The Intern Insight: Ben Aaronovitch’s book launch

Our lovely publicity intern, Jessica, has shared her experiences of being asked along to the Ben Aaronovitch book launch last week, to celebrate the release of the fourth Peter Grant novel, Broken Homes. You can follow Jessica on Twitter, and check out her fantastic blog here. And whilst we’re on the subject of Mr. Aaronovitch, if you missed his brilliant interview on the BBC this week, you can watch it below. 

Intern Blog: My Book Launch Experience

Literary interns can only imagine my joy (and feel envious in my wake) at the privilege of being invited to the inaugural launch of Ben Aaronovitch’s new novel, Broken Homes. The book singing, which took place at Waterstones, Covent Garden, was the first in a row of high profile press events for the popular London novelist’s latest offering, and one could sense the excitement in the air. Hoards of fans jostled among the photographers, cake and Prosecco to meet their favourite author and have his signature grace their new copies.

Fans had to start reading Broken Homes in the queue!

But this wasn’t any run-of-the-mill signing, for as die-hard fans knew, a young, aspirational Aaronovitch used to work in this very bookstore. In fact Broken Homes’ protagonist, PC Peter Grant, was imagined by the author during one of his shifts! The Orion publicity team decided to honour this with a plaque commemorating the much-loved character, which was a moment of wit and heart-warming triumph. The crowd cheered ecstatically as the author posed with it for the cameras.

Ben presents Waterstones staff with his plaque

Aaronovitch is one of Orion’s most successful authors, having sold over 300,000 copies of his Rivers of London series, which combines urbanity with elements of the fantastic. His unique spin on the ever-popular crime genre has won him a wealth of fans, as it was clear to see from the impressive turnout. But despite his popularity, the bestselling author took time to chat to every admirer and was jovial throughout the extraordinarily popular event.

An ardent fan secures her signature

Thank you, Orion, for providing me with exposure to this great event! It was a joy to come along and has really informed my knowledge of how publishers, press and the fans work together to create a book’s success.

Jessica Zbinden-Webster