Speakers:
- Joel Golby, Joel Golby’s Book Club
- Mark Heywood, Behind the Spine
- Jess & Lauren, Book Reccos
Joel Golby, Joel Golby’s Book Club
- Podcast comprises of Joel’s personal reading list, with 15-20 minutes of his reviews and thoughts
- Covers contemporary fiction
- Joel is a writer so there are also episodes on the writing process
- As a side note, he’s interested in speaking to authors at the moment pre-promotion and in the middle of their writing process
- Joel usually doesn’t review books when they’re in hardback
- An ideal pitch is an author who recommends a book Joel hasn’t read and they discuss it together
- Two weeks is a good lead time
- Prefers fiction
- He’s also interested in re-issues for the podcasts – the industry process – interested in industry guests as well
- Likes a collaborative review rather than talking about a book they’ve just published
- Prefers honest chat
- Really intrigued by other people’s writing process
- Personal touches in pitching are always better – ‘you might be interested in this’ rather than a sales pitch, ‘here’s someone who’d be up for something’
- Always pays more attention to a subject line that is either blank or has his name in
- Usually up for breakfast
- Prefers an email over unsolicited book mail
- Usually doesn’t like to cover books the year they’re out – likes them to be a bit removed from the promotional window
- Doesn’t cover YA
Mark Heywood, Behind the Spine
- Tenth series now in planning
- They will consider any fiction/non-fiction – anything with a narrative
- Booked 6-9 months in advance
- 24 episodes a year
- Mark likes a debut author
- Audience is made up of wannabe authors and then other creatives – but around 70% novelists
- Behind the Spine is part of Mark’s commitment to nature debut novelists
- Debuts and interesting author stories are prioritised
- In-person residencies – private, ticketed event where Mark can facilitate the conversation – he also chairs panels
- Pitch as early as you can – happy to receive catalogues and do go in with a personal approach
- Mark will send emails around when he’s receiving pitches for the next series
- Mark will send questions in advance and let the guest listen to the episode in advance to ensure guests are happy
- Unsolicited books are great – just make sure you include contact details
- Covers YA
Jess & Lauren, Book Reccos
- Instagram, blog and podcast that is dedicated to reviewing books for their audience – around 20,000 people
- Keep it a space for positive reviews only
- They host reading retreats to discuss books in person
- Instagram is where they started – their bread and butter and all reviews and recommendations are saved here
- Work with brands on an ad basis
- The podcast has really grown the audience and sells out the reading retreats
- Podcasts are weekly – been running for 3 years, 44 episodes a year
- Episodes are all spoiler-free and good reccos and this is what really drives audiences to buy
- Previous guests – Mike Gayle, Coco Mellors, Bonnie Garmus
- They try and theme the episodes and jump on cultural trends – try and make it fun
- They take sponsors in monthly blocks (for ads)
- Always open to guests – they’ve previously worked with publishers in the past on a paid basis for one whole episode dedicated to the title
- They’re also open to promoting a series of books/catalogues
- They’re passionate about supporting indie bookshops – they’re very open to receiving speaking briefs
- They love catalogues
- If the proof cover has the final copy/title on, that get a lot more traction on social – anything as close to the final cover on the proof gets much better engagement
- They like to run episodes in publication month so listeners can buy – not so effective for pre-order
- Audio books – they love to receive books this way
- They do both fiction and non-fiction
- They’ll never agree to speak to an author without having read the book first so they’ll usually put an interview request in publication month
- Lauren doesn’t like unsolicited books, Jess does
- Covers YA
- Around 2000 downloads per episode
- Audience demographic is around 25-35, mostly millennials