Cameron Crowe famously used his experiences as a writer for Rolling Stone in the 1970s to create the memorable protagonist William Miller in the 2000 film Almost Famous. While Crowe has a platform that most authors can only dream of, he was tapping into something far more elemental: People are fascinated with behind-the-scenes stories of parties, escapades, and everything else that happens when a rock-and-roll band is on tour. It has served as the premise for a wall of books over the years, most recently There Goes Gravity: A Life in Rock and Roll (Riverhead, 2014) by music journalist Lisa Robinson. It’s also the premise for Beau Phillips’s memoir, I Killed Pink Floyd’s Pig: Inside Stories of Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll, which he self-published in July 2014. I spoke with Phillips about his experience with self-publishing; for some perspective about books with a pop-culture theme I also spoke with Lissa Warren, senior director of publicity at Da Capo Press, who has spearheaded book launches for several rock stars, and Ruth Mills, an experienced editor and writer who has also worked with authors on their memoirs.

The Author’s Approach
Beau Phillips is a former radio deejay, program director, and executive at various rock stations. He orchestrated the programming and marketing for Dial Global/Westwood One, America’s largest radio network. Phillips was also senior vice president of marketing at MTV Networks. He now runs Rainmaker Media, a marketing and promotion agency based in the Washington, D.C., area. 

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I started working in radio during college and went on to run KISW in Seattle, one of the most influential rock stations in the country, from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s. Artists knew that stations around the country would play the music we aired, so they wanted not only to be on our programs but also to hang out with us. 

Over the years I casually mentioned to friends the funny experiences I’d had with musicians, and they finally suggested that I compile the stories into a book. I thought about the time I spent with Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Eddie Van Halen, Def Leppard, and others. I knew that some of my stories were really outrageous, so, with some encouragement from my pals, I created a list of people and memorable incidents. The list grew into short paragraphs, and within a year or so I had written about thirty-five stories that I then sent out to friends. I got such positive feedback that I began to think seriously about publishing a book. I also had forty unpublished photographs of the musicians. 

It took me about three months to write the book, but I didn’t have a title or a cover concept. My wife said that the best book titles come from provocative chapter titles: My stories about Pink Floyd were pretty amazing, so that led me to my title. Then I began thinking about a foreword. I was still in touch with Sammy Hagar, the former lead singer of Van Halen, so I reached out to him. Once he agreed to write the foreword, I thought I had a shot at publishing a “real” book. I had a bona fide rock star connected to the project and a title that would create interest.

When I talked to people about the publishing business, it became clear that I would have to cede control of the title and the jacket. And the publisher would keep most of the profits. I thought to myself, “Why would I do that?” I expected to handle all the publicity myself. After all, I know hundreds of people at radio stations. I run a marketing agency, so I understand how to use social media and how to write an effective press release. I’m doing the heavy lifting, so why should I have to give up 90 percent of the revenue? That’s when I figured I would see how far I could take the book on my own.

My wife helped edit the book, but I knew that I still needed other expert guidance. I hired Soundview Design Studio to do the design work, and I went with Peanut Butter Publishing, which I knew from my days in Seattle, for the printing. Between the two companies, I spent about twenty thousand dollars: I got a website and a jacket, along with editing, formatting, and thirty-five hundred finished copies of the book.

To prepare for the book launch, I posted excerpts, photos, and ran a caption contest on my website in early June. I also created a media kit with pictures and stories about flying on the red-eye with Keith Richards and getting drunk with Tom Petty. I included Sammy Hagar’s foreword to showcase the star power of the book. I e-mailed the kit first to classic-rock stations and then to a wider range of outlets. I called friends in the business; once the book was available they helped arrange satellite-radio tours, allowing me to spend ten or fifteen minutes on air with twenty different stations. I was on national radio and local stations in almost every top-hundred market. 

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The book was available online and at the bookstore at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. In my radio interviews, I told listeners to buy I Killed Pink Floyd’s Pig at Amazon or on my website. I sent e-mails to people thanking them for buying the book; I thought they would appreciate the personal response and might spread the word. The content was probably too racy for most traditional newspapers so I didn’t bother approaching them. Instead, I reached out to the Village Voice and to other music publications. Fortunately, some of the bands mentioned in the book, including Pink Floyd and AC/DC, were releasing new albums, so I was able to tie into articles about them. I did a second big push in November and December, thinking the book would be popular as a holiday gift. I circled back to some of the stations that I had been on and I provided signed books to use as giveaways.

Looking back, I know that if I didn’t have my contacts and reputation in the business, getting interviews would have been far more difficult. Even with my experience, I wasn’t able to get the results I really wanted. I thought I could take everything I knew about marketing that made money for others and apply it to my book. I dived into social media. Since I was aiming at readers forty and older, I wanted to use Facebook, not Twitter. But buying targeted Facebook ads was wildly ineffective; I tried different photos, copy, and headlines but nothing worked.

To date, I’ve probably sold between two thousand and twenty-five hundred copies. And I’m continuing to sell books. I’ve been speaking at libraries, which I really like, and I’m still lining up more of these talks. A producer called me in January expressing interest in turning the book into a movie. I’m now working on a draft of a screenplay, and with any luck, I Killed Pink Floyd’s Pig will hit the big screen.

I wanted to sell eighteen thousand copies; I thought that number would bring in revenue and create a base that would get readers around the country talking about the book. I’m way short of that sales number, but I’ve had wonderful reviews and four-star ratings and that is satisfying in itself. My advice to other authors planning to self-publish: Be prepared to roll up your sleeves and go at it as hard as you can, or you’ll get lost in the noise. Figure out something unique that cuts through the clutter. 

A Publicist’s Perspective 
Lissa Warren is vice president and senior director of publicity and an acquiring editor at Da Capo Press, a division of the Perseus Books Group. She has more than two decades of experience working with authors, including a number of musicians. Warren is the author of The Savvy Author’s Guide to Book Publicity: A Comprehensive Resource—From Building the Buzz to Pitching the Press (Da Capo Press, 2003). She is also an adjunct professor at Boston’s Emerson College, where she teaches publishing courses. 

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Everyone has a story, but not everyone has a story that needs to be told in a book, even if the author is well known. First-person accounts that are written by the musicians themselves work well; memoirs by others in their world such as groupies or even fans can be dicey.

Publicizing books is harder today because there are fewer newspapers with book sections. However, some newspapers will cover music titles in roundups, such as a review of four books about certain bands. Also, there are a lot of opportunities to promote music books online. There are many legitimate online media that focus on particular types of music. For books by or about musicians, we would also try national music publications, from Rolling Stone to Guitar World, as well as more general-interest magazines like Entertainment Weekly or Vanity Fair. We would try to get as much radio time as possible from stations in major markets to nationally syndicated shows and of course, SiriusXM, which has channels for every type of music.

In general, events at chain bookstores don’t tend to draw as well as events at independent bookstores, so self-published authors should focus on independents for events (as well as for stocking the book). Authors should talk to the store’s staff and make sure the local audience offers a good fit for the subject of the book. It’s a waste of everyone’s time when you hold an event in the wrong venue. Giving talks at libraries as Phillips did is a great strategy. Libraries love to support local authors, and authors can hold events at several branches, not just a main library.

Phillips made good use of social media, which is the ideal way to start promoting a book well ahead of publication. We encourage authors to start tweeting and posting to Facebook six months to a year before the book is available. This can help build an audience and drive preorders to Amazon. You don’t want to give away the best stories or the most newsworthy, but you want to start building a community early on. Another good strategy for self-published authors is to write original pieces for any and all legitimate outlets, from a website to a college alumni magazine. Any publication that will take five hundred to fifteen hundred words related to the book enables the author to include the title in his or her tagline and gets people talking about the book. 

Phillips was fortunate to have contacts at radio stations, but authors who don’t have this information can still reach out on their own. Contacts for producers and hosts can often be found on radio-station websites. You can then e-mail a well-crafted pitch, including quotes from positive reviews or third parties who have praised the book. Trade media contacts with fellow authors. If you have friends who have written on music, see if they will give you a contact at one station in exchange for you giving them a name for someone at another station. Trading publicity leads will help you amass key contacts in many markets. Join writers groups. Smart authors are connected to other smart authors with whom they share ideas on writing, promotion, and publicity.

An Editor’s Take 
Ruth Mills is an editor and ghostwriter with more than twenty-five years of experience in book publishing. She has worked as an editor for several publishers, including Prentice Hall, John Wiley, and Random House. She also runs Life Story, a company for writers who want to write their memoirs for their family or for a wider audience.  

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What makes a great memoir is something that is really extreme. Think of a book like Liz Murray’s Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey From Homeless to Harvard (Hyperion, 2010). It’s a great title, and everyone wants to know how a homeless child could get into Harvard. A behind-the-scenes book about almost any business works if the book is very well written and interesting, and if readers care about the subject matter.

I think the commercial appeal of I Killed Pink Floyd’s Pig is somewhat limited. Beau Phillips rubbed shoulders and partied with the rock stars. That’s the kind of topic that is more of a “friends and family” book. Also, many younger readers won’t recognize the names of the musical legends he discusses.

That said, the author knows how to tell a good story. His writing is direct, spirited, and breezy, enabling readers to picture themselves with him as he describes in vivid detail what happened when and with whom. If you want to know what it was like when Van Halen partied for hours at the radio station before a concert, or what it’s like to talk to Keith Richards for six hours on a transatlantic flight, then you’ll enjoy this book immensely. But no dark secrets are revealed, and ultimately Phillips’s stories may be of interest only to the most devoted fans.

Everyone can tell his life story in a book, either on his own or with help from a ghostwriter or collaborator. The first consideration should be legality. If you want to write about someone famous, you need to be careful. Stars are notoriously litigious, and you don’t want to get sued for writing about getting drunk (or worse) with a celebrity. And, if you’re considering writing about something that happened in a professional setting, you may have signed a confidentiality agreement prohibiting you from doing so.

I think Phillips’s sales are very strong and can be attributed in part to his personal contacts that helped him get on so many radio shows. A groundswell of personal contacts can eventually build to something enormous. A number of very successful books began as self-published [ones], and after sales dramatically took off, mainstream publishers acquired the books. 

I Killed Pink Floyd’s Pig is a pretty good title because it clearly links Phillips to Pink Floyd, but it doesn’t tell the readers what the book is about. I would have preferred something intriguing but clearer, or perhaps a subtitle that mentions drinking or debauchery.

Self-published authors walk a fine line when they ask people for support. When you’re approaching friends and family, you should tell them what they would get from reading the book. You could say they will be inspired by the book’s message or they will find the stories entertaining. After all, you’re shamelessly asking them to buy the book and to tell other people to buy it, so you shouldn’t describe the book as being “all about you.” Phillips took the right approach: He pitched his book as a behind-the-scenes look at what rock stars did in their dressing rooms, hotel rooms, tour buses, and private planes. He didn’t label I Killed Pink Floyd’s Pig as an account of his days as a deejay. 

Debra W. Englander is a New York–based freelance editor and writer. She managed a business-book program at John Wiley & Sons for nearly seventeen years and previously worked at Money magazine and Book-of-the-Month Club. She has written about business and books for numerous publications, including USA Today, Good Housekeeping, and Publishers Weekly.