Boston Globe reporter speaks out about book reviews

Just read an interesting Boston Globe article, "Internet offers book reviewers a new chapter," by Alex Beam.

In that article, Beam points out that newspapers accept a lot of advertising dollars in their book review sections. Thus, by trimming back (or by eliminating) their book review sections, they're actually sabotaging themselves. I never thought about it that way, but now that I have, I'm curious about why newspapers have been so willing to cut out a section of their publications that, potentially, was a moneymaker for them.

Is it because the switch from paper-based book reviews to Internet-based book reviews is inevitable? Will readers switch their allegiances from, say, the Boston Globe's book review section to the online Barnes and Noble bookstore (BN.com) reviews, regardless of what newspapers want?

In fact, if book reviews are moving to the Net, then can feature stories be far behind? How long will it be before the Boston Globe whacks back all its editorial content in favor of putting it up on its Web site -- perhaps for the benefit of subscribers only?

It's a strange new world, the idea of online book reviews. And yet it's happening all around us. Alex Beam's article suggests to me that there's nothing readers can do to change that. I wonder....

From Tinky Winky to Dumbledore

Note to J.K. Rowling: I don't care about Dumbledore's sexual orientation.

I don't mean that I was sort of busy the day that the huge revelation about Dumbledore's attraction to another male character in the Harry Potter book series appeared everywhere in the media, all at once.

I mean: I don't care. I just really and truly can't get my mind wrapped around the fictional sexual orientation of fictional characters in a fictional world. This is a consistent theme with me. Not only do I not care who the imaginary Dumbledore might have been fictionally attracted to, but I also didn't care which doll the Tinky Winky teletubby would have been attracted to, if he/she/it had been attracted to another teletubby doll.

I similarly don't care much about David Copperfield's sexual orientation although, admittedly, that saga promises to be a bit more interesting -- but only a bit. David Copperfield is an assumed name of a man who makes a living pretending to be able to perform magic, which makes him another fictional character, of sorts, as far as I'm concerned. Need we go into my feelings about Michael Jackson's romantic persuasion? I think not.

Okay, the Harry Potter books have outsold every book you can name since the 1997 release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Good for Rowling.

But, now that the series has been concluded, do I really have to hear the back story of each and every one of the 12 million fictional characters (including the owls and rats and who-knows-what other creatures) that populate Rowling's imaginary world?

Today, we know that Dumbledore is gay. Tomorrow, must we find out that Hermione had acne? Or, perhaps, that Ron needed braces?

Come one. Give me a break. Sometimes, there's such a thing as too much book promotion.

Rowling, could you leave this one alone now? Please?

Jon Keller, Part Two.

In the event that you were waiting at the edge of your seat to learn what Jon Keller's editor had to say about Jon Keller's book, here's part two of the Jon Keller saga. Jon Keller, as you'll recall from yesterday's blog entry, is the Boston-area media personality whose new book, The Bluest State, contains a multitude of quotations that, apparently, are unattributed to the sources from which they were originally appropriated. The Boston Herald broke the story yesterday and followed up on it today.

The Boston Herald (to which Keller frequently contributes, by the way), touched base with Michael Flamini who edited The Bluest State for St. Martin's Press. Flamini is quoted as saying (I'm psraphrasing here) that, since Keller's book is for the trade rather than the academic press, it doesn't need footnotes or a meticulous bibliography.

Well, then.

Equally frightening to this book publicist is the fact that Jeff Kiernan, the news director at WBZ-TV -- one of the two Boston-area television stations for which Jon Keller is a political analyst -- says (and here I'm quoting the Boston Herald article) that he has "full confidence in Jon’s integrity and in the excellent work he does.”

Unfortunately for those of us who receive at least some of our information on a daily basis from Boston-area media outlets, Kiernan doesn't explain why he has full confidence in Jon Keller or what, exactly, he means by the word "integrity." Perhaps the Boston Herald truncated Kiernan's comments. If so, then I would appreciate hearing the rest of what Kiernan had to say, and I trust other media consumers would be interested as well.

For the entire Boston Herald article, click here.

Oh, and to conclude the tale about the middle schooler I mentioned yesterday who failed to footnote that encyclopedia entry in her seventh grade homework assignment.... She was given a consequence. She was asked to pen an admission of guilt (for committing the p-word offense) along with an apology to both her classroom teacher and the principal of her school. And she did, and as a result, that young woman will remember to include footnotes in all of her future homework assignments for a long time to come.

This youngster was in middle school. She now knows better than to leave herself open to the charge of plagarism.

How interesting it is to me that some professional journalists out there haven't learned that lesson yet.

The type of book promotion nobody wants.

As an author, you're hungry for media attention...but not the type that political analyst Jon Keller received from the Boston Herald today. According to the Boston Herald, Keller may have used without attribution quotations from a variety of print sources in his new book, The Bluest State.

Keller is a high visibility media personality in the Boston area. He has a regular gig as a political commentator on television and radio, and he's a regular contributor -- interestingly enough -- to the very publication that just outed him as a potential, well, borrower of quotations without attribution.

I hesitate to use the p-word, but that's the word that was used to describe the act of a middle school child I know who once used an encyclopedia entry to round out a homework assignment and failed to footnote that source at the bottom of her seventh-grade paper. That child came home from school crying. Jon Keller? Well, I don't know what his response to the Boston Herald's allegations are, because the paper didn't print his response.

But here's what I couldn't help but notice. To date, Keller's book (which, by the way, was published by St. Martin’s Press) has sold about 2,000 copies. That's a fair number of books for an unknown, first-time author. (Well, okay, it's not a fair number of books for anyone -- but it does at least represent the first printing of a cash-strapped publisher with very modest expectations for an unknown, first-time author.) It's less impressive a number when you consider the fact that Jon Keller is everywhere, all the time, including in many venues that have given him airtime and space to promote his book.

Everyone wants book promotion opportunities. And everyone presumes that all book promotion is good, and all media attention -- good or bad -- will eventually lead to book sales. That's what book publicists hope, too. Generally speaking.

In this case, though, we may be finding that sometimes authors get exactly what they deserve.

Doris Lessing has a MySpace page. Do you?

Doris Lessing has something you may not have. Yes, yes, Doris Lessing has a Nobel Prize in literature, but that's not what I was talking about. Doris Lessing has something far more impressive than a Nobel Prize (shoot -- any author can get one of those if, say, that author generates one of the world's most noteworthy bodies of literary work over the course of her lifetime).

Doris Lessing has a MySpace page.

The New York Times broke the news to me with this article.

Doris Lessing, at age 87, "gets it." Or, at least, she understands that she doesn't "get it," so she's partnered with somebody who does -- and she has 240 MySpace "friends" -- and counting -- to show for it.

Now here's a literary genius who probably wouldn't know an email account from an iPod. Yet she's taken the advice of a technically-savvy admirer, Jan Hanford, and developed a Web site as well as a MySpace page where fans can connect with her, express their admiration of her work, find out about future projects, and so forth. It's especially wonderful to think that Lessing found her way to Cyberpace and the world of online book marketing when you consider the fact that her publisher, HarperCollins, wasn't in on the deal. In fact, according to the NYT, Lessing's adventures in social network were "news to the HarperCollins online marketing manager, Jeffrey Yamaguchi."

Social networking is similar to blogging in that, while it seems to create online buzz "somehow," few of us over the age of 21 have a firm grasp of how, exactly, it works. But that's okay. As Doris Lessing has demonstrated, understanding the mechanism behind cyberspace community building isn't the point.

Partnering with someone who "gets it" is the point. Suspending disbelief, getting creative, and taking the plunge...that's the path to creating online buzz for your book. And, come to think of it, it's probably at least part of the blueprint Lessing would endorse for scoring a Nobel Prize in literature, too.

The Charles Adler Book Club

Every author wants to score a national television show appearance. But can national radio shows have a major effect on book sales? Yes, and perhaps that's truer now than it ever was before. The first radio-based book club (that this book publicist has heard of, anyway) has been launched. Corus Radio and the Penguin Group are working together to launch the Charles Adler Book Club. Click here to find out more.

The book club will focus solely on fiction, as do the major TV book clubs. But that's okay. For a novelist, it's a dream-come-true for a book club to select his or her work. Nonfiction authors have so many other book promotion opportunities. Experts can be interviewed in the national media because they're experts, and finding an interesting media hook is frequently a matter of time, experience, and luck. But, for novelists, snagging a book promotion opportunity in the national media can be far more difficult -- even if the novelist is established and well known.

If the Charles Adler Book Club takes off, perhaps other influential radio shows will decide to launch competing book clubs, too. This could be the start of a beautiful new book promotion possibility....

Some good news!

Congratulations to my client, Jeremy Haft. He appeared on CNBC-TV's "Squawk on the Street" on Friday and had a chance to plug his Penguin/Portfolio book, All the Tea in China. Go, Jeremy!

And, also on Friday, a producer from the Rachael Ray's nationally syndicated TV show called to request a copy of Debra Fine's book, The Fine Art of Small Talk. Yay! It would be a natural fit. Debra has a new book coming out in a few months, and I'm hoping she'll have an opportunity to plug both books -- her upcoming book and her "classic" book, on the show. More later on that book promotion opportunity, if it develops....

In the meantime, who said that book promotion sleeps on Fridays? That's not always true....

And we need this...why?

A radio network aimed specifically at Boston's mass transit riders is about to be launched. Major train hubs in the city (well, in what we Massachusetts types call the city -- in New York, I realize that "the city" has a whole other connotation) will air news, music, weather reports, and more on T-Radio. And, if riders are enthusiastic about the pilot program, the concept will spread to other subway stations throughout Massachusetts, and all riders throughout the system will get to listen to a prescribed radio station for the duration of their commute.

And we need this ... why?

I was a Red Line rider for years, and one thing I always managed to do during my commute was to entertain myself. How did I do this? I read books! Don't gasp. It's true. I did read books. And, if I was looking for additional diversions, there was always a street musician available to entertain me (Tracy Chapman, it should be pointed out, honed her singing skills by performing for the masses at subway stops in the Boston area).

I'm not sure what T-Radio will do to the popularity of the free newspaper that subway riders can pick up and peruse during their rides around Boston. I'm also unsure about whether T-Radio will cut into book sales in the near future. (Who knows? Maybe T-Radio will even turn out to be a book promotion venue if author interviews are included as in their "entertainment features.")

Still ... given a choice between having to listen to a radio station during my commute to the city, and being able to read a book (or newspaper) of my choosing, I'd have to go with the written word. Yes, I'm biased, because I make a living in an industry that relies on book sales, and I'd probably be flipping burgers at a fast-food restaurant if book sales were seriously diminished.

However ... T-Radio in place of street musicians? T-Radio instead of books? T-Radio as a substitute for meeting someone who's sitting next to you and makes a friendly comment or witty observation?

No, thanks. I'll stick with entertaining myself on the T. I think other subway riders will figure out how to entertain themselves, too, even if -- in the "worst-case scenario" -- T-Radio doesn't quite work out as planned and commuters must fall back on their own resources once again.

In other Oprah Winfrey news....

In other Oprah Winfrey news:

NBC Universal has just committed to buying the Oxygen television network that Oprah founded. The selling price? About $925 million.

Here's the story.

Seems to me that, the more television networks we have, the fewer entities that own them. The same is true for radio stations, newspapers, and magazines.

So what does all this consolidation mean for book promotion possibilities?

Well, on the positive side, bigger is better. The tiny cable TV show that wasn't worth appearing on hardly exists anymore...and, maybe, it won't exist in the very near future. When the big media conglomerates finish their shopping sprees, even the humblest media outlets will have the largest potential audience that technology -- and money -- can buy. An appearance on any media outlet is going to be a book promotion bonanza. There won't be any such thing as only appearing on the Oxygen Network in a very short time. Which "insignificant" media outlet is next?

On the negative side, if your book's message or theme is idiosyncratic, ahead of its time, subversive, or just plain unpopular -- watch out. Unless your book appeals to the masses, it's going to get increasingly difficult to find book promotion opportunities for it, unless you figure out how to spin your story so that the media decision makers see it as mainstream.

But...back to the sale of the Oxygen Network. And that $925 million. What is $925 million, anyway? Are there any book publishing profesionals out there who are making anywhere in the neighborhood of that kind of money? Oh, well. We can only dream....

The most obvious, simplest book promotion trick.

If you're an as-yet-unknown author, sometimes you'll go to extraordinary lengths to score a book promotion opportunity or two. Successful authors, too, sometimes have to struggle to compete for the traditional media's limited space and airtime.

Let's face it. How many authors do you know who have all the book promotion opportunities they could possibly hope for? Not many ... so it never hurts to be reminded of an easy book promotion secret.

The secret works as well for veteran authors as it does for first-time authors. It's so obvious that you've known it all along, but I was just reminded of it, so I thought I'd share it with you while it's on my mind.

Be gracious. Charm people, and they'll make a special effort to tell their friends and relatives, "Buy so and so's book! You'll love it!" How do you do that? It's not rocket science. If a reader emails you to say something positive, hit the reply button and craft a warm, heartfelt response. If a reporter interviews you, send him or her a personal thank-you note. It makes a difference: people who work in the media are always telling me that they don't receive thank-you notes often enough, and it makes their day when they do get one.

What brought that to mind was that, a couple of days ago, I started a book review blog (more about that another time, when I've added more content to it and I have some bragging rights to a more robust book review venue). I was inspired to start the blog by a novel I'd just bought by Mark Childress, with whom I'd been smitten since I found Crazy in Alabama (which, for my money, is one of the funniest and most poignant books about Southern life that I've ever read). His latest book, One Mississippi, was calling out to me at Barnes and Noble. So I bought it, inhaled it (the way you'll inhale a book you love), and blogged about it. Then, because it was the first book review I'd penned for my new blog, I found an email address for Mark Childress on his Web site and emailed him a copy of the book review.

And what do you know? I just received a gracious, witty response from an author who didn't need my review, but was delighted to connect with someone who'd taken the time to write it, anyway. How cool is that -- to receive an email from a favorite writer who wasn't thinking about the promotional value of that email. He was just being a nice guy.

Many famous novelists (and not-so-famous authors) wouldn't have taken the time to write. (In fact, many relatives wouldn't have taken the time to write, but that's a whole other story.) And I'm sure Mark Childress had no ulterior motive in mind when he responded to my email -- nice people don't need any special motivation to be nice. But ... you know what? If Mark emails every fan who emails him with the same warmth that he just exhibited, and if he sends a thank-you note to every reporter who takes the time to interview him, and if he smiles at everyone in the bookstore who's flipping through a copy of his book -- he'll be rewarded.

You can't buy the word-of-mouth you'll gain from just being a good soul. But, surprisingly, the simplest book promotion "trick" is probably the one that fewest authors are inclined to employ. They overlook it because it's too simple and too obvious --- and, perhaps, too time-consuming. What a pity.

Oh, yeah. And please snag a copy of One Mississippi at your earliest convenience. You will love it, and you'll be reminded of what it was you loved about books all along.

The public speaks about book promotion.

What does the public have to say about which books receive their share of book promotion opportunities, and which books languish in obscurity? Well, in this age of social networking, the public might just be the final decision-maker of what's worthy of potential book buyers' time and attention, and what's unworthy.

I can Digg it. Sort of.

Well, here's the news of the day. MSBNC.com has just acquired a journalism-by-committee Web site called Newsvine. That brings to the book promotion table terms and concepts such as "citizen journalism," "social media," and "non-professional reporting." Here's MSNBC.com's brag about their new partner, Newsvine, and all that their partnership will contribute to the democratizing of news coverage.

This could be seriously good news for unknown authors who are launching, or who are about to launch, book promotion campaigns. I mean, with potential buyers getting involved with social networking sites -- some of which have gone terribly mainstream in recent months, there's more of a chance that your book will come to the attention of your potential readers even if you don't land an appearance on a major television show. All you have to do is create Internet buzz, and your book is on its way.

On the other hand, for unknown authors who are over the age of, say, 20, all of the social networking skills necessary to create Internet buzz are about as simple to acquire as, say, the ability to perform "Swan Lake" while wearing cement-filled sneakers and a down-filled parka -- underwater.

Ah, well. It's a strange, new world. Anyone who wants to play in the new arena of book promotion would do well to learn its ins-and-outs, despite the fact that the rules seem to change every second, on the second.

I'm up for it. And you?

Oops! She picked it again!

Oprah's Book Club strikes again. Yes. Once again, the good folks at the Oprah Winfrey Show decided to choose a book that didn't need any more publicity with its book club logo. The offering? Love in the Time of Cholera. Granted, it's a nice, cheerful title (as usual), and will certainly provide Oprah fans with hours of light entertainment (which is what we've all come to expect of Oprah Book Club selections).

But why doesn't Oprah choose fresh, new authors who could benefit from the book promotion that her endorsement would provide? Why doesn't Oprah choose to introduce her audience to books they wouldn't hear about, if it weren't for Oprah's recommendation?

In days of yore, Oprah's book club catapulted unknown authors -- say, Jacquelyn Mitchard -- to the top of bestseller lists. (Remember The Deep End of the Ocean? That was worthy of Oprah's magic book club logo, and many of us wouldn't have had the pleasure of discovering it if Oprah Winfrey hadn't pointed the way to it.)

But Gabriel Garcia Marque, the latest recipient of Oprah's endorsement, won the 1982 Nobel Prize for literature, for pity's sake! He's already a luminary in the literary world. Why does he need the visibility that Oprah Winfrey's book club offers? Well, for the same reason that Tolstoy, Pearl S. Buck, and John Steinbeck needed it, I suppose.

But just once ... just once! ... I wish Oprah and her book-loving staff would harken back to their beginnings find a wonderful, budding novelist whose work is worthy of our notice, and whom we haven't yet discovered for ourselves, and that they'd grace that novelist with all the book promotion potential that her book club logo would provide. I know a book publicist or two who would help Oprah's producers find these gems.

Audio Book as Book Promotion Tool?

Would you buy a book after you've listened to the audio version of it? Stephen Colbert seems to think you will. He's selling an audiobook version of I Am America (And So Can You!) as a book promotion vehicle. In other words, he's hoping that people who pay $17.49 to download his audiobook from Audible.com will be so enchanted with the book that they'll spring for an actual copy of it ($16.19 for a new copy at Amazon.com).

Hmmm.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to confess that I'm not a huge fan of audiobooks. But, if I wanted to use an audiobook as a book promotion vehicle, I'd probably want to give the audiobook away at a discounted price. Yes, I know that audiobooks usually cost more than their hard copy counterparts. But if your goal is to sell the hard copies and the audio copies of your book, then something has to give. Are you really expecting your potential readers to be so enamored with your book that they'll pay for it -- twice?

Well, maybe Stephen Colbert can expect that of his fans. But for the rest of us? I think I'd stick to other book promotion vehicles, such as media appearances and blogging, and keep readers purchasing hard copies of the book.

Blogging for Book Promotion

Here's one of the best articles I've seen on how to promote your book by using a blog. It's key message is that you should create a blog as a first step in every book promotion campaign, which is what I've been saying since the advent of blogs. People read blogs, and search engines love blogs. If you want people to hear about your book, and you want Google to recognize your book...yes...create a blog for it.

If you want some guidance on how to create a blog for your book, you might check out an ebook called Blog Your Book to the Top. At $29.95, it could be a worthwhile investment and give you some ideas to launch your online book promotion campaign. Disclaimer: I haven't yet read the book, but it's on my list of reference materials to get to "in my spare time."

Blogging for book promotion...it's not as sexy as getting a call from Oprah Winfrey's producer, but every little thing you do to promote your book adds up. So why not give it a try?

Why crime pays and presents a book promotion opportunity

Nearly anything can be a book promotion opportunity. A longtime fugitive from justice (and, allegedly a mass murderer) named Whitey Bulger may have been spotted, and photographed, in Italy.

The Boston Herald boasts a columnist by the name of Howie Carr who apparently once got on the wrong side of Whitey Bulger and his gang, and as a result, was threatened by them with bodily harm. Which would tend to make one like Carr, except I don't know very many Bostonians who can stand him (his arrogance and intolerance for everyone and everything shine through every one of his Boston Herald columns), but that's a whole other story. Anyway, it turns out that Carr wrote a book about Bulger called The Brothers Bulger (for those of you who live outside of New England -- yes, Whitey Bulger is one of several siblings, although he seems to be the only brother who was overtly involved in organized crime).

Today's Herald printed a Howie Carr column that talked about the potential Whitey Bulger siting in Italy and...yes. You guessed it. Howie Carr managed to mention his book twice in his column. Both times, he got in there the complete title of the book.

The column closes with a conversation that Carr had with someone who had heard that Bulger may have been spotted in Italy. Carr's conclusion: "I hope he’s right. Think of my book sales."

Yes. Nearly anything -- even the potential capture of a mobster who has been on the F.B.I's Most Wanted List for years -- can be turned into a book promotion opportunity. I'm glad that Howie Carr sees this thug's potential capture as his big break.

To others, Bulger's capture would mean that he can finally be tried and, hopefully, convicted of multiple murders and terrorizing on of Boston's neighborhoods. To Carr, Bulger's capture would mean that book sales would soar.

Hmmm.

Book Promotion via Blog Tours

Do you want some quick and easy visibility for your book? Ask bloggers to provide it.

Yes, blog tours represent a book promotion opportunity that most authors, publishers, and book publicists have known about for awhile. But now blog tours have made it into the mainstream press. The New York Times published an article about Amy Cohen's blog tour for her book, The Late Bloomer’s Revolution.

A Times-reading colleague sent me a link to this article and asked, "Yes, but how do they do this?"

It isn't rocket science. To arrange a blog tour, you contact bloggers and request that they review your book (or publish a Q&A, or that they come up with their own idea for featuring your book). How do you find bloggers? Use a blog search engine. Technorati's blog search engine gets all the press, but I prefer Google's. Make a list of prospects, draft your pitch, and then start making those overtures.

Arranging a blog tour isn't as easy as, say, buying a media list, and sending out your media kit and book to everyone on it. There don't seem to be an prefabricated list of bloggers who might participate in blog tours. There hardly could be, given the fact that most books would need to be promoted on blogs that are narrowly focused on a particular topic and reach small numbers of highly targeted readers.

Nonetheless, arranging a blog tour is worthwhile. Even the New York Times says so!

Well, at least Barnes and Noble has a good reason for its reversal.

Barnes and Noble has decided to stock the O.J. Simpson book, If I Did It, which is now owned by Fred Goldman because "enough customers have expressed interest in buying the book to warrant stocking it in our stores."

At least Barnes and Noble isn't making an arbitrary decision. The bookstore chain has clearly thought this through.

That makes it okay.

Bye, Bye P.O.D. Stigma

Sorry about the informal title of this post, but -- dang! -- I heard Don McLean's song, "American Pie," a few hours ago, and I haven't been able to get rid of that earworm ever since. Oh, well, there are bigger challenges in life than earworms, although I can't think of very many at the moment.

While my head was wrapped around Don McLean, I decided to look him up on the Net and see what he was up to these days. And, much to my delight, I discovered that he's just used a P.O.D. publisher (Lulu.com) to release an autobiography -- well, sort of an autobiography. Actually, technically, it's a biography. The Don McLean Story: Killing Us Softly With His Song (it seems McLean was the inspiration for Roberta Flack's song, "Killing Me Softly" -- who knew?) was actually written by Alan Howard, but McLean claims the book tells his (McLean's) side of the story. You can read all about the book at MaineCoastNow.com.

No, it's not a review in Publishers Weekly or Library Journal. Maybe the mainstream book reviewers will avoid Don McLean's life story, even though it is Don McLean's life story, because it has been released by a P.O.D. publisher. Maybe, to that degree, McLean's book promotion potential is limited.

But you know what? This is Don McLean we're talking about. I can't think of a newspaper or magazine in the country that wouldn't mention the book as part of a feature/lifestyle/entertainment story, and I can't imagine a radio or television show that would turn down the opportunity to do an interview with this particular personality and let him promote his book.

It's always wonderful to see "name brands" such as McLean (and, yes, even Amy Fisher, although I'm sorry to use those two names in the same sentence) choose to publish through a company such as Lulu.com. Each time that happens, the old P.O.D. stigma gets more and more difficult to justify. I, for one, would like to see it fade away completely, and I'd like to see all members of the media offer the same book promotion opportunities to P.O.D.-published books that they do to mainstream-published books.

One day, perhaps, that will happen. For now...does anyone know how to get rid of an earworm? I love Don McLean dearly, but after listening to him sing his trademark song in my head for the last five hours or so, I am ready for a change. Perhaps I can just switch tunes. No! No! Not that! Starry, starry night.... No! No! No!

Hold onto book publicity interview information!

When you're in the middle of a book promotion campaign, every interview opportunity is precious. Make sure to capture the details of every book promotion interview you have planned, and then have a backup of that information in another place, and then -- for real security -- back up that information again, in some other way.

The book promotion interview will probably go on, as planned. The interviewer probably has your phone number, and he or she will probably call at the appointed time, on the agreed-upon date. But you know what? Sometimes, not so much. That's why you have to take careful note of the name of the interview, and how you can contact him/her in the event that you need to. When you're scheduling the interview, or your book publicist is scheduling the interview, ask for a backup line (explain that you'll be using it for "Plan B," just in case there's a mixup the day of the interview). Then write down that information so you'll have a hard copy of it. Compose an email with that information, and send it to yourself. Type the information into the calendar section of your email client, and into any online calendars you might use. Write it down in your appointment book....

You get the picture. Make sure to memorialize the details of the interview, and then make sure you have as many copies of that information as you'll need to ensure that, if you should need it, you'll have it.

And don't expect your book publicist to act as your only repository of this information. Book publcists are human. We do our best to hold onto information, but our computers crash. We misplace things. We try not to, but it happens. And even a theoretically perfect book publicist has to heed the call of nature (or take the calls of other clients) sometimes.

Therefore, when you get the information about the book promotion opportunity, capture it, and guard it carefully. Don't count on somebody else, however well intentioned, to do it for you. It's your book promotion campaign, and you can keep it on course by being the best data keeper imaginable.

Will ignorance save books?

Sometimes, this book publicist questions the scientific method. Take the example of according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll that was released yesterday. It claims that Americans are reading fewer books than ever before. Well, okay. We've been hearing that Americans' interest books has been diminishing every year since I was old enough to read.

That sort of reminds me of a friend's mother who, whenever I run into her, greets me with, "Oh, you've lost so much weight!" If I'd lost weight every time she said I did, then I'd long since be buried. But I digress.

Here's what interests me. It's the paradox that less educated people read more books than, well, better educated people. (After rereading that sentence, I'm not sure which camp I fall into, but I'll nonethess keep going. Please bear with me.)

See, according to the survey, two-thirds of the population (or, at least, the surveyed population) read religiously-oriented books when they read books at all. And, to quote from the Associated Press article about the survey, that subset of the population includes "...lower earners, minorities, lesser educated people, Southerners, rural residents, Republicans and conservatives."

Hmmm. Okay. So, according to this survey, book publicists ought to think about gearing their book promotion campaigns to those Americans who are ill-educated enough actually read books. I can handle that.

I'm just wondering: is there any way we could do this survey over again? This time, I'd like to see the survey questions. First on my list of hoped-for questions would be, "Which Harry Potter book do you think was the best of the series?" Because I don't know a person who hasn't read, or doesn't plan to read, at least a few books lately. People I know may not admit to being Rowling's fans, but my guess is that, while their kids are asleep, they're dipping into Potter #7, regardless of what they're telling those AP-Ipsos pollsters. I'll bet you they are. I'll betcha ANYTHING!

No book promotion by Borders.

According to an Associated Press story, Borders Group Inc. will be carrying If I Did It, the abomination written by a ghostwriter for O.J. Simpson. Borders, however, won't be promoting the book.

The real hero, for my money, is Barnes and Noble which just announced that it will be neither stocking nor promoting Simpson's (well, actually, Fred Goldman's) book. Apparently, they don't want to dirty their bookshelves with this hurtful trash. And I deeply respect, and admire, their decision.

Way to go, Barnes and Noble. And a secondary nod in the direction of Borders. At least, as you say, you won't be actively promoting the book. We won't be seeing Fred Goldman or, worse, O.J. Simpson at a book signing at any of your stores.

At this point, I'm grateful for small favors.

Instant book promotion

Want some instant book promotion opportunities for your next title? Then get it published by the new house that's opening up at -- New York City's Bellevue Hospital.

That's a possibility because the Bellevue Literary Press opened its doors in the spring of 2007. Nope, I couldn't make up something like that. Well, okay, I could, but the proof that I didn't is here.

As I think about potential headlines for this publisher's hypothetical press releases ("Readers Are Insane for This Title" and "Publisher Goes Crazy Trying to Keep Up With the Demand"), it occurs to me that a place like Bellevue is an ironic venue for a new publishing company. Yes, its locale with generate instant book promotion opportunities for its titles, and yes, the media will have a joyful time of it, playing with gleefully insensitive story angles and irreverent headlines. But, in an ecomomic climate where you almost do have to be certifiably nuts to decide to launch a publishing company, is this book publicity dream-come-true going to sell enough books to keep this company in the black, or will the publishing executives be ready for straitjackets within another season or two?

You can't say there aren't any surprises, or any book promotion opportunities, left in the world of book publishing! Stay tuned for further developments from Bellevue, and beyond.

Here's the good news.

As an author, publisher, or book publicist -- or perhaps all three -- you're a charter member of the book publishing industry. You have a bit of power in your hands. You can use that power wisely or unwisely, and sometimes, good people do both. (The latter, we hope, they do inadvertently.)

We'd all like our balance sheet to be positive, at the end of the day. We'd like our good deeds to vastly outweigh our bad deeds.

The good news for all of us who sometimes fail is this: regardless of how we mess up, we will never, ever do anything more hurtful than to publish O.J. Simpson's confession to a double murder. Nor will we ever tape an interview in which we try to justify ourselves.

If this interview makes you ashamed to be a part of the publishing industry, take a deep breath. I share your feelings. I just celebrate the fact that choices of this sort are seldom made by people in our industry and that this is an anomaly. Hopefully, we'll never see anything like it again in our lifetimes.

Don Imus? Back again?

I fervently hope Don Imus stays off the airwaves. Here's a news story from MSNBC.com that seems to indicate that Imus might return to do his show.

To any authors and publishers who are grinning right now about the potential of pitching the new (and, undoubtedly, not-improved) "Don Imus Show" as part of future book promotion campaigns, this book publicist has just one question to ask: haven't you moved on yet?

Don Imus is soooo over. Book promotion opportunities remain (trust me -- they do), but Imus's insults and epithets are gone.

Can't we leave well enough alone?

Natalie Jacobson

For anyone who's been watching television in the Boston area for the past 35 years, Natalie Jacobson's final WCVB-TV newscast last night was bittersweet. New England is losing a familiar, trusted face on its nightly newscast.

But, on the positive side, Natalie Jacobson -- as all the journalists have pointed out -- retained her grace, credibility, and charisma to the last phoneme of her final world on her last local television news broadcast. She didn't go into details about Lindsay Lohan's post-rehab plans or about Paris Hilton's post-prison earning potential. No. She talked about the news and then said a quiet, understated, heartfelt goodbye.

Natalie Jacobson's familiarity and predictability has meant more to me than I understood until it struck me that she'd no longer be there, reporting the news, and helping me to understand what was happening in my world, night after night. Natalie, I'll miss you. Have you ever thought about writing a biography? If so, I know a local book publicist who might give you some book promotion tips.

New Book Promotion Strategies Level the Playing Field

In a recent American Chronicle article, publisher Valerie Connelly raises a good point. With so many books out there -- 80,000 more books were published in 2006 than were published in 2005 -- it's growing more and more difficult for authors to get their books noticed.

For a mainstream publisher, getting media attention for a new title can be as easy as saying, "We're behind this book. Interview the author, please."

Authors who have enjoyed relationships with major publishers know this good fortune only accrues to A-list authors. The rest of the authors whose books are published by even the most prestigious houses have to wait in the line like everyone else for the media's attention. It doesn't help you to have a huge publishing brand name stamped on your book if you're not one of that publisher's favored authors.

Authors who are working with small- to mid-sized publishers, or whose work is self-published, can't topple Rowlings from her perch while Harry Potter is everywhere -- in movie theaters and in every nook and cranny of the media -- all at the same time. Regular authors won't get the media attention that Rowlings is enjoying using traditional book promotion techniques alone. So what are they to do?

News hooks. That's this book publicist's trick of the trade. Find news hooks in what you've written. If you're in the process of writing -- and this applies to whatever you're writing, whether it's fiction or nonfiction -- build news hooks into your book.

You'll be able to promote yourself, as an expert, in connection to news stories using cutting-edge book promotion techniques and tried-and-true book promotion strategies. The twist is that, instead of setting your book up to compete against other books, you're setting yourself up as an expert who doesn't even have to compete against other experts. After all, you're the expert! That makes book promotion a snap -- as long as you find, or build in that news hook, and as long as the media believes that what you're calling news is, indeed, topical and worthy of media attention.

Book Promotion and July 4

Yes, it's a holiday week. Everyone seems to be taking some days off to celebrate July Fourth, and this might not be the most productive time to put forth book promotion efforts.

Still...there are all sorts of book promotion activities that you can engage in that do not depend on real humans being at the other end of their email accounts or telephones. Those are the book promoton activties that this book publicist will engage in this week. Those book promotion activities include, but aren't limited to: lining up book blog tours and publishing book promotion press releases online.

So...if everyone seems to be off for July Fourth, but you're still working, know that there's plenty that you could be doing to promote your book. What are you just sitting around staring at your monitor for?

technorati claim

Technorati Profile

Why should you care about search engine placement?

You've written a book, and you're launching a book promotion campaign. You want to be on "Oprah," in Family Circle, and you want the Associated Press wire to run a story on your book. Plus, you want to do twenty or so major market radio shows in your spare time. That would make for the perfect book promotion campaign.

Sure, you have a Web site, but you don't really see that as an integral part of your book promotion campaign. So why should you care about its placement in search engines?

An WashingtonPost.com article, reprinted by MSNBC.com, called Calling in pros to refine your Google image: Search engine has given rise to the online identity management industry offers a persuasive argument that, if you don't control what search engines "see," then others will control it. The Web sites and blogs of your competitors and, if you have them, your detractors will show up in the search engines, and they'll never go away unless positive news about your book and you -- the news you generate yourself -- push them out of the top of the search engines' rankings.

Spin control, these days, means making sure Web surfers see what you want them to see. It means getting visibility for your Web site, and making sure that your visibility stays optimized for the Web. You may not be able to get others to delete their mean-spirited contributions to the Internet, but you can make sure that you balance their views with a positive portrayal of who you are, how you treat others, and what you have to offer.

By all means, focus on your book promotion campaign. Just make sure that part of your book promotion campaign is focusing on your Web site -- creating it, maintaining it, promoting it, and optimizing it for search engine placement.

A Saturday Treat

This afternoon, when I heard the mail truck roll by, I happened to be gardening. (I call it gardening. Some might call it the legalized torture of hapless flowering plants, but that's another story.) Anyway, I chased the truck like a puppy to retrieve my mail a few moments before the delivery guy would have put it into my mailbox. (Saturdays in the New England summertime can be laid-back and lazy.)

What did the delivery guy hand me? Among other non-bills (somehow, bills never get delivered on Saturdays in the summertime), he gave me a promising manila envelope addressed to -- one of my clients. Hmmm. Well, it's the book publicist's perogative to open such envelopes(particularly, when the return address lets her know that the envelope is from Going Bonkers magazine).

A package addressed to Deborah Collins Stephens from Going Bonkers magazine? That's fun! I thumbed through the magazine and, indeed, found her bylined article, "Dealing with Life's Unexpected Turns: 7 Ways to Keep Your Head Above Water During Difficult Times," on page 43. Great article, and a great placement for it (her byline mentions her book, This Is Not the Life I Ordered: 50 Ways to Keep Your Head Above Water When Life Keeps Dragging You Down and her Website, www.ThisIsNotTheLifeIOrdered.com"

But here was my real Saturday treat. I continued to thumb through the magazine, and on page 58, I found another client's bylined article. It's called "Bing Eating Disorder: Are You at Risk," and, again, the byline references Trisha Gura's book, Lying in Weight: the Hidden Epidemic of Eating Disorders in Adult Women. Lucky Dr. Gura: the byline also cites her publisher, Harper Collins, the book's publication date, and her Web site, www.trishagura.com.

Two clients, two bylned articles, great book promotion opportunities, and nice, breezy July hours to spend outside messing around with a spade and pulling weeds. That's what I call a Saturday treat. Of course, the biggest treat is yet to come: emailing Deborah and Trisha, and letting them know their bylined articles have been published!

Are you using video for book promotion?

Are you using videos, such as multimedia book presenters, as part of your book promotion campaign? One of my favorite vendors for multimedia book presenters, by the way, is AuthorBytes, which designs sites for many of my clients and a whole host of bestselling authors, fiction and nonfiction, whose names you'll recognize.

Anyway, if you are using multimedia book presenters or video of any kind as part of your book promotion campaign, you'll want your book publicist to send the links to media contacts. In addition, you've already thought of using YouTube (along with your own Web site) to house your video. But you may be wondering: where else should I upload my video?

The answer, according to a WebProNews article, is that, once you've uploaded your site to YouTube, you can consider your task done. At least for now, YouTube has crushed the competition. Its videos show up ahead of every other site's videos in the search engines, so if you want to upload your video to the place that most people will go to by default, that place is YouTube.

At least until the next big video site comes along.

Book promotion or overexposure?

Do book excerpts in newspapers and magazines whet the public's appetite for a book, or does it discourage people from buying the book because they've already heard its message?

That's the question posed by the United Kingdom's Press Gazette. In a recent article called "U.S. newspapers thinking twice about book extracts," the columnist postulates: "There is a growing fear that some readers might feel they have had their fill and never bother to buy the book." Perhaps publishers should turn their attention away from excerpts and toward broadcast media interviews, the article goes on to suggest.

Well, I would agree and disagree with that strategy. I agree that book excerpts might deter people from actually buying the book, but I worry that advance broadcast publicity can do the same.

While it's true that book excerpts (which are amazingly hard to score, by the way, unless you're a known author or writing about a newsworthy topic) may "spill all the secrets" and leave readers with no reason to buy a copy of the book, broadcast media interviews have the same potential drawback. If potential book buyers already know what the author has to say -- and if potential book buyers have already read it or, have heard the author say it -- then perhaps those potential book buyers are going to be investing their book buying dollars elsewhere. Why not buy a book that you haven't already dipped into, rather than get a longer, more drawn-out version of the book you've already had a chance to get a snapshot of? Attention spans being what they are, maybe too many book buyers only skim the book, anyway, or flip through the book to get the gist of it. Why offer readers a snapshot of the book via an excerpt, or a television or radio interview, if a snapshot of the book is likely to satisfy the readers' underwhelming appetite for that topic?

There's also the problem of book buyers' short memories and desire to hold onto hard-earned cash. We all have a lot on our minds. What are the odds that someone who's really, really interested in buying a book in June will remember to buy that book when it's published in September? Slim. What are the chances that someone will preorder a book in June, and pay for it in June, knowing that the book won't ship until September? Slimmer.

So, as a book publicist, I prefer to have my clients hold onto their book's main messages until the book is available. That means holding off on interviews related to the book's core messages until the book is available, and the book promotion campaign can begin in earnest.

However, there are some things an author can do ahead of time that don't present a risk of overexposing a book before it's available. They include creating a Web site for the book, and focusing on creating online buzz for that Web site; building an online community so that people visit that Web site again and again (and stick around on that Web site for a long period of time during each visit); and using promotional techniques such as bylined article placement campaigns that will bring visitors to that Web site. All of that can be done before the book's publication date without taking a chance that you'll "shoot your wad" too soon or turn off potential buyers for your book by giving them all the information they want without asking them to pay for it.

So, if you're on a limited book promotion budget and can't afford to approach the major publications about excerpting your book, don't feel guilty. The book promotion strategy you can't afford may be counterproductive, anyway. Focus on doing what you can to bring visitors -- and potential future book buyers -- to your Web site for now, and begin the book promotion campaign when your book is available and can benefit from media attention.

Breaking news from nowhere.

Imagine this. You're in the middle of a book promotion campaign. You've been lucky enough to score a live national radio interview. You're about to go n the air. And then -- out of nowhere -- there's a breaking news story, and your interview has been bumped to make way for the story that every media outlet needs to cover.

Yes. Paris Hilton has been released from jail -- during your big moment.

Anyone who's in the middle of a book promotion campaign today and has been forced to reschedule an interview has my sympathy. It's one thing to have a disappointment or two along the way when promoting a book. It's another thing to have a celebrity story involving Paris Hilton come out of nowhere and squash your big book promotion moment.

Drunk driving? Yes, that's a good reason to be outraged at Paris Hilton. Getting special treatment? That's still another. And messing up book promotion campaigns? You've got it. That's the perfect cap on the reasons why all of us can be steaming mad about Paris Hilton's early release from prison today.

Does this make you appreciate books?

In 2002, the National Endowment for the Arts found that fewer than half of adults surveyed read for pleasure (presumably, some of those adults still read because they must), and that number had declined since 1987. Quick math check: that was about five years ago. Right?

Okay. So now the owner of a Missouri-based independent bookstore has pondered the problem and come up with a solution. He'll burn his books. That'll teach 'em to love books!

I'm serious. Here's the Associated Press article about Tom Wayne, owner of Prospero's Books who'd rather see books destroyed than wait for a good home.

Here's the thing. I'm a book publicist who conducts book promotion campaigns to encourage people to read books. I love books. I love words. I love the people who write them. I love the companies that publish them. I love the people who read them. I love everything there is to love about books.

But this book publicist's quirk is: I don't love books enough to burn them. And I don't love books enough to understand, or to try to defend, anyone who thinks burning books is a way to pay homage to books.

Forgive me, Tom Wayne, but what you're doing strikes me as destructive. I hope you don't get a permit that would allow you to burn tens of thousands of additional books.

As a matter of fact, I fervently hope that you lose the privilege of being able to legally light a match.

The book promotion dream -- and the book promotion nightmare.

Here's the book promotion dream.

You'll schedule an interview for yourself (or your book publicist will schedule an interview) on a national radio show that reaches tens of thousands -- or maybe even millions -- of people, and many of them will rush out, or click online, to buy your book.

That's the book promotion dream.

Now here's the book promotion nightmare.

That interview will be scheduled on a show that airs exclusively via the XM Satellite Radio network during the time period when, due to a technical glitch of some sort, the network is partially down, and you don't know exactly how many subscribers will still be able to listen to the show, but you know it isn't the number that you were expecting. And there goes that opportunity to sell books -- up in high-tech smoke.

Of course, glitches happen in media outlets that don't rely on satellite technology. So, if your national radio interview is scheduled on a more traditional show, keep up your guard. Anyything can happen and, in the world of book promotion, it often does. Breaking news blows your topic off the host's top shelf and forces the producer to reschedule (or not to reschedule, as the case may be). And, as we approach yet another holiday weekend, remember that, even if the interview proceeds as scheduled, timing matters, too. There are fewer people listening to the radio during long holiday weekends, so bear that in mind as you're scheduling interviews. There's nothing like scheduling that national radio interview and then looking at your calendar and noticing that you've locked yourself in for a time when there just won't be the usual number of listeners.

There you have it. The book promotion dream (scheduling a national radio show) and the book promotion nightmare (having the timing of that national radio show, because of a high-tech failure or just bad timing) dash your hopes of selling thousands of books.

To authors whose interviews have aired on the XM Satellite Radio network in the past couple of days, or will air before the technical issue is resolved, my sympathies. Know that you're not alone. This time, you've lived the book promotion nightmare. Next time, you're entitled to enjoy the book promotion dream.

Dr. Phil for Promotion?

I'll be brutally honest with you. I'm a rabid "Brady Bunch" fan. It's not an intellectual choice. It's a primal problem -- a gene with which I was born that somehow predisposed me to love, love, love anything to do with that show. I've suffered through reruns since the show ended, I've watched all the movies, and -- I swear to you -- I even suffered through that darned variety show of theirs. And, yes, I own a copy of Barry Williams' book, Growing Up Brady, and have read it several times.

Look, we all have our issues.

All of this is to explain why, when I watched a promo for tomorrow's episode of "Dr. Phil" that featured a sobbing Maureen McCormick, I sat up and paid close attention. Three o'clock tomorrow, Eastern Time. Dr. Phil. Maureen McCormick. I'm there (or my DVD recorder is, anyway). I will watch anything that has to do with The Brady Bunch. I won't even try to defend myself. I know. I know! But I can't help it.

To put this into a more professional context, I'm wondering what's going on here. (Yes, I want to know -- I desperately want to know -- what's upsetting Marcia Brady so, but that's a whole other issue.) The little cynical other that resides in me (and who, evidently, didn't watch enough "Brady Bunch" episodes) wonders: what's in this for Maureen? Surely, the woman isn't in such dire financial straits that she can't afford to see a therapist if she needs one. I mean, surely, she could borrow the money from one of her siblings ... but there I go again. Never mind. What I'm trying to say is, what's Maureen McCormick doing on tmorrow's "Dr. Phil?" Is she looking to the big doctor for help the way an actual, you know, person would? Or is she promotin' a project, and perhaps she saw (or her publicist saw) the "Dr. Phil" show as a way to get some quick national media attention for it?

See? This is why all of us, and not just refugees from the planet Seventies, should wish every day of our lives that Mr. Brady were still among us. He, and he alone, could resolve all of our problems in 30 minutes (less, if you subtract the time that the commercials took). Mrs. Brady? Alice? Not even close. Sam the Butcher? Forget about it. Mr. Brady was the original Dr. Phil, and doggone it, his methodology worked. His kids turned out fine. His dog and cat probably turned out fine, too, although we can't be sure since Fluff wasn't seen after the pilot episode and we lost track of Tiger sometimes after Jan realized she wasn't allergic to him but, rather, to the dog shampoo he was using, but...now where was I? Oh, yes.

Robert Reed, we miss you. We really, really miss you. Especially when we consider the fact that, if you were here now, we probably wouldn't have to watch "Dr. Phil" tomorrow. Which we will, for strictly professional reasons. We have to know: are celebrities (and former celebrities) using the "Dr. Phil" show to plug their projects? Is "Dr. Phil" becoming another way to enhance celebrity, and sell more movie tickets? Is it more than just a way for unknown nonfiction authors to get some book promotion? Is "Dr. Phil" becoming...a platform for B-celebrities? Stay tuned....

A few minutes with...book lovers at the New York book fair

If you watched "60 Minutes" last night, then you were treated to an Andy Rooney segment that was unusually poignant -- for those of us who love books, anyway. Rooney's segment was about the New York Antiquarian Book Fair. Where was Rooney's cynicism? He left it at home, for this segment. Instead, he seemed genuinely humbled to be in the presence of books and book-loving people, and he capped with a comment about how -- I'm paraphrasing -- the Book Fair made him believe there's still hope for our civilazation, after all.

Sure, there was a little bit of promotion in the segment -- promotion for an amazing annual event -- but, more importantly, it was a lovefest. Rooney, the crotchedy journalist, has loved books along. And we, who write, publish, and promote books, have loved them all along, too. What's not to love about this "60 Minutes" segment? You can watch it yourself by clicking here.

Does book promotion make a bestselling book?

Does a successful book promotion campaign lead to a bestseller? Sometimes...but, more typically, a book becomes a bestseller by accident. So says a recent New York Times article, "The Greatest Mystery: Making a Best Seller."

We all know that booksellers become bestsellers for a combination of reasons: great distribution, awesome writing, super cover, and terrific word-of-mouth. To this list, the New York Times adds another component: the stars' alignment.

The frustration is that, you can do everything right, and still not earn enough money to pay your expenses/meet your advance -- even with the best book promotion campaign in the world. The flip side of that is, if creating a bestseller is at least partly a matter of luck, then that stroke of luck can happen to anyone.

Yes. It can happen to you.

Blame the publicist, part II.

Paris Hilton doesn't blame her publicist anymore, you'll be glad to know. Okay, I was being polite. You probably don't care. But I offer this article as comic relief and because I brought up the subject of Paris Hilton's woes yesterday. I guess that will teach me, huh?

By the way, I do have some advice for Paris Hilton's publicist: quit. Why would you want to promote this woman when there are so many worthier candidates for media attention -- and yours?

A tough and ugly way to get publicity.

You can get publicity the easy way -- by writing a newsworthy book, for example. Or you can promote yourself the tough way -- by doing something horrible, showing no remorse, and scoring 45 days in prison. I particularly love the way she blames her publicist for "getting her into this mess." And her publicist did that...how? I read Hilton's whining accusation, and I still can't make any sense of her theory about why this whole mess has anything at all to do with her now-former publicist. Maybe you can make sense out of it -- click here if you'd like to try.

I guess, if you're interested in book promotion, either technique would work. But I don't recommend the route that Paris Hilton took. I just don't. (And I wish she could be sentenced to an additional 45 days just on the basis of her reaction -- or the lack thereof -- to the sentence.)

Imagine if there were no book reviewers....

If you're conducting a book promotion campaign, you'll want to read a press release that I received last night and that I reprint here, with the author's permission.

For immediate release

Last week, the Los Angeles Times folded its book review section into an opinion section, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution eliminated its book review position. Not a good week for book criticism, but not a surprising one, either: in the past few years, newspapers from the Chicago Tribune to the Dallas Morning News to the Village Voice have seen book coverage shrink.

The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is not taking these developments lying down. This week, in an effort to support book reviews, book editors, book pages, and book culture, the NBCC is launching a Campaign to Save Book Reviews. During the last week in April and throughout the month of May, the NBCC is asking authors and editors, journalists and publishers—and in fact anyone interested in literary culture—to speak out on the value of books and book reviewing.

The campaign’s launch pad is an effort to save the book review position at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, held until last week by Teresa Weaver. Explains NBCC president John Freeman, “Teresa has the opportunity to apply for a job within the company, but it's not clear what the fate of the book page will be—whether it'll be reassigned to an existing editor, whether it will go entirely to wire copy, or whether it will be removed altogether.” A petition to save Weaver’s job has already secured nearly a thousand signatures, including those from luminaries as varied as Michael Connelly, Richard Powers, and Ian Rankin. Those interested in signing should go to http://www.petitiononline.com/atl2007/petition.html.

Throughout the campaign, Critical Mass, the NBCC’s blog, will feature Q&As, posts by concerned writers, and advice on petitioning the media to assure continued book coverage. Current posts include a lengthy Q&A with David L. Ulin, editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review. Check out http://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com/ to join in our efforts and to track developments in this ongoing and important campaign.

The National Book Critics Circle, founded in 1974, is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization consisting of nearly 700 active book reviewers nationwide who are interested in honoring quality writing and communicating with one another about common concerns. It is managed by a 24-member all-volunteer board of directors. For more information, please go to www.bookcritics.org.

For questions, contact Barbara Hoffert, hoffer@reedbusiness.com or 646-746-6806.

Competition for your book promotion efforts.

A mass murderer with a gun in each hand, aiming at the camera lens. A latter-day Marilyn Monroe, striking a variety of provocative poses, sometimes with her handsome young son by her side. Flooded roads, washed-away vehicles, and submerged houses.

These are the images the media is bombarding us with, and this is what the media considers newsworthy.

Well, okay.

But, to authors and publishers, Virginia Tech, Anna Nicole, and catastrophic weather events aren't only something to think about. They're also competition for the media's attention.

Can book promotion go on, as usual, when there's a mass murder at a college, and everyone in the country is seeking answers? Is book publicity to be thought of -- unless you're the half-sister of Anna Nicole with a book of your own -- when it takes an endless number of weeks to work out the parentage and custody arrangements of a deceased pseudo-celebrity's baby? Is your book publicist even supposed to be calling newsrooms around the country when people in multiple, far-flung states have been seeking shelter from devastating floods and are trying to figure out where they'll be living once the water recedes?

Bad news events aren't only riveting. They're also all-consuming happenings that can derail our plans for book promotion.

But you know something? If our book promotion plans have to put on hold, we can still consider ourselves fortunate if our loved ones were not involved in trauma or tabloid stories, and if our family and friends' psyches and homes are intact on this April day.

Book promotion is important. But it ain't everything, says the realistic book publicist.

The Aftermath of the Virginia Tech Massacre

Yesterday, I was in the middle of sending emailing a client's article to weekly newspapers when the first reports of the Virginia Tech Massacre came across the wire. It didn't immediately hit me, but within a few minutes, I realized that book promotion efforts put forth that day would be a waste of time and energy.

My mind wasn't on book promotion. My mind was on what was going on in a school community, and what it meant. My mind was on the students and teachers who were involved, and on their family members, and on their friends. My mind was all over the place, but it wasn't on book promotion.

The media's attention, I knew, wouldn't be on book promotion, either.

In times of national angst, we do a lot of things. We cry, we struggle to understand, and we beg whatever higher powers to whom we subscribe to take it all back. We bargain, we become furious, we argue, and finally -- I hope -- we come to some sort of resolution. We do a lot of things in times like these, but book promotion isn't one of those things. Nor should it be.

There's One Less Book Promotion Venue.

As you've heard by now, Don Imus's radio show is no more. Wow.

Shows come and shows go, and part of a book publicist's job is keeping up with those changes. But this book publicist wishes that radio shows wouldn't leave the airwaves for reasons like this.

There's no excuse for the words Don Imus uttered, and there's no excuse for his failure to convince us that he was seriously sorry.

Well, guess what? He's sorry now.

But, then again, every author who's in the middle of a book promotion campaign should also be sorry that we've lost one more book publicity venue.

Ouch.

Racism: The Newest Self-Promotion Techique?

By now, you've undoubtedly heard that Don Imus has apologized for a racist remark he uttered on the national radio airwaves. It strikes me that this is the first time I've heard people discussing Don Imus in a long, long time.

How many people were talking about Mel Gibson's movie before his drunk driving arrest -- an incident that didn't kill anyone, fortunately, but that revealed (in case we needed further confirmation) Gibson's uncharitable feelings toward Jews? And how many people even remembered Michael Richards except when they were watching "Seinfeld" reruns until his crazy, racist rant in a nightclub?

As a book publicist, I wonder whether these (and other) celebrities are somehow being incented to make hateful, social unacceptable remarks in public. Don Imus, Mel Gibson, and even Michael Richards stand to make a whole lot more money when people are talking about them.

Would the same tactic work for an author who's embarking on a book promotion campaign? Could saying things you know others don't want to hear be your ticket to having the book promotion ride of a lifetime?

Maybe, but I'd say this to any author who's even thinking of traversing that path: count me out. I won't participate in that brand of promotion, and I won't be a part of spreading bad karma. And, thankfully, I don't know of any book publicists who would.

Plagiarism in Book Promotion?

In the old days -- well, up until this morning -- the big question about book promotion was: is it better to receive a mediocre (or even a hostile) reception from media outlets than to receive no book promotion opportunities at all. I could argue both sides of that question, and I often have entered into such a debate. (Although, admittedly, as a book publicist I am biased in favor of the "any book publicity is good publicity" side of the argument.)

But this morning I read a strange story in The Book Standard titled: 'NY Times' Regrets Publishing Book Essay that made me realize there's a new issue. Is it better to have a self-promotional essay published with your byline in one of the nation's top daily newspapers and be accused of plagiarism, or is it better to refrain from having that self-promotional essay not published at all?

The book promotion world is full of oddities, but this story is one of the strange tales I've read about lately. So, if your self-promotional article or essay has failed to capture the attention of a major media outlet such as the New York Times, perhaps it's a blessing in disguise. Who knows?

And the winner is...

On tomorrow's show, Oprah will reveal the newest book she's chosen for her book club and the recipient of all those automatic Oprah's book club sales. And the winner is....

I have no idea, but I hope it's an author who's talented and hungry and worthy of the book promotion opportunity that making Oprah's book club always confers.

If you need any additional incentive to tape Oprah tomorrow, note that Sidney Poitier -- author of Oprah's last book club pick, The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography will be a guest on her show. Of course, Mr. Poitier doesn't need the book promotion opportunity, but I'll never turn down the chance to see him perform -- even if it's only as a guest on a talk show.

Will the new book club pick be a classic? A hidden gem?

What will it be?

This is better than the Osars, the Emmys, the Tonys, and the Grammys, combined.

And the envelope please....

Book Marketing Article

This article isn't necessarily about book promotion, but it is about marketing. It's by Dan Tudor who has learned how to market and sell ebooks, and who shares his wisdom here.

There's no marketer like the type of marketer who plants marketing seeds in a project as it's being developed. And there is no self-promoting, PR savvy author like an author who plants news hooks into manuscripts as they're being drafted -- and sets the stage for a successful book promotion campaign even before the manuscript goes to the printer.

Kudos to Dan Tudor for a thought-provoking article. There's information we can use for book promotion or for selling our books...even before we finish writing them!

King of book promotion

He breathes. Therefore, he enjoys publicity for his latest book.

If everyone in the world were Stephen King, then launching a book promotion campaign would be a question of announcing a new project, and the media would flock to cover the story. If you've been hiding out in a cave, you may have missed the fact that Stephen King -- in conjunction with Marvel Entertainment -- has turned is Dark Tower work into a comic book.

Book promotion opportunity? Well, this is Stephen King we're talking about. I'm not into comic books in general, and I'm not a Dark Tower fan specifically, but even I've stumbled upon the news of King's foray into the comic book world about 4,698 times since yesterday morning. Here's just one the articles about it that you'll find online.

Apart from the Dark Tower series, and one or two or three or four of King's more recent work, I am a huge fan of Stephen King. And I certainly don't begrudge him the media's adulation or the book promotion opportunities that come his way. He deserves those book opportunities. He's always trying new artforms, and that's cool. I respected him when he brought back serial book reading with "The Green Mile," and when he stuck a toe into ebook publishing with -- was that project called "The Plant?" Something like that.

King takes risks, and that's always worth the media's time and attention. I only wish that, when struggling authors took similar risks, they were granted the same visibility and accolades for trying out new artforms and interesting business models.

Way to go, King, for celebrating the release of your comic book with all the book promotion that talent and fame and hard work can buy. For the rest of us ... well, back to pitching the media, one day at a time.

Shortsighted governor slashes books budget

Book promotion presumes that all readers -- sighted and vision-impaired -- will have access to books. But if the governor of Massachusetts has his way, several "talking books" programs in the state will be downsized as a way of economizing. As Boston Herald columnist Peter Gelzinis points out in his column today, it can cost twenty-five dollars to buy a book on CD. Therefore, many vision-impaired people depend on free audio books, newspapers, and magazines.

With an overall budget of $26.7 billion budget, does Massachusetts really want to lessen its citizens' access to reading materials just to save a couple hundred thousand dollars?

From his office, Massachusetts' governor Deval Patrick practically can walk to Harvard University, MIT, Tufts, and so many other institutions of higher learning. You can't walk down a Cambridge, Massaschusetts street on any average afternoon without bumping into at least a few authors. Sure, all those authors dream about fabulous distribution and wonderful book promotion campaigns, and publishers, distributors, and book publicists can help them with all of that.

But will their books be available for everybody? If Governor Patrick has his way, perhaps not for much longer.

Book promotion opportunities are enhanced by death.

Book promotion opportunities are enhanced by death. Sounds grim, doesn't it? I guess that's the reason why I don't promote comic books.

Apparently, Captain America is dead. Woe is he. But happy is Marvel, the publisher of the Captain America comic books. Apparently, fans are flocking to the stands to buy volume #25, which is the issue in which the superhero -- or the almost-superhero, if I'm reading the news reports correctly -- meets his maker.

Can anyone doubt that Captain America will be back in some form or another, and that rumors of his death were greatly exploited in the middle to promote the comic book? Well, don't ask this book publicist. She hasn't been a fan of comics since Richie Rich in the seventies, but that may be a bit too much information for you. :)

Just know that, if you do something truly shocking -- such as kill off a main character who is beloved by legions of readers -- then book promotion opportunities will surely come. It's book publicity through murder, which can be seen as a guerilla marketing tactic. Get it? Guerilla warfare? Never mind.

Okay, it's Friday, and I'm punchy. Time to get to work on my latest book promotion campaigns, and then call it a weekend.

What's tougher than book promotion?

What's tougher than book promotion? In my humble opinion, it's working on the production side of things. I just read in this MSNBC article that Katie Couric's evening news producer was fired because of low ratings.

Yes, I know everyone wants to grow up to be a TV producer. (I did, and so did about 75% of my classmates in Emerson College's mass communication department, back in the 1980's.) But imagine the stress of knowing that your job is in jeopardy every second of every day because of low ratings, changes in format, morphing management, and show cancellations?

And think about this: every time there's a change in personnel at a TV station or a radio station, book publicists must know about it. Book publicists can't only buy media lists and then happily embark upon yet another book promotion campaign. Book publicists have to keep up with changes -- not only at television and radio stations, but at newspapers, magazines, and Web sites, too -- as they happen.

I find it amusing that many authors believe that good publicists have good friends in the media. Well, that would be key if good friends in the media had good jobs in the media from week to week, and from month to month.

The truth is that good publicists are those who know how to make friends with new producers and editors and writers and hosts who are hired to replace departing producers and editors and writers and hosts -- every minute of every day, every week of the year, every year of every book promotion campaign that you launch.

Welcome to my world.

When book publicists can't win.

I've always taken the position that book publicists can have private opinions, but not public ones. (Which makes it sort of strange that I blog, but I digress.) I tell anyone who will listen that the authors I represent do not necessarily share my opinions, nor do I share theirs. Even so, journalists and producers sometimes reacts negatively to a particular pitch. For example, I recently promoted a book that was endorsed by Rudy Giuliani, and a reporter who was categorically not a Rudy Giuliani fan sent me a furious, "never contact me again under any circumnstances, you horrible Rudy Giuliani supporter!" email.

Well, okay.

So now I'm beginning a book promotion camaign for a book which has a claim to controversy that is a lot stronger than who endorses it. This book is about one of those big topics that people have fought and died for, and even committed homicide over. That's the type of book that will cause tempers to flare, and could be at the center of a very rocky book promotion campaign.

I, therefore, sent out a mass email with the disclaimer that the author's opinion did not necessarily reflect my own. And wouldn't you know it: an editor at one of the top daily mewspapers in the country fired me back an email accusing me of -- well, in short, of being a weenie.

Well, okay.

This is not the start I was hoping for to this book promotion campaign. But I still have hopes that the book promotion campaign will go well, and that the author's voice will be heard, and that he or she sells some books as a result of the book promotion campaign.

Are we having fun yet?

The type of book promotion story that isn't.

When I discuss book promotion, I'm talking about working with authors, and sometimes publishers, to disseminate messages to the media. I'm talking about the reward for writing, and publishing, a book. Book promotion is supposed to be fun and creative, and it's supposed to be the payoff you receive for all your hard work. It's supposed to be a time when you're treated as the expert you are, and afforded the respect you deserve.

So I don't want to hear about book promotion ripoffs. I don't want to hear about book promotion campaigns that aren't. I don't want to hear about book promotion coaches who don't. I don't want to hear about authors who experience a nightmare with someone who calls him- or herself a book publicist.

I don't want that.

But I sometimes do hear book promotion nightmares, like this one. I don't know anymore about the situation than what the author tells us, and I don't know what the other party's position is. Perhaps there are two sides to this story, as there are to most.

But I do know that I have a hard-and-fast rule: I will consider representing only authors whose work I feel connected to, and whose books will help my credibility. That means that all prospective clients must have a completed manuscript that I can see, and must have publication plans in place. I will never agree to represent a manuscript that's in process, or a manuscript that's making the rounds of publishers.

Book promotion campaigns work only when book publicists can get behind the book. That doesn't mean that book publicists agree with the messages in every book we promote. Sometimes, we strongly disagree with them. But book publicists agree to make the authors' case during book promoton campaigns, and we agree to help find venues for the authors to give voice to their visions. Book promotion campaigns obviously cannot work when a book publicist has agreed to promote a book, sight unseen. And, even more obviously, a book promotion campaign cannot succeed when there is no published book to promote.

It's not tough these days to publish a book. It requires doing your homework to find the best publication method, and then moving forward with the information you've gleaned from books on publishing and self publishing.

And it's also not tough these days to have a successful book promotion campaign. Again, it requires doing your homework to find a book promotion specialist who is excited about representing your book and you. It means checking references. It means choosing a book publicist based on the rapport you develop with that individual.

Book promotion campaigns require an investment, and I urge potential clients to stay within their comfort zones financially whether they hire my book promotion firm or another. Book publicity is a crapshoot. You never know what book promotion opportunities you'll garner when you embark on a book promotion campaign and, presuming you garner a great number of media opportunities, you never know how well those media opportunities will translate into book sales.

Yes, book promotion is expensive, and yes, book promotion is a risk. But book promotion is supposed to be a fun gamble and an informed risk, and it's supposed to be your reward for all the hard work you've done as an author and, perhaps, as a publisher.

It is not supposed to be a nightmare, and it pains me to think that, in some cases, it can be.

Book publishing exchange, including book promotion tips

I've just found a great place online for authors to exchange ideas, learn about book publicity, and discuss their questions with colleagues from around the world. It's an email group called TWLAuthorTalks (to subscribe, email: TWLAuthorTalks-subscribe@yahoogroups.com), and the moderator is Dorothy Thompson, author of the wonderful ebook on how to promote ebooks (I'm a proud owner of a copy), A Complete Guide to Promoting and Selling Your Self-Published eBook. You can find the book online at http://www.dorothythompson.homestead.com/books.html. Dorothy knows her stuff about all of the latest methods of book promotion. Don't believe me? Google her. You'll see her name everywhere, not because she's lucky, but because she puts a lot of time and energy into book publicity and self promotion -- and it's paying off for her.

I'm delighted to be a guest speaker on book promotion and book publicity this week at TWLAuthorTalks. Imagine being in such refined company...Dorothy's light is sure to shine on me, and I'm sure I'll learn at least as much as I share with her subscribers.

Every book publicity campaign begins with...

It's Sunday, and what does this book publicist find herself doing? Reading two books. Are they two books that this book publicist bought "for the beach" or because they were on her reading list or because they're in the news or to "improve her mind?"

Nope. They're books she's going to promote.

Which brings me back to my point. Every book publicity campaign begins with reading the book. To create a media kit that will get a book promotion campaign off to a healthy start, you have to know the big messages in the book and be able to turn them into media hooks now, or when breaking news invites a tie into the big messages.

For example, let's say your book is a novel whose main character with a quirk that's mentioned a few times in the book -- she eats bananas day and night. The bananas-eating represents .00009 of the plot, but still, it's in the book. Then there's a real-life news story about how eating 12 servings of bananas a day can extend your lifespan by 5 years. What a great media hook, and what a great way to make your book publicity campaign soar! But you'll only be able to make the connection if you've read the book from cover to cover -- if, in effect, you know your bananas.

So, with two book publicity campaigns starting, I am reading both books now. I'm eager to be impressed, educated, and inspired to launch two successful book promotion campaigns.

And, even if you're not a book promotion specialist -- even if you're an author or a publisher who's conducting a do-it-yourself book publicity campaign -- I'd urge you to spend some time today reading the book that you're promoting. Look for media hooks that you can immediately tie into breaking news stories. Find some gems that people will want to know about, now, and you'll give new life to your book publicity campaign tomorrow.

Book promotion or pizza plugging?

As a book publicist who loves homemade pizza -- don't even get me started on how much I love to bake sourdough, whole wheat, flaxseed-encrusted pizza crusts with all-vegetable toppings, because it would truly scare you -- I am mulling over Pizza Hut’s Book It program. Pizza Hut is giving kids who read books free pizzas to promote ... well, either to promote pizza, or to promote books.

The cynic in me says that Pizza Hut is more interested in Pizza Hut promotion than in book promotion, but that's just the cynic in me.

The pizza lover in me has this to say.

Pizza Hut, I'm sure your corporate heart is in the right place. But do me a favor, please. Let kids discover books. They will. Trust me.

Let them fall in love with reading. Then, once we have them reading ... you can sell them all the pizza you want. Deal?

Let's get our priorities in order. And let's try to let food be food ... and let kids just be kids.

Book Promotion: A Second Opinion

One of the great things about book promotion is there's no single "right" way to do it. Different book publicists have different strategies that have worked for them, and that wouldn't be of any value to me -- and vice versa. So I like to read interviews with other book publicists, or with authors and publishers who are conducting book promotion campaigns, to compare styles and successes.

I just came across an interview at Authorlink with Alan Gratz, author of a children's book called Samurai Shortstop (Dial, 2006). Please read the interview for yourself. The author is promoting his children's book, and -- because he's promoting a children's book -- his experiences are different from mine would be. (I've promoted several children's book, but my focus is on books for adults.)

Perhaps because his genre is different from the ones with which I'm most familiar as a book publicist, Gratz's strategies involve spending far more money on a print media kit than I would. For ecample, Gratz uses folders for his media kits. I would never do that because it's far more labor-intensive, and expensive, to include folders with media kits in all media mailings. Also, for me, it would be far too limiting. I'd be far more interested in sending out more media kits, and spending far less money on each of them, than in sending out fewer media kits that cost too much to be "wasted" on secondary media outlets. Also, I use ekits quite a bit. Gratz says this strategy hasn't worked for him. Again, I suspect he knows what he's talking about. Since he's promoting a children's book, his press releases may read like advertising copy for the book -- and, yes, that would be considered spam by many media outlets.

One-size-fits-all book promotion tactics do not exist. Book promotion strategies do need to be adjusted to suit the project, the stage of the project, and the preferences/proclivities/talents/schedules/budgets of those conducting the book promotion campaign.

Next time I promote a children's book, I will go back to this Authorlink interview and see how many of the tips in it might apply to the project. In the meantime...the world of adult book promotion awaits.

When Book Promotion Takes Guts

All authors want media attention, and a successful book promotion campaign is the way to get media attention. But few authors want all that media attention to cause them problems.

For Elie Wiesel, there are three pieces of good news: one, he's alive and well; two, his book, Night, was an Oprah's Book Club Selection; and three, his message of "never again" is being heard loudly and clearly by his target audience -- all of us.

Wiesel nearly didn't survive World War II because of his religion.

And he nearly didn't survive an encounter several weeks ago with one of those lunatics who claim the Holocaust never happened, and that Wiesel (and other survivors) are lying.

Wiesel's always out there in the media, and he's always pursuing book publicity as part of his mission to educate people. In fact, what made me think of it is that I just stumbled on an article that talks about another stop Wiesel is making on his never-ending book promotion tour.

At this point in his life, I'd guess that Wiesel's book promotion campaign isn't about selling books, nor is it about making money. I'd say that Wiesel's book promotion efforts are about disseminating his messages with audiences, and that he uses his books as reasons to be part of author events and author interviews.

Mr. Wiesel is my hero, because he's a reminder that book promotion sometimes isn't about "wanting to be on the Oprah show." Sometimes, book promotion is about survival, courage, and humanity.

Book promotion for academic and professional titles

Most authors believe in the value of book promotion. Not all authors can invest their time and resources in robust book promotion campaigns, but nearly every author I've run into over the years wishes he or she could do some book promotion. It's simply very unsual for an author to care enough to write a book, and publish a book, but to not care enough to back it with a book promotion campaign.

The only exception to the rule would seem to be professional book authors and academic book authors. Their target audiences can be so specific that it would be difficult to reach them through the usual channels. Book promotion campaigns that revolve around the mass media just don't always work for these very specifically aimed books.

But even authors of professional books and academic books need to do more than publish their work and hope their intended readers find it. They need to proactively make sure their intended readers find it.

Some sort of book promotion campaign is in order. Even if those book promotion efforts don't include pitching national television shows, book review editors, and so forth, those book promotion strategies might well include writing articles for niche publications, maintaining a blog, and -- of course -- creating a book Web site that's rich with information and resources.

Book promotion campaigns do make sense for professional and academic books. Those book promotion campaigns might take a different form than book promotion campaigns for trade books, but make no mistake about it. If you want to get the word out about your book, you have to actively take all the right steps to make it happen. That's what book promotion is all about.

"The Secret" to Book Promotion

One of the secrets to book promotion is to, well, write the book, "The Secret." That's what Rhonda Byrne did, and look at the result. According to a Newsweek article titled "Decoding 'The Secret,'" Byrne's book's will have an estimated 1.75 million copies projected to be in print by March 2, which will be slightly more than three months after its publicaton. Plus, Oprah Winfrey is all over it; she's already devoted two of her shows to the author and her book.

That's some secret.

What delighted me about the Newsweek article was that I saw many familiar names in it -- among them, Joe Vitale, who is a long-time client of this book publicist (and I'll be promoting his upcoming book, Zero Limits: The Secret Hawaiian System for Wealth, Health, Peace and More (Wiley and Sons).

So perhaps Byrne's secret to book promotion is that she shares the media spotlight with other authors -- and, perhaps, competing authors whom she doesn't see as competition at all but rather as others who can reinforce her perspective and help spread it to others. However Byrne is doing it, her book seems to be this decade's shining example of book promotion at its best. You go, Rhonda!