Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

Amazon.com Book Reviews - Friends & Family?

Why do the lion's share of those customer book reviews on Amazon.com gush with praise?  There is little objective analysis of the book and even more rare is the outright pan.  I smell a seemingly stealth movement in which friends & family belly up to the review section and deposit pure gush.

Common Biz Sense: Stedman's Tell-All Book Won't Tell Much

The cover of tabloid NATIONAL ENQUIRER [June 2] tells us that coming soon is "Stedman's $10 Million Tell-All Book: The 22 years of secrets."  Don't count on Stedman, as a working stiff in the public relations biz just like me, telling much at all.  He can't afford to cross Oprah.  Few can, at least not those who depend on her six degrees of separation for their biz. 

Geezer Dirt - Goes for half price

Face it, dishing geezer gossip is not in the same league as dishing the dirt about younger miscreants or goody-two-shoes who turn out not to be so virtuous.  Today we learn that Barbara Walters had an affair with an African-American U.S. Senator - Edward Brooke - way back in the 1970s.  So?  Even if this sort of thing was being dished out about no-spring-chickens Ted Kennedy or Jimmy Carter, like, how many books would it sell?  Therefore, I am not optimistic that Walters is going to hit a homerun with her new book "Audition."  There's something inherent in geezerhood which makes its events of the past and even of the present more a yawn than a big bang.

A Prayer for Steve Miller "Turnaround Kid"

Is a speechwriter somewhat like a bodyguard?  After all, we work to protect our client from saying anything stupid or boring on the podium.  So, we probably have to expect unusual bonds to form - and last.  Back a long time ago I wrote speeches for Robert "Steve" Miller.  We were fighting the good fight at Chrysler to save industrial America.  Then both Steve and I moved on.

America's First Celeb - First Daughter Alice Roosevelt

Alice Roosevelt was, according to historian Stacy A. Cordery, America's first celebrity.  In the 2007 book "Alice," Cordery deconstructs how Alice [and, yes, like Cher and Madonna, she went by one name] knew how to feed that celebrity status without blowing it or herself up. The analysis provides brilliant insight on managing a high profile for maximum gain.  This is a book for public relations experts and celebrities themselves.

Unless this is a Gawker April Fool's Joke - NYO Adding Book Review Section & Raising Price

This could be an April Fool's gag by Gawker.  But if it's not, we media-watchers have to be scratching our heads. 

F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald - Does Addiction = Not Being Able To Grow Up

For those of us who have battled addictions, whether to work or worse, the best insight I've come across on taming the beast is in a relatively recent book about Zelda Fitzgerald.  It's by Linda Wagner-Martin.  Titled "Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald: An American Woman's Life," it cuts brutally through all the romantic notions of the tormented creative souls.  Instead, by way of interviews with addiction experts, Martin concludes that Zelda and F. Scott simply couldn't master that difficult developmental task of growing up.

Borders on the Block - Bookstores as Third Places Isn't Saving an Inefficient Industry

Borders, Barnes & Noble and savvy independent bookstores seemed to be holding their own by positioning themselves as Third Places.  Those Third Places are, in addition to work/school and home, where we go to hang out - and maybe hang on.  Regarding the latter, an engineer on the line at B&N told me that this bookstore was the only place he could calm down.

But with Borders on the block, the strategy of latte and special events seemed not to have panned out.

"On My Honor" By Texas Gov. Rick Perry

Texas Governor Rick Perry, who might be to the right of George W. Bush, wrote a book on the Boy Scouts of America.  It's called "On My Honor."  And from the tone of the interviewer Deborah Solomon in the liberal THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, some folks have trouble with the Boy Scouts of America and therefore with Governor Perry's views.

"Eat, Pray, Love" Is What It Is

Bashing a popular book, idea or cause is a common tactic to get attention for one's own book, idea or cause.  That strategy is called "a contrarian point of view."  Late management guru Peter Drucker achieved his brandname in just that way.