Bestsellers and Blockbusters - must see video

First Tuesday Book Club is ABC TV's first nationally televised book club hosted by Jennifer Byrne. On Tuesday 11th May there was a great program featuring bestselling authors Di Morrissey, Lee Childs, Matthew Reilly and Bryce Courtenay talking about the art and business of the bestseller.

This was a really interesting feature which highlighted how important marketing is for these bestselling authors — from their own mouths!
I loved Bryce Courtenay’s story of how, even now, when stopped in the supermarket by someone saying how much they love his book, he takes their details and sends them a copy of his next book. He gives away about 2,500 books per year which, as Di Morrissey pointed out, could be another author’s total print run! Obviously this may not be in everyone’s budget on this scale but it shows that popular authors never stop ‘selling’ their book. Bryce has a background in advertising and his natural flair for all things promotional shines through as he talks about his books and career.
Lee Child (not his real name as he discusses in the interview) is funny, straight talking and entertaining as he talks about the ‘business’ of being an author. He tells how he picked the name Lee Child (it fits well on a cover and surnames beginning with the letter C are very good for authors — by the time you get to F or G people are losing interest on the bookshelf apparently!) and the general discussion about the ‘branding’ of the author name and book cover is fascinating. I also love his website (www.leechild.com), and when you see his book covers together, you can see how successful the branding has been. On the other hand, Di Morrissey’s website leaves me cold! Bryce Courtenay’s website also provides some interesting advice about writing and publishing from his point of view.
Again, when you look at Matthew Reilly’s website (www.matthewreilly.com) you can see the impact of book cover and name branding. Also on his website is a great quote: when asked why he self-published his novel Contest, he answered, ‘Simple. I offered it to every major publisher in Sydney and they all rejected it!'
In the ABC interview he also said that whenever he is asked by budding authors what is the most important thing to do, he gives two pieces of advice:
1. Write what you are passionate about
2. Do every bit of publicity you can

This is a must see program — CLICK HERE and take ten minutes to hear how the biggest selling authors in the world do it!

Until next month, happy writing, publishing and promoting!