E. Lynn Harris Book Tour Tribute: Mama Dearest

Today throughout the Blogosphere Book Bloggers are participating in the E. Lynn Harris Tribute for the release of his last novel, Mama Dearest.

E. Lynn Harris's family, friends and fans mourn the passing of our beloved author. He died on Thursday, July 23, 2009 in Los Angeles. He was 54.

book synopsis: One of E. Lynn Harris's incomparable heroines, Yancey Harrington Braxton, is working her way back to Broadway and beyond. And this diva supreme always stirs up drama in and out of the spotlight....

Friday, September 25, 2009

E. Lynn Harris Day: Author tribute tour at bookstores across the country

Click here for locations

Here in Atlanta. There will his family will host a memorial service for him at the GA International Convention Center from 6-9pm.

Day 15: Author Interviews Part 2

This is Day 15 of 30 Days to Build a Better Book Blog. We are still discussing Book Blog Content and the Author Interview.

On Day 14 I introduced you to the Author Interview Blog Post. Today I want to give you some tips on how to obtain author interviews, because I understand that some of you are not as bold as me and the rest of you may not have to contacts or the knowledge about the proper way to contact an author.

1. Use Social Media to find your favorite, most interesting author.

One of the best thing about social media now is that more celebrities, especially bestselling authors are online. As more publishing houses focus on online marketing to galvanize their readership they will be seeking bloggers to help them spread the word about their authors. You can beat them to the punch by reaching joining Author Fan Pages and following them on Twitter. Use the "send Message" feature on Facebook or the DM feature on Twitter to invite them to be interviewed on your blog. There are also many authors on MySpace.

2. Contact their Personal Publicist

Newsflash: many authors are still not online and others don't provide personal contact information, because they have such heavy writing schedules. They hire a publicist like me to handle customer relations and media management. Check their website to get their publicist contact information or contact me. I have a list of current publicists for many published authors.

3. Contact the Publishing House Publicity Department

Most major publishing house has a publicity department or have a contract with a literary pr firm like DeeGospel PR to handle their author's pr and marketing efforts. Visit the publishing house website to get that information.

4. Attend their booksigning

Many of the authors I have interviewed lately I interviewed at their book signing. With the launch of smart phones you can podcast, tweet, facebook chat, microblog, and vlog an author interview with the author in less than five minutes. I love those the most.

5. Email the author. self explanatory


Now that you have their contact information what do you do?

Day 16: We will talk Contact Etiquette: how to email, tweet, and socially meet.

Weekend homework assignment: locate three of your favorite authors online and obtain their contact information.

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This week I will be giving a weeklong homework assignment at 30 Days to Build a Better Book Blog. Join the group to be a part of the event. It's free.