MANAGEMENT, MARKETING, & PUBLICITY FOR WRITERS, BUSINESSES, & FILM/THEATRE PROFESSIONALS
For the Mainstream and LGBTQ+ markets
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SERVICES
Michele Karlsberg brings a unique combination of skills to effectively carry out management and publicity/marketing campaigns for authors, organizations, businesses, and film/theater professionals.
The written word is a powerful and enduring form of communication. The journey from an artist's mind to the page is a task often taken alone. Once your product is complete, how do you share the news with others? For over 34 years, Michele has worked with many to strategize and implement targeted campaigns. She looks forward to building a relationship that will enable you to have the highest visibility possible, and the enjoyment that comes with success.
Michele provides book publicity and author promotion services to publishers, authors, and booksellers for regional and national literary publicity campaigns. She also supports businesses and special event marketing. Michele believes commitment and teamwork are the keys that drive results. She utilizes multiple resources at the local, regional, national, and international levels, as well as strategy-driven tactics, to promote books and grow both author and publisher brands. Michele prides herself on well-developed lists with personal contacts and strong media relationships that have been honed over many years in the industry.
CONSULTING
Consults with authors, performers, organizations, non-profits, and community organizations on media outreach, expanding platforms, and building media relationships. Particular expertise in assisting self-published authors to develop professional and media-friendly products. Assists clients to create original content in culture, lifestyle, and current events for placement in print and online media.
L to R: Jewelle Gomez, Diane Sabin, Michele Karlsberg, Nancy Bereano, and Elisabeth Nonas
MARKETING
Assistance with product production, consumer marketing, advertising campaigns, direct marketing, business-to-business, distribution, Internet presence, and grassroots campaigns.
Kate Clinton and Michele Karlsberg
MEDIA RELATIONS
Media contact and follow-up, press release and cover letter development, pitching, editorial placement, and blog tours with leading reporters, editors, columnists, and producers for new publicity and ongoing exposure.
Michele Karlsberg with Edmund White
MANAGEMENT
Management services include pre-and-post production, managing websites and social media, literary award submissions, Q&A development, independent bookseller and library outreach, book trailers, blogs, advanced reader copies, pre-publication book review placement, community event bookings, event oversight, and more.
Andrew Holleran and Michele Karlsberg
Lily Tomlin and Michele Karlsberg
REPRESENTATIVE PLACEMENTS
LA Review of Books
New York Times
The New Yorker
Lambda Literary
Minneapolis Star
Gay and Lesbian Review
Queer Forty
Lesbian News
Bay Area Reporter
Autostraddle
Washington Blade
Queerty
Channel Q
Queer Words Podcast
Women’s Review Of Books
Slate
Huffington Post
NPR
MSNBC
The Way Out
Channel Q
WNYC
WPIXNY
OUTTAKE Online- OUTTAKE Voices
I Love my Wife Podcast
If These Ovaries Could Talk Podcast
CSPAN
LOGO
HERE TV
OUT IN THE BAY TV
GAY USA TV
Amsterdam News
SELECT CLIENT LIST
Judy Grahn
Stephen Fry
Dorothy Allison
Jewelle Gomez
Urvashi Vaid
Bruce Lee
Lucy Jane Bledsoe
Lance Ringel
TOSOS
Jennifer Lee
Lesléa Newman
James Magruder
Vivian Vance
Michael H.Ward
Katherine Forrest
Michaelangelo Signorile
Ellen Hart
Felice Picano
Esther Newton
Felony and Mayhem
Kate Clinton
Lily Tomlin
Brian McNaught
Lucy J. Madison
Martin Duberman
Judith Katz
Spinifex Press
LPAC
Emanuel Xavier
Wayne Hoffman
SoulForce
Provincetown For Women
Island Chateau
Olivia Cruises
Bywater Books
Bride Pride
Inspiration Gatherings
Women’s Week PTown
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah
If These Ovaries Could Talk
KUDOS
"For more than a decade, it has been my pleasure to work with Michele Karlsberg. She is a problem-solver and is eager to learn new things. She pays attention to details both large and small. She is creative and fun-loving, she anticipates and takes initiative, and she takes pride in finishing projects. She is a woman of integrity and always takes the long view that her work with others is part of building community and a better world."
– Kate Clinton, Entertainer
"Publicists aren't just for famous people, and I originally didn't think I could afford a publicist but Michele Karlsberg worked with my budget and did an excellent job. I hired Michele to help increase awareness for my book. She worked magic, or at least her contacts, and generated significant coverage and opportunities to get my book the visibility it deserved. What's more, Michele's actually really enjoyable to work with. She is passionate about the projects she takes on and maintains the critical momentum that book publicity needs"
– Adrian Shanker, editor of Bodies and Barriers: Queer Activists on Health
"Michele Karlsberg makes sense of nonsense and gets it all in writing. She has accomplished nothing short of a miracle sorting through and organizing the sometimes daunting volume of requests that had buried my ability to get back to the writing life. As a business manager, she has no equal."
– Dorothy Allison, Author
"I want to thank you for all of the hard work you continue to do on my behalf since we began to work together in 2018! You have helped me to maintain a great online presence, you have guided me toward some wonderful publication opportunities, and you have suggested some great projects! Your suggestion to work with Elana Dykewomon to co-edit the Sinister Wisdom special Jewish lesbian issue, for example, was a true inspiration and a real gift! I am thrilled to be represented by you as I continue to navigate the sometimes perilous world of publishing--both queer and straight. You rock!"
– Judith Katz, Author
“Michele Karlsberg would have made one great ballroom House mother! She pushes you to get out there and do your best with all the passion of someone who genuinely knows our struggles. Many of us in the LGBTQ+ literary community have been able to shine because of her.”
– Emanuel Xavier, Author
"Michele provides strategic, thoughtful communications counsel for the Provincetown Theater. She has terrific interpersonal skills that enable her to work well with everyone from the media to our Board. She knows Provincetown and the theater world. Her breadth of knowledge and experience is exceeded only by her passion for helping us achieve our goals.”
- David Wilson, Board Chair Provincetown Theater
"Michele Karlsberg enables you to envision broader horizons and take your career to the next level – and that’s a rare gift. A tireless fount of ideas and a source of boundless encouragement for her clients, she is fun to work with, unafraid to volunteer a blunt opinion, and not offended when you push back with your own. She knows people in the business (lots of them) and like a master chess player, she never stops thinking several moves ahead."
– Lance Ringel, Author & Playwright
"We absolutely loved working with Michele on the launch of our book If These Ovaries Could Talk: The Things We've Learned About Making an LGBTQ Family. Michele has a warm personality, but she's also a pitbull who never gives up when it comes to getting you that quote, story, feature, podcast guest spot, or creative content opportunity. From our first call, we felt like Michele understood what we were looking for, and she never stopped fighting to get us the most promotion and visibility for our book, well after the launch. In addition, she's entrenched in the LGBTQ community. There was almost no outlet we mentioned that she didn't already have a relationship established."
– Robin Hopkins & Jaimie Kelton
"Michele is great fun to work with, enthusiastic, and tireless. Her support has meant a great deal to me both because of her effective work and because of her personal encouragement, which every writer needs!"
– Jewelle Gomez, Author
ABOUT MICHELE
Michele Karlsberg shows how ordinary people make extraordinary contributions to their communities. Her philosophy is simple: "It is our giving that makes us strong, not our receiving.”
Bottom line, she loves what she does. She is grateful for her beloved mentors Nancy Bereano, Sasha Alyson, Barbara Grier, Richard Labonte, and Carol Seajay, who all helped her gain knowledge and confidence in the book publishing industry.
She has worn many hats in her 30-year career. As a publicist, she brings a unique combination of skills to effectively carry out publicity/marketing campaigns for authors, organizations, comedians, musicians, events, and film/theater professionals.
Her list of clients includes Katherine Forrest, Felice Picano, Kate Clinton, Stephen Fry, Jewelle Gomez, Assotto Saint, Dorothy Allison, Martin Duberman, Judy Grahn, and Minnie Bruce Pratt to name a few. From her home office stateside, Michele represented many International Publishing companies including Spinifex Press (Australia), Second Story (Canada) Bruno Gmunder (Germany) and Creation Books (UK). She generously speaks at many conferences about the business of publishing.
She is one of the founders of Amethyst Press home of Dennis Cooper, Kevin Killian, and Patrick Moore. She is a strong advocate for independent booksellers and worked with Carol Seajay on the Feminist Bookstore Network. She is a curator of Outspoken, a nationwide LGBTQI literary series that helps new and established voices reach a wider audience. As publisher at Bywater Books, she published many award-winning authors.
She is an innovator. In 1989 along with the Publishing Triangle, Michele launched Lesbian and Gay Book Month. She worked with The Book Of The Month Club/Quality Paperback Books to launch their GLBT Book Club Insight/Out along with the Triangle Classic series.
She is a passionate advocate for the Pride Center on Staten Island, whether it was to help supply books for their library, participate in the LGBT Pride celebrations, helping build visibility for the Pride Center, or helping other LGBT people in need.
She is a producer. She produced Holland America Cruise Lines’ first BOOK EXPO along with Olivia Travel. In 2010, she produced BACK 2 BACK at the St George Theater in NY with Lily Tomlin and Kate Clinton. She is most proud of producing events to honor the passing of Audre Lorde, Melvin Dixon, and John Preston.
As literary executor for Assotto Saint, Roy Gonsalves, and Stan Leventhal, Michele manages their creative works for publication today.
Michele is a planner. She was has been instrumental in planning the fun of many conferences and festivals such as OUTWRITE, Saints and Sinners, San Francisco Book Festival, BookExpo America, In Our Own Write, Behind Our Masks, Readers and Writers, and Gay Games Cultural Festival.
She is an author. Her non-fiction piece entitled "The Isle Of Staten" appears in the book Love, Christopher Street (Chelsea House Editions). Her WORDS column appears in the San Francisco Bay Times monthly. She wrote Self Publishing LGBTQI Books and is the co-editor of the Lambda Literary Award finalist To Be Continued and To Be Continued: Take Two (Firebrand Books).
She is an awardee, and her awards include thePublishing Triangle Leadership Award, Saints and Sinners Literary Hall Of Fame, One Island/One Pride Award from the S.I. LGBT Community Center, and the Lambda Literary Foundation Publishing professional Award.
She is a citizen who has made America great, but she doesn’t wear a damn red hat about it. If she can share what she knows about marketing and publicity in the world of publishing, she is one happy woman.
The Publishing Triangle is proud to honor the best and brightest writers working today. Others contribute to the health, vibrancy, and prestige of LGBTQ literature. In that light, the Michele Karlsberg Leadership Award recognizes the many contributions of editors, literary agents, and others, including institutions and periodicals, who have worked tirelessly to see that great books reach avid readers.
In 2022, this prize was renamed in honor of the publicist and consultant Michele Karlsberg. Karlsberg was one of the Publishing Triangle’s first pair of co-chairs, and she was a founder of the queer publisher Amethyst Press. Her eponymous firm, Michele Karlsberg Marketing and Management, has worked with a bevy of queer authors, including Kate Clinton, Assotto Saint, Emanuel Xavier, Katherine Forrest, Jewelle Gomez, Wayne Hoffman, Dorothy Allison, and Felice Picano, just to name a few.
The award was instituted in 2002, and for twenty years was known as the Publishing Triangle Leadership Award. Karlsberg won this award herself, in 2010.
