Alicia Condon Icon

It’s been a super busy month, my first at Brava. Thank you so much for all your emails, calls – even flowers! I truly appreciate your warm welcome.

This month’s picture was taken at the Kensington holiday bowling party. I’m definitely a team player, but I’m lucky if my ball doesn’t head straight for the gutter. I had a great time getting to know my new colleagues, particularly Helen Dressner, who sells all our books to Barnes & Noble. Laughing over our lamentable bowling skills led to a discussion of Brava’s performance at B & N and a decision to meet with Tommy Dreiling, the buyer there. We’ll be getting together for lunch next week to talk over new trends.

Alicia Condon

Kensington holiday bowling party


Another great opportunity to talk about sales, covers and marketing strategies came this week with the launch meeting to discuss books scheduled in Brava from January through April of 2011. This is each editor’s chance to present our books to the people who will actually be selling and marketing them, and to explain what’s special about each title. I was really impressed by the level of commitment and enthusiasm of everyone present. Did you know that our publisher, Laurie Parkin, has the sales history and backlist of every author at her fingertips? Or that Mickie Searcy, our special sales manager, and Justine Willis, our retail chain sales manager, read every one of our books as well as most of the competition? Very cool.

This week also brought a wonderful Today Show interview with Kate’s mom, Alice Duffy, who made her Broadway debut this month in PRESENT LAUGHTER. Here is the link so you can hear about her extraordinary career and her tribute to Kate.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/

All the best,
Alicia Condon