Christina Hamlett is in the Author Spotlight

I am pleased to welcome Christina Hamlett to discuss her non-fiction business book Media Magnetism: How to Attract the Favorable Publicity You Want and Deserve. Before we meet the author, I’d like to provide a brief synopsis of her book.

What is it all business owners, authors, entrepreneurs and nonprofits want and need, but don’t know how to use - and keep - once they get it? Attracting (and maximizing) media opportunities is as much an art as it is a science if you want to sparkle in the spotlight. Two dozen media industry experts offer tips, resources and guidelines in the newly released Media Magnetism: How to Attract the Favorable Publicity Want and Deserve, a must-have book for anyone who wants to learn how to make influential connections, become sound-bite savvy, survive awkward moments, design a great website, and manage a cost-effective PR campaign.

Welcome Christina!  Would you share an interesting fact about your book. The book (which is available in paperback and on Kindle) directly reflects my professional background in all aspects of media and publishing as well as my academic degree in Communications, my specialty being Audience Analysis and Message Design.

How did you begin your writing career? To begin with, I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. I’m a novelist, playwright, media relations expert, ghostwriter (which does not mean that I talk to dead people), and a professional script consultant for stage and screen. Additionally, I spent 16 years on stage as an actress and theatre director; I credit this particular experience to my ability to craft great dialogue, watchable characters and economical productions. My first job out of high school was writing movie and play reviews for a weekly newspaper and providing readers enough information about the plots and characters so that they could make informed decisions about what to go see. Today I apply that critical thinking to the review and development of detailed coverage notes for new screenplays and theatrical scripts. I tell people that I stop bad movies from coming to theaters near them. Some of them are of the opinion that I’m not working nearly hard enough at this because so many bad movies keep getting made.

Who reads the drafts of your projects? My husband (who is also an excellent writer, editor and proofreader) is not only my brainstorming partner, but he’s also the first one to read whatever I’ve written. We especially have fun reading all of my new scripts together out loud over martinis at the dining room table. Since we have both spent time on stage (I was in theater; he was in opera), we’re adept at splitting up the roles and doing a wide range of accents. I’m sure that on the occasions when a window is open and our readings are particularly boisterous, our neighbors must wonder exactly how many people are living with us.

Share a pet peeve of yours (related to writing or otherwise). I’m seeing a growing sense of “entitlement” among young people (as well as quite a few adults) who feel that they are deserving of acclaim and freebies just for showing up and, further, who believe that anyone who has achieved any level of prosperity owes it to everyone else to share their fortune. Unfortunately, this mindset of rewarding the lazy is currently being perpetuated in the U.S. by escalating taxes to penalize those who are successful. To that end, I frequently receive unsolicited emails from aspiring writers who want me to read their manuscripts for free (and in my spare time) and, when informed of my fees, unleash a string of expletives and threaten to come and set fire to my hair. My oh my, this attitude will certainly serve them well in their future jobs and relationships, won’t it? If something is really worth having, it’s worth working hard for, paying your dues, and investing the time to do it right.

I’ve enjoyed meeting you and learning about your book. For readers who don’t know, the first half of this interview can be found at www.writergirlkatie.wordpress.com.  Before we say goodbye, I would like to have a little fun.  I thought I’d complete the interview by asking a few silly questions. Your response to each question allows the reader the opportunity to meet Christina Hamlett, the person.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing you couldn't live without? My husband. Not only is he wonderfully fun company, but he’s also a gourmet chef who is always up for a culinary challenge. Assuredly, neither one of us would starve.

 If you couldn’t be an author, what career would you choose? An architect. When I was growing up, I used to spend hours drawing floor plans and the exteriors of cottages, castles, apartments, shops. I’d show the drawings to my parents who would say, “Those are the dumbest looking things we’ve ever seen. Why don’t you go write a story instead?” All right, obviously the writing gig paid off well and is something I enjoy but I always had imaginative ideas for fabulous structures and regretted that no one ever encouraged me to pursue this. To my delight, my husband bought me some architectural design software a few years back and I’ve since “built” several dozen houses, several of which I’ve given to friends as unique birthday and anniversary presents. For all I know, these virtual properties magically materialize somewhere, even as we speak...

Are any of your characters modelled after people in your life? Oh, absolutely. Some of my worst bosses now occupy the role of chalk outlines on the floor in my romantic suspense novels. Ironically, one of these women – whom I cast as a gossipy Irish housekeeper and subsequently dropped a castle gate on her – read the book and didn’t even recognize herself.

Thank you for joining us.  Below are links to find Christina Hamlett’s book Media Magnetism: How to Attract the Favorable Publicity You Want and Deserve. 

http://www.amazon.com/Media-Magnetism-Attract-Favorable-Publicity/dp/1432786490/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388870742&sr=8-1&keywords=media+magnetism, http://www.mediamagnetism.org