Hasta La Creative!

Authors everywhere, including yours truly, are getting pretty jealous of Kelly Simmons. The former Tierney exec—now creative director at Bubble in Philadelphia—is calling in $200,000 in favors to promote her first book, Standing Still, which was just published by Simon & Schuster. The marketing effort, amazingly, is all bartered. The push includes fliers placed under commuter car windshields; handouts of the book’s first chapter on Amtrak trains; thousands of promo postcards; a pair of 30-second radio spots; a three-minute Web video (produced by NFL Films!); an e-magazine; and a reader sweepstakes. Jeez, all that on trade: did she ever do any paying work?! As I have no favors to call in, I’ll stand on the turnpike overpass and toss my next tome onto cars as they speed by. Or maybe at commuters as they board subway trains. I’ll be dressed like a panda. Free publicity will follow.

—Posted by David Gianatasio