When I decided to start my own publicity firm, my 7 year old son was POSITIVE that this would be a snap. “It’s easy,” he piped up from the dinner table, “just pick the ones that will be bestsellers!” Sure thing, kiddo. And when I figure out how to do that, I’ll probably ditch it all to become a stockbroker since picking those winners is likely to be a lot more lucrative.

Selecting the books our firm will work on for a given season or year is my biggest challenge. It is also the part of my job that I love most deeply and treasure the most. Mine is a life-long love affair with books beginning the day I got my first library card when I was 4 years old. My father signed for it after I could climb in his lap and read to him from The Chicago Tribune. I feel the same way today – lulled by the feel and touch of a book and of the power of words to teach me something or take me into a world which I might otherwise never know.

When the manuscripts begin to come in and the discussions with authors get underway, the subjectivity of the publishing business always hits me full in the face. I love it, but will anyone else? Does this author really have something new and different to say about China or marketing or change management? In many ways, these are the same decisions that an editor faces, although I am lucky enough to see books that have already found a publishing home. That is some indication that someone liked the idea.

But there are thousands of books published in a single year, and I am in the business of working on publicity for perhaps a dozen or so. The books I select will become my sole focus for at least six months and I will live with the decisions and books for each of those days as I work to bring the book to the media’s attention. I have learned that every author can deliver a truly stunning and fascinating 15 minutes on their book. This makes perfect sense given that they have generally spent a year or so of their lives writing on this one subject. And then it is time to start reading. If I hit page 25 without checking the page count, that’s a good sign. If I am re-reading page four for the 6th time because I am positive I missed something, not so good. And then there are the magic moments, the times I wake up in the wee hours thinking about something I read or even having fallen asleep amid the manuscript pages because it was so good I couldn’t put it down.

I believe that nothing – not a charismatic author, a huge marketing budget, or a killer publicity campaign – can actually substitute for the quality of the book’s content itself. If I want to read it, I’m interested. If I’m not, I am pretty certain that there is no way I can convince the media that THEY want to read it. Once it passes the read test for me, there is a trio of questions that must be considered:

*What is this book saying?
*Why do I care or how is it relevant to me?
*Who is telling me?

Message, relevance, author credential. Once you’ve got a readable book that answers those questions, I think you’ve got a solid shot at finding others in the media willing to write about your book and share it with the world at large.

My son still thinks it is easy. And I still fret about how subjective this is every time I pick up a manuscript. Did I mention that I passed on Bill George who went on to become a bestseller? The only way I can keep from cringing about that is when the best literary publicist in the business told me she turned down “Tuesdays With Morrie.” She didn’t get it. For the record, neither did I.