By Linda Jones
Renowned ghostwriter Andrew Crofts is the latest convert to the marketing power of YouTube, with this trailer for a novel that’s not due out until September.
Andrew is best known for his mega-selling real-life tales of betrayal and redemption so The Overnight Fame of Steffi McBride is something of a departure for him.
He says he hopes the book will appeal to women, and has kept the promotional video a family affair, with his step daughter, drama student Olivia Grodd, taking the starring role.
Andrew jokes that he hopes the video will also help further Olivia’s career.
He adds: “The book is written as the memoir of a young soap star who becomes a national icon. All Steffi’s dreams come true when she lands a starring part in the country’s biggest soap opera, has a number one Christmas single and wins a Bafta. The whole country falls in love with her, including the pop star she had a crush on all through her teenage years.
“But someone out there knows a secret about Steffi’s past and heartless media revelations blow apart everything she ever believed to be true about her family and about herself.
"I've been thinking for years that publishers and authors need to find a way to promote books visually, just like MTV provided the recording industry with a whole new way of reaching potential fans, a whole new way of bringing songs and music to life.
"It seems to me that the internet and sites such as YouTube can do just as much for authors as they can for pop groups. It's also the same principle as creating trailers for feature films, whetting the potential audience's appetite."
Of the novel itself, Andrew says: "One of the central themes is the mother daughter relationship and the dynamics of a woman who gives up her child in a pursuit of fame and fortune."
With this in mind, watching the trailer and seeing such a self-composed and attractive woman talking about her big-break, I found it hard not to draw parallels with the unfolding tragedy of Britney Spears.
Andrew agrees there may be comparisons to be made, but says that the plot of the book is quite different to the shocking reality of Britney's situation.
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