It’s about the author, not the book. That is one promotion strategy for a publisher, particularly in the memoir genre, the category for my forthcoming book Committed. So it is with a combination of admiration and curiosity (as to the possible results) that I find myself a guinea pig for my publisher. Black Rose has, in its most recent newsletter, pitched me as an author without mentioning anything about my book or when it will be coming out. Here’s an excerpt:
I want you to meet one of our authors!
Patrick Ross has a map obsession. His childhood bedroom walls were lined with country maps detached from National Geographic. As an adult he’s collected a dozen or so replicas of antique maps from the 15th through 19th centuries, but he also cherishes an original Montreal subway map and a “map” of the electromagnetic spectrum. To Patrick, a fine map is the perfect representation of the meeting of the left and right brain, a marvelous fusion of art and science.
You can read the rest of this short biographical essay here.
My publisher informs me that they have a very large readership for this newsletter, which primarily includes readers who have enjoyed previous Black Rose books. They want to provide value to their subscribers rather than inundate them with press releases. So they provide value up top–offering a 50% discount through the end of August for new purchases while touting free eBooks–and then they jump into my story. But to avoid the hard sell they don’t name my book, nor do they say when it is coming out.
What are your thoughts on this approach? Would the essay have made you more curious about the author and his book? And, perhaps more importantly, given that nothing is on Black Rose’s site yet about the book, what would you have done to learn more?
Filed under: Art, Biography, Creativity, Maps, Memoir, Writing
