Kingsbury Interviewed on Today Show About Reader Engagement
Click to View Today Show Interview
July 12, 2010 –NY Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury was interviewed this week on NBC’s Today Show about her extraordinary involvement in reader’s lives, as evidenced recently when she was matron of honor in a reader’s wedding. “Karen’s support of her reader-friends is legendary,” said Rick Christian, President of Alive, noting that she interacts daily with her 125,000 FB devotees, calls terminally ill patients, and even hosts readers at family gatherings. “It’s no wonder that Today Show execs got wind of it.”
The path to their national TV interview began when Erica Dyer, 24, of built her wedding website on mywedding.com and jokingly uploaded a picture of Karen, her favorite author, as her matron-of-honor. When the website chatter kicked in, Dyer emailed Karen that it was all just wishful thinking. Charmed by her young fan, Karen later agreed to participate and even wrote the couple a poem that she read at the ceremony.
Erica detailed the saga of events via social media sites, her wedding blog, the local newspaper, and literally told everybody she knew in her hometown of Odessa, MO. The buzz kicked in, word spread, and higher-ups at mywedding.com and Zondervan, Karen’s publisher, soon took notice and sponsored the newlywed’s getaway to NYC, where Karen later joined them for a Broadway show and . . . their Today Show interview!
“You have to live outside the box sometimes,” Karen said with a good chuckle, reflecting on the experience. –RC