Fantasy author creates a fantasy publicist

New self-published author Troy Tompkins, whose first installment in a fantasy book series is now published by Simon & Schuster, was determined to get noticed, so he created a fantasy publicist.

The Message Behind a Message Leads to a Series - New York Times describes a school presentation by Mr Tompkins: “‘Who here knows what a publicist is?’ Mr. Tompkins asked a class of ninth graders at the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics this fall. One student’s arm shot up: ‘It’s someone who talks about you all over the place.’ Mr. Tompkins agreed, then described how, two years ago, he couldn’t get a book publicist, so he made one up.

‘I created an alias, Alan Chase,’ he said. He put that name on press releases for a book reading, which caught the attention of someone at Simon & Schuster, who attended the event and called him afterward. ‘I didn’t expect that,’ Mr. Tompkins said.”

Most appropriate for a fantasy author.