1995 - 06/1995 Meeting

Page Created: 09/25/10. Last Updated: 10/26/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 02/27/10.

JOHN DEL GAIZO

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: June 10, 1995.

Meeting Site: Barnes & Noble, West Paterson, New Jersey.

Official Attendance: 52.

Meeting Program: Talk by Tor Books Advertising/Promotions Director.

Notes:

Meeting Memories:

Newsletter Account:

John Del Gaizo, the Advertising and Promotions Manager of Tor Books, was the featured speaker at the June 10, 1995 meeting of the S F A B C. The gathering was held at Barnes & Noble in West Paterson, New Jersey.

The Association's annual Quest for Air Conditioning began on a high note. Attendance was even better than the roster would indicate as a number of newcomers never did sign in.

There were over thirty present for the meeting of the Final Frontier. The size of the crowd and the way the chairs were set up made the TREK group gathering more formal and less participatory than usual. Director Anthony Tellado handled questions and commentary with a flair. He was assisted by Carol Smith and Gary Blog who arrived near the end of the event. Mr Tellado passed around the first issue of a one page Final Frontier newsletter.

John Del Gaizo was introduced shortly after 8:00 PM. He commented that backoffice folks like he were the MORLOCKS, with the editorial crew the LANI of the publishing world. [Editorial note: this could explain why there are so many editors at Tor. No one will miss the occasional missing editorial assistant who doesn't come back from dinner with the boys.]

Steve Ferrara commented that in the movie, WOLF, Jack Nicholson's editorial office was filled with Tor books. Mr Del Gaizon admitted that he had arranged for the books and a few other props to be delivered to the set. He very much enjoyed the film with its spacious offices and state of the art equipment and resolved to get a job in the glamorous field of book publishing . . . once he quit his job in the field of book publishing.

Mr Del Gaizo talked about the different tasks that he handles. On the subject of publicity vs advertising, he observed that while publicity is free, advertising is something you must pay for, and advised the audience to make their own analogies.

He was full of funny anecdotes and plans gone awry, like the books that changed from Tor to Orb and back, [with the promotions staff trying vainly to catch up], but some were disappointed that he was unwilling to reveal anything of substance. When you came right down to it, he said nothing, but said it exceedingly well.

People in general were very pleased about the layout of the store and the helpfulness of the B & N staff. More than one suggested a repeat engagement in the future.

A good sized contingent of us, including Mr Del Gaizo, walked over to the Gold Star Diner afterwards. We were a rambunctious crowd and were treated to excellent company and lackluster food.

Steve Gold won the door prize, a gallery of LETHE by Tricia Sullivan. Thanks to Sharon Archer and William Wagner for transportation help with our guest speaker, to Pamela Webber for handling sign-ins, and anyone else who helped out.