Beer blogging and beer book writing are two different worlds. When I blog, I write, find an appropriate photo, run the spell checker, do some metatagging and push the publish button. There is even an automatic tweet function.
Book writing has a number of different stages. Fact finding, the actual typing, finding illustrations, proofreading, page proofs etc.
And then the promotional stunts.
The book is due from the printers Friday 23 October. The same day I will be on stage at the What’s Brewing Festival in Stavanger. I am trying to figure out what to say to the crowd that afternoon, I hope to make this a conversation between me and somebody else, I’m not very good at standing up talking.
Thursday the following week has the Christmas beer launch of the Norwegian Brewer’s Association, where my publisher has a stand among the beer stalls. Then the last plane of the evening to Trondheim, where I am due in a radio studio the next morning at eight, talking about the beers of the region. I hope to fit in a newspaper journalist at lunchtime (though he doesn’t know it yet). Onwards to the Trondheim Public Library, where I give them a copy of my book. Good for Facebook, hopefully for their Facebook page as well.
A tasting in the evening with breweries and beers from the local area at Mathallen Trondheim and a signing session at the Gulating beer shop the next morning.
The week following I’ll have an event at Verkstedet in Oslo, with a capacity of 50-60. This will be a combined book launch and tasting with five breweries presenting one beer each and joining me on stage to talk about them.
I hope I will convince a few confused souls to buy the book after all this. But what do I know about publishing, marketing and what have you. I’m just a beer drinker.
Knut Albert's beer blog 