I HATE THE INTERNET by Jarett Kobek (We Heard You Like Books)

LA-based indie publisher We Heard You Like Books hired Press Shop to do publicity for the release of its first book, I HATE THE INTERNET: A USEFUL NOVEL AGAINST MEN, MONEY AND THE FILTH OF INSTAGRAM by Jarett Kobek. It's a brilliant, laugh-out-loud screed of a novel, but we faced some major challenges in promoting it: little distribution, no sales or marketing team, and the author is the founding–and only–editor at the publishing house, making it pretty much a self-published book. But we didn't let it stop us! We crafted a specialized media outreach strategy and went out pitching. We were able to line up a ton of media, including long Q&As in the Los Angeles Review of Books and Salon, reviews in Zyzzyva and Volume 1 Brooklyn, a piece in Electric Literature, and we successfully pitched Greil Marcus for his legendary Real Life Rock Top 10 column, which appeared in Pitchfork. 

And then, we got this almost-self-published book reviewed by Dwight Garner in The New York Times! A rave on the front page of the Arts section. 

The New York Times: "When the Digital World is Judging Your Every Thought"
"[It's] a grainy political and cultural rant, a sustained shriek about power and morality in a new global era. It's a glimpse at a lively mind at full boil...this book has soul as well as nerve... My advice: Log off Twitter for a day. Pick this up instead." 

The New York Times review sent the book into the top 500 on Amazon; international rights were snapped up in 6 languages. A widely published review from The Washington Post news syndicate appeared soon after and gave the book another boost. I HATE THE INTERNET went into its second printing, and the author got a contract for his next novel with Viking.

The Guardian: Why I Hate the Internet Found So Many Readers"
The Guardian covered the swift success of the book a couple months after publication: "The novel has become a sleeper sensation – a more or less self-published book that landed a favorable review above the fold on the front page of the New York Times' Arts section (something Kobek believes is a first for a self-published book.)" 

A couple of our early media hits:

Los Angeles Review of Books: "What to Do If You're a Useless Man?" An Interview with Jarett Kobek
A long and wide-ranging interview with Jarett Kobek.

Pitchfork: "Greil Marcus's Real Life Rock Top 10"
Check out #9!

Electric Literature: "Two Writers Congratulate Themselves on Their Genius"
Dorthe Nors and Jarett Kobek discuss literary breakthroughs and tech industry assaults on San Francisco

By the way, If you haven't read the book yet, you should!