Meet the Author

BzzzWorthy, the AuthorHive Newsletter, chatted with Bonnie B. Matheson, author of Ahead of the Curve: An intimate conversation with women in the second half of life (Wheatmark, August 2009). She tells what marketing tactics have worked for her and how she makes an impact on readers.

BzzzWorthy:  Give us your elevator pitch (describe your book in about 25 words).

Matheson:  It’s a cheerful romp through the second 50 years of life. It tells women and men that attitude is everything, and you are in total control of what attitude you have.

BW:  Tell us briefly about your marketing plan.

Matheson:  I want to be a household name—as a “sexpert,” as a woman reinventing herself. I am encouraging women to reinvent themselves after 50 … and so that’s partly my message. I want to make an impact; I want to make people’s lives better, but I also want to make them think. 

BW:  So far, what has been the most successful way you’ve promoted your book?

Matheson:  Radio interviews, because from the radio interview, I then get calls to make speeches. Then during the speeches, I can look the people in the eye, and they respond to my message and they buy my book.

BW:  What would you like to tell first-time authors?

Matheson:  My biggest advice – and I knew this myself – the book will not sell itself; you have to sell the book. Hire someone like (AuthorHive) right away, even before the book is out. It was just left to me, and I’ve been learning. I’m tweeting and Facebook-ing and every kind of social media; but unless you have a team of people working for you to do that (it’s difficult.) I have a life besides the book.

BW:  What would you like to get out of your marketing efforts?

Matheson:  I don’t know how much I can realistically expect, but I expect multiple radio, media appointments and interviews and so forth, and I expect I don’t even know what all you are supposed to do … but I want to get more speaking engagements and things like that, and whatever I can get out of you.

BW:  What’s next for you and/or your book?

Matheson:  Another book, actually. It has to do with people who got well from diseases using other than Western medicine, using alternative therapies. It’s very much the same message. It’s about health, and the message is you are in control so much more than you think.