Doing the hard yards
Posted on May 14, 2008
It’s been a whirlwind month from the launch of the new book with great publicity and loads of interviews to an incredibly relaxing holiday for a couple of weeks - but hell - that’s all over now and the really hard work starts. One of the great misconceptions of authorship is that once you write your masterpiece the waiting world will embrace it and you can slip away and reconnect with your muse. That may have been true for Hemingway but it ain’t for Hampson - nor most other authors in the early stages of their career. Although the last book was incredibly well received, I’m not well known enough to have people galloping into bookshops slamming their $32.95 on the counter and demanding a book - unfortunately.
So now comes the long slow task of getting out and talking to bookshops and reminding them they have my book. Putting a face to the cover. So many books! I went into one store yesterday, they had about 30 copies of ‘Two for the Road’ on the front table and even then we had trouble locating them because of the huge piles of other books.
One of my main activities - which really is fun - is making myself available to join reading groups in Sydney who select the book to read. It’s great for them to have the chance to sit down with the author and discuss the book over a glass of wine - and interesting for me to hear what they have to say about it. If you’re reading this and part of a group located in Sydney get in touch and book me as soon as possible - the diary is filling up fast!
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