Your book promotion campaign just got tougher. Acording to an article in the New York Times, "Time to Throw Their Books Into the Ring," every presidential candidate has written a book and is using his or her book promotion tour to test the political waters. A presidential candidate whose book scores a lot of media attention, the reasoning goes, will get a lot of support for his or her presidential campaign. Conversely, a presidential candidate who can't kick-start a book publicity campaign might as well through in the towel politically, too.
A book promotion campaign really is rough. Authors and book publicists are not only competing with peers for interviews, book reviews, and attention from the Web. But we're also competing with Senator Barack Obama (his book is called "The Audacity of Hope," and his book "Dreams of My Father" has just been reissued), Governor Bill Richardson (author of "Between Worlds,"), Senator Hillary Rodham (her book, "It Takes a Village," is ten years old now, but still, it's getting media attention), and others.
So if you're goal isn't as lofty as, say, becoming president of the United States, and you're willing to settle for an appearance or two on a major television show, you might just succeed. But realize that you just might be competing for those coveted media interview slots against the next U.S. president. May the best candidate win.
