On this episode, Steve Richards interviews book publicity veteran Brian Feinblum, founder of Book Marketing Buzz Blog. and one of the most respected voices in book marketing. They discuss today's publishing landscape, how authors can get published, and what promotional strategies still deliver results.

Brian Feinblum, the creator and author of BookMarketingBuzzBlog, was the chief marketing officer for the nation's largest book promotions firm, Media Connect, and has been involved in book publicity and marketing since 1989. He has served several book publishing companies as a publicist, book editor, and acquisitions editor. Brian, who earned a BA in English from Brooklyn College, became a published author in 1995 when he penned The Florida Homeowner, Condo and Co-Op Handbook. He resides in Westchester, New York with his wife, two children, and an 80-pound American Bulldog.#bookmarketing #bookmarketingbuzzblog #podcast #speakingofwriterspodcast

When a tainted drug starts claiming lives across the city, Detective Harriet Foster and her team race to track down the source…before it takes one of their own.About the Author Tracy Clark is the award-winning author of the acclaimed Detective Harriet Foster series. She is also the author of the Chicago Mystery series featuring Cassandra Raines, a hard-driving, African American PI who works the mean streets of the Windy City, dodging cops, cons, and killers. Clark is the 2024 winner of both the Anthony Award and the Lefty Award, as well as the 2020 and 2022 winner of the G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award, and the 2022 Sara Paretsky Award. She is also a multi-nominated Macavity, Edgar, Shamus, and ITW Thriller Award finalist. Her 2024 novel, Echo, was named one of the 10 Best Mysteries of the Year by The Washington Post, and her debut novel, Broken Places, was short-listed for the American Library Association’s RUSA Reading List and named a CrimeReads Best New PI Book of 2018, a Midwest Connections Pick, and a Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Broken Places has since been optioned by Sony Pictures Television. A Chicago native, Clark roots for all Chicago sports teams equally. She is a member of Crime Writers of Color, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime, and she sits on the boards of Bouchercon National and the Midwest Mystery Conference. You can find the author on Facebook (/tclarkbooks), Instagram (@tclarkwrites), Bluesky (@tracyc1.bsky.social) and her website (tracyclarkbooks.com). #tracyclark #chicagoauthor #speakingofwriterspodcast #authorpodcast #books

Structured in two almost novella-like sections, “Hard Margins” follows Wyoming’s Towuk tribe. The story begins in the spring of 1958 and is told by Danny Hubbard, a Korean war veteran, who has taken this remote BIA position for a chance to remake his life...Out of a mixture of duty and boredom, Hubbard begins to read the reports written by his BIA predecessors, dating back to the 1870s, looking for answers. It’s here he discovers the record left by Agent Dorrance, who almost religiously believed in his mandate, to work “for the welfare and improvement of the Indians.”

Dorrance is an amazing creation, a man who can be admired and reviled on the same page. A Civil War veteran turned correspondent for Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune, he quickly becomes a devotee of Greeley’s idea of an agrarian utopia in the West, made famous with the phrase, “Go West, young man.”

We often think that ideas such as Manifest Destiny and the needs of a growing population made western expansion a fait accompli, but Delaney’s novel reminds readers about the mood of the country after the Civil War.

The long, bloody conflict gave rise to a generation who wanted to believe their sacrifice meant something, which led many to utopian philosophies about how the spiritual connection of men to the land could undo the corruption of governments and cities. For many, the supposedly unpopulated West could be a chance to reinvent America, and leave behind the worst aspects of human nature.

Edward J. Delaney is an award-winning author, journalist, and filmmaker. His books include the novels Follow the Sun, Broken Irish, and Warp & Weft, and the short story collection The Drowning and Other Stories. His short fiction has also been published in The Atlantic and Best American Short Stories, and featured on PRI’s Selected Shorts program. Among other honors, he has received the PEN/New England Award, O. Henry Prize, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. He is also the co-author of Born to Play, by Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. As a journalist, Delaney has written for publications including the Denver Post and Chicago Tribune, received the National Education Reporting Award, and has served as an editor at the Neiman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. As a filmmaker, he has directed and produced documentary films including The Times Were Never So Bad: The Life of Andre Dubus and Library of the Early Mind.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Delaney has also spent time in Georgia, Florida, and Colorado, and now lives in Rhode Island, where he teaches at Roger Williams University and edits the literary journal Mount Hope.

#authorpodcast #podcast #edwardjdelaney #speakingofwriterspodcast