What a week!

PJ Nunn

Wowzer, what a week! Seems ages since I've been here with you. It started when my son went into the hospital with what I thought was just another episode with infection causing his blood sugar levels to go amok, but ended up being meningitis and giving us all quite a scare. He's home now and much, much better and we're all making up for lost sleep.

But alas, weather would intervene and caused a power outage Wednesday night that also played havoc   with my sleep patterns and left me dreaming of hail and tornados and getting up several times in the night, wondering what time it really was since my clocks were all flashing due to those blips in the power that reset everything.

After hours of power outage, Thursday was filled with still more rain (as shown in photo) and subsequent floods, and trying to keep my wireless modem online. It finally started cooperating around 4 PM when rain and thunder and such slowed up and segued into bleary gray skies. So guess who's working Thursday night?

But it's not unpleasant work, really, and I'm very grateful to have power again. I'm amazed how hot it gets in this house when there's no power. Generators are good.

I've got several new releases to make ready for July, a wedding this weekend, and a speaking gig with Sisters in Crime in Austin that I've been looking forward to for quite some time. They're going to get a little preview of what I'll be doing at Bouchercon in October so if you're near enough, drive on over and see us! Sarah Ann at hotxsinc@yahoo.com can give you details. As always I'll have goodies to give away. Love to see you there!

One of the things we'll talk about is Myths about Book Promotion. What's real and what isn't? What works and what doesn't? There's always something to be learned from experiences, good, bad and otherwise, but it's not always immediately clear.

For instance, I always try to glean information from client interactions, particularly if a client leaves my service less than satisfied. It is, after all, my job and my desire to satisfy my clients so if that doesn't happen, I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what I might have done differently. Over the years I've managed to identify a few patterns, but there are some incidents that have elusive morals.

Like the author whose promo shot featured him kissing a calico hen in a Wal-Mart photo who wasn't happy that I suggested a new photo. Hmmm. Or the one who felt offended that I didn't concur it was a good idea to pitch him to speak at nudist colonies wearing only a sandwich board with his book cover on it. Go figure. You think I'm making this up? If only.

Of course most authors aren't like that. Most are talented, hard working people who are trying to make it in an industry that some days seems designed to make it impossible. As far as publicists go, most are also hard working people who try to do a good job for their clients and generally enjoy their work. But like the few high maintenance authors out there, there are a few high charging, low producing publicists out there that give us all a tarnished reputation.

Does every author need a publicist? That all depends on the definition of need. You need air to breathe. You don't need a publicist to survive, even in this industry. But can the right publicist be a great tool in your author tool box? You bet.

I'd love to hear some of your thoughts about what a publicist does, or should do. What do you think authors need from a publicist that few, if any, are getting?

Comments

[Jersey Jack]

Hey, PJ, wasn't the Dallas area underwater last year at this time, too? Are floods an annual event?

What do authors need? Mostly hugs. It's a cruel world.

[Lartonmedia]

Hope your son's on the mend, PJ!

And the thought of the calico hen pic and the nudist colony gave me a much-needed laugh. I hope you're saving all these stories for when you write your memoirs!

[PJ Nunn]

Jack, you'd probably win my least high maintenance client award if I had one =)

Shaz, oh the stories I could tell, but daren't. But I imagine all of my blog mates could say the same. Maybe we should plan a "tell a thon" at Bouchercon!

[Kevin R. Tipple]

Hope your son is doing so much better now. Sounds scary!

Reviewers have a few stories to tell as well.

Kevin
(who had a rough time weather wise as well)