John Grisham Knows How to Release a Book

By Annette Cole Mastron, Communications Director for Southern Writers Magazine

Well of course he does, you think as you read the title. Wait...just hear me out. I know what's going through your mind, right now. You're saying, “Annette, John Grisham he has Doubleday and Penguin Random House behind him." Sure, so what? 

Pay attention, y'all. Mimic the release of a seasoned author and see what you could do for your own books. Remember, John Grisham had a first book. It released before the age of the Internet and the existence of the social media venues at our disposal, today. Rejected by dozens of publishers, Wynwood Press (a tiny and now defunct publishing house) bought the manuscript and printed 5,000 books. 1,000 of which Grisham bought and drove on a southern book selling tour that he scheduled for himself. Sound familiar? Grisham said in interviews that he gave away his first book, A Time to Kill, to clients. He sold them out of the trunk of his car and used them as door stops. That was 1987. Now, fast forward to 2017. 

John Grisham has brilliantly layered his exposure for the successful release of his 25th legal thriller. Here are some unique ideas he is using to entice readers. On his website you can read the first four chapters of his new book, The Rooster Bar. It's intriguing from the start. The story shines a light on the incredible amounts of student loan debt that for-profit law schools encourage their students to take out to pay the FP law school. These loans are owned by the very banks who, through various corporations, own eight for-profit law schools. The story spins from there in the voice only, John Grisham can write.  

Grisham is doing a panel presentation in seven cities with various authors. He comes to River City (Memphis) tonight. The event is billed as "An Evening with John Grisham with special guest Memphis author, Hampton Sides." There will be a moderator with an exchange between the authors about their writing techniques and time for a questions and answers from the audience. Hampton Sides writes primarily non-fiction. It's a nice balance of fiction versus non-fiction authors. It will be an interesting perspective. It is not a book signing event. A purchased ticket includes a signed copy of his book The Rooster Bar. This is to be an evening to get to know the authors. The event in Memphis sold out quickly. Don't worry the event is being recorded and will be available via Podcast just like his latest non legal thriller, Camino Island similar book tour events. 

You can do this, too. With technology on smart phones, you can record a book signing, but maybe you could include other local authors to your event and have a panel discussion that would introduce you to readers who could find you from the Podcast you create. You can find many examples of how to create a Podcast on YouTube and the internet. Grisham also has video updates that appear on his Amazon author page.

The day before his book release, he was on Facebook Live being interviewed at a specific time.  Of course, he pre-advertised on FaceBook that he would be doing a Live event. Questions streamed live and were asked of Grisham. Look at the setting, it would be easy to replicate. A table, the author, a computer with another person working the computer asking the questions is all you need. The backdrop was a bookshelf with books organized by color of books. Grisham's book was the only visible book in the center between the two men at the table. An easy fix would be to reverse all the books in your own bookcase as the background so only white pages showed except, of course, for your book. A friend could moderate on the computer the streaming questions from Facebook, and you could have a list of questions to answer in the event you need them. 

Prior to all that Grisham is doing the week of his book release, he did pre-release offers on Facebook. He gave away 10 galley copies of his book, prior to its release. He timed that for the first week in October with his book releasing on October 24. 

I picked up my signed copies on the release date at Burke's Book Store in Memphis and was delighted to see a marketing giveaway that came with the book purchase. It was unique and a direct tie to the book title. 

What was it? No, not a bookmark but I'll use mine as one. The name of the book is The Rooster Bar. Any guesses? It's a bar coaster. Well done, John Grisham. Don't you just love it? 

Does this give you some ideas for promoting your books?

Novel Inspiration via John Grisham

By Annette Cole Mastron, Communications Director for Southern Writers Magazine

In a recent interview, John Grisham gives a glimpse into how his hobby inspired his 30th book, Camino Island. 

It's been 25 years since Grisham has done a book tour and current technology has allowed everyone to share in the experience via a podcast titled Book Tour with John Grisham. Available at iTunes and Google Play.

Watching the podcast of Grisham may give you ideas for promoting your own book/books. It could even provide you with inspiration for your own book tour. 

I'm a fan of John Grisham. We were both born in the same town and both raised and worked in a bigger river town. His books have the ability to stay with me, and his plot lines flit through my mind from time to time. He is a collector of books, as am I. Albeit, his book collection is classic first editions, and mine are not. Sigh. I'm now collecting signed Grisham first editions, wishing I had started sooner. 

The plot line of Grisham's new book finds inspiration in his own hobby of collecting first editions. As Grisham says in his interview, "I collect first editions. I have a number of Faulkners, Steinbecks, and Hemingways. Fitzgerald only had five (novel) manuscripts but a ton of short stories, which he was better known for when he was alive. After his death, Gatsby became his big masterpiece and his best-known work. But Faulkner had forty books, forty manuscripts. They are all stored in one place, at the library at the University of Virginia. I’ve seen them; they’re very well taken care of. But there are forty of them; they would be kind of hard to steal. Hemingway’s stuff is scattered, as is Steinbeck’s. And that left Fitzgerald. As I learned when I was doing the initial research, all five manuscripts are in one place, at the Firestone Library at Princeton. If you’re going to steal stuff that’s truly priceless, that’s a good place to start."

I love that Grisham has written a book about rare book collections and picked F. Scott Fitzgerald books as the focus. "Grisham tells CBS This Morning, a list of writing tips:

1. Do write a page every day
2. Don't write the first scene until you know the last
3. Do write your page each day at the same place and time
4. Don't write a prologue
5. Do use quotation marks with dialogue
6. Don't keep a thesaurus within reaching distance. 
7. Do read each sentence three times in search of words to cut out. 
8. Don't introduce 20 characters in your first chapter. 

Grisham also weighed in on plotting in the CBS interview. He talked about writing and says the idea that an author will create a great character and that character will then take over the action is 'total B.S.' Plotting takes work. You have to carefully plot and outline your story before you start. Especially if you are writing mysteries, or suspense or thrillers where the plots can be very intricate. It takes a lot of work. I spend a lot of time outlining before I write the first word. Prologues are 'gimmicks to suck you in.'" 

What hobbies do you have that could provide a inspiration for your next book?