CHC authors on the morning shows

Two of our authors were on network morning TV in the past week, both talking about different aspects of our work and business lives.

Greg Cootsona, former pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York, penned his book, Say Yes to No, after a personal wake up call that managing his ministry and growing family was taxing his health. He talked with The Today Show's Kathie Lee and Hoda on Tuesday about ways to thoughtfully say "no" - to your children, your friends, your boss.

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Last Friday, executive coach and strategist Erika Andersen talked with Maggie Rodriguez of CBS's The Early Show about her book, Being Strategic, a primer on truly being effective in creating the career, the business or the life you envision for yourself.


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We find it interesting that both subjects dovetail together – because the truth is, you must slow down and choose wisely as Cootsona advises before you can apply the strategic thinking that is the basis of Andersen’s book. We’d love to have you read them both!

Thinking outside the box (or inside the book package)

Seth Godin made publicity history when he sent galley copies of his book Purple Cow in a sealed milk carton. I worked with Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval, creators of the Aflac duck commercials, who persuaded us to send a stuffed duck that said "Aflac" with every copy of their book, BANG: Getting Your Message Heard in a Noisy World. The team at Consumer Eyes, authors of Karma Queens,Geek Gods, and Innerpreneurs put together a dummy set of suntan lotions to show how the same product could be marketed to three distinctly different consumer groups. (All three captured media attention. In fact, I recall many calls asking for more ducks.

In spite of these highlights, I normally eschew gimmicks. I am leery about sending along something with a book unless it's really different, makes an intriguing pull into the book, or frankly, is just plain cool. Maybe the era of "here's a t-shirt with our book title, and a hat, and a mousepad" turned me off, especially when the tchotchkes didn't do anything to pull people into the book's message.

But this month, I changed my mind with one of our January titles, THE FULL PLATE DIET. The plan, penned by two MDs and a licensed dietitian, is simple – no special food, no restricted menu, no complicated rules to follow. Instead, the authors (who run a nonprofit clinic to help people battle weight issues), espouse upping fiber intake to 40 grams a day. That’s it. Rather than subtracting food, the diet calls for you to add – blueberries to your morning cereal, bean-rich chili to your baked potato, veggies in your marinara sauce. To introduce the book to the media, we sent a box with sample pages from the book along with a package we created that contains a serving of cereal and dried raspberries (combined, they contain 40% of the daily fiber recommended in the book).

The jury is still out on whether it generates a flood of media interest – but we love that it's a simple (and delicious) way to show what this book is all about.

We’ll weigh in soon (pun intended) with the results; but would love your feedback in the meantime!