Is Twitter worth the trouble for book promotion campaigns?

Is Twitter worth the time, energy, and aggravation if what you're using it for is to expand your book promotion capabilities? This book publicist's vote: I'm not sure, but I'm growing increasingly frustrated with Twitter.

When I logged onto Twitter this morning, I found about six new followers for my account. Among them were two purveyors of porn, one person who sells a teeth-whitening product, and another individual who sells wallpaper downloads. I suppose I didn't have to "block" them, but I did (and blocking these critters wasn't quick and easy, either -- when Twitter gets cranking, and thousands of users are logged onto its server at the same time, what should take a nanosecond to do can take minutes longer while you're waiting for pages to load).

About the pornography, the tooth person, and the wallpaper guy -- I imagine they found me through some third-party service that lets customers buy (or borrow) followers so that, essentially, they can acquire bulk mailing lists (where Twitter users are the recipients of the bulk mailings). Had I followed the miscreants (believing they were legitimate Twitter followers, then they would have been able to directly send me ads for their products or services, and I'll admit it: I would have found that annoying. I receive plenty of irritating and offensive junk email as it is, but my email filters have been smart enough to block the worst of it. I don't need to start receiving more unwanted and inappropriate solicitations via Twitter (or any other social networking tool, for that matter).

At the same time, I've connected with hundreds of enthusiastic, wise, and upbeat publishing and media professionals via Twitter. Many of these authors, publishers, book reviewers, hosts, producers, editors, other book publicists and book marketers, and so forth have steered me toward worthwhile articles and, in effect, have become a wonderful source of wisdom and grapevine chatter. To the extent that I can now send direct messages to media professionals via Twitter, I believe Twitter has already helped expand my book promotion capabilities and may continue to do so ... if I don't become so frustrated with the dark side of Twitter (which, to be fair, isn't Twitter's fault -- Twitter can't help the fact that a pack of dorks have latched onto Twitter as yet another way of annoying those of us who aren't prospects for whatever it is that they're selling).

So, for authors and publishers who haven't yet committed to expanding their social networks via Twitter, is it worth taking the plunge? I'm not sure -- but, as with so many offerings that can potential expand my book promotion capabilities, Twitter has already snagged me as a guinea pig and tester of the waters.

I'll give you an update after I can point to some specific benefits that I've enjoyed from Twitter ... or once I've become so overwhelmed by disgusting or untargeted advertising that I've decided to bail out on Twitter completely. To be continued ...

Another chance to have a bestselling book.

If your book hasn't become a New York Times Bestseller yet, or even scored a "number one in its category ranking" on Amazon, don't fret. Your book still has another chance to make it on a prestigious bestseller list -- as long as your book is an ebook that's available for sale on Amazon for the Kindle.

Yes. USA Today has just announced that the USA Today best-selling books list it compiles will now include Kindle's ebook sales.

With that, USA Today Best-Selling Books List becomes the first major book bestseller list to include ebooks in its rankings. So what does that mean for publishers and authors? Well, it's no longer only about book promotion, web 2.0 book marketing, book clubs, social networking, and word-of-mouth publicity. It's also about choosing to publish your book in Kindle's proprietary ebook format so that you can get in the game.

Which is going to get a bit tricky, especially now that Barnes and Noble is offering its own ebook reader to compete with its Kindle, while Sony is still out there with its ebook reader, and no one knows exactly how this whole ebook reader competition will shake out, and readers have to be at least somewhat reluctant to invest in either a Kindle or books that are published in Amazon's proprietary format until the dust settles.

So who knows how many readers are buying Kindles or ebooks that are formatted for Kindles? But, while USA Today is including Kindles' ebooks in its rankings, you still have a chance to format your book as an ebook that's formatted for a Kindle and take your best shot at making USA Today's Best-Selling Books List.

It sure beats trying to figure out how to get to be Amazon's number one bestselling book (if only for an hour or two) or how to convince your publisher to push you to the top of another bestseller list the conventional way -- by selling your book to bricks-and-mortar bookstores, and then hoping that book promotion, web 2.0 book marketing, book clubs, and other book publicity efforts will all combine to drive readers to the bookstores to buy your book.

Today, we're seeing Kindle sales directly effect rankings on a major bestseller list. Tomorrow, who knows? But let's take note of what's happening today...since everything related to the publishing industry seems to change every hour, on the hour these days!

Twitter followers for sale? Not a great book publicity strategy.

Everyone who tweets would love to boast huge numbers of Twitter followers. There are some services that sell Twitter followers, and all you, the tweeter, have to do is sit back and enjoy the thrill of being followed and imagining that your followers are hanging onto your every word -- which, obviously, will largely revolve around your book publicity campaign. So you're probably thinking that it would be a brilliant book publicity strategy to buy a massive number of Twitter followers and enjoy the fruits of your tweeting efforts.

I'm sorry to be the one to break the news to you, but I've just read an MSNBC article that cautions against trusting the purveyors of Twitter marketing lists. You might want to read the article yourself before you sign on the dotted line with any company that can instantly add thousands of followers to your Twitter account. According to the article, so-called bulk following services (which are sometimes free) can actually cause your genuine followers to "unfollow" you because, in their user's agreements, the services obtain the right to use your Twitter account to send out their own self-promotional tweets which can be either annoying or outright offensive.

So it seems that there's no shortcut to gaining Twitter followers. If you're using Twitter as part of your book publicity campaign, you have to win your Twitter followers the old-fashioned way -- through hard work and promotion, promotion, promotion!

Online book promotion. Why don't publishers get it?

Online book promotion is how you reach the other 99% of potential book buyers these days. Why are so many book publishers either ignoring it or telling authors to figure it out for themselves? And why are so many book publicists clueless about what online book promotion is and so reluctant to learn?

Yesterday, I heard from yet another frustrated author whose publisher is promoting books in the same way as books were promoted 5 years ago: sending out books and media kits to the conventional media, following up, and trying to persuade journalists, reporters, producers, and hosts to choose their story, review their book, or set up an interview with their author.

"It's not working!" the author shouted at me in despair. I told him he was preaching to the choir. "Why doesn't my publisher do online book promotion? It's such an obvious way to let people know about my books! Do you do online book promotion? Every book publicist I've talked to doesn't do online book promotion! Help me!!!"

Of course I do online book promotion. I'm very excited about the fact that I do online book promotion. I agree: if you're not doing online book promotion these days, then you're not doing everything you can do to promote your book.

And as far as why publishers and book publicists have been so slow to get involved in online book promotion, I understand that. Online book promotion is a moving target. What I would have called online book prmootion two years ago isn't what I would call online book promotion today -- nor is what I call online book promotion today what I will be referring to as online book promotion in six months.

Technology evolves so quickly, and opportunities turn up so quickly (whoever even heard of Twitter two years ago?) that staying current can be a challenge. Also, online book promotion -- which is highly effective and represents a great value -- can be threatening to the old book promotion school that did things the hard way -- and counted on getting paid to lots of high-pain, low-gain grunt work. Online book promotion, which produces results instantly and inexpensively, bears little relationship to the old book promotion model, and I can see why that drives traditional book promotion specialists crazy.

And besides all that, some people don't like change. And some people won't explore new book promotion opportunities because "new" requires energy and enthusiasm and experimentation, and they'd rather rely on what used to work and hope that, one day, we'll all snap out of the Web 2.0 world and go back to stuffing envelopes, bringing them to the post office, making phone calls, and trying to convince 100 media contacts to please, please, please pursue a particular story angle (that may have been relevant when those envelopes were stuffed but, surely, will be have no relationship to anything going on in the news by the time they land on the media's desks).

In short, too many book promotion professionals are too lazy to get involved in the world of online book promotion, and that laziness is costing authors and publishers time, money, and results. It infuriates me, and I'm hearing from an increasing number of authors that it's starting to make them feel short-changed, too.

Okay. That's my rant about online book promotion and about those who are too frightened to explore it. You know where I stand on the subject of online book promotion. And you?

Book Promotion by -- Oprah!

Whatever you think of Oprah's literary choices (and, personally, I'm a fan), you must admit that when Oprah Winfrey decides to promote a book, she really promotes a book!

Oprah's latest book promotion choice knocked my socks off today (and, remember, I'm supposed to be a jaded book publicist who cannot be easily impressed). I received an email from Oprah with the subject: "Download an Irresistible Novel for Free!"

When I clicked on the email, I found an invitation to download Jill Ciment's "irresistible novel" (I have to put that in quotes because I haven't read the novel yet), Heroic Measures. I -- along with the bazillion other people who received Oprah's email -- can download the novel for free from 11 a.m. ET Monday (July 20, 2009) until 10:59 a.m. ET Wednesday (July 22, 2009). The Web site where one can download the novel, for the benefit of those of you who aren't lucky enough to be on Oprah's email list, is right here.

Once you've downloaded your free copy of Jill Ciment's novel, I wish you tons of fun in printing it out and binding it so that you can read it, or in reading it on your monitor (always assuming you don't own an ebook reader or some device that will let you use the download as though it were a book -- and always assuming that the download is in a format that one can read on an ebook reader or another device). For the rest of the Jill Ciment-loving reading public, though, I'm afraid that owning a download of her irresistible novel won't be enough -- that you'll actually have to go out and buy (or log onto a bookstore and order) an actual hard copy of the book.

Yes, here is the voice of that jaded book publicist for which you were waiting. It says: If this book promotion strategy works, then Oprah isn't exactly going to help lots of people read Jill Ciment's novel for free. No, Oprah will do better than that (at least, from the author's perspective.) Oprah will inspire lots of people to buy Jill Ciment's novel. Yes, Oprah will inspire lots of people to pay cash -- money -- for Jill Ciment's novel.

Oprah, alas, will not get a cut of the ensuing royalties, nor should see. Oprah has been an integral part of book promotion since, well, since Jacquelyn Mitchard’s novel, The Deep End of the Ocean, was selected to be Oprah's first Book Club pick -- and, undoubtedly, since her show began featuring authors as experts. But her rewards have been spiritual (I presume) rather than financial. She feels good about sharing great books with her fans, and that's all the reward she gets for becoming part of book promotion campaigns.

But, cynical though I can sometimes be, I'm delighted to see Oprah spreading her book promotion wings and expanding the universe of the book promotion possibilities we can shoot for. You go, Oprah! You keep promoting books, even if you have to offer free books to get our attention. Do whatever it takes. You always keep this book publicist guessing, and that's a good thing!

The Case of the Disappearing Books

Authors and publishers hire book publicists to launch book promotion campaigns so that...their books can disappear from readers' digital lockers on Amazon? Ouch. Disappearing books is what happened to readers who purchased the ebook versions of two of George Orwell's books -- yes, 1984 and Animal Farm (the books we first read back in high school) -- found, much to their surprise (and according to this PC World article) This book publicist is surprised, too. And upset.

Book promotion opportunities are not easy to come by, and book sales are probably even tougher miracles to pull off these days. So now readers who have actually bought ebooks for their Kindles can have them removed from their digital lockers?

Seems sort of Orwellian to me, even though Amazon did refund the purchase price to the former owners of the ebooks. Is this all a plot to make potential purchasers think twice before buying a Kindle?

Well, it's having that effect on this book publicist!

What's online? Take note for your book promotion campaign.

What's online these days? Maybe the radio station that you think is on the radio dial. Ah, changes in the media are afoot! Big changes! And regardless of how you feel about those changes, you'll have to acknowledge them, and explore them, and be willing to exploit them, if you want to maximize your chances of having a successful book promotion campaign.

We know that the Christian Science Monitor, which was one of the largest circulation daily newspapers in the U.S. not so long ago, has become almost exclusively an online publication. Now we're seeing one of Boston, Massachusetts' popular radio stations -- WBCN-FM -- go digital. Click here and here for the story.

WBCN's place on the dial (for those of us who are still using dials) will be taken by CBS-owned WBZ-FM (not to be confused with WBZ-AM, which will still enjoy its coveted, 50,000-watt AM place on the dial), and will broadcast all sports, all the time. The rock 'n' roll of WBCN-FM, on the other hand, will be relegated to a Web site.

If you're promoting your book, then you're naturally keeping up with media changes. But whereas once, all a book publicist had to do to keep up with media changes was find out which producers were leaving jobs, and which producers are taking jobs, and which journalists are moving to which publications, and which shows are launching and which shows are leaving the airwaves -- now, a book publicist has to find out whether a media outlet is still printing or broadcasting in the conventional way, or whether its exclusively (or mostly) digital.

For the time being, it's easy to keep up with the media changes, because changes such as WBCN-FM's conversion to a Web station are grabbing headlines. In a month or two, though, such changes may become old hat.

Perhaps we'll see the day soon when a book promotion campaign can be conducted exclusively online -- not only because online book promotion online can become viral marketing opportunities, but because some of the biggest and most influential media outlets have transitioned into online-only media outlets.

Stay tuned....

Background checks for kids' book authors?

You're a children's book author, and you're seeking book promotion opportunities by speaking at schools. That's exposure for you and fun for the kids. What could be a better match? Where do you sign up? Wait! Not so fast! If you live in the United Kingdom, and you're seeking speaking opportunities at schools, the Powers That Be might have to run a background check before they allow you into the school auditorium. All those teachers and school administrators can't protect those kids from, potentially, a kids' book author who is in search of book promotion opportunities. No! You have to do a thorough background check on children's book authors to make sure they're fit for book promotion campaigns! This, according to an article in the U.K.'s Guardian.

I'm sorry to be flippant, but all I could think of when I read this article was my absolute favorite book of all time: Daniel Pinkwater's Author's Day. The book is out of print. (Why? Why? Why?) I actually own two copies...one reading copy, and one copy that I'm saving against the sad day when my first copy falls apart. Pinkwater's book brings to life a day in the life of a children's book author who suffers countless indignities during his visit to a school, and every word in the book rings true. From the school administrators who get the title of the author's book wrong to the kindergarten teacher who forces the author to eat pancakes with chunks of crayons in them, Author's Day is utterly perfect -- and serves as a perfect rebuttal to the notion that children's book author should be vetted before they're allowed to speak at schools.

According to Pinkwater's account, we put children's book authors through enough. All they're trying to do is a bit of book publicity. They're not trying to befriend children (and, certainly, they wouldn't want to befriend any of the adults who populate Pinkwater's imaginary school). Why make book promotion for children's book authors tougher than it has to be?

This is one of those times when I say: let Britain serve as a warning. Let's keep an eye on the U.K., and let's make sure that we don't repeat the mistakes they've made...or are about to make.

What is full service book promotion?

What is full service book promotion? That's a good question. The definition of "full service book promotion" now, in 2009, is not the same as it was in 2005, or even what it was in 2008.

The perplexing thing about book promotion is that it's in a perpetual state of flux. Once upon a time, full service book publicity firms had only to send books and press kits out to the media, wait awhile, follow up with phone calls, and book interviews (or get word about reviews). They passed that information along to authors and publishers, and that was that. The book promotion campaign was at an end once you'd contacted a given number of media outlets, once, and the media decision makers either did, or didn't, express interest in the book. Add book signings, book tours, events, and speaking engagements, and satellite tours, and that was pretty much it -- that was everything that a full service book publicity campaign was, or could be, and that was everything that book publicists imagined it could be.

Then came faxes, and then came emails, and suddenly, book publicists could go back to lukewarm (or just plain uninterested) producers and reporters and pitch different stories during the course of a book publicity campaign.

Then, all at once, nearly every media outlet had a web site, and part of full service book promotion services was to contact journalists via their online "story idea" forms.

Then came web sites for books and web sites for authors and web sites for publishers. Then came podcasts and book trailers, and along with that, along came iTunes and YouTube and other video-sharing sites. On the heels of that came online press release banks and online article banks. That was a paradigm shift for full service book promotion firms. Suddenly, book publicists didn't have to hope the media would pick their story ideas from the slush pile. Sure, book publicists could, and should, still proactively pitch their story ideas to the media. But, while book publicists were waiting for the producers of the Oprah Show to return their call, they could be maximizing their clients' search engine placement. That way, if Oprah's producers were seeking an expert with an author's expertise, an author's web site would come up in a Google search -- and the book publicist would get the call (or the email) from Oprah's producers.

Then came blogs, and then came RSS feeds, and then came mySpace, and then came Facebook, and then came LinkedIn, and then came Twitter, and then came web conferencing and virtual book tours through Skype and other tools...and tomorrow, who knows? Every new medium, and every new channel of communication, is something that book publicists will want to incorporate into their full service book promotion offerings.

All of which helps to explain why no one can have an answer for "What is a full service book promotion campaign" that's valid for longer than a week or so. The definition of full service book publicity campaign is in flux, and that's why book promotion is so much more effective than it was just a year or so ago...and so much more fun for book publicists and, I hope, for authors and publishers.

That's why book promotion is so much more fun than ever for this full service book publicist, anyway.

Something's going right for book publishing.

Something's going right for book publishing. How's this for good news? According to Publishers Weekly, Borders Group's stock jumped by 820% between December 31 and June 30. Books-A-Million's stock jumped by 178.8%; Barnes and Noble's by 37.5%; Scholastic's by 45.7%; and McGraw-Hill's by 29.8%.

Not to mention that, according to the Associated Press (as reprinted by Yahoo News and a host of other sources), Amazon has cut the price of its Kindle from $359 to $299. This, combined with the fact that Amazon hasn't announced that it plans to raise the price of its electronic books, offers hope that Amazon's profits will soar even higher (according to that PW article I just referenced, Amazon's stock already climbed by 63.1% in that period from December 31 to June 30.

Have stellar book publicity campaigns orchestrated by brilliant book publicists recently caused book sales to soar, transforming flagging sales into huge profit centers? I don't know, although as a book publicist, I'd like to believe that a whole spate of new, highly effective online book promotion strategies have enabled more publishers to sell more books during recent months.

I'd also like to believe that the economy is improving, and I'd further like to believe that people are reading more than they did before.

But, at this point, I care less about the reasons for the good book publishing industry news than I do about the fact that, finally, everyone in the book publishing industry, and everyone who loves books, finally has something to celebrate.

And did I mention that, after a day of severe thunderstorm warnings and even, believe it or not, tornado warnings in my neck of Massachusetts, the sun has finally peeked through the clouds, and we're looking at the best weather we've had since July 4th weekend?

So this is one book publicist who's in a very good mood this morning, and I hope your day is starting out a good as mine.

Maximizing a web site for book promotion potential

Stumped about how to maximize your web site to get as much book promotion mileage out of it as possible? Steve Bennett, founder of Authorbytes, offers some advice in his article, What’s on Your Website? That depends. . ., which appears on the Novelists Inc. blog.

As the title suggests, Bennett's theory is that one size does not fit all authors' web site needs. In some cases, sticking with a basic, "vanilla" web site makes the most sense. In other situations, it might be useful to add some multimedia components, Flash, and other extras to a book web site.

In any case, it's the basic site that counts, according to Bennett. If you create a solid site, then you can always add one helpful features such as a blog and a discussion board. But, if the core isn't right, then you can forget about adding to the site, because no one will visit more than once, anyway (and those who do visit once won't stick around long enough to buy your book).

One thing that Bennett's article emphasizes is that, while authors can create great web sites for their books, it's up to them to drive traffic to their site. That traffic, in turn, serves as a book promotion bonanza ... so the web site and a book promotion campaign go hand in hand.

A great article, and great tips. Check it out!

Back to book promotion

It's the Monday after the Fourth of July weekend. That means it's back to book promotion. This book publicist is back in full force, and I'm trusting the media decision makers will be back at their desks, too, and gearing up for new pitches.

Here's one promotion opportunity I wouldn't wish on anyone: finding greatly exaggerated rumors of your death on one of the social networks and then refuting those rumors. It happened, according to a recent article on CNN, to actor Jeff Goldblum who, in a promotional coup, was given the opportunity to read his own obituary on "The Colbert Report."

Well, yes, an appearance on "The Colbert Report" is terrific -- and when was the last time you'd heard Jeff Goldblum's name before he made this TV appearance? Still, as much as my clients all want media attention and a chance to be seen or heard in the national media, I don't think any of them would want Facebook, Twitter, or any other social network to prematurely announce their death.

Social networking has become an integral part of book promotion, and the more frequently authors' names turn up on the social networks, the happier they ought to be . . . unless they turn up in social networks in the wrong context, at the wrong time.

But isn't that always the way?

Book promotion superstitions.

Yes, book publicists can be a superstitious bunch. If it's raining and you've booked a national TV interview...then rainy days are very good days to make overtures to the biggest and most important media outlets. If it's the day before a long holiday weekend and you've booked an interview with National Public Radio, then holidays are the best time to contact NPR. Those superstitions are all part of the Book Promotion 101 course that we book publicists use to educate ourselves and keep the book publicity going.

But there's one superstition that I've never been able to decide upon, and it involves wishing someone well before an interview. It gave me pause this morning. One of my clients has two back-to-back radio interviews (he'll be appearing on both radio shows via telephone). I tried to decide, for seemingly the hundredth time, whether it's appropriate to tell an author who is about to do an interview to "break a leg." Is "break a leg" one of those superstitions that will lead to good things...or does that only work in theater? Does saying "good luck" have just the oppposite of the desired effect and, if so, should I avoid uttering that phrase to authors before their most important interviews? I guess that's something I'll have to ponder a bit longer....

CNN makes a book publicist's job tough.

CNN makes a book publicist's job tougher (and her day just a little bit rougher) than it has to be sometimes. Okay, other news organizations do it, too, but this time I have evidence that CNN is making this book publicist's job difficult.

One of the things a book publicist must do is convince the media to run a story as newsworthy or entertaining. A highly successful book promotion campaign usually involves a sure-fire news hook located somewhere in the author's life...preferably, somewhere reasonably close to the book he or she is promoting. A good book publicist has a better-than-average ability to predict which news hooks the media might go for.

Which is why one of today's top stories from CNN.com gave this particular book publicist a headache. Strange, puffy clouds were seen over New York City after a thunderstorm? A couple of people spotted Michael Jackson's face in the clouds? A meteorologist, when questioned, didn't deny that someone with a very keen imagination might be able to turn the puffy clouds into Michael Jackson's image? And that's news?

Well, okay. I can sort of see it. I mean, this is the first day in what seems like a month that someone famous, or formerly famous, hasn't unexpectedly met his or her maker. And, now that Michael Jackson's children are in the legal (if temporary) custody of their paternal grandmother, and autopsy results aren't expected back for several weeks, there isn't a front-burner Jackson story available. So I can understand how news organizations might be unable to resist the temptation to fill the glaring gap with -- a story about nothing.

But dang. For a book publicist like me, the world of book promotion gets a little bit harder every time one of our story pitches is brushed aside to make room for a non-story like strange (or not-so-strange, depending on your perspective) cloud formations over New York City.

Why isn't Hollywood Politicos, Then and Now by Greg R. Rabidoux (which talks about celebrities who seriously involve themselves in politics) on the front page of CNN.com today? Well, partly because New York City had a thunderstorm. In the summertime. And then there were clouds.

Gee whiz. This book publicist is getting a headache. And yet...book promotion is a fairly fun game, if you don't mind having one of your great pitches brushed aside, once in awhile, for no apparent reason other than the fact that, strangely, even non-news about recently deceased celebrities tend to trump everything else in a newsroom.

Here's why we still need newspapers.

Here's why we still need newspapers. Yesterday, I received the news via the Internet. I knew about Farrah Fawcett's death and Michael Jackson's demise (and the rumors of his demise) as soon as the major and minor news outlets broke the story. I got the news alerts. I found the full articles on the Web sites. I received the tweets. I even turned on my actual television set which is a rare feat for the news gatherer in me these days. I listened to the radio coverage (well, actually, to listeners' responses) to the stories all night.

But still...seeing the news and hearing the news and clicking on the news is one thing. Getting this morning's newspapers, and seeing the news on paper, in print, was something else.

It wasn't until I saw this morning's newspapers that I knew, for certain, that Farrah Fawcett had gone to her reward and Michael Jackson had gone to...well, his plastic surgeon in the sky, or whatever it was that he was aiming for (personally, I'm hoping that both Farrah and Michael graced the new-and-improved heavenly "Tonight Show" starring Johnny and Ed with their presence last night, because that would have been an unbeatable lineup, but maybe that would be rushing things just a bit).

Anyway, the news wasn't proven to be news to me until I held it in my hand and saw it in print and turned the pages for myself. Which is why we still need newspapers.

Or, in any case, it's why I still need newspapers. Maybe some media consumers have moved on. Me? Not so much.

Not yet.

I still want my newspapers in the morning, even when the news is as horrible as it was this morning.

And I think -- and trust -- that pitching stories to newspapers will be a part of book promotion campaigns for a long while to come, as long as there are enough people who feel the way that I do.

Here's how the Internet really affects book promotion.

Some days, the Internet overwhelms me. Its offerings become just so much background noise, and I can't wait to click away from Twitter, Facebook, and other Web 2.0 offerings so I can get back to work.

At other times, I appreciate the democracy of the Internet and, particularly, its chief benefit for those of us who care about book promotion opportunities: if the traditional media outlets are finding your book underwhelming, and they're not offering to interview you, then who care? You can broadcast your own interview online directly to your target audience, and given that, who needs an interview opportunity on someone else's traditional media outlet to promote a book?

A Publishers Weekly article of yesterday talks about a three-channel online network called "From the Publisher’s Office" that Penguin has just launched.

It will provide instant book promotion opportunities for Penguin’s authors. Also, because of the Penguin name, the site presumably will attract a huge audience. Penguin won't have to work hard to bring visitors to "From the Publisher's Office."

For the rest of us, developing Web 2.0 book promotion opportunities will be a bit more challenging. First, budget will be a factor. Even now, when publishing companies are feeling the economic (and technological) pinch, I presume it's still easier for Penguin to come up with a couple hundred thousand grand for Web site development than it would be for most of my clients. Second, whereas Penguin as a built-in Web 2.0 audience, most independent publishers and authors will have to work on bringing their targeted readers to their online offerings.

The latter can be done -- that's what book publicists and social networking experts are for (and many book publicists are quickly become social networking experts as well -- those who are behind the curve will quickly have to catch up, or I'm not sure what they'll be doing to earn their keep in the months ahead). The former -- raising the funds to develop Web 2.0 offerings -- can be trickier. But then again, there are already out-of-the-box solutions (BlogRadio comes to mind, and there are many others), and there will likely be many more of those to come. Using someone else's platform and, in essence, tapping into someone else's audience is an imperfect solution, but it is a solution...in the same way that print-on-demand publishing isn't quite going to eclipse getting a publishing contract from Penguin, although it can come close.

The opportunity to use the Internet -- and, specifically, Web 2.0 -- to create book promotion coverage is already there. Down the road, most of the barriers to entry will be lifted, and the benefits of participating in online book promotion campaigns will be evident to us all.

Web site creation to launch book promotion campaigns.

Launching a Web site, in advance of a book's publication, is an excellent way to get your book promotion campaign started. The order of play is:

1. Find, and snag, a URL for your book's Web site.
2. Build your Web site. Ideally, you would hire an established Web design firm that specializes in creating authors' book sites instead of your 22-year-old nephew. AuthorBytes is a top choice that many of my clients have worked with.
3. If you must do the latter (see #2, above) because of budgetary constraints, at least have your designer look at book sites that have been professionally designed for inspiration and direction. A good starting point is to make a list of books in your genre and see the Web sites associated with those titles -- or go to the specialty Web design firms who focus on authors' books and look at their portfolios.
4. Once your site goes live, announce it via a friendly email to your personal contacts -- and, more formally, via a press release to the media and online press release banks.
5. Upload your initial press release, and all future press releases, to your Web site.
6. Keep adding content to your site. An easy way to do that is to make sure you include a blog as part of your initial Web site. The more content your site has, the more likely that your site will be found by your target audience and by the media -- thus, you've begun your book promotion campaign as soon as the media can easily find your site in Google and other search engines.

Starting your book promotion campaign really is as easy as creating and launching your book's Web site. For more thoughts on the topic, click here.

Angie beats Oprah?

If Angelina Jolie is now a more powerful media personality than Oprah Winfrey, perhaps we should all shift our book promotion strategy. Perhaps now it's time to get Angelina Jolie -- and not Oprah Winfrey -- to feature our books in her internationally-respected book club and on her top-rated TV talk show, and maybe it's time to let Angie put her famed book club's imprint on our books and hope that she finds us worthy of granting us an opportunity to promote our books in front of our target audience.

Perhaps Oprah Winfrey is old news for authors and publishers who want to turn their books into instant bestsellers . Perhaps Angelina Jolie's support is what authors and publishers should now be seeking for their books.

Or...maybe not.

And please don't let the fact that I'm not an Angelina Jolie fan influence your opinion about how to proceed now that the stunning news about how Angelina's popularity has overtaken Oprah Winfrey's has hit the news. Seriously. It's all about grabbing Angie's attention now. Send your books to...well...just send your books to wherever in the world Angelina Jolie happens to be shopping for potential additions to her family these days. And good luck with that.

And then there are those who want no book promotion at all.

Most of us eagerly grab all the book promotion opportunities we can get. And then there are those who want no book promotion at all.

Check out this Associated Press (via the Guardian) article about J.D. Salinger's latest lawsuit.

Salinger is currently trying to block an author from publishing a sequel to Catcher in the Rye. It looks as though John David California (which is the writer's pen name, anyway) will not be able to share 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye with the Holden Caulfield-loving universe.

My hunch is that, while John David California is probably feeling a bit intimidated by the lawsuit, he's undoubtedly tickled by the attention Salinger is paying to his work. What better book promotion opportunity could their be than an attempt by a literary legend to legally prevent you from publishing your work?

Ah, Salinger. Must be nice to know that your book has reached the status of "classic" and that there's nothing further that you have to do -- your book will live just as long as people have books, ebook readers, or chips that can read text surgically implanted into their brains -- or whatever the next big book delivery system turns out to be.

Salinger. Salinger. How must it feel to turn down Steven Spielberg and Harvey Weinstein's offer to turn your book into a film? Mere mortals can only speculate.

Sometimes, authors who don't need or want book promotion opportunities leave me speechless. And humbled.

Go, Google, go!

Go, Google, go! Work out deals with publishers to sell digital versions of their books, and make them compatible with as many devices as possible. We knew Amazon (or Sony, for that matter) wouldn't have the exclusive right to sell ebooks. The more companies that jump into this space, the better, from the consumer's perspective -- and I'm a consumer as much as a book publicist.

I'm lusting after an electronic device that will let me read as many digital books and periodicals as I want, as comfortably as I'd like. Yes, I know: the old-fashioned technology (the book, the magazine, and the newspaper) still works, and those tried-and-true gadgets never ran out of batteries or experienced crashes. But, then again, who has all the shelf space she wants to hold every coveted book and periodical? Who has the budget to purchase them all at retails (or even at Amazon) prices? Who feels like carrying them in briefcases or suitcases -- or even in a beach bag (sorry, but suntan lotion, my wallet, and my keys still have to come first).

So I'd very much like to add an ebook reader to my array of choices, but I've been reluctant to do so before "the dust settles." And, when the dust settles, I know it will settle because all of Amazon (and Sony's) competitors will have trotted out their offerings, and will either blow away the current devices or educated consumers about how it should have been done all along.

What all of this has to do with book promotion is anybody's guess. Someday, I imagine book publicist's will be emailing digital copies of books, rather than hard copies, to the media. But which format? For which devices? And when will this all come to pass?

I don't know, but I think Google's entry into the fray has brought the ebook revolution another step closer.

Summer reading advice from Stephen King

I'm an unabashed Stephen King fan. Nearly all of his books are "keepers," as far as I'm concerned, and I have kept almost all of his books from Carrie to
Just After Sunset: Stories. So I'll take reading advice from him. At least, I want to hear what he has to say.

So I checked out his latest EW.com column, "Stephen King: 7 Great Books for Summer." I clicked on that article gleefully, in part to see what King's recommendations were, and in part to see which lucky ("anyone I know?") novelists had earned the book promotion opportunity of a lifetime (well, okay, one of the book promotion opportunities of a lifetime -- I certainly didn't mean to slight you or your book club, Oprah).

Imagine my surprise when I found that one of the authors to receive a book promotion opportunity via this Stephen King was none other than ... Charles Dickens. Seriously. Little Dorritt is one of King's "7 Great Books for Summer [of 2009]" picks.

It's been awhile since I've read Little Dorritt, and maybe there's something about it that I'm not remembering, but ... well, it's Little Dorritt. It originally was published between 1855 and 1857, and it was written by Charles Dickens who, by the way, is beyond benefitting from the book promotion opportunity of a lifetime.

Whereas (if you're following my train of thought) many -- maybe a gazillion or so -- hardworking novelists who are currently living and hoping and praying for a book promotion break of a lifetime could actually savor Stephen King's praise and bring any resultant book royalty checks to the bank.

There's nothing wrong with giving a nod to a classic novel, and I'm glad Stephen King recognized the work of one of my favorite novelists. But ... Stephen? Next time you're called upon to recommend seven novels to the book-buying public, would you please consider giving a helping hand to seven deserving novelists who could really use the boost? I wouldn't presume to tell you which new novels I'd like to see you recommend next time out ... although, as a book publicist, I do have some great suggestions. And my clients would owe you for it ... forever!

Could a Skype-driven book tour work for your book promotion campaign?

Could a Skype-driven book tour work for you? Maybe, at some point in the not-so-distant future, it could.

If you're currently setting up signings, speaking engagements, and other events at bookstores as part of your book promotion campaign, then you might want to check out Publishers Weekly's article, "Visiting Bookstores Virtually." The article describes an experiment that Random House is trying with two of its children's book authors: Jerry Spinelli and Libba Bray.

Random House arranged for its authors to participate in Skype phone calls to bookstores, and the selected bookstores arranged for children to be part of the calls. The lucky kids had a chance to visit with the authors, virtually, as pets and other family members wandered into their home offices. And the authors didn't have to pack their suitcases and travel from one city to another to meet their fans.

The bookstores took a risk, because this is the first time they've used Skype in place of having an author actually appear, in person, to talk with an audience. Who knew, ahead of time, whether the technology would work, or -- even if it did -- whether it could keep an audience of young people entertained? And, for authors, it took a leap of faith to look squarely at a Web cam and trust that, somehow, they were connecting with their fans.

But, according to the PW article, it worked. Then again, as the article points out, both of these authors have a huge fan base. They were also playing to an audience that's excited by Web cams and Skype -- rather than a group of adults who could very well be turned off, or intimidated, by it.

So will you be participating in a Skype-driven book signing in the next week or two? No, probably not. But a year or so down the road . . . who knows? Things change so quickly in the world of book promotion that, some day soon, it might make perfect sense to trade in your plans for a traditional bookstore tour for a virtual one. You might find, as these pioneering authors did, that a Skype book tour provides even more opportunities than a standard book tour to foster intimacy and connections with your readers . . . and you might find yourself trading in traditional book tours for Skype-driven book tours for good.

Google steps into book promotion arena?

Hey! I didn't realize that yesterday's Google homepage doodle was about book promotion! I thought it was about a scientific discovery!

Yesterday, Google's homepage featured one of those intriguing doodles that I had to click on before I could start my day. What was that weird drawing, anyway?

It turned out to be a fossil or, more specifically, the "missing link" -- which, happily for Colin Tudge and Josh Young, coauthors of The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor (published by Little Brown and Company) -- was the subject of their new book. The book's publication date, by the way, was(May 20, 2009, which was the date that Google featured that promotional doodle on its homepage.

We all know that prominent search engine placement is a critical aspect of book promotion. If your book's web site is prominently featured in Google, then potential book buyers will go right to it when you've been interviewed on radio or television, or you've been featured in a magazine, newspaper, or online article. Driving traffic to your book's web site is a first step on the path toward selling potential readers on your credibility, expertise, entertainment/news value, and so on . . . so I've always said that SEO (search engine optimization, which for books' web sites involve writing articles and op-eds, social bookmarking, posting press releases in online "banks," and the like) is a key to book promotion (and book marketing, by the way) success.

But I never imagined that Google itself would overtly take a hand in an author's (or a publisher's) book promotion campaign! How cool would it be to have Google link to your book, via its daily doodle? How many thousands of people would click on that doodle to find out about your book, and perhaps to visit your book's web site?

Now if only Google would make its daily doodle available to advertisers. And if only the cost were less cost-prohibitive than, say, inventing a new species or a new planet where life forms could live . . . and if only ordinary authors and publishers could afford to give it a try.

Book promotion geared toward libraries.

Most of the book promotion that I do is geared toward conventional and online bookstores. Some few books that I promote can be bought only at authors' web sites (it's very rare that books I'm hired to promote are not available via Amazon.com, but it still occasionally happens).

So I ask questions about distribution before I agree on a book promotion campaign because I know a bit about distribution to bookstores and via web sites. But I know little about book promotion that's geared toward libraries -- or, specifically, toward librarians. How do librarians choose their acquisitions? Which trade publications (aside from the obvious ones that contain the word "library") do they read? How else do books get on librarians' radar screen?

I was, therefore, delighted to find an article online by Sherry Thomas, a Bantam historical romance novelist, called "How Do Romances Get on the Shelves–Library Shelves."

Although the article addresses the question of how librarians choose which romance novels to acquire, it also sheds light on the process of libraries' acquisitions, in general. It seems as though the goal is to bring your book to the attention of librarians. If you can accomplish that, then there's no guarantee the librarians will buy your book -- but, at least, your book will be up for consideration.

My thanks go out to Sherry Thomas for shedding light on how the mysterious process of libraries' acquisitions work -- and, too, for offering hope that library patrons can sometimes be persuaded to buy their favorite books once they've test-driven them (so to speak). I've read that libraries are busier than ever these days with so many people opting to borrow books instead of buying them. It's reassuring to think that not all those book borrowers are committed to short-term relationiships with their favorite books. There's still room for selling a borrower on a book if the book is good enough -- and making the book good enough is the job that most authors do best (at least, they always tell me that "writing is the easy part". So that article made my morning!

So...Scribd has opened an online store.

Good for Scribd. Far more interesting to this book publicist, though, was the fact that I read about Scribd's new ecommerce venture in no fewer than three major media outlets today: Publishers Weekly , the Washington Post, and the New York Times.

Jeez. I care only marginally about the fact that Scribd will now charge readers for digital content (books, magazines, newspapers, research reports, etc.), and 80% of the proceeds will go directly to the contents' publishers. (Scribd's service will only be as impressive as its content, and I haven't had a chance yet to check out the site -- I'll reserve judgment until I have).

But I am blown away by the amount, and the quality, of media exposure that Scribd's new ecommerce venture has received. Imagine if, in the midst of your book promotion campaign, your work was featured in PW, the Post, and the NY Times on the same day? My goodness! That would be an accomplishment, for certain!

Media kit creation is a team sport.

Effective media kits are something that you must help to create. And you can do it, even if you've never written a media kit or even seen one. A book publicist will take the lead, but you should take an active part in the media kit creation process -- whether or not your book publicist explicitly invites your participation. That will ensure that you'll be satisfied with the results, and you'll have the winning media kit that you can stand behind.

A media release focuses on a particular angle rather than on your entire book. Only you know for certain what you'd like that focus to be. Your book publicist will have an idea or two about the main thrust of the media kit -- he or she typically has read your book and spoken with you, and knows what's likely to get the attention of the media and book buyers -- but your vision (and your goals about how you want the media to perceive you) is what matters most.

The media kit represents your book and you, and it helps to shape your image and build your brand. Your reputation is at stake every time someone reads it, and that ultimately makes it your responsibility.

Your book publicist may have a great track record in the publicity business, but he or she is unlikely to create the perfect media kit for you without your thoughtful input. Your book publicist can get the ball rolling by creating a competent first media kit draft, but your participation should kick in even before your book publicist begins to conceptualize the release. Here are a few of the key contributions you can offer:

∙ Media hooks. Your publicist tunes into the media's news sources and knows what's going on in the world. But you know which current events are most likely to resonate with you, and which news stories you feel the most passionate about. If there's something going on in the news (or there's an event that's about to take place) that you'd like to emphasize in your book promotion campaign, then let your book publicist know. Your book publicist can incorporate that news hook into your media kit, and you can offer quotations (which can take the form of comments on the news story) that will work well for the release, too.

∙ Language and concepts. Are there key phrases and ideas that come up frequently in your line of work or your area of expertise? Don't make your book publicist figure them out -- provide a list of the words and ideas that should make their way into the media kit.

∙ Questions. Book publicists often include suggested interview questions in media kits for the journalists' benefit. You know what you'd like Jay Leno to ask you if you're sitting on his couch .... your publicist can only guess what those questions might be. Imagine that Jay (or your favorite talk show host) is asking the questions most likely to elicit the information you want to provide, and deliver those questions to your book publicist. Good questions, your book publicist can create. The questions you want the media to ask you, your book publicist can only guess at -- unless you make them clear.

∙ Story ideas. Your book is filled with possibilities for media stories. Although your publicist can guess which stories you want the media to pursue, you should establish (or, at least, strongly suggest) the direction and let your publicist know which avenues are the most attractive to you. Your book publicist can easily and smoothly work them into the media kit.

As a publicist, I read every client's book before I begin to work on the media kit. I think about how the book's content might tie into current events or news happenings as I'm reading. I highlight paragraphs, flag pages, and note specific passages. I do my homework before I start to create the media kit. And, because I have a sense of what's likely to work as part of a media kit, I'm glad to put together a media kit draft that serves as a launching pad for the final product.

Once I've sent my clients the first media kit draft, I expect them to read it with an open mind. The draft isn't going anywhere ... it's only a starting point.

It's the client's responsibility to actively get involved in the media kit's creation so that the second draft will be better than the first. No media materials are leaving my desk until I have my client's approval, and I hope I won't have that approval until my client loves what we have created together.

I ask my clients to get back to me with their suggested edits (most of my clients use MS Word's "track changes" mode to accomplish this) that reflect their vision, ideas, branding, expertise, and media goals. I incorporate those editorial suggestions into the next draft of the media kit, add my own edits, send it back to the client ... and so the revision process goes.

The media-kit-in-progress makes its way, via email, between the book publicist and the client for as long as it takes -- usually, about two days -- until we've created a tightly woven, exciting media kit that delights both the book publicist and the client.

Yes, a book publicist potentially could create a decent media kit alone. But that shouldn't be good enough. And that doesn't reflect the way that I prefer to work, nor does it reflect the way you'd want me to work. I want the author or publisher to participate in the media kit creation process so that everyone involved will be thrilled with the results.

Media kit creation is a subjective process. How can a book publicist know what an author or a publisher is hoping for unless the client offers specific ideas and suggestions for creating the ideal media package?

In short, an author/publisher who is willing to participate in the creation of a media kit will surely be happy with the results and will be more than repaid for his or her investment of time and energy. Those who do not will likely be disappointed with the results, no matter how competent and creative the book promotion specialist who is involved.

So provide your book publicist with your ideas before, and during, the book promotion process. You'll love the results, and your book promotion campaign's success will reflect your efforts.

You know how you’d like the media to see you, and your book publicist knows how to make it happen. Your knowledge and your publicist’s book promotion experience: that's the winning combination.

Singing for book promotion opportunities?

Can singing karaoke style provide you turn into a viral marketing opportunity? Yes, it can. Check out a video that Lara Zielin posted on YouTube.

Can Lara sing? Well, I'll let you decide that for yourself (Susan Boyle isn't worried about the potential competition, though, is what I'm thinking). But does Lara know a book promotion opportunity when she dreams one up? Oh, yes, she does.

Lara's video was inspired an editing letter she'd received while her debut novel, Donut Days, was in production. She turned her angst at having to rip up her manuscript into a playfully angst-filled musical response as she runs away from the letter.

She then cleverly posted the video on YouTube (clearly, she didn't mind editing the video first, and -- as someone who's had a bit of experience here, I must say that she did a very respectable job with that). Lara was able to link back to her web site,www.larawrites.com and mention her novel's title in her description of the video.

I found out about the video not because I regularly troll YouTube but because Michelle Reynoso, who works at Safeguards Technology, mentioned the video in a LinkedIn group post.

Thanks to Michelle, and thanks to Lara for coming up with an innovative book promotion idea. I hope Putnam Juvenile appreciates you, and I hope Donut Days sells at least 100,000 extra copies because of your ingenuity!

Amazon's Kindle -- harrumph.

I've been pumped to buy an Amazon Kindle, or whatever the state-of-the-art ebook reader turns out to be once the publishing and technology dust settles. But stories like this one in today's New York Times make me wonder: is the technology going to enhance our enjoyment of books and other things in print, or will it just be another source of irritation?

It turns out that the Kindle, which has that text-to-voice feature, doesn't know how to pronounce the name of the United States president. It's also not clear about how to pronounce the name of Boston's basketball team (it's thinking "Celtics," with a hard C, instead of "Celtics," with a soft C).

Speaking of irritants: Look, if I want to mispronounce words, I can do it on my own. I don't need the help of an ebook reader. I accept the fact that my Garmin GPS unit, which also is equipped with that text-to-voice feature, can't articulate street names as clearly as I'd like. But, then, I use my GPS unit to do that which I cannot -- namely, to (usually) get me from point A to point B without taking me through the Amazon rainforest. But reading? I've been doing that for myself since I was about five years old. And, as long as my eyesight holds out, I expect I'll be doing it for myself as long as I live. So, if the Kindle (or any ebook reader) is going to lend an electronic voice to the conversation, it has to do a better job than to decide that "Barack" rhymes with "black" and "Obama" rhymes with "Alabama." If there's a person or place in the news and I'm seriously concerned about mispronouncing it -- and if my radio and my television set break simultaneously, and I don't have access to a computer -- then I can see asking the Kindle to tell me how to pronounce, say, Thomas Cholmondeley or Abu Ghraib. If the voice-to-text technology is going to help me get lost in the linguistic equivalent of the Amazon rainforest, then I don't need it.

And I'm not sure I'd be excited about paying for that which I don't need.

So fix the technology, Amazon (and other ebook vendors), or you're just giving this book publicist an excuse to sit on the sidelines of the emerging technology for an even longer period of time. I'm excited about the new technology . . . now you just have to show me that the whole package really works, and you'll have yourself a new customer.

Good news for book promotion campaigns...sort of.

Well, here's some good news for those of us who are in the midst of book promotion campaigns -- but it comes in the form of bad news. The post office has just increased its rates for first class postage and for mailing postcards. You can check out the new rates at CNN.com which, for some reason, is easier for this particular book publicist than going directly to the "calculate postage" page on the U.S. Postal Service's Web site.

Anyway, if you conduct snail-mailings of media kits, or if you send out postcards to your mailing lists, to try to drum up book promotion opportunities or book sales, then you'll be spending more now than you would have spent two weeks ago on your endeavors.

But I promised you some good news, and here it is. If you're sending out books and media kits via Priority mail, or you're sending out books via Media Mail (no paperwork allowed), then the rates will not go up. So, for most authors and publishers, the rate increases will probably not end up increasing the costs of a book promotion campaign -- for the time being.

I have faith that, one day soon, the rates for the rest of the United States Postal Services' offerings will go up again and, when it does, that will send the costs of book promotion campaigns soaring yet again.

But, for the time being, we're safe. Unless we want to mail our mom a belated Mother's Day card . . . but none of us would be in a position to have to send our moms a belated Mother's Day card, would we? Me? I took my mom to see the new "Star Trek" movie on Mother's Day. Maybe not the best movie choice in the world for my mom but, hey . . . I enjoyed it. For the most part. I could have done without the explosions and violence, but then, I guess the director of the movie had to spend that gazillion dollar special effects budget somehow.

James Frey's dubious choice

We'll do a lot for book promotion opportunities . . . but would you write a novel that includes an account of Oprah Winfrey saying compromising things about "some mistakes she made" on tape? That's what James Frey chose to do in the paperback (the hardcover edition omitted the Oprah section) version of Bright Shiny Morning, according to Wednesday's Guardian.

Frey already has incurred the wrath of Oprah Winfrey by admitting that he fabricated certain elements of his Oprah's Book Club pick, A Million Little Pieces. Along with major book sales, he scored an on-air scolding from Oprah, which couldn't have been a whole lot of fun for him.

Is that Oprah addition to Bright Shiny Morning Frey's way of getting the last word in an argument? Maybe, and maybe it even feels good to Frey as though he's "won" -- but, if I were in his position, I wouldn't mess with Oprah Winfrey.

Oprah isn't some sort of a Mafia don, and I'm not suggesting that Frey should be afraid that she'll respond to the accusations against her in his novel by getting one of her producers to leave a horse's head in his bed. But Oprah's voice in literature is a powerful one, for better or worse, and I wouldn't want to hear that voice raised against my work and me, if I were a novelist -- and I wouldn't court Oprah's wrath in an effort to sell more novels. It seems unworthy and cheap.

If Frey is such a brilliant writer (and I wouldn't know first-hand -- I delayed in reading A Million Little Pieces and, once the controversy broke, I decided not to purchase the book at all), then he doesn't need to talk trash about Oprah. And if he isn't as great as he apparently thinks he is, then Frey has no right to invoke Oprah's name (and try to compromise her reputation) to sell copies of his novel. Certainly, he most likely has a legal right to do so (Oprah Winfrey is a public figure, so I'm guessing it's easier to get away with bad-mouthing her than to pick on another, anonymous citizen). But morally, I think Frey is completely unjustified in telling tales about Oprah as part of his book promotion efforts. I'm not sure what James Frey was thinking, but this is the clearest-cut case of "biting the hand that feeds you" I've seen in a long while.

Stephen King waves his Amazon Kindle 2!

For the past couple of weeks, I've been following the travails of the Boston Globe. Will it survive? Will the New York Times Co. close its doors? (It looks as though it will survive for the time being. According to the Boston Globe's web site, the last of the Boston Globe's unions has finally reached an agreement with the New York Times Co., and all that's left is for the union's membership to ratify the agreement.)

Anyway, while reading every scrap of information I could about the Boston Globe's troubles and those of other newspapers across the country, I stumbled across a Time magazine article called "Will Amazon's Kindle Rescue Newspapers?"

The article talks about a Kindle with a larger screen that's supposed to serve up newspapers (and textbooks) more easily for readers and postulates that this, finally, could be the answer for those of us who -- what? Wanted our broadsheets but didn't enjoy refolding them when we were finished with them? Or didn't want to deal with the overseas-based home delivery staff when subscription issues went awry? Or didn't want to deal with vending machines to buy a copy? Well, I'm sure the larger-screen Kindle will rescue the concept of reading newspapers for some segment of the reading population (I'll get back to you as soon as I figure out which segment of the reading population that is, exactly).

But what really jumped out at me about that Time magazine article was the picture of Stephen King holding a pink Kindle aloft with the biggest grin on his face that I've seen outside a candy shop or toy store. King, who has published a book directly to a Kindle, is enjoying the technology. If you have any doubt about his motive in working directly with Amazon -- if you suspect that he wanted to stick a finger into the eye of mainstream publishers just because he could -- then one look at that photo will tell you differently. King loves the Kindle. He loves being a part of the publishing revolution. He'd love being a part of anything that involves books, because Stephen King loves books.

King isn't holding a copy of The Stand in his fist and saying, "I wrote this great book. I am great. My books are great, and they're not changing. Let's stay where we are and talk about how great everything is" -- as the rest of the civilized world explores new publishing possibilities. King is at the forefront of the publishing revolution, and he doesn't have to be there. He wants to be there, and I respect him for it. And, yes, I love him for it, because I feel as though he's holding my hand through what could be a challenging and frightening ride to an unknown plane of publishing existence.

What could feel threatening to a book publicist (and to a news junkie) feels a lot less threatening, somehow, when I see Stephen King's gleeful expression and can feel his enthusiasm, and his eagerness, for what lies ahead jumping off the page. I can feel King's delight, and I can -- yes, I can -- share it.

I'll have the Boston Globe to read tomorrow, and I'll have hard copies of books to read next week. And the month after that? Or the following year? Who knows? Maybe I'll have a Kindle 2. Maybe I'll have an iPhone with that Kindle application installed on it. Or maybe I'll have a Sony eReader or that thing Barnes and Noble seems to be working or, or maybe I'll have an ebook (and enewspaper) reader that I haven't even heard of yet.

As long as I have reading materials, I'll be good. I can read them, and I can promote them ... whatever they are.

Do book promotion campaigns require tolerance for hate?

Do book promotion campaigns require tolerance for hate? Obviously, they do not. And, as a book publicist, I will never understand why authors subject themselves to interviews with talk show hosts whose on-air persona is about spreading rancor, narrow-mindedness, and xenophobia.

I'm aware that some of the (in my opinion, although I recognize it's a question of personal taste) chief offenders -- Don Imus and Howard Stern among them -- aren't leaving the airwaves any time soon. But I hope that a Boston-area radio talk show host by the name of Jay Severin whose idiocy just came to my attention will be leaving his world, WTKK-FM, for a distant galaxy permanently. Severin, it seems, thinks that Mexico (and, by extension, those who live in Mexico) is to blame for the Swine Flu. I can't quite follow the logic, but apparently, Severin thinks the spread of H1N1 is tied to illegal immigration . . . which, somehow, gives him the right to give voice to racial slurs on the air.

However fast and furious the pace of booking author media interviews might be, I can guarantee you that I would never knowingly schedule an interview with an individual who is disrespectful toward anyone on the air . . . or who earns a living by putting people down. Subjecting authors to foolish, unwise, or short-sighted talk show hosts is no way to promote books . . . and it's no way to run a book promotion firm, either.

Could Boston become a one-newspaper town?

Could Boston become a one-newspaper town? Well, yes. Boston could even become a no-newspaper town at the rate newspaper closings are going (check out this CNN.com story). We all know by now that the Boston Globe's future is precarious. The union leaders have blown past their second deadline without coming to terms with the Boston Globe's owners -- or, at least, the four unions haven't all successfully met the terms dictated by The New York Times Co. for keeping the Globe in business.

Meanwhile, the Boston Herald has turned into a cross between a celebrity magazine and a sports magazine -- and its editorial content, even in those areas, seem to be diminishing every day.

So the question, for this Massachusetts-based book publicist, isn't so much whether Boston could become a one-newspaper town. It's whether Boston could become a no-newspaper town. And the corollary, of course, is this: If Boston becomes a no-newspaper town, what will that mean for book promotion campaigns? Clearly, book reviews in newspapers are becoming distant memories. Yet, strangely, most authors and publishers who contact me still open their conversations with, "My goal is to have my book reviewed in the New York Times or another newspaper of that caliber. Can you make it happen?"

In a word, no. I can't make it happen, and I'm already recommending that authors and publishers take a look at their own newspapers and make note of how few books are actually reviewed therein, and the origin of those books. If your book is already in print, and if your publishing house isn't among the major ones, and you're not paying for newspaper space . . . then its probably not going to see the inside of a newspaper. Instead, you should be focusing on other book promotion opportunities -- and they're out there. You have to be more creative than ever, but that's what book promotion has always been about -- creativity -- and that's a good thing, after all.

I wish the Boston Globe employees and readers luck and success as we see what happens next. Maybe there's still the possibility of a future for Boston's number one newspaper -- for a little while, anyway.

Reassuring book promotion thought for the day.

Do you sometimes feel apprehensive about your ability to handle book promotion interviews with finesse? That happens to a lot of authors -- even veterans of book promotion campaigns -- and that's why I'm pleased to offer a reassuring thought for the day. Here it is.

No matter what you do, and no matter what you say, and no matter what you forget to say -- you could never blow an interview as badly as Hulk Hogan did. In case you missed it, Hogan told a Rolling Stone magazine interviewer (in the context of venting his feelings about his ex-wife who's currently dating a much younger man)that he can "totally understand O.J." Did he stop there? No. In fact, he explained that he was capable of doing that which O.J. Simpson was accused.

Check out the CNN story, if you haven't seen it, and take heart. Unless you have scrambled eggs for a brain or mashed potatoes for morality, you could never mess up a book promotion opportunity as badly as that. In fact, Hulk Hogan has set the bar so low that, from now on, no interview we see or hear read could ever seem as incompetent, unworthy, or inappropriate as before.

Hulk Hogan has given us all a new reason to feel confident in our ability to do a reasonably acceptable interview. Now the challenge is to do an even better interview than you did last time . . . and that confidence and ability will come with practice.

Decency? Unfortunately, that probably can't be learned by those of us who have left our formative years behind. Sorry, Hogan, but no amount of media training can ever change the fact that you don't deserve to talk to another reporter . . . unless, perhaps, it's a court reporter.

Befriend Amazon.

There's been plenty of buzz recently about a glitch (or, perhaps, something far more purposeful and sinister than a glitch) in Amazon's ranking system. (If you want to catch up on the story, click on the New York Times story here.) There's been a copyright battle brewing between the Authors Guild and Amazon over the Kindle 2's "text-to-speech" functionality. (For more on that story, click directly on the Authors Guild Web site.)

But, although beating up Amazon for its myriad controversial choices (or glitches) may seem like a fun and productive sport for publishing industry professionals, I have a hunch we'd all be better served to get to know Amazon a little bit better and learn how to work with it. Specifically, tap into Amazon's book promotion opportunities.

There's a whole world of book promotion potential of Amazon that lies beneath the bookseller's surface. I wish I could say that, ardent book publicist that I am, I found out about Amazon's book publicity opportunities by clicking around the site and uncovering hidden treasures for authors and publishers buried beneath Amazon's surface . . . but the truth is that I read a lot, and most of what I uncovered regarding Amazon's hidden book promotion opportunities, I found via a wonderful book by Brent Sampson called Sell Your Book on Amazon: Top-Secret Tips Guaranteed to Increase Sales for Print-on-Demand and Self-Publishing Writers. I'm not shilling for Sampson (in fact, I don't know him and, except for the fact that I bought a copy of his book, I haven't done business with him). But I'd like to see every author (yes, even mainstream authors can benefit from understanding the book publicity potential of Amazon) pick up a copy of his book.

Amazon's offerings and -- you'll know this if you've tried to work with Amazon using any guides you've come across -- its URLs are constantly changing. So I read everything I come across regarding Amazon's book promotion opportunities so that I can keep up with the available features. (Obviously, I try to keep up-to-date with Barnes and Noble's online book promotion offerings to which, while less robust than Amazon's, are still worth checking out. For example, have you checked out Barnes and Noble's new Blogging Booksellers feature?)

Amazon isn't perfect, and we can all take issue with something about its functionality, vision, style, and the like. (I'm tempted to say that Amazon is only human, but it isn't, and I think that's the point here.) But, anyway, why not take a look at the other side of the story? Why not explore the ambitious and evolving infrastructure that Amazon has built to help authors and publishers gain online visibility for their books? (Yes, of course, I know that helping authors and publishers promote its books through Amazon benefits Amazon as well as authors and publishers, but we're not beating up on Amazon right now, remember?). Just tap into one or two of its book promotion opportunities that so many authors and publishers tend to miss (such as its Wiki that will accept all entries from authors and publishers, at this time), for starters, and see where it leads.

It's big, controversial, powerful, and I know the temptation is to spurn any corporation that boasts those attributes. But Amazon offers so many benefits for authors and publishers . . . so why not befriend Amazon, and see whether its book promotion opportunities can do some good for your book sales?

Book promotion is mandatory.

Book promotion campaigns are mandatory for authors, and shyness is not an option. As a traditionally published author, you owe your publisher your presence on the book promotion trail, and "I'm too busy," "I have a headache," or "I don't like to do interviews" will not be accepted as excuses for your lack of participation.

That's what Dear Abby says, anyway, and -- as a book publicist with a healthy sense of self-preservation and self-interest -- who am I to argue?

One other thing. Who knew that the Dear Abby column was still around? The newspaper to which I subscribe hasn't carried the column for years.

Oh, well.

Return to Book Promotion Mountain

Publishers Weekly recently covered an odd item that I thought I'd share. But first: a riddle. What's (arguably) the best book promotion opportunity imaginable? Answer: a movie.

If a movie based on a book actually makes it into theaters -- which, of course, is a long, long way from selling rights to a film company -- then millions of film-goers learn about your book and, potentially, become book buyers. Right?

Right. Except when the book's publisher goes belly-up before the movie's release, and the book is out of print.

Believe it or not, that's what happened with Disney's new movie, "Race to Witch Mountain." You may remember Paris Hilton's aunt, Kim Richards, who played a child named Tia in the vintage (well, 1970s) movie "Escape to Witch Mountain" and its sequels. That Witch Mountain series was based on a book (unbeknownst to me until now -- and, yes, shame on me for missing this!) called Escape to Witch Mountain that was written by Alexander Key and was published by Westminster Press in 1968. Westminster Press, alas, is no longer among the publishers of this world, and the book was out of print -- groan! -- when Disney released "Race to Witch Mountain."

So here comes the best book promotion opportunity imaginable . . . and the book that could reap the substantially rewards is out of print.

Enter Sourcebooks which bought the rights to the book, Escape to Witch Mountain, and will launch a paperback version of the book at the same time as Disney releases its "Race to Witch Mountain" DVD. No one knows (or, at least, the folks at PW don't know) when that will be.

But . . . at least the book that inspired the movies will be back in print, and at least Sourcebooks and readers -- and, I hope, either Alexander Rey himself or his estate (I couldn't turn up any biographical information on Mr. Rey during a quick online search, although it looks as though another of his books, The Forgotten Door, was published as recently as 1988) -- can benefit from the return of the Witch Mountain fervor.

Ah, 1970s-era Disney movies. Kim Richards, Ike Eisenmann, Eddie Albert, Bill Bixby, Jodie Foster, Don Knotts . . . don't get me going on film nostalgia this Friday morning. Just don't.

Book promotion is your responsibility

A client recently called to let me know that a radio interview hadn't gone well. "The host wasn't prepared, and he didn't ask me the right questions at all. I thought you'd want to make a note of that so you won't approach him again to book other clients on his show," she told me.

Well, I was sorry to hear that the interview hadn't gone well. I'm sure the host and the producer were similarly sorry the interview hadn't gone well; it's their show, and they're the ones who count on guests to help their shows go well so their ratings can go well, and paydays can continue to go well, too.

Book promotion is a team sport, and interviews are always easier when the interviewer does a good job. But, finally, whether or not the interview goes reasonably well is the interviewee's responsibility.

Interviewers are human, and that means they have their good days and their bad days. They have their days of being prepared, and they have their days of being unprepared, and they have their days of being focused, and they have their days of being distracted. There are kind interviewers and aggressive interviews and quiet interviewers and shy interviewers and combative interviewers and bright interviewers . . . and there are interviewers who are as stupid as rocks. There are interviewers in good health and interviewers with migraines and interviewers who suffer from chemical dependencies . . . and, whatever type of interviewer you run into, the interview itself is still your responsibility.

Find out as much about the interviewer as you can ahead of time by checking Google and the media outlet's web site. See, in general, what you might expect. If the interviewer's style is aggressive and argumentative (or if his/her philosophy is on the opposite ends of the spectrum from yours), then come prepared for some challenging, hard-hitting (or maybe even downright silly) questions. Conversely, if the interviewer's style is entertaining and light, then get set for a good time . . . and so forth. If your interview segment is a couple of minutes long, be concise and have sound bites ready. If your on-air time will be allow you much longer than that, then be prepared to elaborate and have the information you might need available to you.

Because you never know exactly what interviewers might want to talk about, know ahead of time what you want to convey. Which messages would provide the best book promotion opportunities for you? Create those messages, and practice delivering them. Then, whether or not the interviewer asks you the "right" questions, bridge back to your message points. Be ready to bridge back to your message points if the interviewer's questions are absurd, off-target, hostile, or just plain uninformed. Say something like, "That's an interesting point . . . and I'd also like to mention that . . . [here's where you slip in one of your messages].

Once you've become comfortable taking responsibility for your interviews, you'll find that your book promotion campaign will be a better experience for you. You'll feel empowered to get an interview back on track when it goes awry, and you'll be able to prevent the interviewer from having complete control over whether or not your interview goes well.

Book promotion is a team sport, as I've said, but you're the person who's promoting your book. Therefore, ultimately, book promotion is your responsibility. Don't let it scare you . . . in this context, responsibility is a good thing, and when you come to an interview prepared to deliver your messages, you'll enjoy the book promotion far more than if you creep to the microphone fearfully and having no idea of what you might expert . . . and how the interviewer might try to derail your book promotion campaign.

Could Amazon someday make major publishers superfluous?

Could Amazon someday make major publishers superfluous? Amazon probably would like to offer the perfect publication and delivery system for books (I want a Kindle, as soon as a few of the current kinks -- big and small -- are worked out). And Amazon has already revolutionized the book publishing industry.

Amazon offers distribution for nearly all books in print. That means that, even if Barnes and Noble/Borders/independent bricks-and-mortar bookstores don't carry a book, media consumers can still buy it ... which, by extension, means that a book promotion campaign can be a worthwhile investment. That was not the case B.A. (Before Amazon), when an author who sought book promotion opportunities but whose book was difficult to purchase could not benefit from media visibility. I remember those days well, because as a book publicist with integrity, I used to turn down the opportunity to represent self-published books just for that reason.

With the advent of Amazon, media consumers could suddenly buy books online as soon as they saw, or heard about, or read about the author ... so book promotion opportunities could become sales opportunities, too. And that was true whether your book was published by a mainstream publishing house or whether you had your own, as-yet-unknown imprint (or were working with an obscure, specialized book publishing house).

So Amazon has already affected book promotion, and it has changed our book-buying habits, and it probably holds the key to our future reading rituals. But could Amazon ever make major publishers superfluous? We know that authors who self-publish their work can use BookSurge (or not) and national book promotion campaigns to get their books in front of the masses. But would bestselling authors ever jump ship from major houses to Amazon's publishing and delivery systems? Would authors earn more money if they did? What about the other side of it -- what would authors sacrifice if they forfeited the prestigious imprints on their books and published directly through Amazon?

Check out this article, "Why the Lack of a Jeff Bezos Dooms Mainstream Publishing," in Dear Author for an interesting take on why Amazon might, eventually, render mainstream publishing houses just so much extra baggage for the most successful authors (it goes without saying that, for most authors, mainstream publishing was never an option).

As the article points out, mainstream publishers are cowering in the corner, bemoaning poor book sales and lamenting the fact that "no one is reading anymore." At the same time, Amazon's Jeff Bezos is essentially experimenting with different ideas every minute, and finding success with enough of them to be truly excited about the future of publishing. Given those two distinct camps -- the chest-beating, traditional publishers and the future-facing Amazon -- isn't it apparent that, one day, Amazon could make major publishers superfluous?

Could be. And, if that happens -- harsh though this may sound -- I'd have to say that major publishers deserve what they get. If you're not growing and changing, then your stagnating ... and nothing good has ever come from standing still, in publishing or in any other industry.

Barnes and Noble's latest book promotion opportunity

Barnes and Noble is smart and innovative, and both attributes will serve book promotion-savvy authors very well. For example, according to a Publishers Weekly article by Lynn Andriani, BN.com has launched a new "Blogging Booksellers" feature on its site. Bookstore bloggers in nine cities will create video blogs about the books they recommend and about bookstore events that, undoubtedly, feature some of the same books.

How's this for a book promotion opportunity? Go to BN.com, and click on the "Barnes and Noble Studio" tab. Then click on "Meet the Blogging Booksellers." Locate the Barnes and Noble store closest to you (using the map and the "Select a Location" drop-down list to pinpoint the store near you). Click on the blogger's Barnes and Noble profile to pull up the blogger's full name and position, and then call up the local store to pitch your book to the blogger.

It could net you visibility on the BN.com Web site. You couldn't beat that for a book promotion opportunity! And, if it doesn't work out, that's okay. There's always the next event, or the next book, to pitch!

Book promotion limits?

Are there limits to the extent to which you'll go in order to garner book promotion opportunities? I hope so! An example of an out-of-bounds book promotion maneuver (in the opinion of this humble book publicist, anyway) is playing an April Fool's prank on the media.

Editors, producers, and reporters might choose, on their own, to observe the rite of foolishness on April first. But authors, publishers, and book publicists don't have to feed into that nonsense in the name of book promotion.

Forgive my grumpiness, but I just read this article on CNN.com called "A nod and a link: April Fools' Day pranks abound in the news." Some journalists might have found it amusing to cover a spaghetti tree pest back in 1957. But I'll be honest with you: if I'm watching, reading, listening to, or clicking on a newscast, I don't want to filter the news through my reality filter (which isn't to say that I take every word uttered by all the media, all the time, at face value, of course). I want to trust that the newscast has at least tried to get its facts straight and has the good sense to not play games with media consumers on the first day of April.

It's not that some of my clients haven't thought that it was worth pitching a "joke" to producers and editors in honor of April Fool's Day. It's just that, as a book publicist whose reputation matters to me (and who values the integrity of her clients, as well), I don't think it's appropriate to play games with the media under any pretext whatsoever.

It's not worth scoring book promotion if you have to play an April Fool's Day prank to do it.

And, no, I don't think April Fool's Day pranks are very funny. Alas.

Don't squander an easy book promotion opportunity.

Don't lose an easy book promotion opportunity. Well, I say "easy." Actually, it's not necessarily an "easy" book promotion opportunity I wanted to point out, but it is an obvious one -- or, at least, it should be obvious.

I'll change a couple of details so that I won't embarrass anyone involved. but here's the gist of what happened.

I was just reading a magazine during lunch (yes, I know it was only 10:30 in the morning, but I was hungry for lunch and I needed a break, anyway), and I came across an interesting article that was written by a doctor I hadn't heard of before. Naturally, this book publicist's curious eye jumped to the byline, which was about the length that authors hope it will be. This byline read, "Dr. Jane Smith is a pediatrician, author, and a mother of three children under the age of eleven."

And, just that simply, and needlessly, a book promotion opportunity was lost.

Here's what I'd tell Dr. Smith, or her publicist -- and here's what I would stress to every author, publisher, and book publicist. Writing and placing articles in magazines, newspapers, and online are a great way to spread the word about your book. But you have to turn your articles into book promotion opportunities, because that won't just happen by itself. It will happen if you create your own byline and submit it along with your article when you invite editors to publish your article. And, naturally, your article should mention the key points: Your name, your book's title, and the Web site for your book. Then, if the editor invites you to submit more information, that's grand: you can add other key elements of your bio (you're a pediatrician, you have three children under the age of eleven, or you live with four iguanas and 23 guinea pigs, or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are your favorite, or whatever the case may be).

But your article serves to give away enough information to convince readers of your credibility as an expert. The article itself isn't going to sell copies of your book to readers. You can't take a paragraph to say, "In my book, I say such and such." Well, you can take a paragraph to say that, but the editor will delete it -- and, worse still, could consign your article to the circular file rather than publishing it.

So your article can't sell your book to readers, but your byline can. Your byline is your payment for letting the editor publish the article (presuming this is a small publication that lacks the budget to pay authors for submissions, which is where most of the book promotion possibilities for bylined article placements hide). Your byline shouldn't say "Dr. Jane Smith is an author." Your byline should say "Dr. Jane Smith is the author of 'The Jane Smith Book,' and you can visit her online at www.thedrjanesmithbookurl.com/.

That gives your readers all the information they need to buy your book. And that is the difference between creating a book promotion opportunity and, frankly, tossing a book promotion opportunity right out the window.