Travel Channel, here I come!

Travel Channel, here I come!

I have a confession. I’ve never watched the Travel Channel and never felt particularly compelled to read the Sunday travel section of any newspaper (The New York Times, The Arizona Republic, and the Arizona Daily Star are the papers I’ve been most familiar with) unless it was an article about somewhere I really wanted to visit. Now, however, as the author of a book about a guy who travels around the world, I’m looking at such vehicles as potential marketing bonanzas, in terms of people who might have an interest in my little novel.

travel-channel

The idea even occurred to me to wonder how I might pitch Stan Finds Himself on the Other Side of the World as a cartoon TV show. After all, once upon a time, Where in the World Is Carmen San Diego? was just someone’s idea, right?

So I feel like I’ve got some catching up to do, in terms of identifying potential experts who might be good ones to approach to write blurbs for my book – or have me as a guest on their show, or as an interviewee for their travel column. The household name who comes to mind is Anthony Bourdain.

anthony-bourdain

I’ve written about approaching Mr. Bourdain before – for the last blog challenge, when I posted all of my entries on my book marketing blog because Stan’s blog hadn’t yet really come into its own. Here’s an excerpt from that post:

Strangely, it took me longer than I’d have thought to come up with the right person to ask for an endorsement of Stan, but once I arrived there, I was sure I’d hit on the perfect person: Anthony Bourdain, chef, author, and host of CNN’s popular show, “Parts Unknown.” Will he be challenging to get to? Perhaps – but maybe someone who’s just two degrees of separation from him is reading this very post! Stranger things have most certainly happened.

One person I know quipped that Bourdain isn’t the most loquacious guy to go seeking a blurb from. No worries. Regardless of how tight-lipped or busy he may be, all I need for him to do is put his name behind three little words: “Read this book!”

So if anyone reading this lives next door to the college kid who babysits Bourdain’s daughter … ahem, I’d really, really, really appreciate an introduction.

Certainly there are others … and I’ll make a short list. But I’m going to put my intention behind this one and leave the rest up to the book marketing angels.

Time to get busy hitting up LinkedIn, checking my old Phoenix Film Festival Connections, and approaching the few Hollywood types I’ve met over the years to see what kind of apples might shake loose from those trees. It can’t hurt. The worse I’ll hear is no – and that leaves me exactly where I am right now.

As for the Travel Channel, as soon as this Blog Challenge is done, I’m going to pop a big bowl of popcorn and sit down and watch for a while.

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Read the FIRST 5 Chapters of Stan Finds Himself on the Other Side of the World.

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LAURA ORSINI is an author and self-publishing consultant who works with other authors who want to LO picchange the world. From concept to publication to the first-time author’s book launch, her expertise will help you make a better book and find more readers. Friend her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter, and check out her pins on Pinterest.

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