As most of you may know, authors have to do much of their book promotion themselves these days. Unless you are famous and have the potential to sell millions of copies, publishers won’t give you much help for book promotion. This is why I have been speaking to schools about my latest novel, “The Wings of Leo Spencer”. To tell the truth, meeting with students and readers is also one of the highlights of being a writer. My audience is 9 to 14 year olds ,who offer a fresh approach to reading and writing that is both exhilarating and liberating. Some of the questions they ask you as an author can be difficult, funny, or surprising. I thought I’d share with you here some of the most interesting questions I’ve had recently by Year 10-11 students during school visits.
- What does it feel like to be famous? (I wish I knew.)
- Do you like to use unusual words that nobody uses? (Yes, as long as readers can understand me.)
- What was it like growing up in France? (Do you have three hours?)
- Do you get ideas from people you see in the street? (Yes, but also from friends and family.)
- Is there a sequel to “The Wings of Leo Spencer”? (Let’s focus on this one for the time being, shall we?)
- When you write, do you feel your novel becomes the real world? (Yes, with angels et al
) - Could you write a book about me? (What a healthy ego!)
- What is the funniest book you have ever read?
- Are you going to translate your book into French? (No, thanks.)
- I’m reading “Twilight” at the moment. Do you think you could fall in love with a vampire? (Sure, why not?)
- Do you prefer angels or vampire? (I like them both!)
- What is your goal in life? (Again, I wish I knew!)
- Have you always wanted to be a writer? (Yes and no, but I am very happy being one…)
- Do you like visiting schools? (I LOVE IT.)
- Have you got any advice to give us on writing?
As you can see from this list of questions, I never get bored! I’m definitely looking forward to my next school visit.
I wish we’d have had authors visit when I was in school!