King of book promotion

He breathes. Therefore, he enjoys publicity for his latest book.

If everyone in the world were Stephen King, then launching a book promotion campaign would be a question of announcing a new project, and the media would flock to cover the story. If you've been hiding out in a cave, you may have missed the fact that Stephen King -- in conjunction with Marvel Entertainment -- has turned is Dark Tower work into a comic book.

Book promotion opportunity? Well, this is Stephen King we're talking about. I'm not into comic books in general, and I'm not a Dark Tower fan specifically, but even I've stumbled upon the news of King's foray into the comic book world about 4,698 times since yesterday morning. Here's just one the articles about it that you'll find online.

Apart from the Dark Tower series, and one or two or three or four of King's more recent work, I am a huge fan of Stephen King. And I certainly don't begrudge him the media's adulation or the book promotion opportunities that come his way. He deserves those book opportunities. He's always trying new artforms, and that's cool. I respected him when he brought back serial book reading with "The Green Mile," and when he stuck a toe into ebook publishing with -- was that project called "The Plant?" Something like that.

King takes risks, and that's always worth the media's time and attention. I only wish that, when struggling authors took similar risks, they were granted the same visibility and accolades for trying out new artforms and interesting business models.

Way to go, King, for celebrating the release of your comic book with all the book promotion that talent and fame and hard work can buy. For the rest of us ... well, back to pitching the media, one day at a time.