charlieinabook
find Charlie on
  • charlieinabook
  • charlieinablog
  • Author Takeovers
  • MuggleNet Reviews
  • The Book House
  • charliewrites

My Month With Headline

23/6/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
So this is it, the big one. Interning for Headline was an unexpected windfall opportunity, having made a fortuitous contact with publicist extraordinaire Samantha Eades at a Book House signing last December for Eowyn Ivey’s magical novel The Snow Child. Sending her my cover letter and CV, I was incredibly excited to be offered the chance to intern for the Headline Publicity department for an entire month.

On my first day I was ushered up to the sixteenth floor of the Hachette building on Euston Road. Having spent the previous week at the beautiful but compact Hot Key Books office and my internship before that in a little three man office in Oxford, this big skyscraper of an office block was a bit of a shock. It had views! It had glass elevators with no buttons! Swanky.

Along with a fellow intern, I was immediately thrown in at the deep end. Introduced to Publicity Director, Georgina Moore, we were then given a desk, a computer and an email account. OICPS alumni Elaine Egan distributed newspapers and it was time to read through the weekend articles and search for references to any Headline or Tinder Press books in the reviews. Helena Towers was working on a brilliant and far reaching campaign for The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls that had a lot of media coverage, and there were some great mentions for Tanya Byrne’s Follow Me Down. These clippings were collated and scanned for a weekly round-up.

I was able to sit in on a board meeting with the MD to discuss upcoming titles for the season, a highly informative way of learning about how departments interrelate when coming up with effective campaigns. This suddenly made New Product Development make sense, watching everything come together.

As I was lucky enough (ha – who would have thought I’d be saying that?) to be taught InDesign in my first semester at Brookes, Caitlin Raynor gave me the task of designing a press release for Seven for a Secret by Lyndsay Faye. It was very nice to realise that I’d indeed learnt something beneficial in those classes, and to experiment and hone my design skills. These press releases were printed and folded alongside posting out books for review.  My hand soon got well acquainted with the particular ache of stapling 500 or so envelopes a day. Carrying the piles to the post room area was strangely satisfying. I also learnt to do other exciting things like convert Excel spreadsheets into printed labels, and track down editor addresses on Gorkana media coverage.

I was asked to read Peggy Riley’s Amity & Sorrow (a book of which I had picked up a proof from work, but had not yet read). It was incredibly powerful and affecting, a story that refuses to sugar coat, that uses language as an expository force. My task was to design a Pinterest board for Tinder Press, taking pictures and matching them with quotes from the book. Peggy responded very favourably to the board, which might have induced a little happy dance, and I was incredibly proud to work on it.

In my first two weeks I was lucky to meet the wonderful Sophie Lay, my fellow intern and partner in crime. Sophie’s positive and approachable manner meant that I was learning the ropes with a friend. She let me know about some amazing opportunities that were happening in London. Together we went to the Southbank Centre for London Literary Festival’s event with Audrey Niffenegger, my second time meeting the author. This time she was discussing her new illustrated fairy tale for adults, Raven Girl, which I reviewed for MuggleNet.

Sophie also told me all about Stoke Newington Literary Festival. We spent one sunny Saturday distributing programmes, and the following Sunday I was able to FINALLY see Sally Gardner speak at an event for her Costa and Carnegie award winning Maggot Moon. It was really nice to see so many people new to Sally’s work buying books and approaching her for the signing at the end, as well as catch up with Hot Key Books staff. With a free afternoon, I volunteered to help out with the festival and ended up with a ticket to see Caitlin Moran.

Back at Headline, Sophie created a Pinterest board for Silver Linings Playbook author Matthew Quick’s heart stopping new young adult novel, Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock. With a dark plot and plenty of references to film noir and Bogart and Bacall, the visual element was exciting to pin down. I took over completion of the board from Sophie when she left to go back to her full time job, although it felt a bit like looking after someone else’s baby. It was fun to see Matthew’s Little, Brown editor, Alvina Ling, follow the board, showing how internet promotion campaigns can reach across the pond!

We’d also been able to meet Mock the Week’s Hugh Dennis (aka Pete) who came in to sign stock of his book Britty, Britty, Bang Bang. It was interesting to see his editors, cover designer and so on get their copies signed. The following week we repeated the process of boxing up signed stock, this time for football manager, Neil Warnock. These signings coincided with press days, the authors being interview by newspaper and radio journalists. They also made great candidates to be interviewed by Ben Willis for a feature on the Headline website, Men Who Stare At Books.

For the final two weeks I was joined by fellow OICPS student, Clara. Press Officer, Vero Norton gave us copies of The Outline of Love to read, another Tinder Press novel about love, obsession and celebrity. If anyone else has read it, I would be very interested to know who you think of when casting Leo Ford!

One of my tasks was to design posters and showcards, including some for Crimefest authors, some for Kate Humble’s new book, and a couple for a school visit from New York YA author Jennifer E. Smith to promote her new novel This Is What Happy Looks Like. (Which is NOT based on Justin Beiber, but might have a tiny hint of RPattz!) I’d heard of Jen’s books from a John Green video, and was very happy to act as publicity assistant on her trip to a nearby girls’ school. The girls had a great range of questions, and every single person bought one or both of the books. Jen’s first book, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, is soon to be made into a movie, helmed by the director of Milk.

As this was all happening, I also got involved with a project run by Beth Cox. Together with Alexandra Strick, they run Inclusive Minds, which aims to promote equality in children’s literature. Beth asked me to help with proofreading papers for the ‘Diversity, Inclusion and Equality’ edition of Write4Children. I have also joined Inclusive Minds as a content collaborator for the website, reviewing books and reporting on news items such as the launch party for Alex Strick’s Max the Champion.

For the entire month, there were many excited whisperings about The Ocean at the End of the Lane, the new novel by Neil Gaiman. Sam received many requests for interview copies, so my task was often posting out copies for review (being very careful to peel off the ‘book at bedtime’ stickers from each copy until it was announced) and including the press release.

So my final official day was spent with Clara, flapping 1200 books ready to be signed.

And then the thing that deserves a blog post all of its own happened.

GAIMAN DAY.


0 Comments

Snow Day - An Author Event

5/12/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Eowyn Ivey talking to her enthusiastic readers at The Book House.
This Monday I was lucky enough to staff a book signing event and meet Eowyn Ivey, author of The Snow Child, and as of last night newly crowned winner of the International Book of the Year at the Specsavers National Book Awards. 

On a tour organised by Headline publishers, Eowyn traveled all the way from Alaska to do a whirlwind tour of book shops on Snow Day. The Book House were thrilled to participate as the novel has been the top of our staff choices, already selling over a hundred copies - incredible for a debut novel in an Independent Book Shop. Many delighted readers came to have their treasured hardback editions signed by the author (including my Mum in the middle of that picture!) and even more purchased the book as that perfect seasonal Christmas gift.

 
Based on a Russian fairy tale, The Snow Child is about a couple in 1920s who years on are still deeply mourning the loss of their baby. Set against the stark background of Alaska, Jack and Mabel are astonished by the appearance of a young girl who appears mysteriously on their land. Her arrival causes joy and foreboding. The novel is enchanting and tragic, superbly written and deeply affecting.

Eowyn had a particularly interesting outlook towards her book shop tour, as she herself runs an Indie book shop called Fireside Books back home in Alaska. She was very interested in the running of the shop and the local customers, comparing them to her own experience. Her Headline publicist, Sam Eades, documented the tour with a variety of photos taken from the road - treating followers of the tour on twitter to an abundance of imaginative snow themed windows and displays.  

Working author events such as this one has been my favourite part of being a book seller for the past seven years. Seeing authors connect with their readers and hearing the stories of those who have loved and been touched by a book we have sold is incredibly heartwarming. Eowyn's friendly and approachable nature meant this event was a complete joy. You can follow her snowy Alaskan adventures on her twitter.

I hope you all get the chance to read The Snow Child this winter!



0 Comments
    Picture

    About Charlie

    Charlotte Morris is Publicity and Marketing Executive working at Little Tiger Press. She's passionate about LGBTQ* representation, Children's and YA fiction, an alumna of the Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies, and former independent book shop assistant.

    A fairytale enthusiast and fangirl; she is stuck in a vivid daydream about Venice and a particularly scrumptious hazelnut espresso.

    #WeNeedDiverseBooks

    Archives

    July 2016
    May 2016
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    October 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012

    Categories

    All
    Amity & Sorrow
    Assessment Wonderland
    Audrey Niffenegger
    Author Events
    Bologna Book Fair
    Book Review
    Booktrust
    Charlie
    David Fickling Books
    Diane Spivey
    Eowyn Ivey
    Fairy Tales
    Halloween
    Hank Green
    Hayley Long
    Headline
    Hot Key Books
    Internship
    Jack Zipes
    James Dawson
    LGBTQ*
    Lion Hudson
    Liz Bankes
    London Book Fair
    Lynette Owen
    Major Project
    Mary Hoffman
    Michael Rosen
    National Book Awards
    Neil Gaiman
    Nerdfighter
    New Adult
    Nosy Crow
    Nyt Bestsellers
    Oicps
    Oliver And The Seawigs
    Oxford University Press
    Publishing
    Reading List
    Rights
    Sam Eades
    Simon Mason
    Snow Day
    Social Media
    Story Museum
    Syp
    Tanya Byrne
    Thames & Hudson
    The Book House
    The Fault In Our Stars
    The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
    The Ocean At The End Of The Lane
    The River Singers
    Usborne
    Vintage
    Vlogbrothers
    Waterstones
    Web Marketing
    Working In Publishing
    Young Adult

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.