Andrew Blum - Publicist

I run a New York-based PR agency. Among the areas I specialize in is book publicity. I have worked for publishers, authors and large book publicity agencies. I also do media training and high-profile and crisis PR work. As a PR executive and former journalist, I have been involved on both sides of the aisle in some of the most media-intensive PR crises of the past 30 years.

I have directed PR in connection with high profile and crisis issues involving politicians, lobbyists, CEOs, the military, law firms, and families and individuals. Among those have been former New York Gov. George Pataki, and Jane Goodall, who I placed on Real Time with Bill Maher, as well as a parent of one of the Newtown, CT, Sandy Hook mass shooting victims.

Since opening AJB Communications in 2013, I have directed PR for clients in the legal industry, branding, marketing and communications, science and academia, professional and financial services, publishing, education, content marketing, and renewable energy and climate change.

I have done book publicity for over 30 books – including those by a climate change leader, CEOs and two former INS agents. Among the books I have publicized, several of them have made best-seller lists and have been reviewed by book reviewers. Among my PR placements have been Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, CNN International, CNN Business, Fast Company, The New York Times, numerous podcasts, radio and TV shows, and other outlets.

I do national and regional publicity for authors and publishers. Topics include business, personal finance, energy/climate change, legal issues, politics, guns, immigration, cybersecurity, cannabis, show business, real estate, #metoo issues, healthcare, airlines and autos, adoption issues, and sports. I also provide crisis PR, media training, op-ed placement, podcast services, video production, and voiceovers for audio books.

In my previous life, I was a journalist, and did freelance book reviews for the Wall Street Journal. I was a reporter, editor and freelance editor for UPI, The New York Times Syndicate, the International Herald Tribune, Time Magazine, USA Today International, the Christian Science Monitor and other publications.

As a former journalist, I know how reporters think and act, as well as what they are looking for in sources and interviews, and what they don't like -- what their pet peeves are.

As a reporter, I covered Groundhog Day (Yes, Punxsutawney Phil!), the New York Tylenol poisoning, the $11.3 billion battle between Texaco and Pennzoil, the bankruptcy and dual housing and school segregation fight in Yonkers NY, the steel and coal industries, the death of celebrities such as Tennessee Williams, and local, state and national politics.

I have been interviewed in the media about crisis PR issues and have spoken at PR events and to PR and news classes at the journalism school of UNC-Chapel Hill (my alma mater) and NYU.

I am a member of the Authors Guild, and communications organizations PRSA, IABC, LMA, and LFMP.