Monday Morning With Team GB (...Gyles Brandreth, that is!)

I often think that the proudest I have ever made my mother was an appearance on Richard & Judy. Never mind four grandchildren, a fair few books, and other media appearances from time to time – it was her daughter sitting on the couch beside the famous duo that really cut the mustard. She still has on proud display the postcard they signed.

Well Mother, I hope I’m about to deliver again, having been filmed for The One Show a little earlier on today.  Unfortunately, I am bound to secrecy as to the publishing-related subject discussed, but it involved being interviewed by Gyles Brandreth and as he is both your favourite contributor on Just a Minute and was formerly your local MP, I hope this next brush with fame gets a similar seal of approval.

My previous involvements with television, mostly for BBC Breakfast, have been live – this was to be ‘on location’. The story was about a publisher backing his insight, and being proved right – so where could be more appropriate to film than the home of the famously much-turned-down Harry Potter, in Bloomsbury Publishing’s London offices? We took over their meeting room for the entire morning. A satisfying sign was pinned to the door - ‘Filming in progress, please keep quiet’ and at times a little crowd gathered in the reception area next door. Gyles was filmed outside in Bedford Square, long the home of publishing, and at one point he and the film crew went out looking for a suitable tree to form a background for a piece to camera.

Back with me, having moved all the furniture around, we were installed in front of a bookcase to sit and talk about publishing. The production staff were surprisingly lively given that they had had to get up at 4am that morning in order to drive from Bristol. The lights were bright, the cameras started rolling, and – very pleasingly – they really did say ‘Action!’

Gyles asked his questions, and I answered. And then we did the whole thing again. Twice. It will be fascinating to see which of the three versions they choose, or whether it will be a blend of all the material. 

The trouble with filming is that it’s intense activity – followed by long periods of recovery time. It’s hard to feel normal afterwards. The whole thing is over so quickly; you wonder what you’ve said and whether it really was – as they reassured us – just what they wanted. But they have asked us to submit further related ideas, and given Gyles’ publication record and the director’s evident interest, I think we could be on to something good.

Maybe The One Show will commission more publishing stories. We’ve known for a while that a huge number of people feel they have a book inside them, and now that self-publishing mechanisms offer the chance to make the dream a reality, this could be good material for their wide audience. If so, perhaps I’ll have other chances to talk about publishing – as part of Team GB. Watch out Mother! 

Dr Alison Baverstock is Course Leader for MA Publishing at Kingston University.She is the author of titles including Is There a Book in You?, The Naked Author - a Guide to Self-Publishing and Marketing Your Book: How to Target Agents, Publishers and Readers.