Book Promotion: An Odd Tactic

We try all sorts of techniques in book promotion, but here is an idea for getting some book publicity that you probably would never think of: avoid the limelight, become a semi-recluse, and refuse to do interviews.

Sounds like a formula for killing a book rather than promoting it, right? And yet that is the book promotion tactic employed by Harper Lee, the genius behind "To Kill a Mockingbird." Read about her, and about a new biography about her, at the Christian Science Monitor Web site.

As a book publicist, I'm not sure I can endorse the avoidance of media attention as the best possible way of promotion your book. But if all else fails -- maybe Harper Lee is onto something after all. Perhaps the best book promotion campaign is to actively avoid a book promotion campaign, and to let the media and fans and biographers swarm around you and beg you to give them some time and attention.

Hmmm. Maybe that's not crazy at all.

Hate Hampers Book Promotion Campaigns

Have you ever wondered why a radio producer would turn down the opportunity to have you as a guest -- especially when you know that the information you want to impart would benefit that radio show's target audience? Well, let's figure it out.

Last night, I was listening to the "Paul Sullivan Show" on WBZ-AM, which is a Boston-based radio station that boasts a 50K-watts signal, and a listening area that includes most of the U.S. and parts of Canada. And who was the guest but the founder of an organization whose apparent mission is to ruin the lives of homosexuals and put an end to anything that might be even vaguely connected to homosexuality.

The founder and his organization has been given so much air time and print space that I don't want to give them even one more pixel here, so I will mention neither the organization nor its founder. But the jerk and his followers were all hot and bothered about some homosexual mannequins that were in a department store window yesterday, and they took to the media for help in bashing those mannequins and the store that displayed them, and expressing empathy for all of the victimized people who had to be subjected to them.

Yes. I listened to this idiot ramble on for about two hours on this theme, and I realized once again that talk radio loves hate, and it would invite this hater on the airwaves faster than it would welcome the doctor or medical team that finally invents a vaccine that can prevent AIDS.

While we're trying to arrange media interviews, and getting our share of rejections from producers, we have to realize that the people who are getting air time are not necessarily those who are the worthiest of media attention; the brightest people; or those with the most important media messages. Sometimes, the people who are getting interviews requests from the media are simply those who are doing their best to resemble one-celled, brainless lifeforms whose hateful messages are so simple and mindless that producers just can't resist.

Thanks, Paul Sullivan, for finding one of these cretins and having him on your show last night. I know you weren't the only talk show host who made this choice, but you know what? You were the one whose station I was listening to during prime time yesterday, and yours was the show from which I had expected better. Boston's top news station? Great. The person you interviewed last night is a newsmaker, of course. But then again, all hatemongers tend to be newsmakers.

Those homosexual mannnequins are no longer in that department store window, but their memory lingers on. Every time I encounter a producer who declines to interview one of my clients, the memory will flare up again.

Hate hampers everything and, yes, it does mess up book promotion campaigns -- mostly, because media consumers let it.

The Devil Ignores Book Promotion Campaigns

Today is 06/06/06. So what has this book publicist laerned about the importance of that date? In a nutshell, it's this: if the devil is at work, he's found something to do other than to get involved in book promotion campaigns. I've been booking shows and placing articles, as usual. And, no, the devil didn't make me do it. At least, I don't think he did. Hmmmmm.

After Book Promotion: Sales

After a book promotion hit, authors always want to see how many books they've sold. This information is not easily come by. Editors keep mum, and Amazon provides only a fraction of the information that authors need.

You know what I always say: there usually is only an indirect relationship between book promotion and book sales. Still, authors are always curious to know what that relationship is, and now I've caught onto a resource that might help them find out: Nielsen BookScan U.S.

You can read about Nielsen BookScan -- who uses it and why -- online at Slate or at Nielsen BookScan U.S.'s Web site.

In a nutshell, publishers and authors can subscribe to BookScan to get the closest thing to actual sales figures that are available. According to Slate's article, there's even a verb to go along with Nielsen BookScan U.S. It's called "BookScanning" as in: "You ought to try BookScanning Stephen King's latest novel." (Sure, you could try Googling Stephen King's latest novel, but somehow, that just wouldn't be as informational.)

The good news is that BookScanning is available, and it's democratic, and it's honest. It can provide information about how much, or how little, your book promotion campaign is affecting book sales, and how wise you'd be to invest additional funds in your book promotion campaign.

So now you can stop relying on Amazon for book sales information. BookScanning is here!

Literacy: The Big Read

The National Endowment for the Art is has a new program called “The Big Read.” According to this article in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, the program encourages people around the country to read a single book. These readers might participate in book clubs and events, and the idea is to get everyone to form one literary community that's talking about one title.

This year, a literary center in Minneapolis chose Zora Neale Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, as it's Big Read. Hurston's niece, Lucy Ann Hurston, appeared at that literary center to promote her own book, Speak, So You Can Speak Again, The Life of Zora Neale Hurston (published by Doubleday).

So which is it? Is The Big Read a book promotion opportunity, or does it promote literacy? It sounds to me as though The Big Read is both of those things . . . and also, it provides an opportunity to build community and cultural awareness through books. It's a win/win for everybody.

What Makes a British Bestseller?

What makes a British book a bestseller? According to this Times Online article, a British book becomes a bestseller the same way that a U.S. book gets there: publishers make deals with bookstores to push certain books, and the chosen books climb the bestseller lists.

Most of us want to believe that books on the bestseller lists are the books that enjoy the most successful book promotion campaigns; the most adulation from readers; and the best word-of-mouth from everyone. Alas, that's no truer in Britain than it is in the States.

Readers beware: the featured novel in the bookstore probably is not the novel that book club members are falling over each other to read. Rather, it's the book with a supportive publisher who is wealthy enough to cut a deal with the bookseller. Merit and money may sometimes go hand-in-hand, and bestsellers may sometimes deserve to be bestsellers. But the odds of that happening seem depressingly meager.

Defining an Effective Press Kit

As we were electronically tossing around a press kit draft yesterday, a client and I were working to come up with something we could rush out with the galleys in the next week or so. Under that deadline pressure, the client admitted that she still wasn't sure what the point of a press kit was.

My first reaction was to be a bit frustrated. After all, we'd talked about the purpose of a press kit extensively. However, now she wanted more...and it challenged me to really think about it. What are book publicists trying to achieve when we craft press kits? What do effective press kits add to book promotion campaigns? What's an ineffective press kit, and how can you avoid writing one, and what happens if you do?

My quick response to the question, what's the purpose of a press kit, is this. It's to capture the interest of a journalist and provide enough information about the author, and the potential story, so that the journalist can take the next step -- whether that means calling a book publicist to arrange an interview with the author, or simply writing a book review.

An effective press kit stands out in a positive way from the rest of the day's mail. It addds credibility to the author. It informs, it entices, and it leaves the journalist wanting more . . . and, one hopes, going to the source (whether it's the book, or the book's Web site, or the book publicist, or the author) to get more. It provides enough detail so that, if a journalist wanted to do a quick-and-easy story with little effort, he or she would be able to borrow enough copy from the press release to do that -- or, if the journalist wanted to do an intelligent interview with the author, the interview questions that would launch such an interview would be right there and ready to go. An effective press kit is tight, stays on topic, and is simple to read. It provides the key book information (title, author's name, publisher, ISBN, price, and so forth) in a discreet place.

In ineffective press kit sounds like a commercial for the book and/or the author. It hypes. It exaggerates. It throws too much information out at once, or it's disorganized or contains jargon, and is difficult to wade through. It lacks the key book information. It calls into question the credibility of the author and/or the book. An ineffective press kit will all but guarantee that the journalist will not interview the author, and it's probably a good bet that an ineffective press kit would also make a book review less likely to happen.

So what's the point of a press kit? I think the point of a press kit is to pitch a story to the media; to sell yourself as a credible resource; and to interest the media in finding out more. A press kit should be subtle and powerful. A press kit should launch a media story.

How can you blow a press kit? By turning the press kit into a overt advertisement, and by giving journalists an excuse to question your integrity and motives.

In other words, a press kit has to sell you as an expert, and it has to persuade the media to cover a story . . . but it has to do so without appearing to sell anything at all.

That's the challenge of creating an effective press kit.

Do it right, and you'll build a solid foundation for the book promotion campaign of your dreams. Do it wrong, and you'll hamper all of your other book promotion efforts.

There's a balance you have to strike, and it's up to your book promotion specialist, and/or your publisher, and/or you, to determine what that balance is.

The Future of Book Publishing -- Maybe

BEA attendees have seen the possible future of book publishing -- maybe -- they're not all enthusiastic about it. You guessed it. Books will go electronic, and an unscanned book will be an irrelevant book.

Among those who were not happy about the digital revolution, John Updike looms large. To me, John Updike always looms large because he's one of my favorite novelists, but his quote about the possible transformation of the publishing industry is classic. in A Seattle Times article includes this observation. I'm quoting:

"As I read it," Updike said, "this is a pretty grisly scenario." He counted himself as one of the "surly hermits refusing to come out and play in the digital sunshine."

Well, I wonder how many book publicists are excited about the prospect of "playing in the digital sunshine." I have some ideas about how to construct a book promotion campaign so that you don't have to send physical copies of books to the media. For example, the production wizards behind the concept of "book trailers" and "bookpresenters" certainly have my attention, and I look forward to working closely with some of those production houses in the future on digital book promotion campaigns.

Sure, there's another part of me who would love to be a "surly hermit refusing to come out and play in the digital sunshine." But there can only be one John Updike, so for now, I'll cast about the digital sunshine for future book promotion opportunities -- even if they do bring me farther into the uncharted territories of the digital book world.

Diet Book Publishers: Beware

There's a new diet book in town, and it will not lack for book promotion opportunities. See, the author is Oprah Winfrey, and it's landed its author the best nonfiction book deal ever. You can read about it here.

So what would it be like to find yourself in the middle of a book promotion campaign for your diet or fitness book, at the same time as Oprah's book publicity machine gears up? I'll be honest. I'm one book publicist who would rather not find out.

Oprah's book promotion opportunities include appearances on any national television show she chooses, and in virtually any other media outlet that she'll grace with her presence. Moreover, Oprah's book promotion campaign will encompass visibility on her own TV show and in her own magazine. With book promotion opportunities like that, Oprah could turn her own version of the Yellow Pages into a bestseller.

What's the left for competing books, when Oprah gets done with her book promotion campaign? We shall see...but if I were in the market to promote a diet and fitness book, I'd begin immediately -- before the hoopla surrounding Oprah's diet and fitness book begins. Either that, or I'd wait until Oprah's book promotion campaign wrapped. Timing, in this case, will be everything.

Promoting Literary Fiction

The Sunday New York Times had a story about promoting literary fiction that drives home several few points.

1. Book promotion -- at least, of literary fiction -- depends on the support of a major publisher.

2. Even with the support of a major publisher, book promotion doesn't guarantee books sales.

3. Publishers can promote only a finite number of books per season, and that means some novelists -- even those with an excellent track record -- won't make the cut.

4. Even when a novel belongs to such a luminary as Philip Roth, it helps to have a nonfiction news hook (as did "The Plot Against America," which received all kinds of media attention because it was perceived to have political overtones).

Major houses lay plans for their A-list literary novels, and editors compete with one another within their own publishing companies to push their book ahead of all of the other competing books in the catalogue. If it's this difficult for a mainstream literary novel to succeed, can you imagine what it takes for a self-published book in the same genre to have a chance? This is why so many book publicists are reluctant to promote novels.

The Biggest Book Promotion Party of the Year.

The annual bookselling convention, BEA, is the largest book promotion party of the year. It's a chance for publishers and authors to get their wares before booksellers and rights buyers from all around the world. And it all begins this afternoon at 4:00PM in Washington, DC. If you're not one of the lucky people who gets to attend BEA this year -- and, as the owner and operator of a one-person book promotion firm, I'm not one of the lucky people who gets to attend BEA this year -- you can read about the event all over the news, including at the Washington Post's Web site.

It's never too early to start planning to attend next year's BEA, if you're so inclined. Who knows? Maybe I'll see you there.

Would Desperate Housewives want to read your book?

Here's a book promotion scenario to make television show addicts squirm. Your publisher realizes that buying a commercial for your book during Desperate Housewives (or another TV show) will be ineffective because so many viewers use the latest technology to skip commercials. Therefore, your publisher instead pays the producer of the TV show to incorporate your book into the plot. Your book then becomes the reason Gabrielle is so unhappy, or Susan chases the wrong man. Your book wins, but the show suffers, and let's face it. Which do you care more about: book promotion or your favorite television show?

Okay, never mind that question. Still, you might want to check out MSNBC.com's article about product placement on television shows. The practice has been going on nearly as long as television has existed. I can still hear Lawrence Welk interrupting his show to explain why the benefits that viewers would derive from taking Geritol, or the goofiness of watching members of the original Star Trek crew acting oddly excited about some of their props that were being marketed as toys that season.

But that was before TiVo and other technologies have made commercials a difficult way to sell things, and have inadvertently encouraged soda companies and other vendors to get creative in their promotion efforts. Could the next product sold on a network television program be your book? Stay tuned.

The book publisher did it.

Who committed an act of libel? Was it the author of Paperback Poison: the Romance Writer and the Hit Man or its publisher, AuthorHouse? According to Claire Kirch's article in PW Daily, the book publisher did it.

Here's what's interesting to me. AuthorHouse doesn't call itself a publishing house. On its home page, AuthorHouse bills itself as a team of "author advocates" who can "help you choose the best book publishing options and the most effective marketing tools."

In other words, AuthorHouse allows authors to self publish, and they don't impose editorial standards on their clients' work.

AuthorHouse may have provided the mechanism that allowed a libelous book to be printed and marketed. But if I'd been on that Kansas jury, I would have noted that a company like AuthorHouse doesn't evaluate its clients' work, and probably doesn't even read it. That's the business model, and while it may leave book reviewers scratching their heads, it would seem to exonerate AuthorHouse from responsibility if anything goes wrong.

I'm surprised at the verdict. A jury said that the book publisher did it, but I wonder. What will this do to the future of print-on-demand publishing? If I were iUniverse, I'd be scared now. I'd be very scared.

A Surprise from Bowker

The BusinessWire story's headline reads: "U.S. Book Production Plummets 18,000 in 2005, According to Bowker Statistics; Smaller Publishers Show the Largest Drop in New Titles...."

The decline in U.S. book production is the first since 1999, according to the story, which gets its information from Bowker's Books in Print database.

Fewer books means fewer authors promoting books, which could be good news for your next book promotion campaign. But before you book that flight for Chicago or New York, remember that every author (and every book publicist) in North America is still pitching story ideas to Oprah, Today, Good Morning America, the View, and so forth.

With the costs of paper and transportation rising, it probably should come as no surprise that publishers, large and small, are being especially cautious these days. And who knows? That may eventually lead to explosive growth in the world of ebooks.

One way or another, the media will find the authors it needs to speak as experts about every topic under the sun. Will the shrinking number of new books cause less competition among publishers and authors for book promotion opportunities? Stay tuned.

Online Book Promotion

Here's yet another reason to emphasize online book promotion campaigns over traditional book promotion campaigns. According to a new CNN.com article, the circulation of most (not all, but most) newspapers slipped still further in the last six months. The New York Times and USA Today's circulation has climbed slightly, but other newspapers -- including the San Francisco Chronicle and the Boston Globe -- have lost subscribers.

No book publicist would recommend avoiding newspapers and pursuing only online venues. But the truth is that newspapers are becoming less relevant while their online counterparts are becoming better trafficked all the time. Book promotion campaigns must include pitches to online venues as well as the bricks-and-mortar publications.

At the very least, there's no longer any need for an author to complain that an article mentioning his or her book appears "only online." Online is getting to be a more important venue every day.

Riddle: How do you get a bibliophile interested in switching to ebooks?

Give up? The way you get a bibliophile to jettison those precious paper relics and embrace the digital revolution is to tell him or her that books are now being made of elephant dung. You then let the image, um, ferment in the bibliophile's imagination.

Here‘s my proof from Sentinel.com that some enterprising Thai, elephant-embracing activitists are , indeed, making paper from elephant dung (well, you didn't think I'd make up a thing like that, did you?). The story goes on to suggest that cow poop and bison messes may be the next frontier.

Try putting adding those books to your valuable collections, book lovers! Not the sort of reading copy you'd bring to the beach, is it? Or snuggle with under the covers, flashlight in hand?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that a book made from animal feces is ineligible for book promotion -- far from it. I'm just saying that I'm probably not the best candidate to handle those particular book promotion campaigns. Too squeamish, am I.

The Senator's Book Publicist

Who is Senator Ted Kennedy's book publicist? That's the question that was on my mind when I read an article in this morning's Boston Globe Magazine about Ted's new children's book.

In the article's second Q&A, the senator mentions his son, Congressman Patrick Kennedy. Here's the context. Ted tells us that Patrick's asthma is one of the reasons why Ted and his wife, Vicki, acquired the "non-allergic" dog, Splash, who is the subject of children's book Ted is currently promoting.

As someone who understands the motto, "the show must go on," I can sympathize with Ted's wanting his book promotion campaign to move ahead despite the personal problems he faces. However, I have a hard time understanding why Ted's book publicist may have thought the timing of this particular book promotion "hit" was a good idea.

Ted's asthmatic son, Patrick, was recently admitted to a drug rehab program a day or two after he was involved in a car accident. There are those who believe that Patrick should have been given a breathalizer test at the scene of the car accident. Additionally, there are those who say that Patrick has given conflicted statements about the quantity, and quality, of his memories of the car accident and what may have precipitated it.

In other words, Patrick is having serious problems right now, and since Patrick is Ted's son, it would be a fair statement that Ted is having serious problems right now as well. And what is Ted doing right now, as he sips his morning coffee? You guessed it. He's reading an article about his children's book.

There's a time to promote books and a time to not promote books. In my opinion, when your son is having serious problems is a good time to suspend a book promotion campaign for your children's book.

Maybe the senator's book publicist asked the Boston Globe Magazine's editor to kindly pull the article, and the editor refused. That would certainly call into question the editor's judgment, wouldn't it?

Ah, well. I'm a great fan of children's books, but I wasn't in the market to buy Ted's book, anyway . . . even before I saw that his son's drug problems didn't put a dent in his book promotion campaign efforts.

Blurbs -- Book Publicity or Editorial?

In practice, most book promotion campaigns begin about three months before a book's publication date. Therefore, as a book promotion specialist, I don't get involved in securing endorsements for books that I promote. That's an editorial function, and it's handled either by the book's editor or the author him- or herself.

That allows me to say, with impunity, that I got a chuckle out of the May 3, 2006 Dogmatika post titled "This book will not change your life." It discusses the fact that blurbs have become meaningless, since all books have blurbs that sound alike -- and they all sound over-the-top and difficult to swallow.

All readers have their own pet peeves when it comes to "blurbsters" -- the authors who apparently are willing to endorse anything, from fast food restaurants' placemats to books that were seemingly written in Sanskrit. In fact, books of a certain genre that lack an endorsement by these habitual "blurbsters" seem naked. Why didn't so-and-so endorse this book, a reader might wonder. Does it truly stink or something? Or is the author just completely out-of-the-loop?

When disingenuous praise of a book is mandatory, and a book looks naked without a blurb by specific blurbsters, you know something is goofy. Perhaps it's time to start a new trend in book marketing: honesty on book covers. How about if we see blurbs like this? "My husband wrote this novel, and I haven't actually read it yet, but darn, he worked hard on it, and I truly hope you'll support his efforts by taking a chance and buying the book."

Perhaps it won't wash, but you know what? I do wish that it would.

The Rising Costs of Book Promotion

Is the cost of book promotion increasing? Yes, if the price of stamps rises again. The Associated Press story, which made it onto MSNBC.com, is threatening a three cent increase for first class stamps beginning as early as May of 2007. It doesn't mention the projected cost of mailing a flat-rate Priority envelope, which is the preferred mailing method of most book publicists with whom I've worked.

As snail-mailings become increasingly expensive, I'm growing increasingly fond of finding new ways to promote books online. (Of course, the pundits are always working on a way to charge us for sending emails -- and, some day, they might just figure out a practical way to do it.) Still, even in book promotion campaigns that rely heavily on online publicity strategies, interviewers will need copies of the book, and the least expensive way to send those books is to use the U.S. Postal Service.

Rate increases mean that the price of book promotion campaigns increase. There's no way around it. So if you're planning to promote your book in the summer of 2007 or thereafter . . . consider yourself forewarned.

When You Can Get Audiobooks for Free

If you could get audiobooks for free, and if the process were as simple as bringing your MP3/WMA player into your local public library's computer and click on the right icons -- would you? That's the challenge posed for Boston-area library patrons by this story. Apparently, the Boston Public Library is the first library in New England to use OverDrive Download Stations. And, to add to the temptation, BPL library card holders don't even have to visit the library itself. Instead, we can log onto http://overdrive.bpl.org and snag our freebies there.

Some of the publishers who have contributed to the library's catalogue are: Brilliance Audio, Blackstone Audiobooks, HarperAudio, and Time Warner Audiobooks. If they're okay with making their work available to patrons for free through the Boston Public Library, then who am I do balk at the opportunity?

I'm a self-admitted book junkie, and yes, I like books. I love books. I want books. I need books.

But ... I also like authors. I need authors. And authors need book publicists to promote their books, not to help libraries give their books away for free.

What happens to royalty statements now, in this age of "Sure, I'll take that book for free. Why not?" That remains to be seen, I suppose.

In the meantime, I'll check out that Digital Library Reserve page. But I'm not ready to download anything quite yet.

Here's My Wish for All Books.

My tongue-in-cheek wish for all your book projects is that it be either plagerized or banned by a major world religion. The book promotion value of either of those events just can't be overstated. What happens when a Harvard student plagerizes your book? Sales shoot up. And what happens when the Vatican urges all good Catholics to stay away from a particular book (and now movie)? You know the answer to that one.

Ron Howard and his fellow movie-makers must be gleeful about the fact that his latest movie, "The Da Vinci Code" (which is opening on May 15 -- reserve the date now!), has been placed firmly on the Vatican's poop list (here's the Reuter's story on the topic). Of course, the book upon which the movie is based has long been on that list. That has to make Dan Brown a happy, as well as very wealthy, camper.

Here's what I wonder. Did Ronnie slip the Pope a quick million dollars or so to get the movie "banned?" Or is the Pope freely goading all of us to see the movie and trusting that a big, fat check from Ron Howard will follow? In any case, I think now would be a good time for both Mr. Brown and Mr. Howard to write thank-you notes to the Vatican. It's the least they can do for all the great publicity the Vatican has bought for them.

Here's Another Way to Promote Your Book.

Here's another way to promote your book: hope that another writer -- preferably a Harvard sophomore wunderkind (such as the now-infamous Kaavya Viswanathan) who's been awarded a three-book contract by Little, Brown -- to plagarize it. I can't be the only voracious reader out there who has both of Megan McCafferty's books (“Sloppy Firsts” and “Second Helpings”) on order.

In a situation like this, do you suppose that McCafferty owes Viswanathan a cut of her forthcoming royalty checks? I always thought George Carlin owed Mike Barnicle (Boston's own renowned word-borrower) a hefty portion of the proceeds from "Brain Droppings."

If only ... if only ... if only a high-profile person would rip off the words of one of my clients, that author's book would virtually promote itself. This publicist can only hope she, and her clients, have that kind of luck.

There's a New Media Outlet Born Every Minute.

There's a new media outlet born every minute. But did we really need another one that features Martha Stewart?

As professionals who are intent upon book promotion -- and who are always looking for new venues to carry news items about our books' topics and areas of expertise -- it's worth noting that Martha's latest publication is called Blueprint, and it just went on sale to the public yesterday. Its target audience is younger than the Martha Stewart Living's demographic. You can read about Blueprint on MSBNC.com, if you're so inclined.

Look, I'm as eager as you are to find new outlets for promoting books. Really. If I sound cranky, it's only because I wish fewer new media outlets had convicted felons as their spokespeople rather than, say, people with whom we might enjoy doing business.

Oh, well.

Book Promotion - The Wrong Way

Have you heard about the latest brilliant writer who's been accused of wrongdoing? This kind of publicity, you don't need.

Too bad it's a Harvard woman this time.

Book Promotion Budget Under $100?

If your book promotion budget is less than $100, you can't afford to hire a book publicist. But that doesn't mean you can't afford to promote your book.

Do-it-yourself book promotion campaigns consist of:

* writing your own press materials
* compiling your own media lists
* getting contact information for those media targets
* isolating story ideas and news hooks
* creating a pitch
* scheduling media interviews
* following up

If you know your way around promotion, then you have an edge on authors who don't. But you still may want to learn key trade secrets, such as how to pitch the producers at the Oprah show or how to reach the editors at USA Today. Whether you're looking for tips on how to create the perfect pitch or ways to tap the book marketing potential of the Web, you might be able to find what you need at a pricet you can afford.

With several partners, I've just launched a book promotion tools site for those who want to publicize their books but can't afford to hire a book publicist (or who want to continue a book promotion campaign after a contract with a book publicity firm has run its course). The site is BookPromotionTools.com, and it's one way you might begin a book promotion campaign on a shoestring.

Another way to begin a modest book promotion campaign is to make a list of local media outlets, open up the phone book, and get contact information for each of those venues. When you can't afford to have a book promotion specialist do it for you, roll up your sleeves and get to work. A tight budget is no reason to delay promoting your book!

If Norman Mailer Had Asked Me...

If Norman Mailer had asked me, I would have told him to re-think the subtitle on his novel, The Big Empty : Dialogues on Politics, Sex, God, Boxing, Morality, Myth, Poker and Bad Conscience in America. Just whom, I would have asked him, do you expect to remember that subtitle? Do you even have it committed to memory? How do you expect that subtitle to just roll off the tongues of television and radio show hosts, and how do you propose that magazines and newspapers find space for it?

Then again, if Norman Mailer had asked me, I would have told him that nearly all the titles of his books (The Executioner's Song, The Naked and the Dead, et al.) were too depressing.

I'm right about the fact that Norman Mailer's book titles (and, in this case, his subtitle) aren't optimized for their book promotion value. But, okay, I will concede that, overall, Norman Mailer's career as a novelist has been pretty much on track -- even though he hasn't listened to my advice with regard to his books' titles and subtitles.

To Create a Book Web Site

I've become a big believer in having a Web site for every book. Over the past few years, the media's tenuous question of "Is there a Web site for the book, by any chance?" has morphed into a matter-of-fact, "What's the book's URL?" Books without Web addresses have come to be regarded with as much suspicion and bewilderment as -- well -- as adults without phone numbers.

· So I've been insisting that my clients, and all other authors and publishers with whom I network, that they create Web sites for their books. The response from most of these people is, "Well, fine. Just tell me what needs to go on my Web site."

That question puts me into a strange situation, since I'm not a Web site designer. But, as a book promotion specialist, I can suggest to authors and publishers that these would be the ideal components of a book's Web site:

· A home page that includes descriptive content and a book cover (an author's photo might be nice, too, if the Web designer can fit it in).

· An excerpt

· Original bylined articles or other content (if book you're promoting is nonfiction)

· Online buying links (either to Amazon.com or BN.com, or both)

· Media page with a downloadable media kit, book cover, and author photos (both black-and-white and color)

· Guestbook

· Blog (you can get started for free at www.blogger.com)

· Sign-up page with opt-in mailing list manager

If you’re building your site in stages (and many authors and publishers do), then it's best to include whichever components your Web designer can create the most quickly. For many people, that's the home page, media page, and online buying links.

I have one more recommendation about building a Web site for books, and don't shoot the messenger, please. I'm sure your son/daughter/nephew/niece/neighbor/friend's child is as cute as punch and even more talented than Picasso, but he or she will not have the ability to design a high-quality site for your book. In fact, the high school/college student may do more harm than good, because whatever he/she creates, the search engines are bound to find -- and that Web site, with all its rough edges, is going to reflect how the media and potential buyers see your book.

Don't let your book pay the price because you'd rather not invest in a "real" Web site for your book. Yes, I twist arms to get people to realize that they need Web sites for their books. But I ask...no, I beg...people to realize that a Web site designed by a nonprofessional young person is worse than no Web site at all.

Does Book Promotion Increase Book Sales?

Does book promotion increase book sales? Probably. But should you hire a book publicist only for the purpose of increasing book sales? Probably not.

Here's why. A book promotion specialist doesn't sell books. He or she arranges media interviews, book reviews, article placements, search engine maximization, and the like. This raises the visibility of your book and your Web site. That may drive book sales, and it usually does. But, when it does, that's a great benefit of book promotion, but your book publicist will hope and trust it's not the only benefit you are receiving from the campaign.

Your book publicist will assume that you are promoting your book to disseminate your messages to as many people as possible. That's why you want to be on the air, and that's why you want to be quoted as an expert in newspaper and magazine articles, and that's why you want people to find your site through Google and other search engines. You have something to say, and your book is one outlet for saying it; the mass media provides additional venues for you to spread your messages.

In addition, many authors believe their visibility in the media will lead to great opportunities such as offers from corporations (perhaps speaking engagements or endorsement projects), additional clients or customers, or enhanced credibility in the professional world. This is usually what happens.

You benefit from media appearances in a myriad of ways. Book sales, when and if they happen, are a wonderful fringe benefit of your book promotion campaign. But they can't be the only reason why you hire a book promotion specialist.

An author from a mainstream publishing house was recently in discussions with me about promoting her book. She thought my book promotion plan looked great. Finally, she wanted to know how many books it would sell. I was taken aback by the question.

Another book publicist might have taken a guess and added a disclaimer such as "but no one really knows for sure." However, I opted to tell the author the whole truth which was that book sales weren't my area of expertise, and therefore, I had no idea of what number to give her. I could guess how many radio interviews I might be able to arrange for her (and that would only be a guess, because it's impossible to predict how radio show producers will respond to a particular pitch). But I couldn't make even a wild guess about how many books she'd sell if she hired me.

I received her emailed response earlier today. She asked me for a referral to a book publicist whose focus was on selling books.

Of course, I responded that there's no such book publicist. Distributors and salespeople sell books. (In the case of her book, since she's working through a major publishing company, she can't even hire an independent distributor -- she'll have to put her complete faith in the capabilities of her publisher.) Book promotion specialists arrange media appearances and reviews.

What I could have done, I suppose, is refer her to a book promotion firm that's able to toss around figures and promises that come from nowhere and are utterly meaningless. However, I don't have the heart to do that.

No, I don't want her as a client, because her goals are not in line with what I can provide for her, and the last thing in the world I want is a disappointed client. But another thing I don't want is for a book publicity firm to take advantage of her by, basically, telling her what she wants to hear.

What would King Solomon do in this situation? Hmmm.

Children's Books: A Family Business

Since it's a legal holiday here in Massachusetts, I'm taking a twenty-second break from business to tell you about something cool that I just learned. Thacher Hurd is a children's book artist and author. If you know the name "Hurd," you probably associate it with Clement Hurd. Does the name sound familiar? It should, if you were ever a kid or knew anyone who was. Clement Hurd illustrated "Goodnight Moon" and, more importantly, "Runaway Bunny" (because I say it's more important, that's why!), those children book classics that were written by Margaret Wise Brown.

Writing and illustrating children's books is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Therefore, there's something wonderful about the fact that there's another generation in the Hurd family who's willing to throw his talent and skill into the pool, and take his chances on trying to change children's lives for the better.

I don't know Thacher Hurd personally, and I've never represented his work, but I'd urge you to take a look at his Web site and see what he's up to. Click here if you're curious and then -- well, have a carrot.

Warning About National Television Shows

I'm using this space to vent. This relates to book promotion, but it's about more than book promotion. It's also about having a bad day.

Okay. More than a week ago, I scheduled an interview with a client (let's call the client "Amy") on a national television show for this Saturday morning (let's call the national television show "Early Talk about Today's America"). It was exciting.

This morning, Amy was on a plane from the west coast to New York. I called the producer at the "Early Talk About Today's America" program to confirm the interview. The producer confirmed the interview but explained that the segment had been handed off to another producer. That producer would call me back.

When that producer (let's call her "Beth") called me back, she said she first wanted to confirm that Amy was bringing her dog onto the show. I said, no, Amy was not bringing her dog onto the show. Beth then asked whether I could just call Amy and let her know they needed her dog to be on the show with her. I told her -- three times, before the message sank in -- that Amy was currently on an airplane to New York without her dog, and therefore, no, there'd be no way to ask Amy to bring her dog with her to the show.

Whereupon Beth asked me to ask Amy to find them another dog who could be on tomorrow morning's live TV segment. I called Amy's husband, who didn't go along with Amy, and Amy's husband told me that he knew of no dog. Then Beth told me to find a dog. I'll quote her here, pretty exactly: "Find us a dog. We need a dog. Call shelters. Get us a dog."

I was nice. I simply told her that, with fewer than 24 hours' notice, it was unlikely that I could find a dog (and its obliging human) in New York who could come to the studio first thing in the morning. I also reminded her that we'd booked the interview more than a week ago, and no mention had been made of a dog then. I concluded with the sad message that I wasn't getting her a dog, and my client wasn't getting her a dog.

Then I hung up the phone, put my head down on my desk, and did the right thing: I started networking with every dog person I could think of. I'm a cat person, but yes, I know dog people, too. While I was calling everyone on the planet, Beth checked in to let me know that they'd found a shelter in the area that would lend them two dogs.

The host of the show will mention, at the end of the segment, that both dogs are available for adoption. That eases my conscience a little bit (the thought of "borrowing" two dogs from a shelter, stressing them out, and then returning them to the shelter to live out their final days was a highly uncool one to me, and I'm sure it would have been to Amy, too, if she'd been in the loop for any of this).

So the segment is on for tomorrow. Despite everything, the show will go on.

But I want to reinforce something that I told Amy when we booked the interview. The segment isn't confirmed, for real, until it airs. That's true of any interview you schedule, with any medium, but it's particularly true of national television show interviews.

National television show producers mean well. They're bright. They're fun. They're talented. They're creative.

But, oh! They can be flakes.

And us? We are left, staring at the cereal bowls, hoping to find a quart of milk.

Or something like that.

It's been a long, hard day.

Mayor McBook Promotion

Here's another book promotion idea: challenge a major company, such as McDonald's, and reap the benefit in media coverage. Here's a book that was designed to do just that: "Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want To Know About Fast Food", to be published by Houghton Mifflin. And what you really have to love about the book -- other than the fact that it's so "in your face" that the cheeseburger pundits simply have to respond to it -- is that it's aimed at young children whose lifelong dietary choices really can be changed.

For more on the story of "Chew on This," check out this Chicago Tribune article. And then, next time you're choosing a topic for a book, think about which company you'd like to mix it up with in public. And then, if your lawyers are willing, go for it.

It Must Be Nice...

It must be nice to have your own newspaper column when you're promoting a book. Here's what you can do with it.

Scott E. Williams, a Galveston Daily News reporter, uses his April 9, 2006 article to plug an upcoming book signing and the aforementioned book itself, as well as two books he's previously penned. Check this out.

Reporters who use their columns to plug their books are no different from, say, psychic/medium John Edward who once used an episode of his television show, "Crossing Over," to promote one of his books (sorry, John, but I've since forgotten the title).

Media personalities should take advantage of their access to the public to promote their books, but subtlety is the key here. I don't want to know you're selling me your book, necessarily, during each of the moments I spend reading your newspaper column or watching your television show.

Plug your book once, I'll consider buying it. Make me WEAR your book, and I'm not so sure that I'm a prospective book buyer any longer.

The Borg Said It Best.

Resistance is futile (or fyoo-tile, as Captain Picard put it). So why is Barnes and Noble resisting the Sony Reader?

According to a Marketwatch article, Borders is getting ready to sell the e-book reader at 200 of its U.S. stores. Barnes and Noble, however, is underwhelmed by the potential of the Reader and doesn't see it as a major breakthrough for e-books.

Sounds to me as though Barnes and Noble has seen too many promises, from too many people, about e-book readers that will revolutionize how we read books. And yet, when you see what people are bringing to the beach, it always turns out to be a plain, old-fashioned book.

So many predictions. So many devices. So many hopes for e-book publishers.

Who's right: Barnes and Noble, or Borders? Will the future be books, or will it be bytes?

Stay tuned.

Blogs as Book Promotion Tools.

If you can't get the New York Times to do a story about your book, perhaps you can get them to cpver your blog. Bogging is the book promotion technique that blogcritics.org recommends in this post titled, "New York Times Lists Blog Entries For Hugh Hewitt's Blog."

I haven't had extensive experience with blogging as it relates to book publicity -- yet -- but I will say that blogging is a good idea for authors. Why not give search engines another reason to pick up your name and the title of your book? And why not provide potential readers with additional reasons to buy your book? And, of course, why not let the media and bookstores find you (and your work) online as easily as possible?

If you're Hugh Hewitt, and you have millions of visitors to each of your blog entries, even better. But, for ordinary mortals, blogging still is a grear addition to having a book Web site. And the price (even when you include the time commitment involved) is right.

Books for CEOs

What's a CEO supposed to do if he or she wants a book to use as a calling card but lacks a book? At least one "turnkey solution" publisher says that having a book isn't a huge stumbling block. Milli Brown of Brown Book Publishing Group in Dallas heads of team of freelancers who, according to an article in the Houston Daily Business News, produce books for CEOs. All the necessary services are included: ghostwriting, editing, printing, warehousing, distribution, and more. Brown calls this "relationship publishing." I call it clever.

I've yet to see any of Brown Book Publishing Group's books, so I can't endorse the company. But I think their model is a good one, and if you're a CEO or entrepreneur who's in need of a book . . . you could do worse than take a look at Brown Book Publishing Group and see what they offer.

No promotion at all.

I've just read a Newsweek article about one of my favorite children's book novelists, Beverly Cleary (author of the Henry Huggins books, the Ramona and Beezus books, and more). Ms. Cleary, a Newbery Award-winning author, has sold more than 91 million copies of her books. By comparison, J. K. Rowling as sold 120 million copies of "Harry Potter." That's not a huge numerical difference, is it?

So what's the major difference between Cleary and Rowling? Visibility. Cleary has chosen to keep a low profile while Rowling has not.

Has her failure to appear in media outlets around the world hurt the sales of Cleary's books? Somehow, I doubt it.

But does reading the Newsweek article make me want to go to a bookstore right now, in the middle of the workday, to pick up a few "Ramona" books to add to my collection? Yes, it does. (I'll resist the temptation for now, but I make no promises about what I'll do after six o'clock tonight.)

If you're a fellow Cleary fan, you'll be interested to know that Ms. Cleary is about to turn 90 years old. Good for her.

Good for us.

Many Happy Returns?

According to a recent New York Times article, between one-half and three-quarters of the hardcover literary novels that mainstream houses sell to bookstores are returned to the publisher. Even the most prestigious houses, such as Random House, aren't exempt from the rule. Literary novels are a tough sell. They're tough to promote. And if that's the case for the best-known authors, can you imagine what it's like for unestablished (or even self-published or print-on-demand) novelists?

One way to solve the problem, according to the NYT's article, is to publish original trade paperback editions of literary novels. Trade paperback editions sell better than do hardcover novels because they're less expensive.

And yet ... will book reviewers even consider trade paperback editions as they wade through the stacks of worthy candidates? To be determined . . .

It Takes Books to Promote Books

There are times when authors send out review copies of their books to media decision makers, and those books wind up on an auction Web site or in an online second-hand bookstore. That's unfortunate. I wish all producers and journalists -- and all people -- were honest. I wish they'd donate the extra review copies of books to library book sales, hospitals, and prisons.

Then again, I wish I were Irish today so that I could fully get into the spirit of St. Patrick's Day.

In other words, don't check the search engines incessantly to track the final dispensation of the books you've sent to the media. Some will wind up being re-sold. Some will end up donated to charities. Some will become gifts for talk show callers who guess the right answers to trivia questions. And some will become part of the personal libraries of book reviewers.

Yes, I know that books cost you money, and when you send out books in good faith to producers and journalists, you'd like to 1) score an interview or review an 2) see the books end up somewhere other than on eBay or American Book Exchange's Web site.

Unfortunately, you can't control the destiny of review copies of books -- nor can you get media visibility for your book without sending out books to the media. So consider those mailings as part of the cost of doing business, and don't dwell on the obvious fact that some people are using your book to make a couple of undeserved dollars.

If you spend your time positively, and let the books go once they're out of your hands, you'll enjoy your book promotion campaign far more than if you dwell on whether your books might be falling into the wrong hands. Do find qualified media decision makers who are supposed to receive review copies of your books (they're available from commercial media lists, via phone calls to media outlets, and on their Web sites). But, if you've been diligent about choosing the right producers and journalists to pitch your book to, then just remember it takes books to promote books . . . and don't sweat the small ripoffs. It just isn't worth it.

Autographs--Sort Of

Well, look at what one of my favorite novelists is up to. Margaret Atwood doesn't want to disappoint her legions of fans, so she's transformed book signings (which would only please handfuls of her fans) into electronic exchanges (which, she presumably thinks, would please the rest of us).

Not so, Margaret. I love your work, but not enough to accept a digital signature fron you (or anyone) instead of a real one. Come to think of it, I wasn't all that interested in getting your autograph, anyway, but I do take the old-fashioned stance that one's signature should written rather than beamed across the planet through whatever technology might be available.

However, I do admire Margaret's creative spirit enough to share CNN.com's article about her LongPen. Read all about it, and see what you think.

Book Promotion in Reverse

Is there such a thing as a reverse book promotion campaign? That is, does it ever make sense for some authors to strive to not get publicity for a book, and to turn away any book promotion that you might get?

An article in The American Daily asserts that John Kerry turned down publicity for his book, The Winter Soldiers Investigations, when he ran for president. The article also puts forth that Kerry refused permission for his book to be reprinted -- presumably, so potential voters wouldn't read it and, on the basis of doing so, decide not to vote for him.

I'd have to do some independent research into the article's claim to see whether or not it holds water. In the meantime, I'm left to ponder the question of how book publicity -- and book sales -- could be of harm. Well, okay. I guess my clients should have such problems. . . . .

Did You Cut-and-Paste Your Novel's Plot?

If the storyline of your novel bears an unhealthy resemblance to another author's work, then a book promotion campaign could land you in court for plagarism. That's what this article suggests.

Call me skeptical, but I doubt that anyone is purposely ripping off anyone else's work. You know the old saw about all those monkeys and all those typewriters . . . well, that's probably the way two writers's works wind up with the same plot points once in awhile.

Does that warrant a lawsuit? No, I don't think so. It would be a shame to miss such thought-provoking reads as "The Da Vinci Code" just because some other author/researcher had developed a similar theory about something that happened two thousand years ago to the one Dan Brown came up with.

Writers, writers. Can't you all just try to get along with each other?

Banning as Book Promotion?

At first, I was a bit chagrined to see that the Vista San Gabriel Elementary School library in Southern California had banned Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Actually, they've banned three bilingual versions of the book. Which might be a good thing. After all, who knows what dangerous concepts an evil translator might have slipped into the plot. Maybe, in the banned versions, Clifford refuses to become housebroken. Or maybe he barks at cats without provocation. Dastardly, but who knows? It could be true.

Okay. Clifford is probably innocent of wrongdoing, as is Harry Potter, who -- as you might have guessed -- was also banned from the Vista San Gabriel Elementary School library.

But perhaps there's a mitigating factor here. A banned book scores instant visibility. So maybe having your book banned is one of the best book promotion strategies you can employ. At least, that's what I'm telling myself this morning after reading this.

Is This Book on Your Reading List?

I've just added it to mine. It's "How to Write & Publish Your Own Book: From Conception to Book Store in 90 Days" by self-published author Kathleen Mailer. I'm not Kathleen's book promotion specialist and, in fact, we've never met. Nor do I get a cut of her book sales. However, according to this article, she pre-sold 80,000 copies of her book. Yes, I'm impressed. If you are, too, you can read about the book here. Just thought it was worth passing along.

Digital Books -- Again.

Maybe, one day, we'll get digital books figured out. There's an MSNBC story today that suggests we may already have done so. Maybe.

But the challenge for a book publicist is this: how would you promote a digital book? Would you send a hyperlink to producers and editors, and suggest that they click on the book -- and that will be their review copy? Or do you burn the book onto a CD and then distribute review copies of the CD? Or do you produce a short-run of "real" books, send them off to the media as review copies, and then go on to sell only the digital books?

Maybe publishers have figured out everything they need to know about digital books, and maybe readers are onto the truth about digital books, too.

But book promotion specialists -- or this one, anyway -- is still pondering the perplexities of publicizing digital books. It's a challenge I'll looking forward to meeting, eagerly and with a bit of trepidation.

You Still Have to Tell the Truth

You might be a famous researcher and celebrated author, and you might be in the middle of a high-profile book promotion campaign, but you still have to tell the truth. That's the lesson David Irving is about to learn. Irving has been sentenced to three years in jail for denying the Holocaust and, perhaps indirectly, inciting people to commit violence against Israelis. Read the story at www.infoisrael.net.

The lesson here isn't that, if you lie during a book promotion campaign, you'll serve jail time. Rather, the take-away is that it's always best to sell books from a position of integrity. People know the difference, and people do care.

Is It a Book or a Film?

Or is it both a book and a film? Random House and Focus Features (part of NBC Universal)are teaming up to develop two new projects. The creative team that produces the books also will produce the movies. You can read about it here. So will the films be a vehicle for book promotion, or will the books be a way to publicize the films? Stay tuned.

Technorati tags: book promotion

Is Manga the Next Big Thing in Book Publishing?

Edward Wyatt of the New York Times seems to think so. Graphic novels, he says in this article, is one of the few fast-growing area of book publishing right now, and major publishers are vying for the opportunity to distribute these comic books.

Coincidentally, I just took on my first manga book promotion project: the work of Jim Balent and his wife, Holly Golightly, of Jim Balent's Studio. You can visit their Web site here.

I've been reading and seeing the popularity of manga. Now we'll see whether the media appreciates the opportunity to feature American manga creators in the months to come.

A Sunday Blizzard Paralyzed the Eastern Seaboard.

But today is Monday, and fortunately, New Yorkers (and others who live and work in the Northeast) are working again. The subway is running, planes are flying, roads are plowed, and producers, editors, hosts, and reporters are back at their desks. Publicists are, too. Book promotion campaigns: full steam ahead!

The Truth About Book Clubs

Given the chance, would you make in-person visits to book clubs as part of your book promotion campaign? Before you decide, read Curtis Sittenfeld's essay in the New York Times called "You Hate Me, You Really Hate Me."

Curtis talks about visiting book clubs where the primary topic is, well, let's just say more physiological than literary. Yes, we'll all do a lot to promote books. But will we listen to discussions about how irritating a specific hero (or heroine) might be? Or will we be a fly on the wall while book club members discuss bodily functions, diet, and other issues that have nothing at all to do with books?

Probably not. Book clubs can be an integral part of book promotion campaigns -- but only for very brave, and very thick-skinned -- authors who can let criticism roll off of them.

Technorati tags: book promotion, book publicity, book clubs

Book Promotion by Book Giveaways

Every time I read an article like this one about Bookcrossing.com, it strikes me that giving books away is a great book promotion idea. Why doesn't everyone get involved in Bookcrossing.com? Everyone wins: readers get free books, people get to pass along enjoyable books they've finished reading and don't know what else to do with, and bookstore owners get more foot traffic. What could be a more perfect way to create buzz about a book than to watch it travel all around the country, passing from hand to hand, creating small ripples of visibility and interest wherever it goes?

This isn't about Bookcrossing.com, though. Any time you give away a book, you're creating book promotion potential. A radio station that gives away three copies of your book will have to mention your book on the radio, and the winners will have to mention your book to friends, coworkers, and relatives. Even if you stand outside your local library and hand out copies of your book, you'll be promoting your book.

So why don't all authors get excited about book giveaways as part of their book promotion campaigns? Well, when one national radio interview can get thousands, or tens of thousands, of people talking about a book, perhaps it's less exciting to think about three or five or seven people at a time finding out about your book via giveaways.

Still, if each of those three or five or seven people tell their friends about your book, and they tell their friends, and so on . . . how many book sales might that generate? Book giveaways can be a smart (and inexpensive part) of an effective book promotion campaign. Why not give it a try?

Technorati Tags: book promotion, book publicity

What Do Oprah Winfrey and Howard Stern Have in Common?

Oprah Winfrey and Howard Stern now both enjoy lucrative contracts with XM Satellite Radio, although Howard's deal is worth a lot more than Oprah's. Stern inked a $600 million five-year contract with XM Satellite Radio. Oprah will earn $55 million dollars for a three-year commitment to a new radio "channel" called Oprah & Friends.

Will Oprah be hungry for guests to fill that radio time? Is this a book promotion opportunity made in heaven (or, at least, on the XM Satellite airwaves)? Not so much. The MSNBC news story implies that she'll be recycling personalities who have already appeared on her TV show and in her magazine.

At least, that's what the MSNBC news story says. But who knows? Oprah & Friends. Okay. It's on my A-list now. Everyone who's currently promoting a book ought to take heart that now, finally, it may be possible to appear on Oprah's show.

Technorati Tags: book promotion book promotion, book publicity book publicity, Oprah Winfrey oprah winfrey, Howard Stern howard stern, XM Satellite Radio xm satellite radio

For the Love of Books?

Is a library patron who "borrows" 402 volumes and never returns them (and scores a three-year prison sentence) a book lover? Here's the story. It's not as though this type of thing has never happened before, but it does leave me wondering what kind of thief steals books instead of, say, jewelry or laptop computers. Is this a book-loving thief? Or is the inverse true -- do you have to really hate books to drain them from a library? One way or another, I'm glad the Baltimore County Library is prosecuting this book thief. Maybe three years of jail time will deter another "book lover" from ripping off all of us.

Where Has Publishing Gone? To France.

Maybe now is a good time to brush up on my fourth-grade French. Lagardere SCA of France is acquiring Time Warner Book Group to create the third largest book publishing company in the world. Here's the story.

Who would have thought that the France, the country that has not been the biggest fan of the United States of late, would resort to this type of behavior to make its point. Okay, we get it, France. You're not happy with us. We understand that.

But did you have to go and steal our publishing company?

Who's Blogging Now?

Who's blogging now? Just about any author who's interested in book promotion -- or that soon will be the case. Amazon has implemented a new feature called Author Connect (read about it here) to host authors' blogs. Amazon has found that proving content (such as readers' reviews and previews of books) encourages people to buy.

Good for Amazon. Good for book buyers. Good for us all.


Technorati Tags: book promotion, book publicity

Book Promotion Campaigns Only Work If. . .

Book promotion campaigns only work if . . . you have a book. If you're still in the process of writing your book, then pay special attention to today's news about the latest computer virus. The virus, say all the news reports (including this cnn.com story), will activate itself on the third of every month, if your computer becomes infected. This virus is bad in that it can destroy all the data on your computer.

That means: practice safe computing. Click on only such email attachments as you are expecting -- otherwise, use the telephone to find out from the sender what the files are before you open them. Also, zealously back up the manuscript you're working on. The back up the back up, and back up the back up of the backup up. Make sure you store your (minumum of) three back ups of your manuscript in different places -- and, preferably, on three different media. Who among us hasn't had the experience of discovering that a CD or floppy disk no longer works, or that you used the wrong settings for your offline backup system, or that (and this is the ugliest of all) you only thought you were backing up your data when, in fact, something went wrong during the process so you have no backed-up data to restore when you need it. Once you've backed up the files, be sure they are what they are supposed to be, and be sure you know where they'll be if and when you need to restore them.

If you take the proper precauthions, then you'll know that, when it comes time to launch your book publicity campaign, you'll have a book to promote.


Technorati Tags: book promotion, book publicity

Punxsutawney Phil Is in the News This Morning

Why aren't you? Well, for one thing, you're not a groundhog, and he is. Secondly, you can't predict the weather, and he can. (Well, okay, he can't predict the weather, either, but he's conned a lot of otherwise clever humans into believing he can.)

Also, another reason that Punxsutawney Phil in the news this morning is because his schtick ties directly into a holiday: Groundhog Day. Now, if you'd written a book about Groundhog Day, or if you could find a Groundhog Day angle to your book, then you'd undoubtedly be in the news this morning, too.

Groundhog Day books are scarce, and tie-ins to Groundhog Day are tough to conjure up. So perhaps you'd best look ahead to Valentine's Day. (It isn't too late to pitch producers and editors on your Valentine's Day angle.)

And next year, who knows? Perhaps you'll figure out how to turn Groundhog Day into a boon for your book promotion campaign.

Happy Groundhog Day, and don't blame Punxsutawney Phil too much if we have to endure another six weeks of winter weather. He knows not what he does when he sees his shadow and burrows back into his hole to hide.

Technorati Tags: book promotion, book publicity

Book Promotion Opportunities Are Handed to Some Journalists -- But So What?

The Book Standard has published an article about another new trend: journalists who write books and then have book promotion opportunities handed to them on a silver platter via "serious" news venues that may well ignore other authors who are not as well connected. The article cites, as an example, Fox News Channel's John Gibson who wrote The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought and then received automatic invitations to promote his book from his colleagues, FNC hosts Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity.

Well, yes. Isn't that the way it's always been? If a celebrity has a book or movie or television show to plug, doesn't he or she score any and all opportunities to promote that project just for the asking? I remember looking at my local newspaper's TV listings one recent morning to find that John Travolta would appear on no fewer than three television shows that day. Three! And who knows how many newspapers and radio shows would also have the pleasure of promoting whichever movie Travolta was promoting at the time.

I'm not sure why a journalist is any less entitled than a movie star, sports personality, or musical legend to embark upon a serious book promotion campaign. If it's an issue of credibility, then that begs the question: Is someone less credible if the name of his or her book is on everyone's lips? I doubt it. Of course, I'm biased, but I just don't see how a book promotion campaign can hurt the reputation of a trusted and skilled journalist -- or anybody else, for that matter. I just don't see it.


Technorati Tags: book promotion, book publicity

Race, Creed, and Interviews

Yesterday, I conducted a mass email campaign for one of my clients. She's a novelist, and we had written a Valentine's Day pitch. We scored several interviews, and received even more interest from producers who wanted to receive the book and media kit. But one response just made me cringe.

"Is your author a [fill in the religion]," asked this particular producer. "I'd love to schedule an interview with her if she is, but I'll have to pass on the opportunity if she isn't." The producer went on to explain that her show incorporated a particular system of beliefs into all interviews, and if the author did not live according to that belief set, he or she wouldn't fit into the program.

This type of response from producers and editors is not unusual, but I'll never get used to it. Participating in a dialogue with a media decisionmaker who wants to know what religion my client subscribes to (or how tall she is, or what her skintone is, and so forth) is one of the ugliest parts of my job, and it's taken me years to know how to respond.

I think, yesterday, I hit on the solution. First, I checked in with my client and asked whether she might want me to respond in the affirmative ("Yes, my client is a fill-in-the-blank"). The client wisely (I think) wanted no part of it. Therefore, I emailed the producer and told her that, while I appreciated her interest, few of my clients fit her requirements, and it would therefore probably be best for all concerned if I removed her from my mailing list. I carbon copied my client on that email, and then I removed the producer from my media database. In doing so, I ensured that no future clients will ever be in the position of being screened by this producer on the basis of their religions. Ideally, I'll be able to use this technique in the future to create a media database free of those who would discriminate on the basis of someone's race, creed, and the like.

Don't get me wrong. I understand why there has to be a match between the media outlet and an author. I'm probably not going to book a client who wants to talk about a potential bird flu epidemic on an entertainment program. And I don't blame producers for wanting to know something about an author's background before they offer to schedule an interview. And, hey, I don't even mind when a woman's radio program insists on receiving only pitches about women authors.

But that's different from declining an interview with an author on the basis of race, creed, height, weight, hair length, eye color, or shoe size. My thinking is this: Any media decisionmaker who screens experts for reasons such as these is the gatekeeper for a media outlet I wouldn't want to deal with. Would you?

Technorati Tags: book promotion, book publicity

Memoir, Fiction, Confusion . . . Pat Conroy

His name isn't James Frey. It's Pat Conroy, and he's a novelist, but what's going on with "The Water Is Wide?" I missed that particular novel, or memoir, or whatever it might be, but I didn't miss Hallmark's rendition of "The Water Is Wide" last night. As always, I was transfixed by Hallmark's production, but my, was I confused. The main character's name was "Pat Conroy," and I recognized the military father from several Pat Conroy novels I'd read, so I made the connection. All right, then, the movie (and book, I presumed) must have been autobiographical -- a memoir, if you will.

Fine, but then, what was up with the final disclaimer at the end of the movie that said (I'm paraphrasing): "The preceding was a work of fiction, and any resemblance to people living or dead is a mere coincidence."

Did I miss something here? Back in the days B.F. (Before Frey), I probably wouldn't have given it a thought. But now I'm wondering why we're all so squirrelish about using the phrase "semi-autobiographical" to describe a based-on-fact story about our lives. Is it because of the legal implications? Or is it because we're no longer sure what's true and what isn't, so we want to keep our options open just in case we're ever asked to prove that personal histories are what we say they are.

All I can say is, thanks for the movie, Hallmark. I love your work. But, Pat, could you please clarify for me what we just saw? Was it real, or was it Memorex? Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this matter.

Book Promotion: Because You're Entitled.

It always amazes me to hear popular misconceptions about book promotion. One of the most frequent statements is that everyone who writes a book is entitled to media exposure. Here's a quote I found in The Miami Herald from author/wrestler Shawn Michaels: "...it was sort of ironic that every other book gets a ton of publicity when it comes out, and this one didn't, but I really didn't have the time to publicize it."

Shawn, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but maybe you need a reality check about book promotion. Some books enjoy visibility in the media because their authors (and/or their book publicists) work their socks off letting book reviewers, beat editors, assignment editors, and producers know about a story opportunity. They give the media something of value -- a news hook -- and keep on plugging away at it until they find what works. Then, having launched their book in the media, they build on what works until, finally, they've created a successful book promotion campaign.

They don't have publicity handed to them because they wrote a book. They're not entitled to the media's attention. They earn it the old-fashioned way: through creativity and hard work.

So, Shawn, I'm glad to see your book was mentioned in at least one major media outlet. That's a good beginning. Now keep going and see whether you can interest other feature editors in your story. And then move on to radio show producers. And so on. Your book deserves the effort. But it's not entitled to the results. You have to earn that yourself.

Technorati tags: book promotion, book publicity

How Sex Can Help You Promote Books

How can you prepare for interviews related to book promotion? Try deep breathing and stretches, indulge in some exercise, do a vocal warmup -- and have sex. A story on Reuters wire service suggests that pre-interview sex can have a calming effect on you. The more relaxed you are, in theory, the more credibility you'll convey on the air and the better you'll be able to articulate your messages during the interview.

What if the timing of your interview is less than perfect with relation to your partner's availability? Not to worry. Stuart Brody, the clever psychologist who thought up this study (thank you, Stu!), said -- and I'm paraphrasing -- that the benefits of intercourse should last at least a week. So if you have a phone interview at five o'clock in the morning, there's no need to wake up your partner in the middle of the night. Just tune into the memory of what you shared, and know that you're in fine form for your performance.

Sex and book promotion. They go together like, well, Amazon and dotcom.

Technorati tags: book promotion, book publicity, media training

Will Your Book Be a New York Times Bestseller?

That may depend on its title.

So, if you want to predict whether or not your book will make it to the New York Times bestseller list, use the Titlescorer tool on Lulu.com to check on how likely it is that your book will make the New York Times bestseller list.

The people who developed the Titlescorer relied on 50 years worth of statistics to do so. Worth a click? Maybe. Check out the Star Tribune story to find out more.

Technorati tags: new york times bestseller, book title, bestseller

Beyond Castle Rock

Well, what do we have here? The first two chapters of Stephen King's latest novel, "Cell," available online here.

I couldn't wait to dive in, but I wish someone had forewarned me. Stephen King seems to be done blowing up his fictional locale of Castle Rock, Maine, and now he's moved onto my neck of the woods: the Back Bay of Boston. By the end of chapter two, there's already been at least one murder on Boylston Street, a blood-curdling scream in the Boston Common, and a crash of one kind or another on Newbury Street.

Hey, Stephen, this time you're hitting a little bit too close to home. Okay, I'm still planning to buy your book and indulge in reading it from cover to cover at my earliest opportunity. But please, promise me you've left the Boston Public Library alone. Stephen, the BPL is just about a mile away from where the "incident" that launches the action in the rest of your novel takes place. Tell me that the BPL remains intact in your new novel. Please! Tell me. Some things are supposed to be sacred.

When a Library Rebuffs the FBI

Which is greater: the privacy that we enjoy at public libraries or the might of the Federal Bureau of Investigation? The former, if the latter fails to get a search warrant.

Here's the story, which you can read in full at the Boston Herald's Website. A "terrorist" threat was emailed to Brandeis University (in Waltham, Massachusetts) from a computer at the Newton Free Library (Newton, too, is a suburb of Boston).

So the FBI burst into the Newton Free Library and demanded access to the computers, and wanted to lock down the library. The library's director sent them packing until the FBI had obtained a search warrant. By that time, the library was closed for the day and, presumably, all the terrorists had long since gone home.

I'm not sure the library I frequented in my childhood would have dared to turn away a member of the local police department, let alone a Federal agent, for any reason. Then again, when I was a kid, most of the library's patrons were there to read books or periodicals. Computers, as far as I knew, hadn't been invented then, and neither had terrorists.

At least, that's the way it seemed to me.

A Bad Book Idea

Are you an author or a publisher who's in need of a book idea? Here's a topic to not choose: Donald Trump.

Businesswire is running tells the tale of a lawsuit that Donald Trump just filed against the author and publisher of TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald.

And lest you think Mr. Trump is picking on some poor clueless slobs, here's a bit more information you might want. The author is New York Times reporter Timothy L. O'Brien, and the publisher is Warner Books, Inc.

File under: Defamation lawsuits can happen to anyone -- anyone who's misguided enough to mess with The Donald, that is. Name recognition of your own and credibility up the kazoo may not help you when it comes time to face Mr. Trump's wrath in that boardroom more commonly known as civil court.


Technorati Tags: book promotion, book publicity

Here's Another Way to Get the Media's Attention.

A 19-year-old youg man, formerly called Chris Garnett, had his name legally changed to KentuckyFriedCrueltyDotCom. As a member of PETA, he wanted to get some attention for what he believes to be the plight of chickens who encounter the Colonel's organization and wind up on a plate with a side of mashed potatoes, gravy, and probably some cole slaw. You can read about it here.

So how does Ken's bid (yes, some people really do call him Ken) for media attention relate to your book promotion campaign? Granted, Ken isn't promoting a book, but he does know an awful lot about promotion, and the strategies he's used to get the media's attention are certainly worthy of your consideration:

* Get passionate about something.
* Act on your conviction -- in other words, "walk the walk" -- in an unconventional way.
* Let the media know.
* Be prepared to defend your position intelligently when the media calls.

You don't have to be a PETA member, or a KFC detractor, to appreciate the fact that KentuckyFriedCrueltyDotCom is smart about self-promotion. His PR campaign probably hasn't cost him more than the price of legally changing his name and a few postage stamps (unless he's conducting strictly an email media campaign). But look at the results of his promotion campaign, and think about why he's achieving those results. If you were the producer of a national TV show, would you be able to resist the story of 19-year-old Chris Garnett who changed his name to KentuckyFriedCrueltyDotCom?


Technorati Tags: book promotion, book publicity

Off-the-Wall, Fun Books Promote Themselves

If your book is silly, off-beat, or just plain goofy, it may very well attract all the media coverage you can handle. In my experience, media hooks that can serve as foils for tragic, fightening news stories always seem to have a place in newspapers and magazines, and on radio and TV, and online.

For example, check out this Mississippi Press article about a neat book called "How to Meditate with your Dog" by James Jacobson.

I don't live with a dog, and I'm not sure I'd invite one to meditate with me if I did, but still -- I wouldn't mind reading a copy of that book. (And, no, I'm not in the market to meditate with my cats, either.) The book looks clever, and it looks light-hearted, and that's often enough for me, as a book buyer. Apparently, editors and producers feel the same attraction to "cute" topics as the rest of us do enough of the time so that you'll nearly always spot a "fluffy" (no pun intended) news feature or two somewhere on a broadcast or in a publication.

With that in mind, I often try to find an offbeat news angle for a serious (and sometimes even an academic) book that seems to be underwhelming media decisionmakers. If you can figure out how to pitch your book in a just-for-fun or even outrageous way, you might find some media takers who resisted your more straight-on story ideas.

It's worth a try, anyway, if you have a sense of humor and are willing to laugh at yourself. You might find media decisionmakers -- and book buyers -- are willing to laugh with you, too.


Technorati Tags: book promotion, book publicity

Riddle: What's the Worst Way to Promote Your Book?

Answer: The worst way to promote your book is to have Osama bin Laden endorse it.

This story from Salon.com nearly made me lose my Saturday morning breakfast. It seems that, in his latest tape, Osama bin Laden plugged William Blum's book, "Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower."

Now, I have to tell you, Osama bin Laden's book recommendations wouldn't send me scurrying to my favorite bookseller. But apparently, his reading list does hold weight with a whole host of other people, because Blum's book, which ranked No. 205,763 B.O. (Before Osama), stands at #20 as I blog.

Who's buying this book, is what I'd like to know? Second of all, if you can think of a dirtier, more offensive way to promote your book and increase your visibility than to get a terrorist's endorsement, let me know.

On second thought...yuck.


Technorati Tags: book promotion, book publicity

An Unlikely Response to a Story Pitch

I never know what to expect when I pitch a book to the media, so I'm seldom shocked by any individual's responses. But yesterday I received some static for a story pitch that did, indeed, surprise me.

I'd asked the author of a novel that was published by a mainstream New York house for her reaction to the James Frey controversy. Her book, after all, is semi-autobiographical, and she might have chosen to call it a memoir, too -- but she didn't. The author said that she supported Frey and, indeed, if she'd been braver, she might have chosen to call her novel a memoir as well. I included her quotation in a pitch that went out via email to a couple of thousand major book review editors, feature editors, producers, and so forth.

Well, that will teach me.

Almost as soon as I began the email campaign, I received an email from the book editor at one of the top daily U.S. newspapers. The email reads something like this:

"I think you and [the novelist] should pitch this trash to those people Frey has hurt for his own mercenary reasons. Shame on you."

Which leads me to the conclusion that the book editor at this top daily U.S. newspaper disagreed with my client's position. (By the way, I'm paraphrasing the email. When I emailed the reporter this morning to ask for her permission to quote her in this space, she declined to respond. Oh, well.)

Anyway, the reporter's email also has me pondering two questions.

When did it became a shame for one writer to support the right of another writer? And when did I, as a book publicist, become an advocate for my client's position? Last time I checked, I promoted books and disseminated press materials. I did not necessarily endorse the ideas expressed in those books or press materials.

As it happens, I would choose to not represent a book or an author whose work violated my moral code, but that's just my personal style, and I would never inflict that choice on a fellow book promotion specialist. If a liberally-oriented colleague chose to promote a book written by a conservative author, for example, that wouldn't trouble me.

I get troubled when promoting somebody's work or disseminating somebody's message can cause harm to authors. Otherwise, I'm fine about putting ideas out there, for the media's consideration, because that's what my clients engage me to do. I'm not a partner in any of my clients' business ventures or their legal representative. I'm their liason to the media, and with that, I agree with some of their opinions, and I disagree with others -- but I put them all out there for others to judge which, I think, is what a book publicist is supposed to do.

To that anonymous book review editor, I'd like to say this. Thank you for a thought-provoking email. I'm continually amazed by how comfortable media decisionmakers feel clicking the "reply" button on their email software to provide instant feedback -- both positive and negative.


Technorati Tags: book promotion, book publicity

Go, Amazon!

How will Stephen King promote his latest novel (the first in way too long, according to this long-time rabid fan)? On Amazon.com's new TV show!

According to the Los Angeles Times, Bill Maher host a new online TV show (yes, I'm still trying to figure out what that means, too) called -- what else? -- "Amazon Fishbowl With Bill Maher."

King will be among the guests of the first episode of "Fishbowl," and twelve more shows (so far) will follow. He will appear on no other TV shows to promote his book. And UPS will sponser the commercial-free show.

As far as I'm concerned, this is awesome. Amazon's new online TV show may change book promotion forever. I'm so excited that we're along for the ride!

Technorati tags: amazon, amazon.com, stephen king, book promotion, book publicity, online television show, online tv show

Elie Wiesel Needs Oprah's Book Club Like...

Elie Wiesel needs Oprah's book club as much as Leo Tolstoy needs it. Maybe less. I strongly suspect that Mr. Wiesel's memoir about his experiences during World War II would have garnered worldwide interest without Oprah's endorsement, just as Anna Karenina would have maintained its healthy book sales without Oprah's help.

At this point, I'm wondering whether Oprah's book club logo might actually hurt Mr. Wiesel's book, Night, which has supplanted James Frey's A Million Little Pieces as Amazon's number one bestseller.

We all know that the veracity of Frey's book has been called into question. Will Mr. Wiesel's book, which is also a memoir, be similarly scrutinized? Reuters suggests that Oprah has already offered a disclaimer on her Web site that says, essentially, the book might not accurately represent every small detail of Mr. Wiesel's family history, but that it's true enough to be called an autobiography.

Well, then, the book has Oprah's endorsement. Sort of.

But will that endorsement, and the associated disclaimer, just fuel the nonsense of those who demand proof of that which is true? Will Oprah's endorsement of Night delight Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and people of his ilk?

Is this one time when it really would have made sense for an author to turn down Oprah's invitation to join her book club? Perhaps.