Tennessee Freeper Help Needed

Tennessee Freepers---I need some help contacting Lamar Alexander. Bluntly, I need to solilcit a "blurb" or endorsement of my new book, "The Beacon of Liberty: A Patriot's History of the U.S."

The publisher is anxious to get certain senators/public figures who have had a connection to education. Does anyone have an "in" or some sort of contact so that I won't be routed through channels?

Try contacting Alexander's Press Secretary. My directory has no one listed, but if you call his office they should be able to direct you. Failing that, you might try his Chief of Staff, but I wouldn't do that unless you think you've exhausted all avenues.

Another way you might try is to go through your district office. Being a Senator, I'll wager he has several, and if you're near a major city it's likely there will be one there. At the very least they'll be able to give you a name.

So speaking as a Hill guy who talks to these types often...I'd try this:

1) Try the district office
2) Try his Press Sec. in Washington
3) If it's really super desperate, try his Chief of Staff (you never know, they may refer you to him anyway)...but I would greatly hesitate with this option.

If I had to rely only on Freepers and Conservatives to purchase my books, well, I wouldn't sell nearly as many. One "conservative" list I was on, for my previous book, "the Entrepreneurial Adventure," found excuse after excuse for NOT adopting it in their classes. "Not Austrian enough" for some, "not Libertarian enough" for others, "not supply-side enough" for still others.

Since the publisher has given me a rather large advance, I'm going to do whatever I can to accomodate the publisher on this.

Yes, there are people here who are within easy access of Lamar Alexander, however, you should keep a couple of things in mind.

One, he's not likely to put his name on something he hasn't really read, by an author he doesn't know, from a publisher he's never heard of. If you're having to solicit endorsements from an internet forum, it's very likely all three of the above apply.

Two, it's the publisher's job to develop press, marketing, endorsements, etc. Why on earth are you having to do this in the first place?

If the publisher doesn't already have the resources (money or connections) to get his endorsement already, it's not likely to come a posting on Free Republic. And to be brutally honest, it would look a bit cheesy and amateur for someone to approach the Senator with this proposal, having to explain it came about this way.

Hmm. Well, I have an agent, and one of the things he sends me regularly is stuff on how to market your book. You'd be surprised what publishers do, and don't do, to market books. And if Alexander hasn't heard of Penguin books, well . . . .

Second, every book I've ever been associated with, it helps to have "blurbs" in hand. It's easy to get them after they are a success. I have heard all sorts of promises by publishers as to what they would do, but in the end, it is up to the author to promote the book. This is true even of people like Coulter, only at a different level. So even if I had support and promises, I'd still do my best to promote my own book. Every publisher promises marketing money, etc. But the bottom line is that you have a limited budget, and beyond that, it is all legwork.

Third, I don't expect anyone to endorse anything they haven't read. It just so happens, this is exactly in his baliwick of a "conservative" history that Alexander and Judd Gregg (whom I don't know either) has been touting in his hearings. I just needed an adderss or point of contact. And I'm not "soliciting endorsements" from an internet forum---just trying to find out if someone has a point of contact to allow ME to pursue the matter.

Fourth, if you don't ask, you don't receive. I got David Horowitz's endorsement exactly this way---he'd never really read my stuff before. I could easily get my Ohio Senators to do "blurbs," but they are not associated with education issues---Alexander is. He wouldn't come to my mind as someone to write a blurb, but I'm just responding to the publisher's request.

All I wanted from Freepers is to know if anyone had any particular point of contact. And whether it looks "cheesy," well, how about giving me the poc and letting the Senator decide?

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