Elliott Rodgers

On the 1st of March I took part in “Blog Splash” with Fiona Robyn, a UK author, who is putting her third novel Thaw online, one day at a time (SPOILER WARNING: if you are going to read it, do it from Start of Thaw).

Fiona Robyn was kind enough to let me interview her.

Thaw Synopsis

Ruth is thirty two years old and doesn’t know if she wants to be thirty three. Her meticulously-ordered lonely life as a microbiologist is starved of pleasure and devoid of meaning. She decides to give herself three months to decide whether or not to end her life, and we read her daily diary as she struggles to make sense of her past and grapples with the pain of the present. ‘Thaw’ explores what makes any of our lives worth living. Can Red, the eccentric Russian artist Ruth commissions to paint her portrait, find a way to warm her frozen heart?

E: “Hi Fiona, thanks for doing an interview with us, I’m loving reading the daily bits from Ruth’s blog. “
F: “I’m glad!”
E: “What gave you the idea of having the first “day” of your novel on as many blogs as possible? “
F: “I knew that it would be more difficult for people to catch up once I’d started, so I wanted to generate as much interest as possible within the first few days. Blogs publishing the first day on the same day as me seemed like a sensible idea. “
E: “I have to agree, it was a brilliant idea. I noticed some activity in the visitor logs on my site both coming from the friends of Thaw page and going to the Read Thaw blog. “
F: “Glad you think so! And thanks for your contribution, Elliott.”
E: “Was it worth all the effort?”
F: “Definitely. I had a great time and I’ve made some new friends, but most importantly I have new readers. I want people to know and love Ruth as I do. “
E: “Ruth is an interesting character, I’d quite like to meet her in real life. I’m hoping for a happy ending for Ruth. “
F: “That would be telling….”
E: “You tease! No really don’t tell me. I noticed that links to the Read Thaw blog on Facebook and Twitter, I tend to click on whichever one I “find” first. Is this working well for you?”
F: “These links update automatically, so it’s a no-brainer. I think different people do find me on Twitter and Facebook, and every little helps. “
E: “So what technology did you use to do that? I’m a big fan of HootSuite myself. “
F: “I use Twitterfeed to get my blogs to appear on Twitter, and NetworkedBlogs to get my blogs to appear on Facebook. They seem to work ok!”
E: “I know Twitterfeed, I’ll have a look at NetworkedBlogs. Anything about the Blog Splash you wish you’d done differently?
F: “I should have made an effort to contact more UK bloggers, I suppose, as it’s easier for people in the UK to get hold of my books. But no, not really. “
E: “What advice would you give to someone thinking of doing something similar in the future? “
F: “Have fun with it. Be prepared to put in a lot of work – I spent some time introducing myself to new bloggers, setting up my website etc. And be very grateful to anyone who agrees to help out. “
E: “I think it was one of the Carolines (Smailes or Rance) who put me onto your Blog Splash event. I wondered if you were concerned about losing sales since the whole book is online? “
F: “The project has been an experiment – I hoped that some people might buy the book rather than waiting for the story to come online, or maybe buy one of my other novels if they enjoyed Thaw. My sales aren’t big enough yet to be seriously affected, so I had very little to lose. So far it seems to have helped my sales, but we’ll see! “
E: “It was a pleasure helping you with Blog Splash and I’ll be ordering Thaw once the daily updates are over, otherwise I’ll read ahead and spoil the effect. “
F: “It was a pleasure to have you involved. “
E: Thanks again for the interview. Keep in touch, I’ll gladly help with the next Blog Splash. “
F: “If there’s another one, I’ll certainly let you know! Thanks for having me, Elliott.”
E: Your welcome.

This was originally posted in my blog 26th April 2010