NHT Blog

If you’ve been reading the weekly e-newsletter and/or following, say, on Instagram, for example, you know that I was recently out west, speaking at the 20th San Francisco Writers Conference, including, but not limited to, having put on a masterclass there.

We’ve all heard the expression, “Find something you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”  (As a quick aside, I had to laugh recently when someone said that to me in a “My mother used to tell me” way.  I didn’t want to burst their bubble, but it was everything I could do to not say, “You know your mom wasn’t the originator of that, right?”)

One of my author clients has been writing a book since 2022 and it’s due out next year, to coincide with a major anniversary of the story being told over its pages.  That’s a lot of time and a lot of writing and editing.

As the host of the weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast, I constantly receive pitches from PR people who are trying to book their client(s) as a guest on my show.  On the flip side, as a publicist myself, I am regularly writing similar emails on behalf of folks that I’m pursuing opportunities on behalf of.

Yesterday I returned from the four-day Podfest Multimedia Expo in Orlando. And congratulations to them, by the way, on ten years of the massive event that had two thousand attendees for this last weekend in January.  I was most grateful to be one of the speakers at the event.

Since 2016, TikTok has become one of the most impactful platforms for discovering new music and helping independent artists get their music discovered. With its snippet video format and fast algorithmic recommendation, TikTok has become an important player in the music promotion industry.

I was thrilled to see Antoine Winfield, Jr. of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers named as a First Team AP All-Pro, not to mention his teammate, Mike Evans, get chosen Second Team AP All-Pro at the end of last week.  They each had a memorable 2023 NFL season.

Meanwhile, in the entertainment world, one week after the Golden Globes took place in Los Angeles, the Critics Choice Awards were held last night in Santa Monica, California.  And tonight, in Los Angeles, the 2024 Emmy Awards will be held.  Wow.

There was an email that came in one week ago today (maybe about the time I was putting together the Most Read Blogs of 2023) that talked about sharing audio.  The point that was being made was that you’re likely not in a position to share something while you’re listening to it.  Right?  If you’re driving and hear a song (or a podcast) you like, you’re not going to pull over just so you can send it to whoever it made you think about.  BUT, by the time you reach your destination, you’re going to have forgotten to do it.

Happy New Year, everyone.  And thank you so much for coming back week after week, month after month, year after year, to read the blog that gets posted on this site every Monday.  I’m equally grateful to everyone who listens to the “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast that has been coming out every Wednesday for what will be ten years next month.  In the case of both the blog and the podcast, I’ve never missed once in posting either one.  I say all that to make sure you know that I write the blog and record the podcast every week because you DO keep coming back to read and to listen, respectively.

Merry Christmas.  Yes, I’m writing a blog on December 25th.  I’m so grateful to everyone who reads these posts all year long, so it seems fitting that I uphold my end of the verbal contract to have yet another installment for you, even if it is arguably the biggest holiday of the year.