Allow me to introduce...myself

It would seem an introduction is in order.

Hi, how's it going, all those other rhetorical questions that, as Bret Easton Ellis once wrote, are like asking questions in a letter-totally useless.

I'm Russ Marshalek, the director of Marketing and Publicity here at Wordsmiths Books, and, as in all good introductions, I guess I should tell you a little about myself (getting to that), what I do (ditto), what I read (ditto again), my favorite color (still ditto), etc.

I've been working new media (and old media) for about as long as I've had coherent thought and reason. I started this path as an editorial intern for several publications you've probably heard of, moved my way up to contributing editor of a music magazine, and have worked in sales, marketing, promotions and publicity and done music journalism and a good deal of freelance writing since even before graduating college. I've also taught remedial K-12 English and Lit for a charter school.

My current job encompasses all visibility, press, marketing and public relations aspects of Wordsmiths Books, from the ground to the top. That press release that launched this blog? That was me.

I love what I do. I love books, I love people (but I love books more), and I love combining the two. I've had the opportunity to do everything from have Amy Sedaris call me "her little elf" to chat with Stephen Merritt of the Magnetic Fields and the Gothic Archies (Lemony Snicket's band) about the proper care and feeding of the Series Of Unfortunate Events complete boxed set. I've learned that famous (and infamous) authors are people, too-just with more money and status than you or I, and with the ability to somehow, magically, only eat brown m&m's.














(A photo of a polaroid of myself with Amy Sedaris, at an event sponsored by The Georgia Center For The Book. Yes, a photo of a polaroid. How very post-modern.)

I'll be posting here with book reviews, to let you know what you should pick up both in terms of what's new and what's old (and to keep you in the know on what you should avoid), exclusive author interviews, news and features on the promotions and events going on with Wordsmiths Books. I'm also in the process of assembling a crack-team of published authors who will be popping in to spice things up with random missives and posts.

So, that's my part in making this whole thing happen. Let me know what you want to see in this blog, and from us as Wordsmiths Books in general. Sign up for our email list, or just drop me a note with what you like, what you don't like-pros, cons, all of it I can take, as long as I've had my morning coffee. All of this is really, really exciting to get to be a part of, and I'd like to hear from each and every one of you. Unless that numbers into the hundreds of thousands, because I'm still having Outlook problems, and that'd be a lot of email to answer.