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Friday Mar 17, 2006

Pop Quiz: Jennifer Solow

solow.jpgToday's interviewee is the author of The Booster, sort of a The Devil Wears Prada but with the inside look being at the ad industry, not fashion magazines. (Amazon is shipping The Booster out early, due to demand, with the actual drop date being March 21.) Solow has also been promoting herself in interesting ways. Like what? Like this picture, for instance.

Even though you're not in the ad game anymore, what advice would you give to a college graduate who was thinking about getting a job as a copywriter?
It's a great job. It's grueling. It takes all your stamina and your parents will never be as impressed as you think they should be. Someday, when you're around 35 (or 28 if you're feisty enough), you will realize that it was a stupid decision and you will weigh your current salary (52,000? 78,000? 165,000? 275,000?) against doing what you really want to do.

You're working on a second project: is it also based on your life? Did it feel hard to follow up, material wise, after the Booster? Not material-wise. Ideas are the easy part. Overcoming personal insecurities, external and internal pressures is the hardest. Plus, it's like having a baby. You forget how hard the first one is until it's too late with the second one. It's hard work-plain and simple.

If you're writing a novel based on real people, what precautions can you take to try not to alienate the people you're writing about? Or is just a risk one has to take?
I can't worry about it.

You're marketing the Booster in some interesting ways. How and when did you come up with some of the concepts?
I applied the same thoughts as I did working on Snapple. Embrace the people who are most likely to love you first....then let them spread the word of what they think. I nurture relationships with everyone who writes and knows me.

The book is more than just a book I'm finding - it's a way of reaching out to people and letting people in. I actually got pretty emotional about it last night-thinking about all the new friends I have routing for me. So if that’s marketing...that's what I'm doing.

How do you advise new young women in advertising to deal with what you describe as the 'testosterone' in the industry.
When someone pisses you off, grab your crotch and say "eat my dick." That and Zoloft.


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