By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist
They say there's no such thing as bad publicity, and I'd interpret that to mean there's no such thing as bad book publicity, either.
Sometimes, I would agree with that. Usually, I would say that even a lukewarm book review is better than no book review at all, or a combative interviewer is far kinder than the interviewer who chooses to ignore you completely.
But, after seeing the book publicity opportunities recently garnered by Gary L. Stewart, author of the new book, The Most Dangerous Animal of All: Searching for My Father...and Finding the Zodiac Killer, this book publicist has to wonder about that.
Stewart, as you might know (if you've read or seen interviews such as the one he did with CNN's Erin Burnett), believes his father was the Zodiac Killer. He has spent more than a decade believing he is the son of a serial killer.
Now, with every book publicity opportunity that he accepts, he has to share the information that he believes his father is the Zodiac Killer with the world. His book publicity campaign is, in essence, an attempt to teach the public to associate the Zodiac Killer with his book and with his name.
So, the more Gary L. Stewart's book publicity campaign succeeds, the more Gary L. Stewart, and his family members, lose.
Therefore, I have come around to thinking that, for some people, there might, indeed be such a thing as bad book publicity. Gary L. Stewart is one of the authors for whom too much of a good thing is probably a pretty bad thing after all.
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