(Interview) Charlie Barrett

Today I am honored to be doing a Q&A with Charlie Barrett, who is the owner of a publicity company called The Barrett Company. You can find out more about this company in an upcoming post today along with a give away.

So please help me welcome Charlie Barrett to Cindy’s Love of Books.

Cindy: Charlie, What is a typical day like for you?

I usually arise at 7am and drink 2 cups of Brazilian organic coffee while watching CNN, Fox News and the other morning TV chat shows before I check my I-Phone for messages and emails from my office. Once in the office we meet and see what is in the news that day that we can match up one of our author, TV producer, celebrity and movie maker clients to get their creations publicized. Next its the phones and emails that I hit heavily, contacting a range of media outlets from “Today” to “Publishers Weekly” and maybe Teri Gross of “Fresh Air” radio show on NPR. Lunch in LA is always a challenge since you have to drive to get everywhere and fight traffic jams. Often I invite media people or clients to a few good and easy-to-reach restaurants in Beverly Hills or next to UCLA where I am. Afternoons are filled with more phone calls, emails and meetings with clients and media. Evenings after 6pm I see at least one to two pre-release movies a week at the studios before they arrive in movie houses. Or, I will attend the meeting of the Publishers Association of Los Angeles, The Independent Book Marketing Association or maybe over to LA ‘s popular book store Book Soup for a client book signing. We were really busy during Oscar week in LA since we had a few clients that were nominated. I usually settle down at least 3 evenings a week at home to read or watch HBO’s new series “Luck” with Dustin Hoffman or “Walking Dead” on AMC. Looking forward to the new season of “Mad Men” come March on AMC. Reading Bill O’Reilly’s “Killing Lincoln” and look forward to reading his new book on JFK.

Cindy: Wow Charlie, you are busy. What has been your best/worst part of your job to date?

Best: Successfully creating and executing a solid and successful PR campaign for a client be it an author or TV series or movie. Worst: When the media doesn’t spell a book title correctly or misspells an author or movie star’s name. A late arriving celebrity on the Red Carpet has proved troublesome for me too, but only a few times over the 30 years I have worked the Oscars, Emmys.

Cindy: If you could have dinner with someone (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

It would be cool to dine with Thomas Wolfe and Jack Kerouac, the Beatnik writer. Both played a huge role in my education to appreciate good American writers like Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow and today Dean Koontz and Scott Turow. Yes…dinner with Thomas and Jack would be one I would like to book at LA’s famous Musso & Frank Grille in Hollywood, which opened in 1919 and was the watering hole for such authors as Raymond Chandler, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nathaniel West. Musso’s is among LA’s most vintage and atmospheric restaurants..I totally recommend it for any visitor to this unique city.

Cindy: What would someone be surprised to know about you?

Most people I find are rather surprised to know that before I became a book publicist some 12 years ago I was NBC’s ” Tonight Show” staff publicist working with Johnny Carson and Jay Leno as their media reps. I also am among the few book publicists I know anywhere that actually worked as a journalist and news reporter/critic before becoming a publicist…so I have a solid media background as well as some solid publicist credits. Hope that doesn’t not sound egotistical…but you asked.

Cindy: No it doesn’t sound egotistical at all. Its interesting to know that about you. Working as a publicist, what are your thoughts on how popular book bloggers have become?

The impact of book bloggers in the media landscape continues to grow and is an impressive one. Book bloggers have carved a special place for themselves in the book review/book news areas. They play a special role as they inform the book buying public and an important and vital one too, especially with the shrinking print media outlets that once published 15 page book review sections in Sunday newspapers. I admire what book bloggers are doing…we need them in today’s book publishing market.

Thanks so much for taking the time out of your very busy schedule to answer my questions, Charlie. I truly appreciate it and I am sure my readers will as well. I couldn’t agree with you more on the book blogger reply. I know after reading about you I truly appreciate what you do.