The agency houses a 10,000-name database of national and local contacts interested in children’s books and products. Our national contacts include producers at major TV and radio programs; editors at children’s, women’s, parenting and special-interest magazines; columnists for wire services and syndicates; reporters at top newspapers; editors for web sites in a broad range of interest categories. We maintain regular contact with key booksellers, contacts at review journals, industry associations and educators, including national workshop leaders, who are dedicated to ensuring that quality books and products reach children.

The agency has served as the off-site children’s publicity department to publishers, toy and audio companies including Kids Can Press, Kane Miller, National Geographic, Pleasant Company and Listening Library. We also work as adjunct staff to publicity and marketing departments of publishers and industry associations, such as Annick Press, Penguin Putnam and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

She serves as the Marketing Adviser to the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and, since 1994, has written the bi-monthly “To Market” column for SCBWI’s national publication, The Bulletin. She is also the author of the book, An Author’s Guide to Children’s Book Promotion, now in its eighth edition. A regular speaker at industry conventions, she has also discussed children’s book marketing and trends in media interviews on TV, radio and with the press.

Prior to starting the agency, Susan worked as publicity manager at Scholastic Incorporated, publicist for juvenile books at Dell Publishing and promotion associate for school and college books at Bantam Books. Before starting her own firm, she also gained experience as an account executive for high-tech products at a major Philadelphia ad agency, and had worked as a book-buyer for an independent bookstore in Connecticut.

Susan is an alumna of the University of Connecticut, where she now co-sponsors an annual children’s illustration award, the Raab Prize, to encourage students to pursue careers in the arts. She serves on the Leadership Committee for UConn’s Northeast Children’s Literature Collection. She is a correspondent, covering children~s publishing, for Recess! Radio which is syndicated nationally on 500 public radio stations. She also serves on the Board for the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature and Culture at the University of Florida at Gainesville.

Susanna Reich
Account Services Manager Susanna Reich has a broad background in children’s books, business, and the arts. She is the author of Clara Schumann: Piano Virtuoso (Clarion, 1999), which won an Orbis Pictus Honor from the National Council of Teachers of English and was an ALA Notable, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Her picture book, Jose! Born to Dance (Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster, 2005), a biography of the Mexican-American modern dancer and choreographer, Jose Limon, with illustrations by Raul Colon, won the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award. Susanna’s historical novel for children, Penelope Bailey Takes the Stage was published by Marshall Cavendish in 2007.

Susanna serves on the Steering Committee of the Metro New York chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and leads workshops at industry conferences. Prior to joining Raab Associates in 2000, she was owner of and head designer for Flowers by Susanna, which provided flowers for such varied clients as the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the American Institute of Wine and Food. Feature stories about her business appeared in The New York Times, the Gannett newspapers, and Hudson Valley magazine, and her articles on floral design were published in several national magazines, including Bride’s.

Susannah holds a B.F.A. in dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, did graduate work in dance ethnology at the University of Hawaii, and earned a Certificate in Movement Analysis from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies. A former faculty member of the Dance Notation Bureau in New York, she also performed with several noted modern dance companies.

Kristen Pisanelli
Associate Publicist Kristen Pisanelli is a graduate of Siena College with a degree in English and a minor in Writing Communications. She has worked as a political journalist for Cuyler News Service in Albany, New York where she wrote for the Empire State Report of New York City. While occupying the position, Kristen conducted formal interviews with politicians including Governor Elliot Spitzer, former Governor George Pataki, and various personalities associated with the field, such as Sam Waterston of Law and Order.

Published in political and insurance magazines, Kristen also has experience editing mortgage satisfactions and has worked as a teaching assistant with learning disabled children at Dutchess County BOCES.

Jeanette Larson
Jeanette Larson is a children’s literature and library services consultant and trainer, currently serving as an adjunct professor for Texas Woman’s University. She’s the former Youth Services Manager at Austin Public Library and former Director of Library Development for the Texas State Library where she also served as Manager of Continuing Education and Consulting.

Joyce Stein
Account Director Joyce Stein has spent the past 28 years working for some of the top houses including Crown, Simon & Schuster, Golden Books, Funk & Wagnalls/World Almanac Books, and Vivendi-Universal. She has held various posts including Publicity Manager and Director of Marketing working on publicity and marketing projects that included responsibility for point of purchase displays, catalogs, conventions, focus groups and party planning.

She has worked with such authors as Shirley Conran, Joe Namath, Julie Nixon-Eisenhower, George Will, Alan Dershowitz, Richard Scarry, Mercer Mayer, Jim Davis, Cyndy Szkeres, Anita Lobel, Michael Berenstain, along with top licenses such as Disney, Sesame Street, Warner Brothers, Jim Henson’s Muppets, Precious Moments as well as brand-name books such as Golden Books, World Almanac and Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia. She has given lectures on How to Motivate Children to Read and has served on the Goddard Riverside Community Book Fair Committee.

Tara Koppel
Publicist Tara Koppel is a graduate of Plattsburgh State University with a degree in Mass Media and a minor in English. In her few years as an alum, Tara has had a broad range of experience within her field. She worked as part of the promotion team for KISS FM of the Hudson Valley, and is currently a freelance writer for the e-magazine, newyorkcool.com, where she reviews comedians and off-Broadway plays throughout Manhattan.

Prior to graduation, Tara interned at On Television, a non-profit company that encourages media literacy and has aired programs on PBS. She was also an educational aide at the Child Development Center at West Point, New York.

Joan Honig
Joan Honig specializes in marketing communication, research on new media and Web technology, and planning online conferences.

Joan served as director of marketing at ProAct Technologies, an e-HR communication software company that served Fortune 500 companies. She was responsible for designing and implementing marketing communications initiatives including Web seminars, e-mail and direct mail offerings, and tradeshows. Joan was also responsible for maintaining relationships with industry analysts and competitive analysis.

She served as editor-in-chief of Woman magazine, a Connecticut based women ‘ s regional publication. She developed special events, guides and promotions as well as creating and maintaining an advisory board of community leaders. Joan received the Matrix Award for Public Service from Women in Communications, Inc.

Bobbie Combs
Bobbie has 21 years experience in the children’s book industry, including six years as manager of two independent children’s bookstores; eight years at Koen Book Distributors, first as children’s book buyer and founder of Koen Kids! and then as Director of Sales, and six years as a freelance consultant to the industry.

As a consultant and a partner in We Love Children’s Books, Bobbie has provided writing, editing, marketing, trade show and web site services to a variety of children’s book clients – publishers, wholesalers, authors and trade organizations. She is also the owner of a small niche publisher and an author of two children’s books.

Bobbie has been and is still currently involved in various trade organizations, among them the Educational Paperback Association and the Children’s Book Council. She works with Raab Associates, Inc. as a sales and marketing consultant.

Laurina Cashin
Laurinahas many years experience in the children’s book industry, with a particular focus on children’s and teen collections in public libraries. Her early experience as a selector for children’s book approval plans led to buyer positions for major library wholesalers. Her knowledge of children’s and young adult collection development for public libraries grew and she gained a solid reputation in the evaluation and selection of titles for vendor-supplied selection lists, Opening Day Collections, and projects for libraries while employed with BWI. She created specialized selection programs that are still currently used by that company for their public library customers.

Laurina also has 9 years of sales experience in the public library market and an additional 2 ½ years in the school library sector. Her marketing experience includes developing new programs and services; and writing promotional literature including brochures, newsletters and web content. She managed catalog production as well as other pre-press activities while working at Brodart and Children’s Library Services. Currently she is working as a consultant.