David Brock's Book Promotion Opportunity

Although this book publicist hasn't yet read David Brock's new book, Killing the Messenger: The Right-Wing Plot to Derail Hillary Clinton and hijack Your Government, she does know an amazingly fortunate book promotion opportunity when she sees it. Wow! Brock's book was featured today on CNN.com in an article called David Brock's new book takes on GOP, New York Times.

Even someone who's jaw isn't on the floor when she sees book reviews unexpectedly achieve the prominence in important venues such as CNN.com, and who doesn't think of "book promotion opportunities" before all else when she's reading the news , would be impressed with David Brock's good luck.

Then again, it took more than good luck for David Brock to score this book promotion opportunity. It took a combination of factors. It took a strong, opinionated, and credible voice tackling a timely and controversial topic (that made the book newsworthy), and it took reaching out to the right reporter at the right media outlet at the right time.

Good work, David Brock, and congratulations. I hope the numbers on Amazon reflect this book promotion coup, and I hope your book sales continue to benefit from it for a long time to come. Also, I hope this book promotion opportunity is just the beginning of many book publicity opportunities for you. And I predict that it will be.

The Trajectory of Book Promotion

By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist
S. J. Miller Communications
bookpromotion@gmail.com


What does book discovery mean to authors and publishers? Everything, obviously. Book discovery is the whole purpose of book publicity and brand building: when authors and their books receive media attention, build their brand, and expand their online footprints, then they can differentiate themselves from competing authors and books (and videos, blogs, and the like), and they can persuade potential readers to purchase their books. Book discovery, then, is tied into book promotion and brand building which, in turn, directly affects book sales.

So what does Trajectory, a Boston-based firm, have to do with book discovery? According to an article in ThoughtCatalog, Trajectory will change everything about book discovery. Through Trajectory, authors and publishers will be able to match their books' content, setting, mood, and more to books that readers have already bought and enjoyed. Think of Trajectory as -- potentially -- the Pandora of books. "If you love Neil Diamond, you might want to listen to Barry Manilow" (which is Pandora's territory) becomes, "If you loved The Giver, you'd probably enjoy The Hunger Games" -- which Trajectory would base on algorithms about all of the elements that make up a book's content rather than on strictly sales information.

Just as authors and publishers currently consider it critical to get their books into the search engines, and to allow their book discovery to happen both organically and through concerted book promotion efforts, they may -- according to ThoughtCatalog -- soon be focusing on book discovery through Trajectory. Trajectory, it seems, is already forming partnerships with the major players in the world of book publishing.

So what will the trajectory of book publicity look like once the DNA of books can be scanned to see whether or not they're a match for books readers have already bought and loved? Authors and publishers: stay tuned to find out!

How to Blow a Book Promotion Opportunity

By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist

S. J. Miller Communications

bookpromotion@gmail.com

Would you like to see a great example of how to blow a book promotion opportunity? I give you Joan Rivers who walked out on an interview with CNN's Fredricka Whitfield while promoting her latest book. What was Joan River's new title, again? It seems to have flown clear out of this book publicist's head. Sorry about that, Joan Rivers.

And you know what? If Joan's arrogance and belligerence were a book publicity stunt, then -- because I don't think combative behavior is ever defensible or attactive -- I hope it fails, miserably, in the book sales department.

Get over blogophobia to reap book promotion benefits

According to UrbanDictionary.com, blogophobia is real. This book publicist isn’t making it up, which is a relief, because this book publicist has inventophiba (which is not a term you’ll find in UrbanDictionary.com, by the way: fear of making things up.

Since I tell every author and publisher who listen that blogging is an integral part of every book promotion campaign, I can’t help but notice how much of the time I receive push-back. Few authors or publishers argue. They understand that blogging does, indeed, drive traffic to book web sites which is a first step toward promoting books.

But, for awhile, I’ve been noticing that many authors and publishers I talk with – however excited they are about their book promotion campaigns – seem to be experiencing a fear of blogging. They’re afraid of saying the wrong thing, or they’re afraid of saying the right thing (or the incompletely right thing) in the wrong way, and they understand that the Internet is a very difficult neighborhood for those prematurely hit the “publish” button. You can’t get a “do-over” if you publish a blog entry that you’re unhappy with, they reason, so they become immobilized. They delay blogging, and they miss out on the book publicity opportunities that might come their way because they’d rather live with a blank blog than a blog that would impress people as unprofessional, unpolished, or inadequate.

A blog that fails to make a good impression, for whatever reason (typos, sentence fragments, etc.), is a scary proposition. But a scarier proposition, from my perspective, is to have no blog at all.

Failure to blog, from a book publicity perspective, is far more frightening than blogging the wrong thing. Look at it this way. You can blog as frequently you’d like, and building up a robust number of blog entries is a lot like garnering many book reviews on Amazon: you find that one or two entries that are less than 100 percent perfect can be buried beneath the weight of better blog entries that will be more attractive to your target audience.

Blogging can be frightening, because it’s always comforting to have someone else publish your work. It’s always nice to have an editor sign off on your work, and to have a production team ensure that the words you write are ready for prime time.

But, as frightening as blogging can be, it can be a book promotion campaign’s best friend. Blogging can bring the media to you and, even better, it can bring your intended readership to your site – and to someplace where they can buy your book – instantly.

So if you’re blogophobic, that’s okay. You’re not alone.

But take it from a book publicist who has coached dozens of authors and publishers through bouts of blogophobia: if you’re stalled at a blank blog, start filling it as quickly as you can. Don’t worry about copying the styles of bloggers you admire. Leave the research for other projects. Just limber up your fingers and start keyboarding. The blog will happen…and it will become a focal point of your book promotion campaign.

When Hannah Montana is old news.

When was the first time you heard the phrase "Miley Ray Cyrus?" For those of us who don't have kids who are glued to the Disney Channel, and who begged for Hannah Montana merchandise or concert tickets, the answer might well be "within the year" (or, specifically, when a magazine published some "artistic" photos of her with her father that some people found troubling).

Anyway, Miley Ray Cyrus was going to be the next...well, whomever teenage singers and actors are hoping to grow up to be these days.

And now, according to a Baltimore Sun article, Miley is, like, so over. Her popularity is dwindling as other tween crowd pleasers, such as the Jonas Brothers, push her right out of the media and out of our collective consciousness.

Miley, of course, enjoyed her 15 minutes of fame. She sold lots of merchandise and concert tickets, (hopefully) saved at least some of the salary that Disney paid her, and (again, hopefully) will be enjoying royalty checks from her CDs and acting career for many years to come.

Some authors believe that if they enjoy even 5 minutes of airtime on a national television show, their lives will be changed forever. Their books will become bestsellers, and when their stay on the bestseller lists is over, they will continue to be strong sellers forever. Their careers will be made, and their futures will be assured.

That's the fantasy, but just one look at Miley Ray Cyrus and other "It" celebrities of short duration can tell you that it isn't enough. Success isn't a one-time event that happens when the producers of a national media outlet pluck you out of the crowd and ask you to appear as a guest, or as an expert, on a show or in a publication. Success is what happens when you work on achieving it, and then maintaining it, throughout your career.


Success is what happens when you get lucky and stay lucky...and, to stay lucky, you have to work at staying lucky.