When Stephanie Longinetti saw a blurb on the internet about a publisher wanting stories and photographs of dogs, cats and horses for an upcoming series of books, she grabbed her camera and her puppy and started shooting.

Meanwhile, I was culling through the thousands of photos submitted when Jack’s smiling face popped up on my screen. Jack’s photo met all our criteria and was among 70 photos published in The Ultimate Dog Lover, an anthology of stories, photos, and expert tips which give the reader a nice mix of material in a short-attention-span format.

Jack’s all grown up now and Mom has continued to cultivate her creative side using Jack for inspiration. While Jack was counter-surfing one day, Stephanie grabbed her video and captured his antics. Soon after, she saw a call-out for entries in the “Marley and Me” video contest.

Stephanie’s talent for capturing Jack’s charm paid off. Their video is one of 12 finalists!

The videos will be shown during commercial breaks on Thanksgiving Day during the National Dog Show on NBC and the winner gets a trip to Hollywood for the premiere of the movie, “Marley and Me.” You can view the videos and vote for your favorite at http://www.longliveyourdog.com/Dogpark/overview/videocontest.aspx

Who knows what may be next…a trip down the red carpet; and agent; contracts that stipulate Milkbones in every green room.

(arf!)

It’s real life. And, sometimes it’s scary.

We try to put in practice some of the things we read. Keep a positive attitude, keep a smile on our faces. Act “as if.” Maybe if we keep our spirits high the law of attraction will reward us with abundance. Doesn’t that sound nice? Tell that to the people at General Motors, or all the laid off folks at Rodale or Citibank.

The upper classes are feeling the pinch that we down lower having been feeling for five years. (Only in their case, their multi-million fortunes may now just be mini-millions.) Our budgets stretched beyond reason with gas and food prices going off the charts. One friend puts it pretty accurately, “we’re working twice as hard for the same money.”

At least, those of us who are still working. And, however we regarded the unpleasant nuances of our jobs, we’re now all appreciative of every little unpleasantry, annoying coworker, any piece of work we thought was beneath us. I think God’s hearing a cacophony of prayers from people he/she never heard from before. When they’re not praying, they’re giving thanks. Good time of year for that.

Everyone’s got religion all of a sudden.

Our hope in the publishing biz is that people will regard books as still one of the most worthwhile gifts one can give for the impending holidays. Books are a nominal investment, cheap to ship, easy to wrap, and certainly have meaning to many of us. 

Buy books. Keep the industry alive. Do your part. 

Buy some from your local independent. Buy some from Barnes & Noble. Borders and even amazon. Everyone needs your book bucks now.  But most importantly buy books from HCI.  Just kidding. 

Sort of.

Here on the southern tip of the eastern seaboard, clouds look like mountains before sunrise. Compared to the infinity of Florida flatness it is our moment to pretend.

(why am I up so early, don’t ask…)

It’s the eve of a new work week and the brain reluctantly moves from one side of the skull to the other making ready to make sense. Dollars and cents.

The mind is what I’ll be delving into this week as the promotion cycle begins for a book called, The Vigorous Mind by communications strategist, Ingrid Cummings. I’ll have more to say about it later in the week, but at this early stage, I am delighted and intrigued.

Ingrid will show us in her book how to cross train our brains to become more well-rounded, like those we historically call “Renaissance people.” She employs a technique well-regarded in the workplace in Japan called Kaizen. In fact, the Toyota corporation practices the principles of kaizen, even here in the U.S. Soon we’ll be sharing with the media Ingrid’s take on how General Motors might have had a better shot had they used it.

Stay tuned.

Apparently, our minds can make significant progress with just a simple 20-minute concentration exercise daily.  I don’t know about you, but I’d give 20 minutes to kick start my graying gray matter.

The Vigorous Mind will be released in January just in time for all of you who are making grand resolutions. Perhaps cross training your mind or aspiring to be a contemporary Renaissance man or woman will make your list. In the book business we always say that the beginning of the year is the “new year, new you” season.

I don’t think you’ll lose weight with kaizen, but I could be wrong. You can prepare to trim some of the fat from your brain. Sounds a little gruesome but I’m sure we’re all carrying around some extra fatty mental baggage that we no longer need.

May the kaizen force be with you (and GM)!

And me.

Note: Be one of the first to get a copy of The Vigorous Mind by writing to me. FREE copy to the first 10 people to ask.

…and then you sigh

 

 

Round perforation like a bullet hole, sprinkles of glass on the dashboard, with no sign of the criminal, two young policeman came to my aid and basically said, “call your insurance company.” I did. By midweek, my little economy ride should be all better.

This post lead-in wasn’t intended to elicit your sympathy, but rather to set the stage for my report about one of the most real and moving films I’ve seen in a long time — maybe even of all time.

Rachel Getting Married is about a wedding. Big surprise.

But, this wedding is such a close up of a dysfunctional family that it’s sometimes hard to look at. Kym, the recovering addict character, is on leave from rehab to attend her sister’s wedding and in her short visit home, stirs up a dizzying hornet’s nest which includes lots of yelling, crying, humiliation and even some fisticuffs.

The movie could have been called “It’s All About Kym” but that might have prevented you from paying attention to the flaws of the supporting family characters with their icy personas and/or diametrically opposing enabler behaviors. Kym’s history is textbook addict with stints in and out of rehab, accidents, and most importantly the bogarting of all parental attention for herself (poor Rachel).

What separates this from just another treatise on family and addiction is that Kym carries another traumatic experience so devastating that one can’t even imagine surviving it. I won’t reveal what this is but as heart wrenching as it is to view, it makes her tragic character more sympathetic.

Poor Kym.

As for the acting, the characters for Kym (Anne Hatheway) and Rachel(Rosemarie DeWitt) are so convincing that at times you really feel like you’re watching someone’s home movies. (Who would shoot movies like this, I’m not sure!) So raw and true they were, but the role of their mother (Debra Winger) was so stiffly played and chilling that you wanted to just grab her by the neck and shake her. (which sort of happens in the movie)  The father’s (Bill Irwin) warm, fuzzy counterpart affects you quite differently. You want to shake him for other reasons In a word to all of them, brilliant.

For music lovers, the eclectic sounds running through the entire film were extremely well selected but at times you wanted to say, as the step-mother character did in one scene, “give it a rest, will you?” I love much of the internationally flavored music but couldn’t stay dry-eyed during the groom’s Neil Young serenade to his bride at the alter. Can you imagine?

This is a Jonathan Demme (Heart of Gold, Philadelphia, Something Wild, oh and a small film you may remember, The Silence of the Lambs, to name a few) movie who is in the habit of making great films. Rachel Getting Married is sort of documentary-like, but not really. I just think  it’s so artfully done that it captures real life with amazing poignancy.

If you have alcoholism or addiction anywhere in your family, I am certain that this movie will speak to you as vividly as a twelve step counselor. And, if you don’t, you will see how completely crippling these diseases can be to everyone close to these diseases. What you will also see is what potentially leads up to acquiring them. 

These diseases are treacherous and unforgiving, but familial love is an ingredient that may not be a cure but a welcome balm in the perpetual process of healing.

Go see it. 

Bring kleenex.

And, park in a well-lit parking spot and make sure your insurance is up to date.

Wisdom from Woody Allen:

“I wish we lived our lives backwards. You start out dead and get that out of the way. Then you wake up in an old people’s home feeling better every day. You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect your pension, and then when you start work, you get a gold watch and a party on your first day. You work for 40 years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You party, drink alcohol, and are generally promiscuous, then you are ready for high school.. You then go to primary school, you become a kid, you play. You have no responsibilities, you become a baby until you are born. And then you spend your last 9 months floating in luxurious spa- like conditions with central heating and room service on tap, larger quarters every day and then Voila! You finish off as an orgasm! I rest my case .”

huh?

Why would that excite me and what the devil do ginsu knives have to do with KWTB&B? With books?

Ah so, wise ones. Kevin Harrington, the infomercial guru himself, is writing a book for us for spring 09, and I get to bring it into the world. How cool is that?

This one, who’s title shall remain nameless for the moment, is fashioned as a cross between Chicken Soup for the Soul and Donny Deutsch’s Big Idea. That wasn’t necessarily the intention, but from today’s lunch meeting, that’s my take on the book. 

Harrington’s got a fascinating history in the business that’s employed him since the early ’80’s. If you’re too young to remember the ginsu knife, I’m sure you know the exercise equipment hawker, Tony Little (who was my client years back before he started yelling), or the Foodsaver, or Bruce Jenner’s step thinga-ma-bob.

Anyway, the infomercial king didn’t rise to the top without sliding back down the pole a few times. His book will tell the stories of failure and triumph that happened along the way to his success. Now, his company does business in over 80 countries. 

Imagine watching Tony Little with a Japanese or German voice over.

Sorry. 

I’m gonna have fun with this one. On the horizon  I see, teleseminars, lectures, morning tv talk shows and evening magazines. 

And, the best part is, he’s going to conduct a contest for the best idea for an infomercial subject. If publicity doesn’t follow that idea…

Check back with me in March to see what actually goes on for this book. However you slice  it, ginsu knife or not, Kevin Harrington’s story is going to be an inspiration.

Remember, keep your eye on HCI. There’s a lot more where that came from!

Tomorrow (11/14), from 7pm to 10pm, Miami’s top artists, educators, environmentalists, community leaders and media will gather to welcome special representatives of The Federation of Damanhur. The world’s largest intentional eco-community, Damanhur featured in February 2008 on ABC’s Good Morning America has chosen Miami Beach as the community’s main North American hub for their educational programs and events.

The first event, Damanhur Reception and Music of the Plants, will be held at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden. The program will include a magical concert of the plants utilizing one of Damanhur’s revolutionary technologies that converts the energy of the plants and translates it into music, a short video of Damanhur and open conversation with the Damanhurian Ambassadors, Crotalo Sesamo and Shama Viola.

“We are thrilled to be opening up a center in Miami,” said Crotalo Sesamo. “As part of our first program we’ll be creating a spiral stone labyrinth which will become a permanent interactive art installation at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, our gift to the community.”

Damanhur has city centers all over the world in countries such as Italy, France, Austria, Japan, Germany and Croatia. Founded in 1975 and located in northwestern Italy, the federation of Damanhur (”the city of light”) has been described as one of the largest and most successful advanced technological intentional eco-villages in the world. Damanhur is a Federation of Communities with a continuously evolving social and political structure. They are also renowned for building the largest underground temple in the world. The Temples of Humankind at Damanhur are an extraordinary work of art that has been described as an “Eight Wonder of the World”.

A United Nations award- winning sustainable community, Damanhur is an eco-society based upon ethical and spiritual values, esoteric traditions and modern research. The world which they speak about is surrounded and motivated by the beauty of art, guided daily by spiritual purpose, and a commitment to manifesting the Damanhur dream; the successes of their ideals manifested as a living reality ignite hope for the future of humanity and for the realization of a diverse and unified peaceable planet.

For more information, contact: Fredda Psaltis: (fredda@healingstar.net)

I am so used to authors with books and no platform. How refreshing to meet the opposite - plenty of platform but very little (or no) book.

Clay in my hands.

Without revealing his genre, which is really hard to do and still convey a meaningful message, this author came to me with: a regular presence on a major afternoon tv talk show, a fairly frequent stint on a major cable channel, published articles in his trade media, appearances on tv commercials selling products from his industry, an active lecturing schedule, and the status as the go-to guy in his specific area of expertise. 

Pretty impressive, wouldn’t you say? 

Don’t fret if your resume, your platform, doesn’t compare to his. Obviously, he worked hard to achieve this stature and deserves serious consideration from a publisher. Let him be a role model. Be inspired and learn.

However, it doesn’t end there. With a platform like his, this budding author might be awarded a publishing contract on the spot. Work with an editor to develop a book idea. This is done all the time.

As a testament to his hard work and preparation, my client also came with a kick-ass outline of his first book and a detailed vision of a subsequent series titles and a detailed plan of how he saw his publishing career evolve.

For a moment, I didn’t think that this man needed anything from me. All the materials he sent me for our coaching session seemed complete. What we ended up doing was really mapping out the life of a book and what was needed (in addition to what he already had) to complete the proposal/preparation phase.

We aren’t all as blessed as this future bestselling author with these whistles and bells. But we have what we have and we mean to go after the rest. With our hammers, nails and wooden planks, we pound away at our launching pads. Our platforms.

To convey to you how a publisher values these types of situations, my boss said it in five simple words: “Did you sign him up?”

Enough said.

Get to work!