July 24, 2025 • 21 mins
In this episode, I catch up with Louisa Guise who was the first guest on the My Local Marketer podcast, launched in 2024. This is the one-year anniversary of Louisa’s book, which explores communication in the digital age, focusing on the benefits of using phones less and leaving unproductive group chats.
Learn about Louisa's journey promoting her book, which included talks at bookshops and libraries, and unexpected opportunities like speaking at the Harrogate International Festival and appearing on Australian television. She shares insights on balancing book promotion with a full-time job, dedicating weekends and evenings to various activities such as scheduling posts, contacting libraries, and engaging with journalists.
Louisa also provides valuable tips for aspiring authors, advising them to start building their web presence early and to develop a comprehensive marketing plan. She recommends her free marketing blog, "All About Digital Marketing," as a resource for authors. Finally, Louisa discusses the positive reception of her book and her future plans.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Proactive Marketing Pays Off: Louisa emphasises starting early to build a web presence and establish your expertise. This highlights that consistent effort in building your brand and putting yourself out there can lead to valuable, unpredictable PR and business growth opportunities.
Showcase Your Personality: Louisa suggests that business owners can gain a following by showcasing unusual hobbies or interests, as these personal touches make you more memorable and add personality.
Strategic Planning and Persistence are Crucial: Despite a full-time job, Louisa dedicated significant time on weekends and evenings to promoting her book. This underscores the necessity for business owners to have a robust, well-thought-out marketing plan and the persistence to execute it to see long-term results.
TIMECODES
00:00 Intro
00:51 Introduction to Louisa & her book
01:53 How Louisa has promoted her book over the last year
04:24 Find every opportunity to promote yourself
05:42 Louisa’s most surprising opportunity this year
07:38 How Louisa had promoted her book alongside her full-time job
09:23 Working with journalists
10:39 Tips for people publishing their books
15:04 What has reception to Louisa’s book been like<
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome to the My Local Marketer podcast.
I'm your host Maria and today I'm speaking with Louisa Guise because it is the one year,well just over I think now, the one year anniversary of the podcast.
So we've come back to Louisa who was my very first guest.
Louisa, thank you for coming on.
Hello everybody and thank you Maria for having me again.
(00:21):
It's really cool that it was my first podcast and your first podcast and we get to do thisuh about a year later.
And actually we went out recently on the kayak, yes, because we said on the last one,said, we've got to do it before we do our next one.
And we did and it was awesome.
It was really lovely to see Reading from a different position.
I'd never seen it from the point of view of the canal before.
(00:43):
That's true, they do some boat tours down in Caversham.
So if you haven't tried kayaking everyone, try it because it was really good.
Now, Louise, just in case people didn't catch the first episode because that was quite along time ago now, do you want to just remind people why you were on and about your book?
So last year on the 28th of June, I released a book called How to Leave a Group Chat.
(01:06):
It's a book about communications.
The thread is all about, obviously, leaving group chats that don't serve you any purpose.
But I look at the wider kind of scope of communications, why we communicate the way we doand how technology changes that.
And ultimately, if you take one thing away from the book, it should be the confidence toactually use your phone less.
(01:28):
I know it's worked for me researching the book, so hopefully it works for some peoplewho've read the book.
And if you have read the book, I'd love to know if it's helped you to do that.
Well as we said last year it was really interesting I thought and insightful your book andactually as a result of that I did actually then leave a couple of group chats that were
just sitting on my phone I hadn't been in for a while so yeah that was really
(01:50):
excellent.
That's really good to hear.
What has the last year been like for you?
Because you were busy promoting it before you launched it.
So how have you promoted it?
What's it been like?
It's been busy with a capital B, definitely.
I've, I mean, I had to muddle through and work out where I could promote it, how I couldpromote it.
(02:11):
I've done lots of talks.
I've done talks in bookshops, in libraries.
A big proud moment was doing a talk at Cardiff Central Library, because I'm from Cardiffand it was the various Cardiff libraries that I was always going into and looking at the
shelves and thinking like,
Yeah, okay.
One day my book's going to be there too.
And now it is, which is brilliant.
(02:33):
So it's really great that Cardiff Libraries were really supportive and had me in to do atalk.
And it was just like, wow, that was just such a proud moment.
I've been on podcasts, this one and other ones.
I've also got a digital marketing blog.
So there is relevance with marketing here.
I do do marketing.
(02:55):
do have a, it's called All About Digital Marketing.
And I've sort of used that to cross promote.
also done some book focused um articles as well.
And also obviously mentioned my book a few times.
So it's sort of a bit of an overlap.
I've promoted a lot on social media, both paid and organic, more organic.
(03:17):
Done talks, libraries, bookshops, literary festivals.
with marketing, we like to know where leads have come from and you need to tell yourmanagers, yes, this will generate X leads.
But actually a lot of stuff you've done, you've had some opportunities that just camerandomly, you couldn't predict them.
For example, that conference, where was that conference you were?
(03:39):
Harrogate.
Yes, you were at the Harrogate conference.
Yes, the event was called Bowen Salon North, but it was part of the HarrogateInternational Festival.
I did actually apply to Harrogate festivals, but what really confused me is that they cameback to me via my publisher.
I was used to festivals coming back to me directly.
So when they came back to me and it was my publisher telling me they wanted me, I wasn'tsure if that was my doing or if they just somehow heard about me and contacted my
(04:09):
publisher, but it was.
my application that got accepted and that was mad, that was really cool.
I got paid to go up there, I got a free hotel night, I got to speak alongside MikeBerners-Lee and Stuart Gillespie.
which is going to show you don't worry where the opportunities are going to come from.
yeah, you don't know who's gonna accept you, you should just really try for everything.
(04:30):
Like I got an article on a travel website because I like to travel a lot.
I like to do solo travel, so I wrote about solo travelling.
And even though it's not specifically focused on my book, I still got a feature about solotravel and I can still be mentioned as an author.
So it's important, I think, if you're promoting to actually think about other avenues thatyou can...
(04:53):
kind of showcase yourself in, it doesn't necessarily have to be about your book or yourbusiness even.
could be the business owner who's got a quirky collection of stamps or has an interestingunusual hobby or something like that.
That is something I'm just starting to learn about.
So I've had, yeah, I like stamps and coins and all these different things and never reallythought before how it could be useful.
(05:15):
So yeah, that is a lesson I'm recently just starting to learn.
So always think about the other things you can do aside from your main project, whateverthat happens to be.
Cause sometimes you might get a bit of a following because you have this unusual hobby oryou, you know, you're a huge Star Wars fan and you go to all the comic cons and you're,
you're the business owner who goes to the comic cons or whatever that is.
(05:39):
Yeah.
Whatever it is that you like, gives you some personality as well.
So over the last year, has there been anything that has been surprising or something youdidn't expect when you started out at the start?
The most surprising thing that I've had, so I ended up on Australian television.
And I've never been to Australia.
So I found this website, it's great website called SourceBottle.com, where there's lots ofopportunities posted for marketing um across all mediums.
(06:10):
There was something called Ticker that was looking for a marketer to talk.
I had no idea what Ticker was, I replied to the email and
mentioned my book, How to Leave a Group Chat, and I could talk about smartphones and howwe use them too much.
I got an email back pretty much straight away saying about booking a time slot for this umTicker News.
(06:33):
And I'm like, what is this exactly?
And I googled it.
Ticker News is um like a 24 hour news channel in Australia that was actually set up by aguy that used to work for Sky.
And I'm like, okay.
And I had to pick a slot that was pretty late for me because obviously I had to matchAustralian time.
(06:55):
So I think I was supposed to go on it like around midnight and then it got moved to likemaybe 1.30 or 1.45 in the morning my time.
And I didn't want to change it because I thought I'd lose the opportunity.
When I first booked the slot, I had this idea that I'd wear a nice top and look good infront of the camera.
No, screw that.
I was in my pajamas on Australian television.
(07:17):
You couldn't tell.
because I was wearing uh just a dark hoodie on top, but my idea of looking really goodjust went out the window because I was just getting more more tired.
and then you finish it and you're like, I can't go to bed now.
Exactly, exactly.
It was really crazy.
So that's definitely the most surprising.
(07:38):
So how has this worked around your full-time job then?
Because you've spent the last year promoting your book, going to these conferences andplaces and doing these PR opportunities, but you've got a full-time job.
How does that work?
It means I have no life or very little social life.
So I'm obviously working Monday to Friday during the typical sort of working hours.
(07:59):
Then pretty much every weekend I'm doing things to promote the book and setting up stuff.
So like I might schedule posts to go out in the week, schedule blogs, just do whatever Ineed to do.
You know, sit there for hours for an afternoon on a Sunday, contacting libraries.
I've literally contacted every single library group now.
(08:20):
It was heavy going, but I've done it.
And then also as well as weekends, because there's so much to do, it's encroaching moreand more on my evenings as well.
And sometimes things are a bit unplanned.
So like there are times when I've worked, rushed out to the gym and then rushed home tocatch a journalist at like nine o'clock at night to have an interview that may or may not
(08:42):
get published.
Journalists, they drop stuff all the time.
Or.
you know, more junior journalist might think they've got a great idea.
They go to their editor, but then their editor's got other priorities and other ideas.
So you try and catch everything as it's kind of coming at you, but you don't know even ifit will materialize into anything.
(09:03):
Or, I mean, I've been surprised a lot too because I've spoken to like a journalist,haven't heard anything for months and months.
And then all of a sudden I see a bit of a spike on Amazon.
I google myself and there is an article.
I'm rarely told when they're going to appear.
I was going to ask you about that actually, because I've sent out press releases andobviously they don't tell you.
(09:27):
So it's literally just by looking at the stats on your end to see if there's a bump.
Yeah, sometimes they tell you but most of the time they don't.
I did some journalism as an intern.
I think that's just the nature of how fast it is.
It's like, write it and even in our J jobs we need to get stuff out fast so we don'talways have time to turn around and say, this is out now.
(09:48):
So it's like, boom, boom, boom, out, next thing.
Or you might hear nothing and chase and then be told, oh, actually we can't use this.
It's a shame because I did a really good interview.
for the Manchester student paper last year with a student journalist and it was reallygood.
I put some time aside on the Sunday and we spent a good hour or so talking and then Ididn't hear anything and I contacted him and then he's like, I'm sorry for this article,
(10:16):
we're not gonna use you, we're gonna use other people and it's like, And that was my likeperfect audience as well, know, like late teens, early twenties, bit gutting, but that's
just the nature of it.
So just have to be prepared that not everything you put out there is gonna be used, noteverything will be featured.
But you've gotta chase it anyway because you don't know.
(10:36):
Gosh, you've learned a lot over the last year.
For anyone who has published their book or is planning to do so in the near future, whattips do you have for them?
It sounds like there's a lot to learn, but to simplify for them.
First of all, I would say definitely start early.
Start as early as you can.
So start early to build your web presence.
(10:58):
Start talking about the topics that you might be writing about.
If you're writing fantasy, start putting fantasy content onto different social platforms.
Have your website design it in a similar fantasy style or maybe you want a moresophisticated author style, whatever.
Just start getting content out there.
(11:19):
Even if it's a year or two years away, start doing it because it does take time to buildup a web presence.
You need to start ranking in Google.
You need to start actually coming up as the expert or the go-to person, the personassociated with these topics, whatever that is, whether it's nonfiction fiction.
And also I had to put a plan into place.
(11:42):
I had no plan because I was muddling through and I didn't really know.
I was trying to work out where could I.
showcase myself.
How could I get in contact with libraries or bookshops?
I've written press releases before as part of my job of course, but couldn't really tellyou which of the right press agencies to go to, how to distribute it properly.
(12:03):
I could now, I could tell you that now, but I didn't know so I was trying to figureeverything out.
So start looking into these kinds of things, like where can I showcase my work?
What would be good to do talks at?
Which bookshops?
would be really good.
mean, local bookshops are great.
Waterstones, obviously it's good to get into waterstones, but not all waterstones arecreated equal because of the locations they're in.
(12:29):
So in Harrogate, for example, they've got a massive crime wall, a huge crime wall, andthey do lots of crime talks because that's what the population in Harrogate is a little
bit older.
So that's the kind of stuff they're into.
They're like Agatha Christie's and those kinds of things.
So a book like mine,
about non-fiction, about smartphones and technology, it's not quite the right fit for thatWaterstones.
(12:53):
And it's very interesting.
I spoke to the manager for that Waterstones and when I went in it was a huge children'ssection, a huge crime section and there was only a really tiny non-fiction section.
So even if you're looking at Waterstones, try and get a feel for different ones and whatkind of books they stock.
Is yours appropriate?
(13:15):
Which comes back to this whole thing of when you're applying to publishers and they askyou where you see your book sitting on the shelf.
I thought that was just like a question for them to get to know sort of your book, butactually it could start the conversation and get them thinking about which bookshops might
be more appropriate for your book than others.
Just start looking into all these small things.
(13:36):
How could I distribute it?
Where could I distribute it?
What kind of press opportunities could I create?
Where's a good place to showcase it?
Who can I approach?
Even if you've got an idea of, in the first month I'm going to approach these people andI'm gonna put out these kinds of posts.
So really start thinking about your plan already because I think it'll make it a loteasier when you go into it.
(14:01):
And the third one, I'm gonna promote my marketing blog.
It's called All About Digital Marketing.
It's free to subscribe to and part of the reason of creating it is because
I've been a marketer for 13 years and counting.
I have a lot of knowledge and experience and I can see that fellow authors and writersdon't have a clue and why would they if you don't do this?
(14:25):
So basically your book goes out and you're going to have to do most of the marketing.
Where do you start?
So I started breaking down different topics.
I also have a lot of guest blogs as well.
So businesses and marketers have been writing blogs, which is brilliant.
So there's a lot of knowledge on there, it's free and I'm trying to do more book contentand tailor it a bit to book marketers.
(14:50):
I definitely would recommend subscribing to that.
If you would like to be featured, get in touch with me.
Excellent, thank you.
Those were really helpful and I'll definitely be putting the link to your blog andeverything else you said on the landing page.
Now, what has reception been like to your book over the last year?
How have you been getting feedback from it?
What have people been saying?
(15:11):
question's been very, very good.
So obviously friends and family have bought it, which is nice, but you discount thatslightly because I know who my target audience is.
I know who is likely to be interested and who's not.
So I understand it's not everybody's read for sure, but friends and family have beensupportive.
So that's great.
And I do appreciate that.
(15:32):
So my colleagues have bought it and obviously they count maybe a little more because wework together, but there's no reason for them to buy it.
It doesn't interest them.
and whether they've bought it or not, lots of colleagues have actually approached me totalk about it.
So hi, hi, Shenker colleagues, if anyone's listening to this and thank you very much foryour support.
(15:53):
And also I got it into Cardiff libraries.
It was on loan right away.
In fact, the staff were snapping it up because they saw it and thought, oh yeah, I reallyneed to read that book.
I think that's the sweet volumes that when people see it, they're interested.
And before it was even published, I did the Abergavenny Writing Festival.
So I had no physical books to take with me.
(16:15):
And Owen Lewis, a lovely guy who works in the local bookshop, among other many, manyprojects.
He attended my talk and then he asked me straight away to come and do a signing.
So I went back up to Abergavenny and I've gone back up since as well for an event tosupport a local community center up there as well.
(16:35):
He works for a shop called Bookish.
So thank you, Owen and Bookish for your support.
So generally when people hear about it, they're interested.
And it's the subject of smartphones and communications and over communication that reallyis something that everyone's got an opinion on.
Everyone has experience of it.
Whether they're phones are horrible and I hate them and I don't want to touch them.
(16:59):
Or whether they're just like, I cannot stop using my phone.
Help me.
And everything in between.
Like everyone's got an opinion.
Reception's been good.
And also the conversation around smartphones has mushroomed in the last couple of years aswell, which in some ways is helpful for my book.
(17:20):
Well, as we said before, your book, you said it was very time bound, felt that's why youhad to write it there and then.
So is there anything now looking back on it a year later, are there any changes to be madeor do you have any plans for going forward for like a different version?
What are your thoughts?
I could update it, I want to do some other projects so I'm not going to.
The conversation as I said is mushroomed, it's gone in a slightly different direction sothere's been, yeah, everyone's looking at children and starting to realise some of the
(17:51):
negatives from young people using it.
So it's really, the conversation's very much gone in that direction.
There was adolescence on Netflix which I haven't seen actually because I don't have aNetflix account.
Probably should, just so can really comment on it a lot better, but it's definitelybrought out the conversation more.
(18:11):
So yeah, the conversation seems to have swayed in that way, but at the same time, childrencopy adults.
If mummy and daddy are on their phone all day, kids notice that.
That's slightly out of my direction as well, because I'm not a specialist in childdevelopment.
(18:31):
It's a tricky conversation, isn't it, especially where children are involved.
Now you said that you want to focus on something else now, different projects, which Idon't blame you.
I think it's nice to do something different.
What are those projects that you'd like to work on moving forward?
I've started compiling my poetry.
I have a lot of poetry.
I've been writing poems since primary school, since I was made to.
(18:52):
um I've been published here and there in different anthologies since I was 12.
So I've had some success with poetry.
I was actually on a BBC upload a few weeks ago with a poem as well, The Cats of Istanbul,if anyone's interested.
That got featured.
(19:13):
I definitely would want to put together a poetry anthology and also that's project that Ithink I can do relatively quickly as well.
I'll be nice change of pace for you doing that.
Do you have any final thoughts you'd like to leave our listeners with today?
I do.
well firstly, How to Leave a Group Chat is available from all the normal bookshops.
(19:36):
Locally, it's available of course from Four Bears Books.
And if you do want to buy a copy from Alex's shop, I will go over and sign it for you.
He's still got a couple of copies on the shelves.
I was there actually for Will Carver's book launch on Thursday.
And it's available in the bigger shops as well, but let's give Alex and Four Bears oursupport.
(19:57):
I think we're all better off if we do use our devices less.
I think there's absolute benefits and just start thinking about all the things you'd liketo do and you're just not doing it because you're sitting there scrolling TikTok or
Facebook or your social platform of choice, the news, which is probably just astime-wasting as all the social channels, to be honest.
(20:20):
Maybe set yourself a task I'd like to make myself some clothes or paint the house orwhatever it is.
Well, especially if you live in Reading, there are so many different groups and activitiesto do events every day.
So yeah, go out and do something, engage with some local Reading inhabitants.
Louisa, thank you so much.
thoroughly enjoy this.
Thank you and congratulations.
(20:42):
How many you've done 50 episodes since last year.
think it's, yeah, I think I've got about an extra four in the bag recorded.
Oh, brilliant.
So yeah, it's 55.
you.
Q.
Yes, it's been such a journey.
I've learned so much doing it and there's so many amazing people in Reading.
Yeah, I didn't know there were so many amazing people in Reading until you started pullingout all these people in your pod.
(21:06):
All these little businesses and organizations and different causes, charities.
Quite amazing how many it's-
very surprising and actually now I think about it, it could just be years doing one aweek.
There is so much in ready, you'd really be surprised when you start scratching thesurface.
Hello everyone and welcome to the My Local Marketer podcast.
I'm your host Maria and today I'm speaking with Louisa Guise because it is the one year,well just over I think now, the one year anniversary of the podcast.
So we've come back to Louisa who was my very first guest.
Louisa, thank you for coming on.
Hello everybody and thank you Maria for having me again.
(00:21):
It's really cool that it was my first podcast and your first podcast and we get to do thisuh about a year later.
And actually we went out recently on the kayak, yes, because we said on the last one,said, we've got to do it before we do our next one.
And we did and it was awesome.
It was really lovely to see Reading from a different position.
I'd never seen it from the point of view of the canal before.
(00:43):
That's true, they do some boat tours down in Caversham.
So if you haven't tried kayaking everyone, try it because it was really good.
Now, Louise, just in case people didn't catch the first episode because that was quite along time ago now, do you want to just remind people why you were on and about your book?
So last year on the 28th of June, I released a book called How to Leave a Group Chat.
(01:06):
It's a book about communications.
The thread is all about, obviously, leaving group chats that don't serve you any purpose.
But I look at the wider kind of scope of communications, why we communicate the way we doand how technology changes that.
And ultimately, if you take one thing away from the book, it should be the confidence toactually use your phone less.
(01:28):
I know it's worked for me researching the book, so hopefully it works for some peoplewho've read the book.
And if you have read the book, I'd love to know if it's helped you to do that.
Well as we said last year it was really interesting I thought and insightful your book andactually as a result of that I did actually then leave a couple of group chats that were
just sitting on my phone I hadn't been in for a while so yeah that was really
(01:50):
excellent.
That's really good to hear.
What has the last year been like for you?
Because you were busy promoting it before you launched it.
So how have you promoted it?
What's it been like?
It's been busy with a capital B, definitely.
I've, I mean, I had to muddle through and work out where I could promote it, how I couldpromote it.
(02:11):
I've done lots of talks.
I've done talks in bookshops, in libraries.
A big proud moment was doing a talk at Cardiff Central Library, because I'm from Cardiffand it was the various Cardiff libraries that I was always going into and looking at the
shelves and thinking like,
Yeah, okay.
One day my book's going to be there too.
And now it is, which is brilliant.
(02:33):
So it's really great that Cardiff Libraries were really supportive and had me in to do atalk.
And it was just like, wow, that was just such a proud moment.
I've been on podcasts, this one and other ones.
I've also got a digital marketing blog.
So there is relevance with marketing here.
I do do marketing.
(02:55):
do have a, it's called All About Digital Marketing.
And I've sort of used that to cross promote.
also done some book focused um articles as well.
And also obviously mentioned my book a few times.
So it's sort of a bit of an overlap.
I've promoted a lot on social media, both paid and organic, more organic.
(03:17):
Done talks, libraries, bookshops, literary festivals.
with marketing, we like to know where leads have come from and you need to tell yourmanagers, yes, this will generate X leads.
But actually a lot of stuff you've done, you've had some opportunities that just camerandomly, you couldn't predict them.
For example, that conference, where was that conference you were?
(03:39):
Harrogate.
Yes, you were at the Harrogate conference.
Yes, the event was called Bowen Salon North, but it was part of the HarrogateInternational Festival.
I did actually apply to Harrogate festivals, but what really confused me is that they cameback to me via my publisher.
I was used to festivals coming back to me directly.
So when they came back to me and it was my publisher telling me they wanted me, I wasn'tsure if that was my doing or if they just somehow heard about me and contacted my
(04:09):
publisher, but it was.
my application that got accepted and that was mad, that was really cool.
I got paid to go up there, I got a free hotel night, I got to speak alongside MikeBerners-Lee and Stuart Gillespie.
which is going to show you don't worry where the opportunities are going to come from.
yeah, you don't know who's gonna accept you, you should just really try for everything.
(04:30):
Like I got an article on a travel website because I like to travel a lot.
I like to do solo travel, so I wrote about solo travelling.
And even though it's not specifically focused on my book, I still got a feature about solotravel and I can still be mentioned as an author.
So it's important, I think, if you're promoting to actually think about other avenues thatyou can...
(04:53):
kind of showcase yourself in, it doesn't necessarily have to be about your book or yourbusiness even.
could be the business owner who's got a quirky collection of stamps or has an interestingunusual hobby or something like that.
That is something I'm just starting to learn about.
So I've had, yeah, I like stamps and coins and all these different things and never reallythought before how it could be useful.
(05:15):
So yeah, that is a lesson I'm recently just starting to learn.
So always think about the other things you can do aside from your main project, whateverthat happens to be.
Cause sometimes you might get a bit of a following because you have this unusual hobby oryou, you know, you're a huge Star Wars fan and you go to all the comic cons and you're,
you're the business owner who goes to the comic cons or whatever that is.
(05:39):
Yeah.
Whatever it is that you like, gives you some personality as well.
So over the last year, has there been anything that has been surprising or something youdidn't expect when you started out at the start?
The most surprising thing that I've had, so I ended up on Australian television.
And I've never been to Australia.
So I found this website, it's great website called SourceBottle.com, where there's lots ofopportunities posted for marketing um across all mediums.
(06:10):
There was something called Ticker that was looking for a marketer to talk.
I had no idea what Ticker was, I replied to the email and
mentioned my book, How to Leave a Group Chat, and I could talk about smartphones and howwe use them too much.
I got an email back pretty much straight away saying about booking a time slot for this umTicker News.
(06:33):
And I'm like, what is this exactly?
And I googled it.
Ticker News is um like a 24 hour news channel in Australia that was actually set up by aguy that used to work for Sky.
And I'm like, okay.
And I had to pick a slot that was pretty late for me because obviously I had to matchAustralian time.
(06:55):
So I think I was supposed to go on it like around midnight and then it got moved to likemaybe 1.30 or 1.45 in the morning my time.
And I didn't want to change it because I thought I'd lose the opportunity.
When I first booked the slot, I had this idea that I'd wear a nice top and look good infront of the camera.
No, screw that.
I was in my pajamas on Australian television.
(07:17):
You couldn't tell.
because I was wearing uh just a dark hoodie on top, but my idea of looking really goodjust went out the window because I was just getting more more tired.
and then you finish it and you're like, I can't go to bed now.
Exactly, exactly.
It was really crazy.
So that's definitely the most surprising.
(07:38):
So how has this worked around your full-time job then?
Because you've spent the last year promoting your book, going to these conferences andplaces and doing these PR opportunities, but you've got a full-time job.
How does that work?
It means I have no life or very little social life.
So I'm obviously working Monday to Friday during the typical sort of working hours.
(07:59):
Then pretty much every weekend I'm doing things to promote the book and setting up stuff.
So like I might schedule posts to go out in the week, schedule blogs, just do whatever Ineed to do.
You know, sit there for hours for an afternoon on a Sunday, contacting libraries.
I've literally contacted every single library group now.
(08:20):
It was heavy going, but I've done it.
And then also as well as weekends, because there's so much to do, it's encroaching moreand more on my evenings as well.
And sometimes things are a bit unplanned.
So like there are times when I've worked, rushed out to the gym and then rushed home tocatch a journalist at like nine o'clock at night to have an interview that may or may not
(08:42):
get published.
Journalists, they drop stuff all the time.
Or.
you know, more junior journalist might think they've got a great idea.
They go to their editor, but then their editor's got other priorities and other ideas.
So you try and catch everything as it's kind of coming at you, but you don't know even ifit will materialize into anything.
(09:03):
Or, I mean, I've been surprised a lot too because I've spoken to like a journalist,haven't heard anything for months and months.
And then all of a sudden I see a bit of a spike on Amazon.
I google myself and there is an article.
I'm rarely told when they're going to appear.
I was going to ask you about that actually, because I've sent out press releases andobviously they don't tell you.
(09:27):
So it's literally just by looking at the stats on your end to see if there's a bump.
Yeah, sometimes they tell you but most of the time they don't.
I did some journalism as an intern.
I think that's just the nature of how fast it is.
It's like, write it and even in our J jobs we need to get stuff out fast so we don'talways have time to turn around and say, this is out now.
(09:48):
So it's like, boom, boom, boom, out, next thing.
Or you might hear nothing and chase and then be told, oh, actually we can't use this.
It's a shame because I did a really good interview.
for the Manchester student paper last year with a student journalist and it was reallygood.
I put some time aside on the Sunday and we spent a good hour or so talking and then Ididn't hear anything and I contacted him and then he's like, I'm sorry for this article,
(10:16):
we're not gonna use you, we're gonna use other people and it's like, And that was my likeperfect audience as well, know, like late teens, early twenties, bit gutting, but that's
just the nature of it.
So just have to be prepared that not everything you put out there is gonna be used, noteverything will be featured.
But you've gotta chase it anyway because you don't know.
(10:36):
Gosh, you've learned a lot over the last year.
For anyone who has published their book or is planning to do so in the near future, whattips do you have for them?
It sounds like there's a lot to learn, but to simplify for them.
First of all, I would say definitely start early.
Start as early as you can.
So start early to build your web presence.
(10:58):
Start talking about the topics that you might be writing about.
If you're writing fantasy, start putting fantasy content onto different social platforms.
Have your website design it in a similar fantasy style or maybe you want a moresophisticated author style, whatever.
Just start getting content out there.
(11:19):
Even if it's a year or two years away, start doing it because it does take time to buildup a web presence.
You need to start ranking in Google.
You need to start actually coming up as the expert or the go-to person, the personassociated with these topics, whatever that is, whether it's nonfiction fiction.
And also I had to put a plan into place.
(11:42):
I had no plan because I was muddling through and I didn't really know.
I was trying to work out where could I.
showcase myself.
How could I get in contact with libraries or bookshops?
I've written press releases before as part of my job of course, but couldn't really tellyou which of the right press agencies to go to, how to distribute it properly.
(12:03):
I could now, I could tell you that now, but I didn't know so I was trying to figureeverything out.
So start looking into these kinds of things, like where can I showcase my work?
What would be good to do talks at?
Which bookshops?
would be really good.
mean, local bookshops are great.
Waterstones, obviously it's good to get into waterstones, but not all waterstones arecreated equal because of the locations they're in.
(12:29):
So in Harrogate, for example, they've got a massive crime wall, a huge crime wall, andthey do lots of crime talks because that's what the population in Harrogate is a little
bit older.
So that's the kind of stuff they're into.
They're like Agatha Christie's and those kinds of things.
So a book like mine,
about non-fiction, about smartphones and technology, it's not quite the right fit for thatWaterstones.
(12:53):
And it's very interesting.
I spoke to the manager for that Waterstones and when I went in it was a huge children'ssection, a huge crime section and there was only a really tiny non-fiction section.
So even if you're looking at Waterstones, try and get a feel for different ones and whatkind of books they stock.
Is yours appropriate?
(13:15):
Which comes back to this whole thing of when you're applying to publishers and they askyou where you see your book sitting on the shelf.
I thought that was just like a question for them to get to know sort of your book, butactually it could start the conversation and get them thinking about which bookshops might
be more appropriate for your book than others.
Just start looking into all these small things.
(13:36):
How could I distribute it?
Where could I distribute it?
What kind of press opportunities could I create?
Where's a good place to showcase it?
Who can I approach?
Even if you've got an idea of, in the first month I'm going to approach these people andI'm gonna put out these kinds of posts.
So really start thinking about your plan already because I think it'll make it a loteasier when you go into it.
(14:01):
And the third one, I'm gonna promote my marketing blog.
It's called All About Digital Marketing.
It's free to subscribe to and part of the reason of creating it is because
I've been a marketer for 13 years and counting.
I have a lot of knowledge and experience and I can see that fellow authors and writersdon't have a clue and why would they if you don't do this?
(14:25):
So basically your book goes out and you're going to have to do most of the marketing.
Where do you start?
So I started breaking down different topics.
I also have a lot of guest blogs as well.
So businesses and marketers have been writing blogs, which is brilliant.
So there's a lot of knowledge on there, it's free and I'm trying to do more book contentand tailor it a bit to book marketers.
(14:50):
I definitely would recommend subscribing to that.
If you would like to be featured, get in touch with me.
Excellent, thank you.
Those were really helpful and I'll definitely be putting the link to your blog andeverything else you said on the landing page.
Now, what has reception been like to your book over the last year?
How have you been getting feedback from it?
What have people been saying?
(15:11):
question's been very, very good.
So obviously friends and family have bought it, which is nice, but you discount thatslightly because I know who my target audience is.
I know who is likely to be interested and who's not.
So I understand it's not everybody's read for sure, but friends and family have beensupportive.
So that's great.
And I do appreciate that.
(15:32):
So my colleagues have bought it and obviously they count maybe a little more because wework together, but there's no reason for them to buy it.
It doesn't interest them.
and whether they've bought it or not, lots of colleagues have actually approached me totalk about it.
So hi, hi, Shenker colleagues, if anyone's listening to this and thank you very much foryour support.
(15:53):
And also I got it into Cardiff libraries.
It was on loan right away.
In fact, the staff were snapping it up because they saw it and thought, oh yeah, I reallyneed to read that book.
I think that's the sweet volumes that when people see it, they're interested.
And before it was even published, I did the Abergavenny Writing Festival.
So I had no physical books to take with me.
(16:15):
And Owen Lewis, a lovely guy who works in the local bookshop, among other many, manyprojects.
He attended my talk and then he asked me straight away to come and do a signing.
So I went back up to Abergavenny and I've gone back up since as well for an event tosupport a local community center up there as well.
(16:35):
He works for a shop called Bookish.
So thank you, Owen and Bookish for your support.
So generally when people hear about it, they're interested.
And it's the subject of smartphones and communications and over communication that reallyis something that everyone's got an opinion on.
Everyone has experience of it.
Whether they're phones are horrible and I hate them and I don't want to touch them.
(16:59):
Or whether they're just like, I cannot stop using my phone.
Help me.
And everything in between.
Like everyone's got an opinion.
Reception's been good.
And also the conversation around smartphones has mushroomed in the last couple of years aswell, which in some ways is helpful for my book.
(17:20):
Well, as we said before, your book, you said it was very time bound, felt that's why youhad to write it there and then.
So is there anything now looking back on it a year later, are there any changes to be madeor do you have any plans for going forward for like a different version?
What are your thoughts?
I could update it, I want to do some other projects so I'm not going to.
The conversation as I said is mushroomed, it's gone in a slightly different direction sothere's been, yeah, everyone's looking at children and starting to realise some of the
(17:51):
negatives from young people using it.
So it's really, the conversation's very much gone in that direction.
There was adolescence on Netflix which I haven't seen actually because I don't have aNetflix account.
Probably should, just so can really comment on it a lot better, but it's definitelybrought out the conversation more.
(18:11):
So yeah, the conversation seems to have swayed in that way, but at the same time, childrencopy adults.
If mummy and daddy are on their phone all day, kids notice that.
That's slightly out of my direction as well, because I'm not a specialist in childdevelopment.
(18:31):
It's a tricky conversation, isn't it, especially where children are involved.
Now you said that you want to focus on something else now, different projects, which Idon't blame you.
I think it's nice to do something different.
What are those projects that you'd like to work on moving forward?
I've started compiling my poetry.
I have a lot of poetry.
I've been writing poems since primary school, since I was made to.
(18:52):
um I've been published here and there in different anthologies since I was 12.
So I've had some success with poetry.
I was actually on a BBC upload a few weeks ago with a poem as well, The Cats of Istanbul,if anyone's interested.
That got featured.
(19:13):
I definitely would want to put together a poetry anthology and also that's project that Ithink I can do relatively quickly as well.
I'll be nice change of pace for you doing that.
Do you have any final thoughts you'd like to leave our listeners with today?
I do.
well firstly, How to Leave a Group Chat is available from all the normal bookshops.
(19:36):
Locally, it's available of course from Four Bears Books.
And if you do want to buy a copy from Alex's shop, I will go over and sign it for you.
He's still got a couple of copies on the shelves.
I was there actually for Will Carver's book launch on Thursday.
And it's available in the bigger shops as well, but let's give Alex and Four Bears oursupport.
(19:57):
I think we're all better off if we do use our devices less.
I think there's absolute benefits and just start thinking about all the things you'd liketo do and you're just not doing it because you're sitting there scrolling TikTok or
Facebook or your social platform of choice, the news, which is probably just astime-wasting as all the social channels, to be honest.
(20:20):
Maybe set yourself a task I'd like to make myself some clothes or paint the house orwhatever it is.
Well, especially if you live in Reading, there are so many different groups and activitiesto do events every day.
So yeah, go out and do something, engage with some local Reading inhabitants.
Louisa, thank you so much.
thoroughly enjoy this.
Thank you and congratulations.
(20:42):
How many you've done 50 episodes since last year.
think it's, yeah, I think I've got about an extra four in the bag recorded.
Oh, brilliant.
So yeah, it's 55.
you.
Q.
Yes, it's been such a journey.
I've learned so much doing it and there's so many amazing people in Reading.
Yeah, I didn't know there were so many amazing people in Reading until you started pullingout all these people in your pod.
(21:06):
All these little businesses and organizations and different causes, charities.
Quite amazing how many it's-
very surprising and actually now I think about it, it could just be years doing one aweek.
There is so much in ready, you'd really be surprised when you start scratching thesurface.
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