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A Valley journalist sends in a self-promo from another Valley journalist. Which burns more, the incest or the onanism?

A respected top Valley reporter, a guy with the WSJ on his resume and Red Herring's star writer during the mag's Golden Era of Om Malik and Peter Rojas, is self-flacking his own book. (I've never even traded emails with the guy, so he must be spamming wide among tech journos.) Is this Web 2.0 or a sign that promo budgets are really tight? Still, this is better than the time Guy Kawasaki had his publicist invite me to join Guy's network on FilmLoop.

"If you can agree to an embargo on coverage/reviews until May 9,
the Tuesday of E3..." Real flacks could learn from Dean. He offers the embargo as an option for more info and explains *why* he wants to wait for a specific date. Most flacks just send the info and mark it EMBARGO MAY 09 as if the freelance writers they're spamming work for them.

Poor guy's book isn't even on Amazon — does he need to hand copies out himself? The home-made press release is after the jump.

From: "Dean Takahashi"
Date: April 17, 2006 11:16:09 PM PDT
To: "Takahashi, Dean"
Subject: resending: Dean Takahashi, a preview of "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked" coming May 9

Hi,

I've just put the finishing touches on my new book:

"The Xbox 360 Uncloaked: The Real Story Behind Microsoft's Next-Generation Video Game Console."

If you can agree to an embargo on coverage/reviews until May 9, the Tuesday of E3, I can send you a PDF preview of the book.

The book is the result of more than a hundred interviews, many at the highest levels of Microsoft, as well as countless months of research. I was lucky enough to get unprecedented access within Microsoft, so this book is a true insider's look at the evolution of the Xbox 360 and Microsoft's ambitious multi-billion dollar gamble to become a leading force in the video game industry. The book reveals interviews and insights with not only the entire Microsoft Xbox team, but also key executives from Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and leading game developers.

I've discussed the book quite a bit on my blog at:

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/gaming

The official book page from my publisher, SpiderWorks, is:

http://www.spiderworks.com/xbox360

I will follow up soon with a summary of the most interesting things in the book, as well as provide a formal press release on the book. We'll pull together plans for limited excerpts, pictures, cover art, and interviews about the book as needed.

The book will be released on May 9 and will be available in an eBook and printed edition at SpiderWorks.com and Amazon.com.

If you are interested, I'd be more than happy to send you a review galley of the book, as well as a print edition as soon as it is available.

Thanks much,

Dean Takahashi

Staff writer

San Jose Mercury News