Mark Fortier is a book publicist who is working with me to promote The No Asshole Rule. Mark recently set-up shop on his own after developing a reputation as one of the best in the business at the respected firm Goldberg McDuffie. Mark is not only persistent and knowledgeable; he is also creative and funny. You can see Mark’s talents on display in the e-mail brainstorm list that he sent me last week, where he makes suggestions about how the press might best censor the title in radio interviews and in print:
Here are my suggestions for how the book can be described on air:
Censored style: THE NO BLEEP-HOLE RULE
Semi-censored style: THE NO A-HOLE RULE
British style: THE NO ARSEHOLE RULE
Animal style: The title’s third word ends with "hole " and begins with "another name for a donkey."
Confessional style: The title’s third word ends with hole and beings with a cussword beginning with A.
Royal style: The title’s third word starts with the letter A and sort of rhymes with "castle".
Hard sell style: Tell listeners to log on to Amazon.com and search Bob’s name to see the title that they can’t mention.
Here are suggestions for how the title can be described in print:
THE NO A**HOLE RULE
THE NO A–HOLE RULE
THE NO A__HOLE RULE
I think these suggestions are both useful and pretty funny. And now they are online, I can send journalists to this post to spark their ideas. My personal favorite is the "Royal Style– starts with the letter A and rhymes with castle". I also thought this article in the Philadelphia Enquirer on "Expletive Deleted" was pretty clever too — I reproduce the picture that went with it to give you the full effect.
If you have any other ideas, send them along — this is challenge that I now face constantly! Thanks.
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