The Work
The Silent Patient was Alex’s debut novel and had already achieved success when published in hardback. It was translated into 46 languages, went to No.1 in the New York Times Bestseller List and was on the Sunday Times Bestseller List in the UK.
We used that global success and working closely with Alex, his publisher, Orion and his agent, Sam Copeland, designed and delivered a focused campaign. We arranged appearances for Alex on key national radio programmes, including interviews on Radio 4’s Front Row and on BBC World Service: Arts Hour which was conducted down the line from LA. The Silent Patient also featured on Simon Mayo’s Book Club on Scala Radio, Monocle 24’s Meet the writers and on Talk Radio. We secured reviews in the national press and an interview with Alex featured in The Week. Alongside the media presence we coordinated a blog tour which featured 20 specialist thriller bloggers.
The Results
The Silent Patient entered The Sunday Times Bestseller list Top 10 after three days of sales, and stayed in the charts for seven weeks, at one point hitting the number four spot. It was No.1 in the digital bestsellers in January.
Several reviewers chose it as their Book of the Year or Debut of the Year. The combined success of both the hardback and paperback publications resulted in The Silent Patient being the bestselling debut novel of 2019.
Alex was asked, after his interview with the BBC World Service, if he would consider becoming an advocate of the service, which he was more than happy to do. The quote he supplied has been streamed on all BBC digital channels, boosting his profile further.