Are We Too Busy to Read?

The following is excerpted off the newsletter provided by Levine Communications:

BOOK READING DOWN ACCORDING TO BEST SELLING AUTHOR: According to media expert and best selling author Michael Levine, busy lives and cultural clutter help explain why Americans are reading less and less these days - dropping books, in fact, at a rate that's tripled over the past 10 years. The latest evidence of America's bookish decline came in a comprehensive study unveiled last week by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). In one sense, the findings weren't particularly jarring: Americans have been reading less for more than a decade. "The numbers are even more stark than expected" said Levine. Consider that, while America has gained 40 million adults in the past 20 years, only about 600,000 more people are reading literature (defined in the study as fiction, poetry, or drama). The habit is down across the board - in every racial, age, and ethnic category, across all income levels and regions - and the decline is worst among young adults. For the first time in history, less than half the adult population reads literature. Nearly two-thirds of men don't read it at all. Among Americans over 18, the rate of decline has nearly tripled in 10 years, accelerating from 5 to 14 percent.

Updates

As I type this, Barbara Cohen is wrapping up a morning reading and signing at the Pasadena Polytechnic School. This afternoon she'll make an appearance at two Barks & Books programs in the Pasadena Public Library.

Other news: we've received advance copies of the soft-cover of GREAT FAILURES OF THE EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL, by Steve Young, and are gearing up to circulate the book with a press release to 20 influential magazines.

See Below

Most of our more recent press releases are available to us on PRWEB's server, but the one below was eluding me on the internet.

Spring is Here!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Children’s Book Author Scott Allen To Make Appearance in Torrance, CA Barnes & Noble on March 19

Torrance, CA (PRWEB) March 3, 2004 – On March 19, children’s book author and designer Scott Allen will make an appearance at the Torrance Barnes & Noble to sign and promote the seasonal romp for kids, It’s Spring, published by smallfellow press.

It’s Spring, written by Jimmy Pickering and designed by Allen, is one of four children’s picture books devoted to the joys of the seasons. In it, Sally and her faithful dog Sam "venture out to truly discover what Spring is about." Along the way they sniff daffodils, pull weeds, plant seeds and find cloud figures in the sky.

Allen, a native of the San Fernando Valley, previously collaborated with illustrator Pickering as the author of the highly successful Halloween-themed Somethin’ Pumpkin, also by smallfellow press.

The Barnes & Noble in Torrance is located at 21400 Hawthorne Boulevard, Torrance, CA 90503. The reading and book signing will begin at 7:00 p.m.

For additional information about the event, contact Claudia Sloan, Publisher, at Tallfellow, Inc., (310) 203-3837.

smallfellow is an imprint of Tallfellow Press, an eclectic book publisher located in Los Angeles. Its predecessor, Price Stern Sloan, is best known for publishing the popular word game Mad Libs.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Claudia Sloan
Tallfellow Press
(310) 203-3837
(310) 203-3893 fax
http://www.tallfellow.com

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Author Visit and New Feature

Hey folks,

Our kids' book author, Barbara Cohen, is in town for a week to do readings and appearances throughout SoCal. We're keeping her very busy, and she's using her downtime to mass-produce stickers and bookmarks. That's very cool of her to donate her time in so many ways, and we're all grateful.

I've decided that in addition to compiling marketing links over time, I'm also going to add a Press Release archive to our blog sidebar. This way you can access all our releases by title & date. This should make it easier for journalists to write about us in the future.

If a random press release appears on the main page out of nowhere, it's because I'm posting it for the sole reason of archiving and linking to it later. Don't be alarmed.

David Sedaris was on Letterman the other night, where he read a selection from his new book. The selection was a story that began slow but ended in a toilet joke, this affirming my earlier statement that Sedaris writes fart jokes for the intellectually elite.

Perhaps a book of fancy fart jokes is the ticket to publishing success in the new millennium.

Happy 4th!

Your Chance to Make or Break a Business

Anyone have an idea for a great publicity stunt for one of our authors? Leave it in the comments and if we love your idea and find it feasible, clever and non-hazardous, we'll send you a free book.