LJ Movers & Shakers 2010: A New Script

A New Script What makes Talia Sherer great at what she does—directing library marketing for adult trade books at Macmillan (with publishers like Henry Holt, St. Martin's, and Farrar) and traveling the United States to reach out to librarians nationwide, speaking with them at huge conferences and small-town library staff meetings? “Well, I did go to college to learn how to think independently and cultivate personal taste,” she says. What else? “I have read important books like Lenny Bruce's How To Talk Dirty and Influence People and Jack Kerouac's On the Road.” (Her current reading runs to the gorier thriller/mystery.)

OK, but seriously. Thinking provocatively yields results. As chair of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) Trade Libraries committee, Sherer came up with a revolutionary idea. Instead of pitching their own books, they would get excited about books—gasp—published by competing houses. The idea—more fun for marketers and audience—stuck. One result? LJ's biweekly e-newsletter, BookSmack!, now includes an AAP library marketer's review of another publisher's title.

Departing from the script to sell books and have fun is key to Sherer's modus operandi. During the AAP Publisher 2010 Book Picks Sneak Preview in January, she invited each marketer to ad-lib about the last great book they read. Not surprisingly, she says, “The librarians ate it up!”

And the future of promoting, er, content? No problem for this marketing maven. “People will always love stories, and, regardless of the format, librarians will always look to us to help them sift through it all.”