Andrew Liptak

Andrew Liptak

@andrewliptak.com

Writer, historian, cosplayer, Vermonter. Author of Cosplay: A History. Newsletter: https://www.andrewliptak.com

2.4K followers686 following2.6K posts

Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

I haven’t followed File770 for years, ever since Mike threw a temper tantrum over being called out over a *pretty mild* criticism I made. I guess I’m not surprised to see that he’s still making pretty terrible decisions.

Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

This is a bucket list acquisition for me. I’ve been coveting one of these since I first saw that an American company was converting the original pocket watches into wrist watches. They were always prohibitively expensive, so it was sort of a wistful thinking sort of thing.

Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

Fast forward to last month when I found this Japanese company that made a replica conversions of the original, MRMW, based in Japan. Exactly what I was looking for, but they were sadly sold out on a whim. I emailed the company and it turns out they had one left!

Andrew Liptak reposted

Library of America
@libraryofamerica.bsky.social

Praise for our forthcoming Complete Earthsea set from @andrewliptak.com on @transferorbit.bsky.social: “These two volumes are fantastic: they're compact, have some beautiful art in the endpapers, and bring together all of the novels in a nice, compact package.” www.andrewliptak.com/october-2026...

andrewliptak.com24 new sci-fi, fantasy and horror books to read October 202624 new science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels to page through

Andrew Liptak reposted

Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

Tonight at Phoenix Books in Burlington: I’ll be interviewing @annaleen.bsky.social about their work, including their latest book, A Wall is Also A Road! The event is at 7:00pm and I’m really looking forward to this conversation!

Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

This whole thing has been getting me to think about writing some of the publicity work I do for the Day Job, and the types of things that have worked for me, both as a publicity goblin and reader.

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Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

For authors with books: I'd definitely search for your local publications: TV news, NPR affiliate, talk radio, local papers, community bulletins, blogs, local Facebook groups, etc., and reach out there. Do some homework: see who's written about books or events and tell them.

Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

All of these types of things are things that publicists should be doing. They don't and can't because they're universally stretched thin and overworked with all of their accounts, which is a unfortunate because they're generally eager and enthusiastic.

Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

This whole thing has been getting me to think about writing some of the publicity work I do for the Day Job, and the types of things that have worked for me, both as a publicity goblin and reader.

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Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

But the other thing that I've done with the day job? Just regular outreach: I have a list with hundreds of entries for local news and journalists that I've built connections with over the years. Local TV news loves these types of feel-good stories: local author publishes book!

Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

One of our books about a pretty horrific crime that's coming up on a centennial mark in November: I'll definitely be telling folks about that ahead of the anniversary.

Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

This whole thing has been getting me to think about writing some of the publicity work I do for the Day Job, and the types of things that have worked for me, both as a publicity goblin and reader.

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Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

I've been trying to think about why it took off the way it did. I think it's partially the image, the history that's blurbed, and the environmental angle that allowed commenters to talk back and forth, as well as the times that we weighed in about it. That moved 15-20 copies in the last week.

Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

Something I've seen as a reader that I need to do /learn more is ads on Amazon and Meta. This feels like it's helped surface books that I might not have otherwise noticed (and I'm a dedicated book seeker!). If I had a $40k budget for Cosplay I would have carpetbombed Instagram and Facebook with ads.

Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

This whole thing has been getting me to think about writing some of the publicity work I do for the Day Job, and the types of things that have worked for me, both as a publicity goblin and reader.

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Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

BUT. Those are all resources that we've built up over the years: we're an institution that's been around since 1838, and already have a lot of name recognition, and a dedicated community. It's taken a long time to get to that point, plus internal strategy and intention.

Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

This whole thing has been getting me to think about writing some of the publicity work I do for the Day Job, and the types of things that have worked for me, both as a publicity goblin and reader.

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Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

The short version is that we see a decent bump when we announce a book (institution blog + newsletter + member magazine + social media): we'll get our dedicated members and readers picking up things from the start, which is super helpful.

Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

The synergy between those things are useful: I can stand up an issue of our member magazine to align with a book release, then take those articles and put them into our blog, tell people about it via social media and our newsletter, all of which points back to the store.

Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

I’m still unreasonably irritated that this is not just Jason Statham fighting against a swarm of bees.

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Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

Hey, we're hiring at my day job:

The Vermont Historical Society@vermonthistory.org

VHS is looking to hire a Director of Stewardship and Public Relations. This position plans, supervises, and executes the membership, fundraising, grant-writing, stewardship, public relations, and marketing functions of the Vermont Historical Society, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Andrew Liptak
@andrewliptak.com

Book 28 of 2026: Hiroshima by John Hersey. A grim, unforgiving read.

Andrew Liptak@andrewliptak.com

Book 27 of 2026: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. I’d been looking for something a little different and this was recommended by a friend. I love how this story is told in letters, how it brings out heartbreaking revelations and growth in all of its characters.