Search
× Search

Using Tech for Book Marketing

Kate Gingold from Sprocket WebsitesKate has been building websites with her husband Don since 1996 for all sorts of clients, including authors.

Kate regularly writes about online marketing for Sprocket Websites and provides tips and techniques for entrepreneurs and small-business owners. Since being an author today is not really different from being an entrepreneur with a small business, most of those tips are just as useful to authors.

Kate is an author herself. She writes books on local history, including the award-winning "Ruth by Lake and Prairie," a fictionalized account of the true story of Great Lake pioneering to the shores of Chicago and beyond to found Naperville, Illinois. 

Learn More about
Ruth By Lake and Prairie

Author Tips and Tales

Thinking about Torquay Today and Agatha Christie
Kate Gingold Host
/ Categories: Author Tips

Thinking about Torquay Today and Agatha Christie

Since Agatha Christie’s birthday is September 15 and I try to post on the fifteenth of the month, Christie’s birthplace, Torquay, has been on my mind. The annual Agatha Christie Festival, held in mid-September, is held in and around the town. Which means it’s going on this week and I'm not there! So I'm "visiting" Torquay virtually.

I have never been to Torquay, although I hope to one day. But I have visited England and Wales twice. My husband’s father grew up in Birmingham and during both of our trips, we looked in on any family that still lived in the area. 

Torquay was not a must-see during either of our trips, even though I was already an Agatha Christie fan. Since then, I have read more about it and learned about the Festival. Since the book I’m working on right now is a glossary of Christie terms, it’s only logical to try clarifying a few things about Torquay itself. 

First off, it’s pronounced “tor-KEE,” not “tor-KAY” as I used to think. You can look up long discussions on the etymology, but briefly, “quay,” “key,” and “cay” refer to the basically same thing: a low-lying dry bit stretching out in the water. “Cays” and “keys” tend to be natural reefs while “quays” tend to be man-made.

Torquay’s dry bit refers to a centuries-old man-made barrier in the village of Torre. During our travels, we realized that many English place names use a variation on “tor,” which is an ancient word for a rocky outcropping sticking up on the horizon.  

Folks think of England’s climate as mainly gray and damp with snowy winters à la Dicken’s “Christmas Carol.” Influenced by sea currents and breezes, Torquay has its own micro-climate. Never much warmer than 70°, it never quite dips below freezing either. Torquay has long boasted palm trees to support its reputation as the English Riviera, but they aren’t native. Apparently, Victorians imported them from Australia, and replacing the palms with more appropriate species has been a very hot topic in recent years.

In addition to the seaside attractions, Torquay is also the home of Kents Cavern, an important archeological site dating from the stone age. I read that among the historically significant people who have visited the Cavern were Beatrix Potter, King George V, and Haile Selassie. Potter, of course, was the author of the Peter Rabbit stories and George V was Queen Elizabeth’s grandfather. I had to look up Haile Selassie, even though I was familiar with the name.

It turns out that Selassie was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, which is pretty exotic, but I also have a strange local connection. Don and I met George Pradel, the mayor of Naperville, through the chamber of commerce and had a long-standing relationship with him. I even interviewed him a few times and that’s when I first heard the name “Haile Selassie.” 

Anyone who knew George also knew he was a spiritual man, as was his mother and the rest of her family. Her brother, Keene Spitler, and his wife, Helen, were missionaries in Ethiopia and even published an English/Somali dictionary in the 1960s. Spitler was also somehow involved in the education of Selassie’s children, all of which made a deep impression on George.

Another famous visitor to the Caverns was Agatha Christie. She was born in Torquay and grew up in a big house called Ashfield. Unfortunately, Ashfield was torn down in 1961 and a housing subdivision was built on the grounds. But there are still Christie-associated locations that folks can visit while attending the Festival.2020 was the thirtieth anniversary of the Agatha Christie Festival and the 100th anniversary of Christie’s first published novel. But, of course, Covid canceled all the planned events. This year, the Festival is back and for more days than usual, but travel restrictions are no doubt putting a damper on international fans. I’ve been following along a little through their YouTube channel

The dream goal is that I get this glossary finished and published and travel to Torquay with it during the next Agatha Christie Festival. Then I’ll be able to see Torquay IRL, as all the kids say. So it’s time to get my nose back to the grindstone!

photo: That's me having tea in a B&B in Tenby, Wales twenty years ago, the last time I was overseas. Next year in Torquay!

 

Previous Article A New Chapter for an Old Book
Next Article Writing and Writing Practice – for Work, for Pleasure, for Passion
Print
402 Rate this article:
3.0
Please login or register to post comments.

Search in the Blogs

Archive

Authors Need Websites!

Do you need to get a domain name for your book or name?

Want a website to promote your books?

Get started now without blowing the budget at the SprocketStore.

Full disclosure:  Writing for Sprocket Websites is my day job, so if you have questions about digital marketing, I'm happy to help!

 

Marketing Author Interview

Following a presentation for In Print Professional Writers Group, Kate's husband (and publisher!) Don was interviewed by author Louise Brass for WBOM Radio. During the conversation, Don shared many of the marketing tips from his presentation. You can listen to it online here.

The Sprocket Report

The Sprocket Report is published every other week with Internet marketing tips, tools and techniques. The archive features articles from 2011 up to the present. You are welcome to read how business owners are using technology to market themselves and apply those tips to your author business.


 

 

Get a Book Siging Checklist and our Sprocket Report

Kate will be happy to send you her brief Book Signing Checklist. Treat your book promotion like a business - because it is!

AND, since much of your efforts will be online, she'll also enroll you in her Sprocket Report, an email newsletter sent every other Tuesday, that includes 2 Internet Marketing tips and a post from a guest blogger on related business.

No worries! She won't use your email address for anything else, and you can unsubscribe from the newsletter anytime, but the checklist is yours to keep.

Any questions of Kate? Leave them in the message field and she'll get back to you ASAP.

Your Contact Information

Your Feedback

Terms Of UsePrivacy StatementCopyright 2024 by Gnu Ventures Company
Back To Top