WESTPORT – Ever since Meryl Moss started her eponymous public relations and marketing firm here in 1993, modern literature has been the focal point as she and her team make it their business to help people from all walks of life tell their story.
Whether it’s Robert Fulghum, a well-known American author, or TV journalist Joan Lunden of Greenwich or psychologist Dr. Dale Atkins, also of Greenwich, Moss has made it her duty to keep book publishing very much alive while the internet disrupts almost every other industry. With that said, Moss likes to work with first-time authors.
“I started Meryl Moss Media Group in 1993 on North Compo Road,” Moss told the Fairfield County Business Journal. “One of my first clients was Robert Fulghum, who you know from ‘All I Ever Knew I learned in Kindergarten.’ I did a 30-city tour for him. In each city, there was an organization about literacy. And he did an event of story-telling and song in every city with media and everything.”
It was that tour that inspired Moss to dive in deeper into the book publishing and marketing business.
“We’ve gone on to do things like ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ that people know, ‘Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,’ ‘Boats Across the Current,’” she added. “That story was about F. Scott Fitzgerald writing ‘The Great Gatsby’ in Westport even though Great Neck argues with Westport where it really happened. The two authors (Richard Webb and Barbara Probst Solomon) did a deep dive into the research and found out it was really here.”
Consider where the printed book industry stands now compared to the early 2000s. According to TonerBuzz.com, the physical book market is projected to reach $70.75 billion by 2029, significantly higher than the eBook market, which is expected to reach $15.87 billion by 2030. Additionally, in terms of audience, print books are projected to reach around 1.9 billion readers by 2029, compared to 1.18 billion eBook users worldwide by 2030.
Who says print is dead?
Over the past 22 years, Meryl Moss Media Group has expanded to a website dedicated solely to books – printed and online – with the launch of booktrib.com and a publishing house under the Meridian Editions name.
The 3-year-old publishing arm has printed 11 books since it started, Moss said. “We started it because we were responding to the need. Most companies that do any kind of shared partnership publishing don’t have the whole PR world.
“We meet extraordinary people doing extraordinary things. We get the opportunity to work with them. In today’s world where there is less of a barrier to entry in terms of getting your book published, there are people who always wanted to do something who can now publish their book.”
Moss explained that she started booktrib.com in 2004 as a publicity company for authors as there were fewer places to get press coverage as newspapers and magazines scaled back writing book reviews and book sections.
“Booktrib started out as a giveaway site for books,” Moss said. “Then it went into blogs and other content. Now today, we write about books that we are interested in and books that are clients of ours. We write about news and what’s happening in the book industry.”
A part of booktrib’s communications efforts is its Hidden Gems newsletter. It includes reviews and descriptions of books by predominantly independent authors that is curated by such employees as Lillian Parrotta, who started working part time at Meryl Moss late last year.
A recent graduate from Boston University who majored in English, Parrotta hit the ground running as she filled in for a colleague who was going to be on leave to work on Dr. Atkins’ campaign. She wound up coming aboard as a full-time publicist.
Another member of the booktrib.com team is Caroline Belina, who earned an MFA in creative writing from New York University. She is known for her blog, Caroline’s Most Anticipated Reads.
“Caroline puts together ‘New books to read’ on a weekly basis,” Moss said. “We follow that with our social media. We want to keep books alive. More and more books are coming a lifestyle piece.”
Filling out the publicity team for booktrib.com is Camryn Prince, who is in charge of social media. She spends time posting about the latest trends in books and makes the team’s blog posts go viral.
“For Gen Z, they want to escape and ground themselves in a great story,” Prince said. “We’re seeing that some prominent fashion houses are using books as physical accessories, but it’s also indicative of a person who is more engaged in the world.”
Booktrib has carved such a niche in the book publishing world that publicists from the Big 5 publishing houses – Penguin, Random House, McMillan, Simon & Schuster and Hachette – approach her team for publicity.
“We were recently approached by the publisher of ‘Hamnet’ to interview (author) Maggie O’Farrell,” Moss said. “We did a piece on ‘Bridgerton’ and Julia Quinn. Where pop culture meets books is really an interesting place.”
