The Unlimited Budget Question: Alison Barrow on Launching a Bestseller
About this episode
Philippa Hall interviews Alison Barrow about the intricacies of book publishing and promotion.
Philippa welcomes back Alison Barrow , PR director at Transworld, fresh from Capital Crime, for a fascinating look behind the curtain of book publishing and promotion. The Business of Book PR Alison shares insights from a recent masterclass on author publicity, including the eye-opening shift in how many times someone now needs to see a book before buying — and why there's no single magic trick to a successful launch. They discuss: Why book promotion is "an amalgamation of things" rather than one big lever to pull How publishers start thinking about a book's positioning years before publication The enduring power of bookseller advocacy and word-of-mouth recommendation Why traditional media still matters even in a podcast and social-media-saturated world What Transworld Is Publishing Now Not That Sort of Girl – Andrea Mara Getting Away With Murder – Shari Lapena The Creative Compass – Emma Gannon Data Empire – Roopika Risam (a history of data — and an unsettling glimpse at where AI is headed next) What Alison's Been Reading An Unlikely Visitor – Joanna Cannon (no, it's not about a dog — Philippa needed reassurance) It Could Have Been Her – Lisa Jewell (a dark, Barbara Vine-esque…
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