Pages

Monday, May 11, 2015

How to sell a Lethe Press book

How to sell a Lethe Press​ book to a flesh-eating zombie at the Cornwall & Area Pop Event - CAPE​:

After a flesh-eating zombie and his younger zombie boy have tried to eat you and your son (imagine a short version of Captain America), you give the hearty fellow the elevator pitch for your novel, Town & Train​.

You describe the teen characters, including the 17 year olds – John Daniel, Alexandra Robinson, Tommy Two Rivers and Bruck Aticoke; the twenty-something cop character, David Forester, trying to fit into a small-town police force after transferring from Toronto for reasons unknown; the bartender, Lydia MacDiarmid, working her way through nursing college; and you describe retired firefighter Henry Tanner. Hint at his stored past and many secrets in the book. You mention a mysterious steam engine train making people vanish in the heat wave summer of 1990 in a town enduring a recession. 

Then you wait a beat.

“I’ve read other titles by your publisher,” the zombie replies, ripped clothes and bloodied face and all. “Does your book have any gay characters like those ones?”

You reply that, yes, your book has such characters.

“I’ll get a copy,” the zombie replies, removing their wallet from their tattered jeans.

There and then, you realize you should have led with Lethe Press is the publisher.

No comments:

Post a Comment