Back Porchervations: GIVEAWAY & AUTHOR INTERVIEW: The Publicist's Christina George

Friday, April 25, 2014

GIVEAWAY & AUTHOR INTERVIEW: The Publicist's Christina George

GIVEAWAY!

(I have been authorized to give away one copy, e-book or print, to one lucky reader. Please leave a comment or question for Christina in the comment section. Winner will be drawn by random # on May 2 (next Friday)).

INTERVIEW

1. Why did you write The Publicist?

I wrote it because I felt that there were some great stories in publishing that weren’t being told. We hear about how publishing is broken (and it is) and how people aren’t reading, how eBooks are taking over the world. We hear of huge advances, like Penny Marshall getting $800K for her memoir. But we so rarely hear about the other stories. The authors who struggle in a system that seems lost to them unless they are a celebrity or have been in the midst of a scandal, or even better: a celebrity scandal. There’s also a lot of humor in this industry. Let’s face it, when you mix the ego with creativity you often get a toxic cocktail of out of control expectations and people who think that because they wrote a book, they’re entitled to fame.

2. Are any of the stories real?

Yes, many of them are real. Though the names have been changed to protect the guilty, as it were.

3. Tell us about Kate, are you Kate?

I wish! No, Kate’s the kind of person I wish I was. She tells it like it is, she is sort of lost in a system that doesn’t often support the author and, many times, she’s left to manage an author’s expectations of fame – or lack thereof.

4. You seem to poke a lot of fun at authors. Does this mean that you don’t like authors?

I do have a lot of fun with these authors but again, many of the stories really happened so it’s not like I just pulled these stories out of thin air. I love authors (and now I’m an author!), but many of them are misguided and, as any publicist will tell you, promoting a book isn’t an easy job. I once had lunch with a very famous book publicist who has since retired from the industry. When I asked her if she’d ever promote books
again she said “Oh God no.” Now, granted, most of us love what we do, though there are days, however….

5. Tell us about MacDermott Ellis (Mac), he’s hot and dangerous and the kind of man many of us could lose ourselves over. Is he real?

Yes, well sort of. It’s an odd story about Mac, I wrote this character years ago and then met a man very similar to Mac so I was able to give this character even more depth. But yes, Mac is hot. Mac’s the guy your mother warns you about and still, you don’t care.

6. Do you find the time to read?

Yes, and candidly whether I want to or not. Don’t get me wrong I love books and I love reading, but my job requires a lot of it so I have to make time to read. It’s really an awesome thing though, right? I mean getting paid to read! Who gets that lucky?

7. When and why did you begin writing?

It’s funny actually, I started writing because I found that I had stories to tell. Stories about stories. So my work as a publicist is never without adventures and I really wanted to share them. I wasn’t sure I could I mean I had never intended on being an author, not really. I worked with them, I promoted them, but to
become one? I hadn’t planned on that at all. Then I realized, I had something to say, so I did!

8. What’s your favorite place in the entire world?

I love Europe, love it – especially France and Belgium. I hope to see my characters travel there in Book Three!

9. Have you ever considered anyone as a mentor?

Yes, I have – I’ve had a lot of folks guide me through the publishing world and the marketing world, I’m very lucky to be surrounded by some excellent, talented people.

10. What movie do you love to watch?

I love, love, love Love Actually. I think it’s just such a good and feel good movie.

11. Sometimes it’s so hard to keep at it What keeps you going?

I really do love what I do. You know you never want to get into publishing for the money – you do it because you love it. Do what you love and you’ll never work another day in your life – as they say.

12. If you could do any job in the world what would you do?

I love what I’m doing now, but I’d love to work in film. I have cousins who do film editing and I’ve always had a knack for cobbling together good videos so I’d love to try that.

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