Welcome to My Worlds: A Bipolar Christian Tells All

By Tricia Van Dockum

On my closing day of guest-blogging, I wanted to talk a little bit about the importance of a platform and whether it is helpful in launching a newly published book. The answer is YES, it can only help. A platform is anything you have already established that can help gain recognition or public exposure for your book. It can be anything from writing a weekly column in your local community newspaper to being a fill-in host on a local or regional radio show.

When I worked as an in-house publicist at Harcourt, this topic would come up whenever we were talking about a new title at our marketing meetings. Does this author have an existing platform? Do they already have a following due to another medium? Does this author belong to any organizations that would be interested in hosting him or her for a talk or book signing event. 

Having a platform already in place also makes you more alluring to publishers when you’re trying to get your book published.  A well-connected author is always appreciated. Just something to think about as you’re writing your book.

Okay, I guess that’s it for now.  It’s been fun blogging with you!  Thanks for the experience. I hope it’s been helpful.

As some of you may know after reading my bio, I have a 5-year-old daughter named Olivia who is the namesake of my business, Ollie Media, and the joy of my life. Last weekend we went to see the movie, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, as I had read numerous positive reviews and I am familiar with the book series. This movie was delightful and my daughter was glued to the screen, watching every minute of it. One of the executive producers is Julia Roberts, and she has done a beautiful job with casting and with the look of this movie. The movie takes place in the ‘30s during the depression era and makes you realize how much people struggled to survive during that time. It’s a good movie for both adults and children as it serves as a reminder of what is available to us now versus then. We are such consumers now and really have so much more than we need…thanks to Costco and WalMart.

In my work, I have done a number of publicity campaigns with YA (young adult) novels that have gone quite well. For a writer, this seems to be a growing genre with lots of opportunity thanks to J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer. It seems that more kids of this age are reading, which is great, and once they like what they read, they are waiting for the next book from that author. There are also more outside opportunities for YA authors, I’ve found. Once librarians and teachers know about your work and are a fan, there are speaking opportunities at schools as an “author in residence” or various conferences that pay very well as many times the library/school has received a grant for this sort of thing.

Something to keep in mind if you’re an aspiring YA author

In my profession, I have been blessed to work with a lot of interesting and talented authors.  There are two authors that I’m working with right now who have written books that I’m pleased to be working on as I think they’re both very good. The first one is a memoir by Boston based author, Joan Wickersham, titled, The Suicide Index: Putting my Father’s Death in Order (Harcourt, August 08). Joan has written a boldly moving account of her father’s 1991 suicide and how it affected her and the rest of her family in the aftermath. It’s not as sad as it might sound…rather it’s a loving elegy from a daughter to her father.

The second one is titled Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West (Houghton Mifflin, Jun 08) by author and journalist, Deanne Stillman.  Deanne is also the author of the critically acclaimed bestseller, Twentynine Palms, which is a cult classic about the brutal murders of two young girls by a Marine shortly after the Gulf War. In her current book, Mustang, Deanne illuminates the epic saga of the wild horse in the American West, from it’s origins in North America to its life today.

I highly recommend one or both of these great reads!

By Tricia Van Dockum

As a literary publicist, I have to read a lot of books. Sometimes I have two or three going at one time as I need to know how to best pitch the book I’m working on by reading it in full. With summer thankfully being a little slower time for me, I am currently reading something that I have wanted to personally read for a while and that appears to be a runaway bestseller, The Shack, by William P. Young. I am only on page 65 of this book but am so far very moved and very impressed by how well it reads.

My Pastor at the church I attend had been encouraging the congregation to read it but it wasn’t until the author came to speak at our church one evening that I was convinced I needed to read this book too. His personal story of pain and redemption and living out the rest of his life in God’s grace is a compelling one. Plus, I just found him to be so extremely real and honest about all that he had been through that it was very refreshing.

In my experience as a publicist, there’s nothing more awkward than watching an author at a bookselling event who can’t represent their own book very well. This happens more than you know as many times writers can be uncomfortable talking about their own work or are just plain shy about speaking in public. This was not the case with the author of The Shack and I think for his sake, this has helped to move his book along and make it a bestseller…beside it being just a great read!

Until next time…

Getting to Know You 

So, when Kelly first asked me if I wanted to be a guest-contributor on her blog, I was a little uncertain.  I’m very new at this but will do my best to be fascinating and share with you some insight and food for thought into what I do each day, which is literary publicity. I hope you find it helpful.

I have always been a reader from the time I was very young, so when I grew up and found I could make a living by combining my publicity experience with publishing, I knew I’d found my niche.

I’m in the business of helping authors obtain exposure for their newly published books.  There are lots of various ways to do this but first I ask the author what they are hoping to achieve from a book publicity campaign. What’s surprising is that many of them don’t have a clue…they just know they want people to read their book and have bookstores carry their book.  If there’s one thing I can’t emphasize enough it is think about who your reader is before you start writing your book by asking yourself the following questions:

1.)    Who is my audience for this book?

2.)    How can I stand out from other authors who write in my same genre?

3.)    Are there organizations who would be interested in the topic of my book?

4.)    Is my book a good book for book clubs?

By asking yourself these questions first, you have a much better chance of having a well-focused and successful publicity campaign because you’ve thought through your audience beforehand.

Until next time…