If you're a published author (or soon to be), you know that marketing is terribly important to the success of your book. You're fortunate to live in a time when everyone - well, almost - is at your fingertips. Use all of the virtual tools at your disposal, talk to people, ask for help, be an evangelist for your work! Read this guest post by Elle Newmark, author of The Unholy Book of Mischief at Don't Hang Up, and you'll see what I mean.
I reviewed The Magicians by Lev Grossman a couple weeks ago. I was so impressed with the book that I fired off a few questions (via email) to Mr. Grossman. He was more than kind in taking the time to respond. Read below to find out a little more about Lev and The Magicians.
Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is Lev Grossman. I’m 40. I live in Brooklyn. I have a daughter, Lily, who’s 5. By day I work as the book critic for Time magazine.
While reading The Magicians, I couldn't decide if you were paying homage to J.K. Rowling and C.S. Lewis or thumbing your nose while winking at them. Maybe a bit of both?
Both! Definitely both. That’s the great thing about novels, you don’t have to choose. I love Rowling and Lewis both, but it would be boring for everybody if I wrote just like them. (Which I couldn’t do anyway, if I tried.) So instead I wrote about some of the same things they did, but from a different place, with a different take.
How did The Magicians come to be?
Slowly. I’ve spent my whole life reading fantasy, which I suppose was a way of getting ready to write The Magicians. I took the first notes for it in 1996. I was inspired by Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea -- the chapters set at the magic school on Roke. Then I put it aside again. I wasn’t ready yet.
Then in 2004 a few different things happened. I read Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and my head pretty much exploded. Also I had a mid-life crisis (divorce, etc.) I had been planning to write a more conventional novel, but I threw it away. The fantasy part of me wouldn’t be quiet anymore. Fantasy was the only way I could think of to talk about what was going on with my real life.
Which authors have inspired you?
On the fantasy side: Lewis and Rowling, obviously, but also TH White, Fritz Leiber, and Larry Niven. And of course Susanna Clarke.
On the literary side: Evelyn Waugh (especially Brideshead Revisited), Donna Tartt (especially The Secret History), and Jonathan Franzen. While I was writing The Magicians I kept a copy of The Corrections on one side of my desk, and a copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on the other.
What are you reading right now?
I read for a living, so I’m always reading a bunch of different books at once. Right now I’m in the middle of Iain Banks’ Transition (which I’m loving), Nicholson Baker’s The Anthologist (which I wished I were loving but am not particularly yet) and E.L Doctorow’s Homer & Langley (too soon to tell). Also -- not for work, but when I can make time for it -- I’m reading I Remember the Future, a collection of stories by an old friend of mine, Michael Burstein (which I am loving).
Will you be traveling the country to talk about and sign copies of The Magicians?
Yes! New York, Boston, Denver, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles. Maybe more places, if people want. Come see me! I am an enthusiastic but somewhat spazzy public speaker, and I wave my arms around too much. But I’m doing my best.
For more information about The Magicians and Lev Grossman, visit www.levgrossman.com
The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent has been chosen by The Happy Bookers Club for discussion during the month of October. Please feel free to join the discussion!
The Blog Stop Book Tour of The Fiction Class by Susan Breen begins today. Head on over to Thursday Bram to see the first of ten reviews. The nine other blog addresses are listed at the Authors On Tour page.
The book reviews and interviews scheduled for April here at Virtual Wordsmith are as follows:
There may be a review and interview the last week of April, but you'll have to stop back to see.
There aren't too many books on the bedside table today. I finished Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman - fun, fun, fun book! I'm still working on The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book by Patricia L. Fry. I'm hoping to have it finished by tonight. Extremely good information in this one.
The only new book on the table is Anno-Dracula by Kim Newman. My husband picked this one up at Goodwill a few weeks ago. My 16 year old started reading it, and decided it wasn't for him. So, I'm going to give it a whirl while I'm waiting for a couple more books to arrive for review.
Stop by Monday for a review of The Fiction Class by Susan Breen. She is the first author to tour at Blog Stop Book Tours (in April).
Wow, things have gotten busy since last Thursday. Opportunities popping up all over the place. I've had to get very serious about my schedule.
I mentioned Blog Stop Book Tours a few days ago. Well, I have one author touring in April and one in May. I'll be adding the information to the site as it comes in. I'm still looking for book reviewers, so get hold of me if you'd like to become one.
If anyone out there has already done a virtual book tour, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. I'm really curious to hear about other author's experiences.
That's it for today. Gotta get back to it.
Here's what is coming up this month.
Well, it's Friday. Wait, where did the week go?!
My plan for the weekend is to get caught up on reading. I have a stack of magazines to get through, and two books to read for review.
The books on my bedside table are as follows...
I hope to finish Blogging Heroes tonight, and His Dark Materials tomorrow morning. I expect six more books to trickle in via USPS over the next week or so. There will be book reviews and author interviews every week through March 1, 2008. At least, that's what is scheduled so far.
Author Terry Pratchett has Alzheimer's
Sad, sad news.
As far as I know, the only thing I've ever read of Pratchett's work was Good Omens co-written with Neil Gaiman. Loved it!
If you'd like to see Terry Pratchett's words about his diagnosis, click here.
