Review: How To Train Your Cat To Promote Your Book by Rayne Hall

I was kindly sent a free digital copy of this book by the author Rayne Hall for a review.  This is a great book for any author’s with cats and shows you how to use your cat to promote your books, here is my review.

Promoting a book when you are an author can be very hard, especially in today’s market where there are so many other books. It’s hard to make your own book stand out against all the others, especially when you advertise it on social media. However if you have a cat, and we all know cats are popular on the internet, there’s a chance you can use your cat to help promote your book.

This book is really special and perfect for anyone who’s a writer and a cat owner. In it Rayne Hall shows that it’s not only useful to have a cat promote your book, but shows exactly how to train your cat! Now anyone who’s a cat owner (or owned by their cats) knows how cats aren’t trainable, but this book shows that it’s very possible and not too hard to learn how.

The first chapters show you how to train your cat. This isn’t so easy to do and depends very much on the cat you are trying to ‘train’. Some cats will accept training and some won’t and the book makes clear not to push a cat that’s not interested in training. After the initial training session you move on to learn all sorts of techniques for taking great photos with your cat. Although all this is much easier to do if you have a cat who cooperates and is willing to get trained, I know that some owners might be able to get the odd photo with an untrained cat. My own cat, who’s sadly passed away now, was not very trainable, but get her settled in the right position and she would sit still for the camera. Now if I had written a book and wanted to promote it, merely taking a few photos might be hit and miss and that’s why I really like this book as it teaches you techniques for your photography too and how to make that image look great.

As well as lots of advice on training, which often come with additional veterinary advice, the book also helps you know how to use the images successfully in ads for your books. This is valuable information for any author who’s new to social media or looking to increase their reach, there’s also mention of some useful cat related hashtags you can use.

This book is made more special by the personal touch the author, Rayne Hall, adds to the text. Throughout the entire book Hall speaks of her own experience in training her cat and there are photographic examples of her own cat Sulu in various poses along with her books. I’d recommend buying this book just to see the pictures! Sulu isn’t just seen sitting next to a book, but many of the images have him look as if he is reading the book in front of him. Not only are these images fun to see but Hall explains exactly how she created the image and how you can do the same with your own cat. The pictures aren’t the only special thing in the book though, there are a few facts, especially an interesting section at the end about writers and cats of a certain colour which made for really interesting reading.

Overall I really like this book. It’s not too long but worth reading especially if you have cats or are thinking of getting a cat and are a writer. There’s no guarantee that your cat will help with your book’s sales, but it’s a fun read and certainly worth trying as I myself do notice cat images more than book covers in social media!

Rating: 5/5

Review published on Goodreads, click here

Author’s website: http://www.raynehall.com/

Book Description:

“How do you get your cat to pose for pictures like this?” is the question I get asked most often. People can’t believe their eyes when they see my social media photos of the cute kitty ‘reading’ books.
When I say that I trained him, the reaction is inevitably “What?!” and “You can’t train a cat!”
Oh yes, you can train a cat.
When I say, “Sulu, shake hands” he places his right paw in my right palm.
When I say, “Sulu, scratch” he walks to the scratching post and scratches.
When I say, “Sulu, read” he lies down by the open book, places his paw on the page and ‘reads’ while I take pictures.
Sulu is an ordinary cat, a black moggy from the cat rescue shelter whom nobody else wanted. You’ll meet Sulu in photos throughout this book, showing off what he can do.
The star of your book, however, is your cat. I haven’t met her, so I’ll assume she’s an untrained but intelligent kitty who has a mind of her own. I’ll call her Catsy.
Adapt my strategies so they meet Catsy’s approval. She’ll probably love the training, but it has to be on her terms. Catsy won’t be ordered about!
I’m not a professional animal trainer. I’m simply a writer who loves cats and has books to promote. Maybe this description fits you, too. If Sulu and I can do it, Catsy and you can do it as well. For a professional perspective, veterinarian Dr. Pippa Elliott MRCVS shares expert tips.
This is a guide for authors and publishers with books to promote. If you promote different products, or if you simply want to spend quality time with your cat, teach her to perform tricks, and take cute photos for the social media, this book will give you enjoyable ideas but you need to adapt them to suit.
Now let’s get started. Tell Catsy we’re going to have fun.