The Publishing Performance Show H.H. Rune - Sending Books Across America: The 25-Year Journey of an Interactive Literary Experiment
H.H. Rune is the author of the "Find Me" series, a unique "fiction-ish" or autofiction work that blends real-life experiences with fictional storytelling. After conceiving the idea at age 30 while a stay-at-home mom, H.H. spent 25 years developing this five-book series before finally committing to publication during the pandemic. The series follows a creative social experiment where the author writes five books containing personal memories about people from her life, then sends them to random individuals across the country in hopes that someone she wrote about will recognize themselves and return a book to her.
In this episode:
- The concept of "autofiction" and blending real memories with fictional narrative
- Creating multiple storylines - the author's journal entries, memories of people, and the books' travels
- Character development across multiple locations and perspectives
- Writing process over a 25-year period before final publication
- The pandemic as a catalyst for finally completing the project
- Interactive elements including trackable books with QR codes
- Creating an interactive reader experience with sign-in pages at the back
- Working with a publicist to refine marketing messaging
- TikTok as a primary marketing platform for indie authors
- Breaking conventional writing rules about perspective and format
Resources mentioned:
- Find Me Book One: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZCFG8R4?&linkCode=ll1&tag=pubperf-20&linkId=400c65572fa1761b41f901ed6233057c&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
- Find Me Book Two: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DB8J1G3P?&linkCode=ll1&tag=pubperf-20&linkId=400c65572fa1761b41f901ed6233057c&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
- Find Me Book Three (coming soon) : https://www.amazon.com/Find-Me-Book-Three-Different-ebook/dp/B0F73BK11T?ref_=ast_author_dp
- Limited edition trackable versions with QR codes
- Interactive map on author's website (coming soon)
- Instagram page for the Find Me series: https://www.instagram.com/h.h.rune/
- BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/
- Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/
- Lauren Hathaway - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-hathaway-39a3588
Book Recommendations:
- "The Anti-Rule: Navigating the Lies about Fiction Writing" by Christian Francis: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1916582052?&linkCode=ll1&tag=pubperf-20&linkId=400c65572fa1761b41f901ed6233057c&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
Connect with H.H. Rune:
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hhrune
- Website: https://hhrune.com/
Connect with Teddy Smith:
- @teddyagsmith
- Website: https://publishingperformance.com/?ref=ywm3mtc
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