Blog Tour: Guest Post by Christina George, author of The Publicist

Today, we have a guest post author Christina George.  She is on tour promoting her book, The Publicist. Welcome!

Publisher: Self

Date of publication: November 2012

Behind every book, there’s always more to the story.

Can one woman change an age-old institution like publishing? Probably not, but Kate Mitchell sure wants to try. As a publicist with a large, respected New York publishing house, Kate finds herself at the mercy of a broken publishing system, books that don’t always sell (at all) and author egos that are often, well, as big as the island of Manhattan.

Enter the star Editor, MacDermott Ellis. Tall, handsome, charismatic, married, and ready to save the day. Kate wants to do the right thing but her hormones seem to be driving her decisions. Then there’s Allan Lavigne, once a revered author, now as forgotten as yesterday’s news; and his nephew Nick, who wants to sweep Kate away from New York for another coast, California.

As Kate tries to navigate the landmine of publicity, the over-the-top author expectations, and the careful dance of “I’m sorry, your book isn’t on the bestseller list this week”, she also finds authors who are painfully overlooked by a publisher wanting more sex, more celebrities, and more scandal.

The Life of a Publicist by Christina George

There’s a show on, I don’t watch it but I think it’s called The Deadliest Catch or something. Some days you could refer to my job in much the same way. Being a full-time publicist isn’t easy. Burnout is high, appreciation is low, and the work is relentless. Why do we do it? Well, I can’t speak for everyone but for me, I love authors and I love books. I want to see authors successful. Well, admittedly not all of them. Some of the ego-centric, crazy folks I’ve written about need to be voted off the island, but generally, most authors aren’t like that.

I often spend my days ferreting through news articles, coming up with spins in my head and then putting them down on paper. I try to think months out because often we’ll have a book that isn’t coming out for three to six months so you need to plan (a lot) and you need to be aware of media trends and news cycles.

These days when something dominates the news, it dominates it completely. Now that we have Twitter, and other online sources, news isn’t limited to just TV, radio, or print. It’s everywhere. We follow hashtags, we mine through blogs, we dig for great angles. We come up with fresh, new ideas that help make our authors shine.

I don’t always succeed in the “shine” part, I mean some days you make your best effort, you come up with the best angle you could possibly dream up and still it does not seem to be enough. Then you dust yourself off and try again. I love the challenge of coming up with new ideas and new ways of presenting the same information. That’s why I do it, and that’s what I love. 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the author:

Christina George has worked in publishing for twenty years (give or take). Here’s what this book isn't. It’s not a slam against publishing (though it is broken) and it’s not a slam against authors (though some of them are crazy). This book is not autobiographical though many of the stories are true. No you won’t know which ones, cause it’s more fun to guess, right? George continues to work in publicity and helps authors because at the end of the day she does love books, she loves publishing, and she loves authors. She hopes you’ll enjoy this romp through Kate’s world as much as she enjoyed creating it.

Connect with Christina: Website  ~  Twitter  ~  Facebook  ~ Goodreads

  

Where to buy the audiobook: Audible

Tour Schedule:

Nov 24 - Coffee, Books & Art - book spotlight / giveaway
Nov 25 - The Book Junkie - review / giveaway
Nov 25 - Eargasms Audiobook Reviews - review / giveaway
Nov 26 - Perfect Chaos - review  / giveaway
Nov 26 - Nighttime Reading Center - audiobook spotlight / giveaway
Nov 26 - Nighttime Reading Center - guest post
Nov 27 - Brooke Blogs - review / guest post / giveaway
Nov 27 - Library of Clean Reads - review / giveaway
Nov 28 - Green and Glassie - review
Nov 29 - Seaside Book Nook -  author interview  Nov 30 - Seaside Book Nook - review / giveaway
Dec 1 - Back Porchervations - review
Dec 1 - Dee's Book Blog - audiobook spotlight / giveaway
Dec 2 - Working Mommy Journal - review
Dec 3 - Toot's Book Reviews - review / author interview / giveaway
Dec 4 - A Bit Bookish - review / giveaway
Dec 5 - The Book Fairy - review / giveaway
Dec 5 - From the TBR Pile - guest post / giveaway
Dec 8 - Bound 4 Escape - review
Dec 9 - I'd Rather Be at the Beach - review / giveaway
Dec 10 - Pinky's Favorite Reads - review
Dec 11 - Little Whimsy Books - review / giveaway
Dec 11 - Real Army of Moms - review / giveaway
Dec 11 - Life With Katie - review / giveaway
Dec 12 - A Soccer Mom's Book Blog - review / author interview / giveaway
Dec 12 - Pure Jonel - review / author interview