Unusual photo competition offers the chance to be immortalized in a novel

Julia Boggio is about to complete her trilogy of romance books themed around photographers. The final instalment will be called Exposure!, but before it goes to press there is just time to rename a character after the winner of the photography competition Julia is holding.

The deadline is coming soon, March 11.

Julia Boggio, a former photographer herself, has made use of her friends in the industry before to capture eye-catching images involving her books, and this is your chance to join the club of famous names (and become one at the same time – Shooters got the top spot for sales on Amazon!)

The competition will be judged by photographers Kelly Brown, Damien McGillicuddy, and Sanjay Jogia and the brief is simply to take a picture of yourself or someone else reading a copy of Camera Shy (a novel not actually part of the trilogy, but 'adjacent' to it). All the details (and a PDF of the cover) can be found on the Camera Shy Competition page of Julia's site.

As part of a previous interview, I asked Julia about the slightly guerrilla approach she takes to promoting her books:

How have you found marketing your own work?
I won’t lie: the marketing is hard, even though anyone who knows me would say it’s one of my superpowers. For my launch campaign, I had zero money, but I did know a lot of great photographers, so I asked them to take pictures of themselves with my book for the launches of books one and two. This campaign helped to catapult me onto multiple bestseller lists on Amazon. I also enjoy the freedom of being able to try new things with my marketing, choose the cover I want, the title I want, etc. But seriously, if you think photography is competitive, try publishing!

There are more than a few mentions of strong female characters in the reviews and promotional material (and a quote saying every bride should read the book). Should that put men off?
I know plenty of women who read Jack Reacher novels, so I don’t think it should be a problem for men to read this. Romance is an area of literature that is often looked down upon. After all, it’s written by women, generally for women, and it tells women’s stories. This is important. It’s a way to share knowledge and experience. For example, at my stand at SWPP, a woman ran up to me to tell me that my second book had literally changed her life. In Chasing the Light, I speak about women’s issues like fertility, chronic pain, and PMDD. She read the symptoms for the latter and realised it perfectly described how she’d felt her whole life. No wonder why the anti-depressants and other drugs she’d been prescribed over the years weren’t working. She began to keep a journal of her symptoms for three months, went to the GP, and got diagnosed. She’s now feeling better. And it all started with a book about a strong female character who was struggling through life despite how she felt inside. And I’ll tell you another thing: plenty of men have read and enjoyed my books. Half the readers who bought them at the SWPP conference were men, who are some of my biggest fans. The moral: don’t judge a book by its pink cover and men should read more stories about strong female characters. Men are always complaining they don’t understand women. Well, I can suggest a good place to start learning about them.

What’s next on your plate?
I’m now working on the final book in the Photographers Trilogy, called Exposure! which takes place in Las Vegas at a huge photography conference. My next book, Camera Shy, is out in paperback on January 30 and on February 6 on ebook—all available to  order from Amazon. It’s been described as “similar to Emily in Paris but better.” 

Each of my books explores a different kind of photography: in Shooters and Chasing the Light, it’s wedding photography and, in Camera Shy, it’s aerial and war photography. They make the perfect gift for the photographer or romance lover in your life, or just anyone who enjoys a ripping good story.

We have a guide to the best 21 novels about photography.