All authors want media attention, and a successful book promotion campaign is the way to get media attention. But few authors want all that media attention to cause them problems.
For Elie Wiesel, there are three pieces of good news: one, he's alive and well; two, his book, Night, was an Oprah's Book Club Selection; and three, his message of "never again" is being heard loudly and clearly by his target audience -- all of us.
Wiesel nearly didn't survive World War II because of his religion.
And he nearly didn't survive an encounter several weeks ago with one of those lunatics who claim the Holocaust never happened, and that Wiesel (and other survivors) are lying.
Wiesel's always out there in the media, and he's always pursuing book publicity as part of his mission to educate people. In fact, what made me think of it is that I just stumbled on an article that talks about another stop Wiesel is making on his never-ending book promotion tour.
At this point in his life, I'd guess that Wiesel's book promotion campaign isn't about selling books, nor is it about making money. I'd say that Wiesel's book promotion efforts are about disseminating his messages with audiences, and that he uses his books as reasons to be part of author events and author interviews.
Mr. Wiesel is my hero, because he's a reminder that book promotion sometimes isn't about "wanting to be on the Oprah show." Sometimes, book promotion is about survival, courage, and humanity.
