Karen Campbell writes contemporary fiction and is a graduate of Glasgow University’s Creative Writing programme.
Before turning to writing, she was a police officer with Strathclyde Police. She has published four novels focusing on the people behind the uniform: THE TWILIGHT TIME, AFTER THE FIRE, SHADOWPLAY, and her latest book PROOF OF LIFE, released July 2011.
In 2009, Karen won the Best New Scottish Writer Award, and last year SHADOWPLAY was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger.
She has recently finished a fifth novel, THIS IS WHERE I AM, a story about a Somali refugee living in Glasgow, which will be published by Bloomsbury in 2013.
You’ll find Karen on the web here, on Twitter here, and on Amazon here.
How digitally aware are you generally?
I’m reasonably savvy, especially now we’ve just moved to the country and everything’s that bit further away! I use online banking, buy some groceries online, and use Amazon, online clothes shopping etc.
Do you use Facebook and/or Twitter professionally and/or personally? If both, how do you distinguish between them?
I only use Twitter, and to be honest, I use that quite sporadically. It’s handy for networking, sharing reviews, event details etc, but I find I can get sucked in to online gossip, which drags me away from the writing, so I do limit its use.
In your online networking, how much time do you spend talking to other authors/publishers and how much time with readers/fans? Do you get any tangible benefits from either?
My online networking is pretty limited. I’m not too good at ‘marketing’ myself, but I definitely respond to enquiries/ emails etc if I get them – and certainly, that’s where I find having an online presence is extremely useful, as it acts as your ‘shop window’ to the world.
I find I’m getting more bookings for events , readings etc since I got a website, and also that more readers are getting in touch with me that way.
Do you enjoy interacting with your readers in the real world and/or online? Any significant differences between the two?
I prefer the real world – you can get a dialogue going there. I find online communications to be short, snappy – efficient certainly but a bit… impersonal. You don’t get the nuances, body language, subtext etc you do when meeting people face to face.
Do you respond to reviews, good and/or bad?
No, other than to sniff quietly into my pillow if it’s a bad one!
What’s the point if it’s a bad one – you won’t change someone’s mind. However, if someone’s gone to the bother of emailing or writing to me to say they enjoyed my work, I would of course write back to thank them.
There’s lots of books I love, but I rarely take the time to get in touch with the author, so I find it hugely flattering if a reader tracks me down to tell me they enjoyed a book. And, if I get a good review from a critic, yes, I’d certainly send the link out via my Twitter account, but I wouldn’t repsond to it as such.
Actually – I’ve just remembered that’s not strictly true. I got a fantastic review for Shadowplay in the Scotsman; the reviewer totally ‘got’ that the book wasn’t a crime novel, but an exploration of how the ‘protectors’ (ie the police) protect themselves from the effects of their job. I couldn’t have written a better review myself, and I was so chuffed, I sent a little thank you card to her via the newspaper.
How clearly defined is the reader in your mind when writing? Would you know where to find them online?
To be honest, I don’t think about a specific reader at all when I write. I’d find this quite restrictive , because then you’d be writing for someone else and not for yourself. I think you have to be selfish when you write, and not allow anyone else’s vision to obscure your own. Otherwise, whose story is it that you’re writing?
What’s the Grand Marketing Plan for your next book?
Well, I’m moving to a new publisher, Bloomsbury, which I’m very excited about! In terms of their marketing plan, it’s too early to say, as the book won’t be out for a year and a half, so I’m very interested to see what they have lined up.
Authors, unless they’re big names, tend not to get very involved at the planning stage, but we are always hugely enthusiastic to do anything (within reason!) that will help market our books. I’ve sent out my own copies of books to potential reviewers, done local readings for free, contacted local press and so on.
The book I’ve just written is about a Somali refugee in Glasgow, so I’m hopeful that there may be a way of tying its launch in with Refugee Week or something similar.
To what extent do you buy into the concept that as an author you are a brand?
Not at all. I’m really uncomfortable with branding. As soon as you stick a label on something or someone, you define them as a particular ‘type’, which is hugely limiting.
Every book you write is different, and to be sold as a brand implies a uniformity, and a prescribed level of expectations, which I think is damaging both in terms of a writer’s creativity and a reader’s excitement.
Each book should be a journey into the unknown… At least, that’s how it is when I begin a book. I never know how it’s going to end, or in fact what will happen beyond a vague theme or a mood or a topic I want to explore. Knowing I had to fulfill some brand expectations would just make the writing dry up.
To what extent do you believe that it’s up to you to find your audience and ultimately sell your books?
I think, more and more, that is the case. Publishers have fewer resources to devote to new or less well-known writers, so we can’t sit back and expect constant promotion.
What would your advice be to a debut novelist hoping for… well, a publishing deal, or at any rate readers?
Don’t expect to make a lot of money from this!
I think you have to write because you have something to say; then you have to hope that ‘something’ chimes with other people. I wouldn’t recommend analysing the market initially, then writing to fit some trend or gap, because the market’s always changing, and if you try to fit in with an existing fashion or theme in writing, there’s a real danger that, by the time you’re ready to punt your book, that trend has moved on, and you’re yesterday’s news.
But a voice that is fresh and original will always have something pertinent to say.
So where’s it all going, this publishing business?
Good question…
Digital and eBooks are on the rise, libraries are closing, bookshops are disappearing… I honestly don’t know.
But, since caveman times, we’ve gathered round the fire and told stories, so I’m hopeful that people will always want to hear stories. Maybe it’s just the way we convey them that will change.
Do you have any experiences of doing your own marketing, digitally or otherwise, that you could share with other authors?
Not really. It’s a bit old-fashioned, but I’ve found that personal networking has been the most effective thing for me – whether it’s joining a writing group and meeting other like-minded people there, or going to literary soirées like Weegie Wednesday.
Recent Comments