In other Oprah Winfrey news:
NBC Universal has just committed to buying the Oxygen television network that Oprah founded. The selling price? About $925 million.
Here's the story.
Seems to me that, the more television networks we have, the fewer entities that own them. The same is true for radio stations, newspapers, and magazines.
So what does all this consolidation mean for book promotion possibilities?
Well, on the positive side, bigger is better. The tiny cable TV show that wasn't worth appearing on hardly exists anymore...and, maybe, it won't exist in the very near future. When the big media conglomerates finish their shopping sprees, even the humblest media outlets will have the largest potential audience that technology -- and money -- can buy. An appearance on any media outlet is going to be a book promotion bonanza. There won't be any such thing as only appearing on the Oxygen Network in a very short time. Which "insignificant" media outlet is next?
On the negative side, if your book's message or theme is idiosyncratic, ahead of its time, subversive, or just plain unpopular -- watch out. Unless your book appeals to the masses, it's going to get increasingly difficult to find book promotion opportunities for it, unless you figure out how to spin your story so that the media decision makers see it as mainstream.
But...back to the sale of the Oxygen Network. And that $925 million. What is $925 million, anyway? Are there any book publishing profesionals out there who are making anywhere in the neighborhood of that kind of money? Oh, well. We can only dream....
