Posted by Bill on June 9, 2009 – 11:43 am
For those of you looking to stand on a street corner and handsell your book, I must recommend Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles, a couple blocks east of Highland Ave. While I’m not promising you a stunning success rate, I do believe you’ll have some fun, at least so long as you have a sense of humor. And even if you don’t enjoy yourself, you certainly will have some stories to tell.
This past weekend, I spent time pounding the Hollywood pavement, dressed in my presidential best, handing out fliers to promote my book. Perhaps the fact that I had a camera crew filming my every move lent me an air of credibility; perhaps it was the suit; probably it was both. One highlight was when I found myself pitching the book to a girl who was trying to pitch me. She was handing out cards for Psychiatry: An Industry of Death. This is a museum in Hollywood founded by Scientologists that, needless to say, has a rather negative impression of the psychiatry profession. When we mentioned to this girl that our documentary was ultimately going to be on YouTube, she mentioned that she was planning on eating a cockroach on YouTube. Only in LA …
Posted by Bill on June 7, 2009 – 11:34 pm
Exciting news. On Friday, The Scandal Plan got a rave mention on one of my favorite radio shows, KCRW’s Left, Right & Center. Host Matt Miller called the book “a great fun summer political read,” and called me “a big new talent.” Not too shabby, eh? Click here to listen (the plug comes at the end of the show, at the 27 minute mark).
Posted by Bill on May 31, 2009 – 10:16 pm
The countdown is on. Two days until the paperback release of The Scandal Plan. I’m excited, stressed, and tired all at the same time. HarperCollins is not putting big bucks into this book, so it will be up to me to do what I can to get the word out. I’ve been busy getting all my ducks in a row this weekend, and I’ve also been working with my friend, filmmaker Nick Weiss, to film my publicity efforts for a little documentary short. You’ll be hearing more about that soon.
The paperback release is coming at a crazy time for me. The school year is ending and I’m busy preparing for some courses I’ll be teaching this summer. I’ve also reached a finishing point with my new screenplay (tentatively titled: If You Love Somebody). I’m very excited about the script, and I think it’s finally ready for the world. Over the next few weeks, I plan to start soliciting representation out here in LA (if you have any leads, drop me a line). It’s time to get this screenwriting career rolling. And I’m hoping to do it all at once for maximum effect. I definitely want my script going out to agents while my book is still in stores (whichever stores those may be).
I’ll try to blog as these events unfold. More to come …
Posted by Bill on April 5, 2009 – 12:19 pm
Here it is:
The paperback will be coming out on June 2, 2009. You can pre-order now on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Posted by Bill on November 29, 2008 – 1:47 pm
Do you know what the perfect gift is for these troubled times? Yes, dear readers, tis a book. The publishing industry is hurting this holiday season, and it needs your business. But more than that, books really do make wonderful, inexpensive, and personal gifts. While I would recommend THE SCANDAL PLAN as an ideal stocking stuffer myself, your local bookstore has a plethora of other options. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on some of the books I’ve read recently in case you want to add any of those to your list. For now, I’ll leave you doubters with the following list I found which explains why a book is the gift that cannot be beat:
* It comes fully charged
* Costs less than a bottle of champagne (the real stuff)
* You can buy at least 10 hardcover books for the price of one iPhone
* Costs less than a movie (with popcorn)
* Around the same price as a DVD, but the experience lasts much longer
* It can change someone’s life
* It can make someone laugh
* Batteries are not required
* It’s a thoughtful gift
* A personal gift
* One-stop shopping-your bookstore has the right gift for everyone on your list
* It weighs much less than a fruitcake
* It’s more original than a tie or a sweater
* It’s a gift of escape, fun, romance, adventure
* It’s easy to find
* It’s easy to wrap
* And you can never have too many
(one slight disclaimer to any of my relatives who might be reading this: I will be in hot water with my wife if I try to bring any more books into our over-crowded apartment, so perhaps this isn’t the best gift for me this year. For other people, however, it’s a perfect gift. I certainly plan on giving a few book gifts myself this year.)
Posted by Bill on September 17, 2008 – 9:53 am
Here’s my latest article on the Huffington Post, where I argue for Democrats to use the word “Democrat” again. If you like it, please buzz it up. After a few posts, I finally have my own login information at HuffPo, so I’ll now be able to post directly to the site whenever I choose. This will be much nicer than my old method of posting, which involved a long e-mail chain and sometimes meant significant delays between when an article was written and when it got posted. This should mean more posts from me as well. Very exciting. Thanks to those who made this a reality.
If you happen to be reading my blog and have not yet read my book (a small demographic, I’m sure), you may suspect the book to be quite the polemic–particularly given my last two posts. Rest assured, this is not the case. I take great pains to avoid beating anyone over the head with a political agenda in my fiction. The book is meant to be enjoyable for readers of all political persuasions, and my goal as a satirist is to raise questions rather than answer them. So please forgive me if I get a bit heated in my blog posts these days. We’ve reached that all-too-familiar moment in the political season where I start to fear the rest of the country is living in a different reality than I am, one in which facts are subjective, where up is down and down is up and who wears lipstick is more important than who lives or dies. It’s crazy season.
Posted by Bill on August 21, 2008 – 2:51 pm
Check out my guest essay on Beatrice.com by clicking here.
I’ve included the text here:
Read More »
Posted by Bill on August 12, 2008 – 9:03 am
Read my latest on Huffington Post here. This is where I call out John Edwards — not just for lifting many elements of his sex scandal from my book — but also for having the audacity to do it so terribly. I provide advice on how politicians can make the most of their sex scandals. If you like the article, forward it to a friend.
Posted by Bill on August 9, 2008 – 1:06 pm
Poor unoriginal John Edwards. Twenty-four hours later, my head is still reeling from the parallels between his sex scandal and the one I wrote about in The Scandal Plan. It’s eery. Check out these quotes I scraped together from HuffPo:
Elizabeth Edwards as Melissa Phillips:
“Elizabeth Edwards says her husband told her about the affair in 2006 and they worked through it. “This was our private matter,” she writes.”
Rielle Hunter as Tina James:
“Jay McInerney reveals that Hunter was the basis for Alison Poole, the main character of his book, Story of My Life. “It was narrated in the first person,” McInerney writes in the intro to the interview, “from the point of view of an ostensibly jaded, cocaine-addled, sexually voracious 20-year old who was, shall we say, inspired by Lisa [aka Rielle].”
John Edwards as Ben Phillips:
“I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs. I recognized my mistake and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness. Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public.”
Crazy, no?
Of course, it’s a pity. I liked John Edwards. I liked his message. I liked his wife. And, yes, it’s sad to see this happen. But, in my own self-absorbed way, I can’t help but wonder how this will impact the fortunes of my little book. That’s the crazy thing about trafficking in political satire. What is good for business is usually bad for someone else.
I stayed up late last night crafting my official response to the scandal, and you will be able to read that soon. Until then, enjoy the media frenzy. Let the self-righteous indignation commence …
“I’m shocked! Shocked, I say!”
Posted by Bill on July 28, 2008 – 5:00 pm
Tomorrow night (7/29), I’ll be appearing on Dr. Blogstein’s Radio Happy Hour on Blog Talk Radio to chat about The Scanal Plan and verbally loiter. The show starts at 9pm EST, and I’ll be on around 9:30pm. If you miss this show live, it will be available for a week on the good doctor’s website (www.drblogstein.com), and archived forever at: www.blogtalkradio.com/DrBlogstein.
It should be a fun time. Tune in.
