1.
What do you enjoy most about
promoting books to the media? I love books;
they are not only the repositories of human knowledge but also gateways into
the varied perspectives of human beings. Books allow you to travel into the
depths of your own imagination through words; which is an extraordinary thing! I
truly enjoy the process of book promoting. What I enjoy most is working on the
finished product, disseminating the book to media and bloggers and connecting
and networking with reviewers. Additionally, working within a science-fiction
and fantasy imprint the books we publish are the epitome of the combined
realities of the conscious, subconscious and the unconscious mind(s) which
makes for great fiction!
2.
What do you love about being in book
publishing? I have always been
interested in books, reading, creative writing and literature and had no idea
that there was a way for these interests to coalesce. Publishing is the
amalgamation of the all of these creative interests that I have always had and what I love about book publishing
specifically is that I pretty much get paid for reading, writing and working
with extraordinarily talented authors who are putting forth fantastic ideas
into the world.
3.
How can publishers work better with
their authors to help build their author brands? I think overall publishers can work better with their authors by
assisting with social media strengthening, which Tor/Forge most certainly does!
We work with our authors on the social media front in many ways. We post their
book reviews on our Twitter feed, author event photos on our Instagram Page,
and the same for Face Book. We of course have a Tor.com which is publisher
neutral, but we give our Science Fiction and Fantasy author’s coverage as well;
anything from excerpts to posting reviews from external sources. The digital
shift impacts the publicist is various ways; one way is now instead of being
lambasted because of constant phone calls to media, our primary source of
communication is email and now the use of Twitter and Facebook as mentioned, gives
us greater insight into what is current, and who the power players are in book
reviewing.
4.
What do you find is the key to
generating media coverage for a book? The
key to generating great media coverage for a book is utilizing time as best as
one can. As a publicist time is very important. From the moment a Galley or ARC
is put on our desk, the clock is ticking. We know we have 4-5 months (if we’re
lucky) to disseminate a book to a curated media list which can consist of long lead
print publications, perennial bloggers, digital magazines or freelance editors
and writers. Another key to generating media coverage is focusing on the books
topic and who the author is. I can’t stress this enough, every aspect of the
author is significant. We ask questions such as; which publication(s) have
reviewed the author before, where do they live and of course what the book is
about, all of these facets creates a market for where and who to push the book
to.
5.
What type of books do you promote?
What have been some of the more successful ones? Tor/Forge
Books is the primary imprint of Tom Doherty Associates LLC publishing company. It
is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles, and publishes the online
science fiction magazine Tor.com. Some of our highly notable authors include:
Kevin J. Anderson, Orson Scott Card, John Scalzi, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Steven
Gould, Brian Herbert and Brandon Sanderson and that’s just scratching the
surface! There are many debut authors who are making fantastic headlines and
are sure to be noted and celebrated as influential science fiction, fantasy,
thriller and mystery authors in the coming years!
6.
How do you see book publicity
changing in the coming years? Book
publicity is changing based on who is reviewing books. Magazines and News
Papers are not publishing books at the same rate they used to. Book publicity
can largely be found online. Online publications are one aspect but we are
seeing that bloggers are holding considerable clout in the way books are
reviewed, and how they are bought. Book
publicity is also changing in the way an author interacts with readers.
Platforms like Goodreads and again book blog tours have become just as
significant as physical book tours where an author travels from city to city.
Publishes are seeing that there are tons of ways for authors to gain coverage
purely through online initiatives.
7.
How about insights in changes in
book publishing and how Tor is keeping up or even leading the way? Tor has won the Locus Magazine poll for best science fiction publisher
for 20 consecutive years since 1988 and is described on its website as
"the most successful science fiction and fantasy publisher in the
world." Tor is leading science fiction publishing by being authentically
interested in its books and authors. Everyone who works at Tor is uniquely
crafted with Geek DNA. We are passionate about our books, and passionate about
what they represent. Science Fiction threads various categories of the human
experience and that is something that is always conscious at Tor.
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Brian Feinblum’s views,
opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his
employer. You can follow him
on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels
more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by
BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
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