Authors say writing a book is like going on a popular ride at Disneyland. There’s a two-hour wait, followed by about 45 seconds that are pretty exciting.
On the other hand, a writer can’t write his own reviews. And a publicist can’t assign them—hard as she might try. “I am always fairly aggressive with the New York Times,” Stephanie Elliott of Wesleyan University Press tells me, “sending galleys and review copies to a variety of columnists and freelancers in addition to sending books to the [Times] Book Review editor.” But the only thing the Times has carried was the Associated Press review of Jones’s book.
Robert Ryan was a guy from Chicago but he was more than that—a Chicago guy. His father made a lot of money in real estate, and he himself went into politics and became a ward committeeman. Ryan took with him to Hollywood “political savvy” and a “heavy, heavy work ethic,” Jones tells me. The work ethic is something Chicago actors on the coast are still known for.
