Slightly Off the Mark

While hauling stuff out for spring cleanup I ran into a reporter right in front of my home--camped out, no doubt, hoping for a good quote, or a photo of me with my hair in curlers. (Just kidding: The newspaper office is just down the street, and the rest of town is just up the street.)

The next day he stopped at the house for an interview and we had a nice, hour and a half long talk about all aspects of writing and publishing, and I got to show off Radio Red as well as our other books. I also pimped our upcoming appearance at the Avilla Freedom Festivals, of course. But I don't know what all will make it into his article--I'm sure he has only so much space, and we covered a lot of territory. Turns out I love to talk about writing, go figure.

I'll let you know when it comes out! Meanwhile, as usual, check out all our books at www.markrhunter.com, or stop by here for the latest.

So, the TV interview happened. We (Emily, the dog, and I) spent about an hour with Eric Olson of ABC21, which used to be 21Alive, which in my mind was a way better name. Bae was a little taken aback by the camera setup, and by the fact that Eric smelled like cats (according to Eric--I didn't notice it). But once the dog got used to him, Bae wanted nothing more than to be underfoot as much as possible.

Eric interviewed me after my first book was published, all the way back in 2011, so I had a pretty good idea what to expect. I don't consider myself a good interview--one of the reasons I write is to avoid talking--but I have confidence in his editing ability, so I'm sure he'll cut out of the worst of my verbal pratfalls.

The interview will be one of the 21 Country segments, which air during the 5:30 p.m. news segment on ABC21 Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. That's as close as I can come to telling you when it'll be on--but it should be online the next day, at which point I'll post a link to it.

I'm coming close to being one of the most famous living authors presently writing in southwest Albion.

"Say, I haven't read this book since proofreading six month ago ... it isn't half bad!" If you look carefully, you can see Bae investigating down at the bottom right.

Apparently the interview with me ran on 93.1 WIBC: Early yesterday I received a small flurry of book orders through the website, and at the same time my Amazon author ranking suddenly jumped to higher than it’s been since February, 2014. (And no, I have no idea what happened in February, 2014.)

It just goes to show: You never know when your promotion efforts are going to pay off. And I still don’t know. When a media outlet receives a press release, is it picked up, as in this case, by someone with an interest in history, humor, and trivia? Or does my e-mail get opened the next day by someone whose girlfriend just broke up with them? Who saw the title Hoosier Hysterical just after being called “hysterical” by that very same girlfriend? Who finds subtitles offensive? Holy cow—all my non-fiction works have a subtitle! I might as well call my next book Kiss of Death: How Subtitles Ruined My Writing Career.

I can always find a way to turn good news into paralyzing fear.

That’s why I do book signings, even though the time put into planning and promotion doesn’t usually match the income: You never know what it will lead to. One person hears about it even if they don’t attend; they tell a friend who’s into that kind of writing; they buy a book, then another that they give to their friend, who just happens to be the cousin of a New York book editor; and bam! Six figure contract.

It could happen.

Plus, it’s fun to meet people, even if it’s people you already know. But that brings me full circle, because if people don’t know about the book signing … well, there you go. That’s why I say things like “Come to the Noble Art Gallery in Albion, this Saturday between 1-5 p.m.!” It’s not because I want to annoy you. It’s to open up the possibilities.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1024817860997691/