury House (a burger chain co-owned by Burton Cummings) on the bridge over the Red River.
Most surprising review copy request
A couple years ago, Mr. Skin, a website that specializes in finding and showcasing nude scenes of celebrities in films, requested a copy of Jordan Scott’s poetry collection, Blert. I was completely unaware the site had a book review section. Jordan Scott’s book is a poetic response to his lifelong struggle with stuttering, so it was unusual that it (of all our titles) piqued Mr. Skin’s fancy. But who am I to judge? Maybe ‘blert’ means something else? We sent the review copy. As far as I know, no review has yet run on the site.
Most overused adjective in a press release
That’s a toss-up between ‘hilarious’ and ‘acclaimed.’ A lot of books are funny, but hilarious is a pretty serious claim. Most of the books called ‘hilarious’ are more like ‘mildly amusing.’ And ‘acclaimed’ is such a great adjective because it means so little! Acclaimed by whom? The Globe and Mail? The author’s brother?
One thing a publicist should always do
Respond. If someone calls you or emails you in response to a media release or review copy, you really need to get back to them in a timely fashion. Even if you can’t help out or the author isn’t doing interviews, I think it’s really important to always reply back with some kind of answer (even if it’s a disappointing one). And always have business cards on you. (I’m bad about that one.) You never know who you’re going to meet.
One thing a publicist should never do
Believe the success of a book is due to his or her efforts. If you do that, then you have to believe that a book’s failure also is your fault. All you can do is put your best effort behind all the authors and titles, make sure you’re working your hardest for all the books. It’s sometimes impossible to figure out why some books become huge successes and others fade away.
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Brian Joseph Davis is Toronto Standard’s Book Critic. He also is the author of Portable Altamont and I, Tania, and co-founder of the literary website Joyland.
