Peter Knox is an experienced book marketer and publishing consultant. He is VP, Head of Marketing, and Client Manager at Book Highlight, a premier book marketing and sales agency based in Brooklyn, New York.
Driven by a passion for connecting new books to the readers that need them, Peter works with first-time and veteran authors alike to make a lasting impact on publication day. By visualizing and communicating the value and promise of the author, Peter has demonstrated the business benefit to building a brand, establishing a platform, and leading with the book.
Prior to developing the marketing and creative program at Book Highlight, Peter was the Senior Marketing Manager leading the trade business book group at Wiley Publishing for almost fourteen years following his time in the Columbia Publishing Course.
His start in books was as the Student Director of the Literary House Press at Washington College, where he was awarded the Haddock Prize for Publishing Excellence. Learn more and contact him at: Peter-Knox.com
This year I read 48 books, which was the most I’ve read since 2018 and the second most I’ve read since I started tracking in 2010! However, I have to be honest that the title count feels somewhat inflated due to short books (Bennett + Sivers) and coffee table books (Pen & Ink + LCD). But a book is a book is a book, even if it has pictures! And reading more books was my 2022 focus, to get beyond the low thirties counts my reading years have been post-Covid.
Some of these briefer books will be the ones I remember, such as The Parade and The Uncommon Reader. There were also more collections than usual years (Attenberg, Fitzgerald, String Theory, Sidecountry, Sedaris, Gessen, Bissell, Men Without Women, Bliss Montage) and oral histories (Bourdain, Mad Max, Tinder Box) while still leaving room for some big new fiction (Tomorrow, Crossroads, Sea of Tranquility, Beautiful World) and my usual favorites–the creative nonfiction memoir (Dirtbag, Land of Men, Somebody’s Daughter, Crying in H Mart, Raising Raffi).
I listened to more audiobooks than ever (Trevor Noah, Bourdain, DFW, Iger, Gottlieb) in lieu of podcasts on my walking commute and I splurged for the nice fancy Kindle Oasis (saving $$ on Prime Day!), which spurred me on to read more and more (especially with its Dark Mode, easy on the eyes at bedtime) through my 27 library rentals (but unlike last year - when I wanted an ebook, I’d buy it, at least 7 times).
Also unlike last year (when I was equally balanced between male/female writers and non/fiction books) I skewed so heavily male/nonfiction in 2022, somehow reading slightly less female authors yet more than double the amount of male authors. That’s something I’ll look to balance out better this year, as I’m already on my first book and it’s what I typically love the most: female authored fiction.
Continuing my recent trends, I again read mostly new (frontlist) books this year - published over the last few years, except for a handful. There’s so many amazing new books that I’m just trying to keep up with, and never feeling like I’m succeeding.
One of the last books I read in 2022 was also my favorite: Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. I haven’t felt this jazzed about a book for awhile and have not held back in telling others about it with wonderful results:
If any book ever catches your interest, I hope you follow through in finding a way to acquire and read it - check out my reviews (I write a review for every book I read) and let me know what you’re reading these days. Read on!
I met @nickgray over a decade ago at one of his parties. I didn’t know him, except through Tumblr and mutual friends, but that’s how everyone first knows Nick. There was juggling and the band Freelance Whales played in a corner. Later this party was written about in New York Magazine.
Literally a decade later and I’m at another of Nick’s parties. Somehow they have gotten even better? There’s a book swap, lightning talks, and in walks a full on drum line. I meet people that I still see and run into and meet for lunch, others I’ll stay in touch with over email and phone calls. All because of Nick.
These are not rare isolated incidents. Nick has developed, designed, and field tested an effective party format and formula that literally anyone can do (he’s tested that part!), in any city or town, with any type of group and it manages to bring out the best in host and guest alike.
Trust in people. Put good ones together. Give them name tags and something to talk about and never let anyone get too settled or boring or backed into a corner. Those people will tell their friends and you’ll grow your network along with your guest list.
I know, because I’ve done it, I’ve seen others do it, and you can do it too. This isn’t a dull memoir with tips - it’s literally checklists, illustrations, case studies, actionable templates, ready-made scripts, and a step by step How To guide.
It’s a party playbook. By someone literally known for hosting really good ones. Nick is a great guy who likes meeting people and wants to pay that forward in this book. I can’t say I’ve read anything like it before.
Invest in reading it, then doing it. You’ll see rewards in less than a month, both tangible and intangible.
It’s like if Covey’s Highly Effective People got in a room with Gary V’s energy and the science and thought in The Art of Gathering. That is to say, as unique a book as its author.
Only Nick could write this book, so that people who thought cocktail parties were boring and company mixers sucked and that they knew how to host amazing parties already - all could learn something new and different and their crowds would benefit from it.
This year I read 32 books, which was below my yearly average and my set goal for the year in reading challenge. But considering my new life (post 2hr commute and with 2 children and much more reading for work), above 30 books is going to be my new PAR, like getting more than 100 in bowling. I’m happy with it.
I read one less book (thanks Ulysses) but more pages (thanks Ulysses) than 2020.
This is the first year that I actually reached a balance, reading exactly the same number of female and male authors. And exactly as many fiction as nonfiction!
Turns out I didn’t pay for a single digital (ebook) read all year actually… they all came from the Library, NetGalley, or Prime. That’s been a goal for awhile now as well… if I want a book I’m buying it in print (to own it) or I’ll wait for the library hold.
Continuing my trends, I read mostly new (frontlist) books this year - published over the last two years, except for a handful. There’s so many amazing new books that I’m just trying to keep up. And as usual, all my favorite fiction is from female writers.
If any book ever catches your interest, I hope you follow through in finding a way to acquire and read it - check out my reviews (I write a review for every book I read) and let me know what you’re reading these days. Read on!
This year I read 33 books, which was 13 books below my yearly average and my set goal for the year in reading challenge. Not only that, but I read more shorter books, about half of my average number of pages read over a year, as I selfishly attempted to get my numbers up and meet my goal (yet still failing). However, I stand proud by this 33 number - having persevered through many changes to remain a reader.
2020 was the first full year that I was a father of two children under the age of 4. That alone accounts for so much, that looking back I should’ve adjusted my goal leaving the hospital in 2019 with our bundle of joy. I also changed jobs in March, abandoning my daily 2-hr commute on trains where I have done the majority of my reading over the last 14 years. This new job is a lot more responsibility and work (and reading!).
Of course, no one had a commute once the pandemic hit. And to have finished any books in the year we just had, with an election on top of a pandemic and ongoing protesting, we should all be patting ourselves on the back.
Some of my trends make sense… I read more library ebooks and more ebooks in general (as a total percentage) than previous years. Being on the move for five unexpected months with a family, I didn’t bring as many print books along. Some of the trends I’ve been intentionally working towards… I finally (almost) reached exactly a 50/50 split between female and male writers.
In general, I’m glad to have been able to read many new books published in 2020 (12) and 2019 (5). 2020 was a great year for publishing and I hope that those books are still discovered and read and remembered as good new things about this year.
If any book ever catches your interest, I hope you follow through in finding a way to acquire and read it - check out my reviews (I write a review for every book I read) and let me know what you’re reading these days. Read on!
So, what a decade this last week has been - right? I’m working on what’s to-be my first personal email newsletter, to go out tomorrow. Sign up here: http://bit.ly/PWKmail to get it.
Just experiencing what this last week has been like over social media, it’s clearer to me than ever that this platform isn’t the right fit. Let’s get back to letters. Hope you’ll join me.
The opinions expressed on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer. This account is not sponsored or endorsed by my employer.
