Dear Adrian
I’m writing to see if Birmingham Mail might be interested in a feature on Stourbridge-born novelist Mo Fanning, whose new book Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine publishes on 18 June.
It’s a contemporary romantic comedy about a woman who, after too much wine, announces a fake engagement on Instagram and spends six months keeping the lie alive while managing the box office at a Manchester theatre and dodging her terrifying boss’s wife.
Mo grew up in Stourbridge and is a Midlands-based author with five novels to his name. He’s written the lead comment article for The Bookseller’s LGBTQ+ June Edition, has features running in writing.ie and BookBrunch, and is an official speaker at the Queer the Shelves festival in Nottingham on 27 June.
The timing is interesting: the British Book Awards just introduced a Romantic Fiction category for the first time in 36 years, and UK romance fiction sales hit a record £69 million last year. Mo is one of a growing number of indie authors riding that wave with smart, character-driven fiction that doesn’t rely on a big publisher machine.
Happy to send a review copy, arrange an interview, or put together a ready-made piece if that’s easier for your pages. Whatever works best.
Best,
Adrian Bedford
ABC Book Marketing
Tel: 07881 925376