A great interview, Kathleen! If I may submit a request, I'd love more interview questions about the marketing and promo process. You are in such a unique position, given your pub and freelance experience as well as your MBA, to ask the 'insider' baseball questions of authors that will help dispel business-side gatekeeping and begin to find trends across the industry as well as identify major differences between houses...almost like marketing/promo ethnography! How did marketing/promo come up during the acquisition process, play into the acquisition meeting, play into the authors' decision to go with one pub over another (if there was a choice/auction)? When did the marketing/promo teams begin to reach out to the authors? What effort did the authors have to make during the process (i.e., author questionnaire, sales meeting videos)? What was the marketing/promo timeline? Who made up the team? What was their marketing/promo support, and how did it compare to what was discussed in the acquisition process (i.e., did the team live up to its promises, whether they over- or underdelivered)? Did they feel they got appropriate support (in context--based on their advance, launch window, etc.)? What did they feel was most/least impactful? How did they support the launch on their own? Did they use a freelancer, and if so, why, how did the freelancer amplify the pub's support, and do they feel it was worth it? How did the pub report back sales in relation to the marketing/promo efforts that were made by them, and did they also report on how they thought the authors' own efforts (and/or freelancer) helped drive sales? How would they measure the overall ROI of their marketing/promo effort--their personal cost/benefit as well as that of the pub? So many potential questions! As more and more is being asked of authors, it's so good to hear case studies that combine the author and pub professional POV so we can arm/prepare ourselves going into the gauntlet. I feel like Sarah Enni was onto something with First Draft, especially the 'insider' info during the Track Changes miniseries. I know my writing friends and I were eating it up! It's a big ask of you, I know. I can appreciate you may want to have fun as a reader/writer during interviews vs. interviewing as a marketing/promo professional. We appreciate any and all knowledge you continue to impart to us! I also know it's a big ask of the authors you interview, given they may not be willing or able to be as liberal with their experience (for many reasons!) or may not yet have enough emotional distance from launch to want to speak about it. Feel free to tell me to shove this humble appeal up my a$$ lol!
I hear you. It depends on who I am interviewing. There are things some authors will not discuss because they are promoting books, and the idea here is to get people interested in the book. It is a lot of work for me to do these, and they will soon become paid features.
Great interview. In case you are curious, I just did one, as well. Wonder your views on some of these issues. https://booknotions.com/qa-with-susan-i-weinstein/
I loved this interview and excited for this digital surrogate series! I’m equal parts jealous and intimidated by the co-writer relationship.
Loved this interview. I hadn't heard of The Memo, but I'm looking forward to ordering and reading it.
A great interview, Kathleen! If I may submit a request, I'd love more interview questions about the marketing and promo process. You are in such a unique position, given your pub and freelance experience as well as your MBA, to ask the 'insider' baseball questions of authors that will help dispel business-side gatekeeping and begin to find trends across the industry as well as identify major differences between houses...almost like marketing/promo ethnography! How did marketing/promo come up during the acquisition process, play into the acquisition meeting, play into the authors' decision to go with one pub over another (if there was a choice/auction)? When did the marketing/promo teams begin to reach out to the authors? What effort did the authors have to make during the process (i.e., author questionnaire, sales meeting videos)? What was the marketing/promo timeline? Who made up the team? What was their marketing/promo support, and how did it compare to what was discussed in the acquisition process (i.e., did the team live up to its promises, whether they over- or underdelivered)? Did they feel they got appropriate support (in context--based on their advance, launch window, etc.)? What did they feel was most/least impactful? How did they support the launch on their own? Did they use a freelancer, and if so, why, how did the freelancer amplify the pub's support, and do they feel it was worth it? How did the pub report back sales in relation to the marketing/promo efforts that were made by them, and did they also report on how they thought the authors' own efforts (and/or freelancer) helped drive sales? How would they measure the overall ROI of their marketing/promo effort--their personal cost/benefit as well as that of the pub? So many potential questions! As more and more is being asked of authors, it's so good to hear case studies that combine the author and pub professional POV so we can arm/prepare ourselves going into the gauntlet. I feel like Sarah Enni was onto something with First Draft, especially the 'insider' info during the Track Changes miniseries. I know my writing friends and I were eating it up! It's a big ask of you, I know. I can appreciate you may want to have fun as a reader/writer during interviews vs. interviewing as a marketing/promo professional. We appreciate any and all knowledge you continue to impart to us! I also know it's a big ask of the authors you interview, given they may not be willing or able to be as liberal with their experience (for many reasons!) or may not yet have enough emotional distance from launch to want to speak about it. Feel free to tell me to shove this humble appeal up my a$$ lol!
I hear you. It depends on who I am interviewing. There are things some authors will not discuss because they are promoting books, and the idea here is to get people interested in the book. It is a lot of work for me to do these, and they will soon become paid features.
Absolutely understand! Thanks for considering! Looking forward to future interviews.