Andy Reynolds Resume as Coffee Table Book

andy reynolds RESUME

RESUME andy reynolds

I am an experienced book publicist, working primarily with visual, nonfiction, and socially conscious titles. I came to book publicity after a varied career in the music business where I’ve been a music trade editor, album designer, label manager and music publicist.

I am also an experienced graphic designer, this RESUME book—and the five book covers within—being an example of my work.

In 2015, I donated a media and crowdfunding campaign to save my favorite neighborhood restaurant, B&H Dairy (a kosher lunch counter established in 1938), in the wake of the deadly March 2014 Second Avenue fire. Media placements included two New York Times features and simultaneous evening news coverage of the reopening on NY1, NBC, CBS and Fox. The owners attribute the crowdfunding campaign, which raised nearly $30,000.00, to saving their business. (I also designed their popular “CHALLAH! por favor” t-shirt.) In June 2020, I ran a GoFundMe campaign raising $60,000 to save the same restaurant during COVID-19.

andyreynoldsnyc@gmail.com

212-673-2639

www.andyreynoldsresume.com

www.linkedin.com/in/andyreynoldsnyc

As a first-time author working via an independent LGBT publisher, Andy got me coverage and reviews of my book that I could’ve never gotten on my own, including my very first cover! I’m looking to work with a larger publisher for my next project and I know that the amount of major press that I was able to land with Popular Publicity for my first book will legitimize me and help me move to the next level.

– Rob Smith, Author, Closets, Combat & Coming Out

Andy Reynolds did a magnificent job with our very first book. He knew exactly how to “pitch” the volume to all popular LGBTQ media, including online and social media outlets, as well as traditional print media. We received a flood of reviews and announcements, contributing to a documented and significant boost in sales. He is also extremely easy to work with, solution-oriented, and handles changes in strategy with unique and creative flexibility.

– Bill Cohen, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, Harrington Park Press (distributed by Columbia University Press)

My name is Andy Reynolds. I am an experienced book publicist and graphic designer who came to publishing after a career in the music business where I’d been a music trade editor, label manager, album designer, and music publicist.

As a book publicist, I work primarily with visual, nonfiction, and socially conscious titles. I’ve represented books on food, drink, pop culture, photography, art and LGBT issues.

As a graphic designer I have fallen in love with book cover design. The blame for which falls squarely on the shoulders of the brilliant designer Peter Mendelsund thanks to his stunning cover for Ben Marcus’ The Flame Alphabet. Five book covers of my own are included here. (View my graphic design portfolio at www.andyreynolds.nyc.)

I live in New York City’s East Village, maintain a curated vinyl record collection of questionable taste—but brilliant cover art, occasionally DJ around town, make a mean matzo ball soup, and spend my lunch hour at the gym. I long ago jettisoned my TV to spend more time reading contemporary and classic literature, biographies, science fiction, and obscure style magazines and to pursue the eternally futile goal of one day catching up on my New Yorker subscription.

Favorites include, in no particular order: authors Edmund White, Iain M. Banks, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Patti Smith, Gore Vidal, David Sedaris, Truman Capote, Dorothy Parker; musicians Cesaria Evora, João Gilberto, Dave Brubeck, Derrick May, Grace Jones, Mutant Disco; artists Robert Motherwell, Dale Chihuly, Mark Rothko, Massimo Vignelli, Rick Owens; and New York locations Stuyvesant Square, B&H Dairy, Central Park, The Odeon, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Union Square Farmers Market and, believe it or not, the subway.

BOOK PUBLICIST

20 YEARS EXPERIENCE • BOOK COVER DESIGNER

PHOTOGRAPHY

• MEMOIR

• SCHOLARLY

• PARENTING

• FICTION

• LGBTQ

• Strategize, plan, and execute publicity initiatives for a diverse list of titles and projects

• Secure features and review coverage for authors and titles

• Plan and book experiential events in partnership with bookstores, organizations

• Develop and maintain trusting relationships with authors, editors and media producers

• Coach and prep authors for media interviews, social media best practices

• Draft smart, editorial-ready press materials and researched, targeted pitches

• Research and update media database; curate custom, title -specific media lists

• Advise/revise book cover design, edit/write flap/back cover text

Representing a broad spectrum of clients including authors, photographers, filmmakers, organizations, events Currently launching Swedish publisher Tallbergs Förlag in the U.S., for which, in addition to media outreach I have advised on new cover art, written new flap/back cover text for five books.

Major projects and successes:

• “LGBTQ-Inclusive Hospice And Palliative Care” by Dr. Kimberly D. Acquaviva

For this first ever handbook for end-of-life care-givers, organizations and institutions caring for LGBTQ patients and their families I secured author interviews with NBC News and Kaiser Health News, which led to a panel discussion Facebook Live event held at the Kaiser Health News headquarters in Washington, DC. Due solely to my efforts, the book was adopted and a new training program created by Hospice of Dayton, the oldest and largest hospice organization in the U.S. I was the publicist for nine books for Harrington Park Press, a specialized academic/scholarly book publisher devoted to emerging topics in LGBTQ diversity, equality, and inclusivity and distributed by Columbia University Press

• A Second U Foundation

Placed (pro bono, during pandemic) a New York Times Styles front page above the fold feature for the A Second U Foundation, an organization which helps formerly incarcerated men and women get certified as personal trainers and find jobs in the fitness industry Also ran in the Chicago Tribune CNN followed with an interview with founder Hector Guadalupe.

• Miss Gay America Pageant

For this longest running national female impersonator pageant , ran year-long publicity campaigns covering two dozen preliminary pageants across the U.S. as well as the annual pageant and crowning at the America’s Center Convention Complex in St Louis For the 2018 event, I secured simultaneous pre-event cover stories in the city’s two largest papers (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Riverfront Times), post event photo stories in the same, and coverage throughout the weekend on the local Fox News affiliate. Also created, branded and edited the organization’s blog, MGAZINE , a great source of content for media.

Welcome Books a (Penguin) Random House Publisher Services Client 2011 - 2013 VP Publicity & Marketing New York

Lead marketing and media efforts, presenting a rich variety of beautifully designed visual books and their authors to the media, publishing industry and (Penguin) Random House sales team. Subjects ranged from art, travel and food, to teachers, nurses and social entrepreneurs.

Major projects and successes:

• “The American Nurse: Photographs and Interviews” by Caroline Jones Interviews on The PBS NewsHour, NPR; features in The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Baltimore Sun, ForeWord Reviews Booked and coordinated successful national tour of events held in hospitals and bookstores across the U.S.

• “Artists in Love: From Picasso & Gilot to Christo & Jeanne-Claude, A Century of Creative and Romantic Partnerships” by Veronica Kavass

Secured Vanity Fair “Hot Type” pick, Daily Beast “Best Coffee Table Books of 2012” pick, People Magazine “Holiday Gift Guide ” Booked and coordinated promotional events across the U.S.

• Hired in-house as VP Publicity & Marketing due to the success of my freelance campaign for Welcome Book’s “Gay In America: Portraits by Scott Pasfield,” for which I placed features in OUT Magazine, Huffington Post, and Gawker (500,000 views in 4 days) and booked a national tour

PERSONAL PRO BONO WORK

B&H Dairy Kosher Vegetarian Restaurant

East Village, New York

• Recently ran and promoted a GoFundMe campaign raising $60,000 to save the restaurant during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Ran and promoted a previous GoFundMe campaign for the same restaurant after a fire in 2015, raising $30,000 directly attributed to saving the business

• Secured numerous local news media in support of both GoFundMe campaigns, including:

o An October 2020 New Yorker Talk of The Town story with Chloe Sevigny

o Two New York Times features (2015) within the same month, and simultaneous coverage of the restaurant’s 2015 post-fire reopening on five local television news networks

SOFTWARE: Office 365, Adobe Suite, WordPress, Squarespace, Blogger, Google Drive, CisionPoint, MAPPS (Penguin Random House database)

GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Various projects, book covers View portfolio at www.andyreynolds.nyc

COMMUNITY WORK: Teach an art class (on pause due to the pandemic) with fellow volunteers at the Project Renewal Third Street Men's Shelter

EDUCATION:

Graphic Design, Miami University, Oxford, OH

Graphic Design Course, Shillington School, New York, NY

Book jacket design course taught by renowned designer Gabriele Wilson

FIVE BOOK COVER

DESIGNS

ABOUT THE BOOK COVER

A new cover for the book that became the hit 1978 movie Midnight Express. It is the true story of a young American caught by Turkish police while attempting to smuggle hash out of Istanbul. After four years in prison there, on the verge of release, he’s shocked to learn that the Turkish High Court has added a further 30 years to his sentence. Demoralized, he concludes that escape is his only option. Matte cover, UV coating on title, author’s name, praise attributions.

ABOUT THE BOOK COVER

A new cover for a favorite book, Dancer From the Dance, by Andrew Holleran (1978 Perennial/Harper Collins). It’s the story of a young man searching for love amid the emerging gay scene of mid-seventies New York, who ultimately dies of AIDS in the early eighties, sick, broke and alone in a St. Mark’s walk-up. The idea was to capture the sadness of his receding life and memories, as it all slips below the surface. Several damaged mirror balls were dismantled to create the title type package. The board fabric is in denim, as a nod to the gay “clone” (jeans, boots, mustache) look of the era. Cover in soft-touch laminate.

ABOUT THE BOOK COVER

Born This Way is a proposed book in which 100 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people recount their personal experiences and advice on “coming out” and being true to oneself. Fantasy editor is Diane Anderson-Minshall, Editor at Large of The Advocate magazine, with—in a perfect world—Ellen Degeneres writing the introduction. Matte white cover with UV coating on all instances of the “gay baby” art, spine text, back cover title, diving lines, and URL. The “gay baby” artwork is trademarked.

ABOUT THE BOOK COVER

In Closets, Combat and Coming Out – the first Iraq war memoir written by an African-American – author Rob Smith comes to terms with his sexuality against the backdrop of the hyper-masculine and hyperhomophobic, “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” U.S. Army. Smith was a very vocal DADT repeal activist, who famously chained himself to the Whitehouse gates in protest. Matte cover, UV coating on title, author’s name, praise attributions.

ABOUT THE BOOK COVER

Assigned as a project by graphic designer Gabriele Wilson in her brilliant book cover design class, this is a reimagined cover for Visit Sunny Chernobyl—a travel guide for the eco-apocalypse. Matte cover with spot color (Pantone Pastels Neons Coated 807 C ) on the frames of the sunglasses. Cover and spine frames embossed and in UV coating.

Andy

My publicity website.

www.andyreynolds.nyc

www.behance.net/andyreynoldsnyc

The RESUME book cover design is a tribute to Alvin Lustig (1915 – 1955), an American book designer, graphic designer and typeface designer. Lustig has been honored by the American Institute of Graphic Arts and the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame for his significant contributions to American design. Throughout the 1940s and early 1950s he designed dozens of brilliant book covers for New York City publisher, New Directions Books. ndbooks.com.

Left: Postcard of Lustig’s cover for Paterson by William Carlos Williams (New Directions, 1946)

Right: Andy Reynolds RESUME postcard

Andy Reynolds New York City 212-673-2639

hello@andyreynolds.nyc

www.andyreynolds.nyc

“Andy Reynolds did a great job contacting specific institutions to host book events for me. He worked closely with venue marketing directors to ensure a full audience. For example, after my talk at the Birmingham Museum of Art, I sold all the books in ten minutes! He works hard to ensure book events happen smoothly and result in success for all concerned.”

– VERONICA KAVASS, author, Artists in Love

“This was a tremendously successful event!! The radio interview was wonderful and we sold 43 books. So pleased you brought us together in this.”

– KAREN WEST, Book Passage, San Francisco

“Andy coordinated a very successful book tour to six hospitals across the U.S. He tenaciously pitched, sought press opportunities and followed-up from six months prior to the book’s release to eight months post-release, ultimately securing a combined publicity reach of nearly 103 million (circulation + impressions).”

– LISA FRANK, producer, The American Nurse Project

“Andy – you have really done a great job, and may I just say again you’re my favorite publicist I’ve worked with this year!”

– JENNY LIZAK, Publicist, Metro/Smart Bar, Chicago

“I like him. He is an honorable person. He is focused. He sees the forest for the trees.”

– LENA TABORI, Welcome Books