At this weekend’s Southern Breeze Springmingle 2015 in Decatur, Ga., I promised to post a sample news release. Below, is one I wrote for book publicist Mimi Schroeder at Max Communications when Pamela Bauer Bueller was releasing her book Splendid Isolation.
Need some extra help? Just email me: pjshaw@comcast.net. I’ve been a public relations director for the College of William & Mary, Vanderbilt University, and now Atlanta’s Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School (the largest Episcopal day school in the country). But of all public relations, helping authors remains my favorite.
[DATE]
Media Contact: Mimi Schroeder, APR FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAX Communications
mimi@maxbookpr.com
404-447-6242
2009 Georgia Author of the Year
Shares Story of Jekyll Island Millionaires’ Club
‘Splendid Isolation’ is Rich Historical Fiction About Legendary Tycoons
ATLANTA—America has always had a love affair with the rich and powerful, and the new historical novel by award-winning author Pamela Bauer Mueller gives readers a glimpse into their opulent leisure hours.
Legendary U.S. business tycoons William K. Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan, William Rockefeller, and others spring to glorious life in SPLENDID ISOLATION: The Jekyll Island Millionaires’ Club, the new historical novel by Pamela Bauer Mueller, a 2009 Georgia Author of the Year.
Mueller weaves a captivating tale about powerful financiers chasing the American entrepreneurial dream and then relaxing together, undisturbed, at their prestigious winter retreat in Jekyll Island, a getaway that in its heyday hosted clientele who controlled some one-sixth of the world’s wealth.
SPLENDID ISOLATION spans 54 years, from the Gilded Age to World War II, and is told through the voices of four longtime employees of the exclusive Jekyll Island Club, where the first families of finance gathered every year. There, on one of Georgia’s most beautiful sea-barrier islands, they could hunt, golf, play tennis, bicycle along sand-packed roadways, and ride horses—as well as dine at the elegant Jekyll Island Hotel, enjoy the north beaches, and stroll under live oak trees draped in Spanish moss.
Still, for all of its leisurely allure, the island hideaway became an important player in world events. Because so many of the world’s greatest minds, and bank accounts, came together there in virtual isolation for three months each year, history was made at Jekyll Island.
“The first transcontinental phone call took place in the Jekyll Island Club House,” explained Mueller. “President (William) McKinley planned his second election campaign while visiting Frederic Baker on the island, and the blueprint for the Federal Reserve Act was devised in secrecy there.
“By intertwining certain events with historical figures, and telling stories through the eyes of ladies and gentlemen who served them, I could give readers a peek into this fascinating past.”
In her sweeping saga, Mueller introducesan intriguing story line designed to bring a new understanding to this day and time, when the world could be changed by a handful of men’s after-dinner talks. Readers will discover the millionaires’ joys, tribulations, and deeply guarded secrets, and get a glimpse of the exclusive resort, with its Victorian clubhouse and mansion-sized cottages, through 16 pages of historical photos.
About the author:
Pamela Bauer Mueller is a native of North Bend, Oregon, a peaceful town by the sea, where Mueller remembers entertaining her siblings with stories about witches and magical creatures. She is a graduate of Lewis and Clark College in Portland.
Mueller has received accolades for her books Neptune’s Honor, An Angry Drum Echoed, and Aloha Crossing. Her books, published by Piñata Publishing, have also won numerous national awards, including the USA Book News Awards, Mom’s Choice Awards, and the Children’s Choice Award.
She was named a Georgia Author of the Year in 2006, 2008, and 2009.
Pamela Bauer Mueller is a resident of Jekyll Island who has planned for years to share with readers her island story about the America that once was, and the handful of men who shaped it for the ages.
Splendid Isolation: The Jekyll Island Millionaires’ Club
ISBN: 978-0-980916-30-0 / price / pages
Available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble and your favorite bookstore
Piñata Publishing
Excerpt:
“Anyone approaching the island from the river is greeted by thousands of Spanish moss-draped ancient oak trees competing for space with the palmettos and magnolia trees. After the blinding light and heat of the coastal plain, it’s like waking up in another world. The circular turret of the imposing Club House, lit so that its cream brick glows against the dusk, is topped by a slip of a flag that ripples in the wind. Behind it, a picturesque windmill water tower rises before the dense pine forest. My eyes sweep over the dark brown shades of the monstrous old live oaks and their silvery curtains of moss. In the background I see some of the island’s seasonal mansions, referred to as “cottages” by their owners, and their perfect dark green velvet lawns. …A fairy scene opens out in wide prospect beyond. The foreground, south, west and north is one mass of verdure wall, dotted with semi-tropical plants and flowers. On the Atlantic side, the island is blessed with miles of wide, gently sloping white beaches. The grey-blue Atlantic Ocean glitters under the high sun, as if sprinkled with diamond dust.”
Thanks for the example!
I’ve written a few for myself, but I like to see how others do too.
Great post. Thanks for sharing – and to Mimi and Pamela as well. (The new book sounds like another winner, too!)