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.