Talking Books with Connie Martinson

If you’re a book writer, there aren’t a ton of ways to publicize your book.  Trust me, I know.  For a lucky few  brilliant (or well-connected) literary types, there’s the New York Times Book Review and the New York Review of Books.  You can pay for an Amazon blast (ever gotten one of those?  an e-mail suggesting that “if you liked this book, you’ll love this one” ?).  You can pay for real ads in real magazines.  You can hope that you’ll make some kind of sexy splash and be asked to appear on “Good Morning, America” (yeah, good luck with that one).  Or you can simply curl up in a foetal position in despair over the lack of outlets for an author.

Or you can go be interviewed by Connie Martinson.

Connie promotes writers.  (Also our public libraries.)   Toward that end, she interviews dozens–maybe it’s hundreds–of writers on an annual basis, on her own interview talk show, “Connie Martinson Talks Books.”   I had been told in the past that there are so few ways for a writer to present his work to his public that Connie’s interviewed virtually all of the really big names–despite not having a network timeslot–a claim that seems to be borne out by the fact that there’s a video on her Web site showing her interviewing Barack Obama about his then-recently published book. 

“They all go,” someone once said to me.  “Anyone who writes a book will go be on her show.  She’s simply the only game in town.  No one else has a show about books.”

Good point.  Can you name a television show that reviews the most recent book publications the way, say, Roger Ebert’s various shows have reviewed movies?  How often does “Entertainment Tonight” or “Access Hollywood” focus on a BOOK?  Especially a book written by, you know, a book writer, as opposed to Britney Spears’ mother?

See my point?

I’ve been interviewed twice by Connie Martinson.  The first time, I went in to talk to her about my first novel, Same As It Never Was.  She was supportive, enthusiastic and warm, but became noticeably more interested when I mentioned I was working on a book about autism.  She’s willing to showcase almost any author, even “women’s fiction” novelists like me–but you can tell her interests run to higher grounds.  

(One caveat–she won’t do self-published writers, for some reason having to do with her funding.  That’s her one restriction.  Otherwise, her love of books seems to leave her open and enthusiastic about almost anything.)

The second time I went in was this past week.  I got a last minute e-mail from the publicity director at my publisher’s: could I make Connie Martinson the day after tomorrow?  The taping conflicted with my daughter’s basketball game.  I hesitated.  Then I said yes.  Like I said, she has the only TV show about books that I know of.  I drove to a funny, funky little studio in an office building in Marina del Rey (a block from Costco–damn, wish I’d realized that ahead of time).  I was number two on her show.  The first guest was a guy named Christopher Vogler who’d written a book called The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, which I believe he said is already in its third edition.  (It sounded good, by the way–the kind of thing you might want to read if you’re outlining a screenplay or a novel).  I was number two.  Connie transitioned smoothly between the two types of books, first exploring with Vogler the ways in which classic movies prove the points he makes his book about structure, then, when it was my turn, she described the plot of the book, letting me jump in with the reasons why I’d made the choices I had.  It was a kind interview, the sort that says, “Let’s let people know what this is and they can decide if it interests them.” 

It’s hard not to love someone who simply loves books and wants to give authors a launchpad.  So many of us are out there dying to talk about our books, to let people know they’re in the bookstore NOW and they’re worth checking out.  Connie Martinson is one of the few people who want to make that happen for us. 

 She’s also unbelievably smart–as anyone who’s been reading this blog knows, I have a brain like a sieve, so I stare in admiration and astonishment at anyone who, like Connie, can remember back to a conversation we had FIVE YEARS AGO and say things like, “You’re from Boston, right?  And you wrote a book about your son?”  She interviews so many authors each week–how she can remember any specific one from years ago is beyond me.

I did mention this blog to her, in the hopes maybe she’d let me talk about it on air, but her support goes to our public libraries.  In every interview, I believe, she makes a pitch for using your local library and it’s one of the first things you’ll see on her web site too.   Can’t argue with that. 

Check out her web site.  I know they’re in the process now of digitalizing all her interviews.  Some of them are already up there and you can see, for example, an interview with the very same Lisa See whom Kim wrote about in this blog not long ago.  And let’s not forget her interview with my personal hero Barack Obama.   Her web site also tells you how you can see new interviews on TV or on the Web.  It’s not necessarily easy to find her show, but I’m happy she’s out there making new ones.