Linda Carlson is a Seattle-based marketing consultant, the author of 11 books and a frequent speaker on regional history, on marketing and on career advancement.
Carlson's most recent book is Company Towns in the Pacific Northwest (University of Washington Press). A social history based on more than 100 Washington, Oregon and Idaho employer-owned communities during the 20th century, Company Towns was a finalist for the Washington State Book Awards. It has been cited in the New York Times, USA Today and the International Herald Tribune and it resulted in Carlson being interviewed by the London Daily Telegraph.
Because of the research done for Company Towns, Carlson is in her third term on the Humanities Washington Inquiring Mind speakers bureau, which provides speakers to community lecture series, historical associations and schools. Her current topic is "Company Towns: How Women Shaped Employer-Owned Communities." Previous topics: “Company Towns: Their Importance in the Modern West” and “Speeders, Galloping Geese and Doodlebugs.”
Starting in 1990, Carlson published nine Northwest-oriented job-search guides, including the popular How to Find a Good Job in Seattle. These books, which grew out of her experience as the Harvard Business School's alumni career liaison, serve as the basis for her job-search workshops and keynote addresses for employment fairs. In conjunction with the books, Carlson wrote job-search Q & A columns for Seattle and Bellevue papers for a decade.
Carlson offers practical, pragmatic marketing counsel for authors and smaller businesses and as a conference speaker. "Great ideas---can't wait to get started" and "The resources she suggested really focused me" are examples of audience comments.
The Publicity and Promotion Handbook: A Complete Guide for Small Business (John Wiley, 1982), Carlson's first book, outlines how businesses can handle publicity, advertising, and sales promotion on tight budgets and with in-house staff. A case analysis of marketing in an architectural practice was first published by the Harvard Business School and then appeared in Services Marketing (Prentice Hall, 1984).
Carlson writes each month for the Independent Book Publishers Association, often on marketing topics. Her recent work also appears in The New Writer's Handbook: A Practical Anthology of Best Advice for Your Craft and Career (Scarletta Press, 2007) and Calling All Authors: How to Publish with Your Eyes Wide Open (Nightengale Press, 2007). Her articles draw frequent praise for their comprehensiveness and concepts: "Good, cutting-edge stuff," wrote one book publisher, while another commented, "I love reading your articles, you give readers real value by sharing this knowledge of new communication tools."