Tomorrow our USA Today ad debuts.  You may need a magnifying glass to see it, but as with much in this business, it really is the thought that counts.  The ad runs Thursday and Friday, and while it is aimed at the reader, it is also aimed at reviewers, bookers, accounts (the chains) and the rest.  The reasoning is to show to the industry that we, the publisher, are solidly behind the book.  It allowed us to tell everyone for months that we were going to be launching a national ad campaign for the book.  True, in the broadest sense.  In reality, we have done that in a multitude of ways, everything from spending co-op money on front of store promotions to paying for eblasts to accounts all across the country (which are the sort of thing the reading public don’t see, but nonetheless can impact performance.)  Having USA Today (or something similar) as a pillar lends credence and gets a second look.  This business is all about getting attention.  You can have the best book in the world, but if no one knows about it, it’s next year’s newsprint.  Personally, I happen to think Band of Sisters is an exceptional book, and so doing whatever it takes to get it in front of as many eyeballs as possible is just part of the job.  And all this effort focused now is also laying ground work for future books, both by this author and others.  Each time a new contact is made, that’s someone you can go back to the next time.  Remember, publishing is a small, small world full of, um, really nice people (see, I remembered.)