64
Q & A
WITH GREGG
DUNNETT
INTERVIEW: TEZ PLAVENIEKS. PHOTOS: GREGG DUNNETT FOR THOSE OF YOU READING WHO HAVE A WINDSURFING BACKGROUND, THE NAME GREGG DUNNETT MAY BE RECOGNISABLE. BACK IN THE DAY, GREGG WAS CHIEF STAFF WRITER FOR BOARDS MAGAZINE. HIS CREATIVE AND HUMOROUS ARTICLES DID MUCH TO SHOWCASE WINDSURFING IN THE BEST POSSIBLE LIGHT. THESE DAYS, YOU CAN FIND MR DUNNETT BEHIND A KEYBOARD PENNING HIS NEXT BEST SELLER. PIVOTING TO WRITING BOOKS, GREGG BECAME A SUCCESSFUL AUTHOR.
Relocating to Spain some years ago, his free time is spent aboard a SUP riding perfect Cantabrian waves, with a little bit of wing foiling thrown in for good measure. With his latest book- complete with a unique content concept landing- I caught up with GD for a natter.
Hey Gregg. How’ s it going, first off? Really good, actually. I just hit fifty, which feels both weird and quite nice, as I felt lots of pressure coming up to such an official‘ old’ age. But now that it’ s happened, I realise nothing really changes, so it’ s like a weight off my shoulders. We’ re also over in the UK for a month, visiting friends and family. It feels good to be back, but it also seems like moving away was a good idea too.
Find out more about Greg’ s books at: https:// greggdunnett. co. uk
Tell us a little about your latest novel and the idea behind the book box. The book is called DEEP BLUE LIES, and it’ s set in a resort on a Greek island. Think‘ The White Lotus’ but the hotel is in ruins and part of the mystery is working out how it got that way... I’ ve never done much promotion before, but these days it’ s all about book influencers on TikTok and Instagram, so I thought I’ d try targeting them. I’ ve made special collector’ s boxes, and the idea is that opening one is like‘ checking in’ to the resort in the story. There’ s a welcome letter from the manager, who’ s also a character in the story, along with a room key on a key fob made from driftwood from the private beach and laser etched with the hotel logo. There’ s a bar of artisan soap from the hotel spa … I’ m hoping it all gives the influencers something to talk about on their channels, making it easy for them to create their content. I’ ve no idea if it will work, but I’ ve had a lot of fun trying it.
Do you think additional market concepts like this are needed to stand out these days? Yes and no, really. I’ ve come to know a lot of authors who are making a good living without doing this kind of thing, but you do need to do something. If you just write a book and upload it to Amazon, no one’ s going to see it, so you have to advertise it or share it on social media somehow. The nice thing about the world now is that there’ s an almost limitless number of ways you can get publicity, without the gatekeepers of the traditional media. You can just try something and maybe it’ ll work. If not, never mind, try something else …
What about having to do your own marketing? Do you find that part of the creative process and fun or a chore? I like the creative parts of it, but I don’ t like monitoring Facebook ads, which involves tracking sales and keeping accurate spreadsheets. I’ m fortunate in that my wife, Maria, who also translates my books into Spanish, is much better at this kind of thing than I am, so she handles most of that side of the business. I don’ t think either of us is particularly good at marketing, though. Really, I ought to be all over TikTok, Instagram, and posting on Facebook every day. We’ d probably sell a lot more books.