Getting Publicity For Your Book
Thought I’d better add a new blog since Honey has written such long ones recently. I don’t think she’s finished reading The Artists’ Way yet though she frequently opens it and feels very virtuous when she does her ‘morning pages’.
Got a lovely comment from a reader recently who said that ‘Wise Follies’ had really cheered her up and made her felt understood…I’m so glad the book felt like a friend. I got a number of letters from readers of ‘Ordinary Miracles’ saying that they felt I had been spying on their marriages (in a nice way of course). Someone once described it as ‘Victoria Wood meets Shirley Valentine’.
You can read summaries of my books and some lovely reviews on the thingys at the top of this page.
Some quick advice for new authors seeking publicity in papers, on radio and the like. I’ve found that the fact that one has written a novel often simply isn’t enough to send a journalist scampering off to interview you. I’m also a freelance journalist myself. Those features editors really like their ‘hot’ angles. If your book is about something unusual, or you wrote it on a desert island or are currently dating a well-known footballer etc then there’ll be lots of interest. Another way to gain interest is to have something else to talk about. For example when I wrote a big article about women and cats for The Irish Times various radio stations contacted me to discuss it…and I naturally mentioned the new book and said that intriguing animals frequently appear in my novels. A highly personal article about self-esteem led to an interview on one of Ireland’s most popular radio shows (yes I bought a bottle of Rescue Remedy). There are many other examples I could cite. For example an article about ‘BookCrossing’…do look it up on Google…also led to radio interviews.
And if you want a boost Google ‘Elizabeth Gilbert Ted Talks’. Bracing words!
Lots of love,
Grace
