I wonder if this was a book promotion ploy.

I wonder if this was all a book promotion ploy on the part of Fergie. Sarah Ferguson, if you haven't yet heard, will appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show to talk about her recent, um, mishap.

I'm wondering, though. Was Sarah Ferguson really desperate enough for cash to get involved in something as sinister as accepting payment from an undercover reporter in exchange for an introduction to her ex-husband? Or was this all just an ingenious book promotion ploy on the part of a clever book publicist to score a booking on the "Oprah Winfrey Show?" I'd love to believe it's the latter.

(But, if you have the time and the cynicism, do check in on that Oprah Show appearance to see whether Sarah Ferguson mentions her new children's book series. Something deep in my soul says she will...because, however mercenary and indiscreet Fergie might be, she probably wouldn't pass up a book promotion opportunity like this one.)

Does John Grisham need another book promotion opportunity?

Does John Grisham need another book promotion opportunity? Maybe not, but that doesn't mean he turned down a book promotion opportunity when NBC's "Today Show" offered him one. Grisham appeared on "Today Show" yesterday to promote his new (and his first) children's book, Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer which is about a 13-year-old who gives legal advice to his friends.

Grisham's "Today Show" appearance made me want to buy a copy of Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer. I probably would have wanted a copy of the book, anyway, since I'm a Grisham fan from way back and an avid reader of children's books.

But I wasn't aware of John Grisham's new book until I happened to catch his "Today Show" appearance. So, even for Grisham, book publicity opportunities are valuable -- in this case, the "Today Show" appearance was valuable for Grisham's publisher and his agent, for Grisham himself, for his book publicist (who gets the credit for booking him on the "Today Show") and for all of his fans. Oh, yeah. And I'll bet it was also valuable to the "Today Show" itself -- what show's ratings wouldn't skyrocket with an appearance from an author of Grisham's stature and popularity?

Talk about a book promotion coup!

Talk about a book publicity coup! Imagine making Oprah.com's list of favorite women writers. How lucky are Jodi Picoult, Elizabeth Berg, Alice Munro, Toni Morrison, Kathryn Stockett, Anchee Min, Maya Angelou, Amy Bloom, Gaile Parkin, Louise Erdrich, and others?

Of course, luck is only part of the reason why all of the women on Oprah.com's list of favorite women writers are as visible as they are. Book promotion is partly luck, partly a question of implementing sound strategies, and partly being gifted enough to generate stellar word-of-mouth sales -- and to keep readers coming back, book after book, for years.

Facebook has become an integral part of book promotion. But...

Facebook, specifically, and social networking, in general, have become integral components of book promotion campaigns. Publishers tell all their authors to build up their base of friends, fans, and followers, and to regularly provide content to them via a variety of social networking venues. Authors, instinctively, know that it's a good idea to set up (or build up) their social networking presence when it's time to start a new book promotion campaign. Sure, it's great to get mainstream media interviews and other traditional book publicity opportunities. But how cool is it to have your old grade school companions buzzing about your new book? You just can't beat it.

It seemed as if social networking sites were doing everything right. Sometimes, their popularity was a bit troubling to the beyond-college-age crowd, but we still respected the staying power and evident influence that these social networking sites wielded.

And now this.

Facebook has been sharing users' private information with so much of the online universe that even serious Facebook enthusiasts have become alarmed. In fact, there's evidence that organized groups of Facebook users plan to close their accounts. Other disgruntled users may do the same once they realize how tough it is to truly opt out of all the automated Facebook sharing.

If Facebook loses significant numbers of users -- and if those who remain limit their communications to their "friends" -- then, of course, authors might find themselves spending less time promoting books via Facebook. They might take their book promotion energies elsewhere...say, to radio networks and newspapers...where the book publicity trail has long been blazed, and there's no danger of wasting energy on an audience that's tuning out on principle.

As a book publicist who appreciates having as many book publicity avenues as possible at my disposal, I hope Facebook finds a way to resolve the concerns its users have about privacy. Social networking can be time-consuming, but the payoff can be bliss -- if the user base grows. At this point, the jury is out on the future of social networking for book promotion and beyond.

For the record, I'm holding onto my Facebook account , but I'm only posting things about myself that I'd be pleased to have appear on the front page of the New York Times. That might be a good short-term solution for all of us.

Blogs and book promotion

Blogs have been an integral part of online book promotion campaigns since their inception. Bloggers are more accessible than book reviewers for the average author or publisher; they have more editorial discretion than book reviewers (who have to answer to their editors and account for their use of editorial space); and they're far more enthusiastic about finding content (Q&A's, guest columns, etc.) than the average newspaper or magazine editor.

So there's always been a close relationship between blogs and book promotion. Also, so many blogs have morphed into books that we've come to expect that popular bloggers will one day publish a book. In that way, blogs can serve as stepping stones to publishing books, and then blogs can act as continuing platforms for book promotion.

I'm no stranger, then to the relationship between blogs and books. But I did have to smile at a line I just read in the Huffington Post. Brenna Ehrlich, a 25-year-old blogger-turned-author, explains the advantage books have over blogs: "It's going to be in bookstores for awhile."

Right.

Oh, well. Who knows? Maybe Ehrlich's book will be an exception to the rule. Maybe it will receive so many book promotion opportunities that it actually will make it to bookstore shelves and linger there for good, long while.

Book promotion...for Google's benefit?

Will those of us who engage in book promotion be doing so for the benefit of Google in the not-so-distant future? Maybe.

Google is about to launch Google Editions which will make Google an official part of the book selling world. That means that Google will be a target for book publicists.

This book publicist was just getting used to the fact that Apple, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble were selling digital books. Now it seems that Google has become a part of the ebook universe, too.

Book promotion will never be the same ... which is a very exciting thing, regardless of how you feel about digital books.

For proactive book promotion, participate in newsmaking.

Citizen journalists are in the best possible position for promoting books. They're not receiving book promotion opportunities. They're creating book publicity opportunities for themselves. Along with pitching reporters (and, of course, producers), they're becoming reporters themselves.

The latest entry into the citizen journalist media category is CivilBeat. The Associated Press reports (via MSNBC) that CivilBeat, which has just launched, was started by the founder of eBay, Pierre Omidyar.

Omidyar believes that citizen journalists will be willing to pay a monthly subscription fee for the opportunity to participate in the news reporting process. As a book publicist, I hope Omidyar is correct.

Every time an author can create a news story rather than become part of an article or segment that some other media decision maker is creating, that author has transformed book promotion from a passive process into a proactive book publicity opportunity. That's the type of book promotion effort this book publicist can get behind!

An very interesting book promotion campaign.

All book promotion campaigns are interesting to book publicists, but there's one book publicity campaign that I'll be watching especially closely: the book promotion campaign for Kitty Kelley's new book. Kelley, as you've probably heard by now, has penned an unauthorized biography of Oprah. You can read about it here.

I'm not necessarily in Kelley's target audience. I've never bought a copy of the National Enquirer, for example, and I try to stick to biographies authorized by either the subjects themselves or their heirs.

However, I do believe that nearly all books worth writing (and publishing) are worth promoting. Therefore, it's tough for me, as a book publicist, to note that Kelley doesn't even have a remote chance of appearing on Oprah's show or any media outlets that might, in any way, be associated with Oprah (and, because Oprah Winfrey has so many friends and supporters in the media, that probably includes virtually all media outlets).

That's too bad, because an authorized Oprah biography would have generated a limitless book promotion campaign. Every media outlet on planet Earth would have competed for an opportunity to interview its author. As it is, Kitty Kelley will have to struggle for even the most modest book publicity opportunity.

Alas for Kelley, but on the other hand, how fortunate for the subject of her book. For once, the subject of an unauthorized autobiography is in a position to control its book promotion potential. Lucky Oprah, and I guess we won't be reading or hearing much about your unauthorized biography in the weeks, and months, ahead!

Want a book promotion push?

Want a book promotion push? Then appear on NBC-TV's "Today" show.

That's what Carol Burnett did and, as of this writing, her new book, This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection ranks number 19 on Amazon.

Check out some of the legends who endorsed Carol Burnett's new book: Billy Crystal, Ellen DeGeneres, Tony Bennett, Hal Prince, and Julie Andrews (you can see their endorsements on the Amazon book page for This Time Together). Book promotion tip number #240: If you want to sell your book, get endorsements for it from this crowd.

I've finished blogging. Now, Carol, you're about to sell another book. Anyone want to join me? And, no, I don't get a cut of sales.

Literary promotion campaigns are enhanced by generosity.

A literary publicist knows one thing for certain: generosity with promotional copies of books will enhance a book promotion campaign while, conversely, stinginess with review copies of books will sabotage a book publicity campaign.

Recently, a couple of authors with whom I work questioned whether they wanted to "comp" all of the books that the media requested. In one case, an author wanted to send only three books for an on-air book giveaway instead of the six books the host of the radio show had requested. The radio show host declined, and that literary publicity campaign fell by the wayside. In the second case, a radio show producer requested a copy of book, and the author questioned whether it was worth complying with the request. "I don't want to waste my resources," said the author. "Unless you can guarantee that the producer will interview me, I'm disinclined to send out a free copy of the book."

I understand, to some extent. Money is tight. It's frustrating to send out promotional copies of books when each copy you send doesn't necessarily result in a book promotion opportunity.

However, as a book publicist, I know that you can't conduct a successful literary promotion campaign unless you send out a copy of the book to all qualified media decision makers (and experienced literary publicists know who is, and who isn't, a qualified media decision maker) who request one. The expense of sending out review copies of books is minimal compared to the cost of holding onto the books and hoping the media will feature your book, and your targeted audience will buy your book, anyway.

It doesn't work that way. Book stinginess sabotages book sales. On the other hand, generosity with review copies of books leads to the literary publicity opportunities you want and need.

Want a quick, easy book promotion opportunity?

Want a quick, easy book promotion opportunity? If you're a healthcare or an insurance expert -- or, even better, if you're a healthcare insurance expert -- then you're in luck if you're currently promoting your book.

Congress's timing was perfect. The healthcare legislation passed at 10:00PM, Eastern Time, Sunday night. What will be the lead story on Monday? You bet. Healthcare.

For every author who is a healthcare expert, and who has something valuable to contribute to the national dialogue about the healthcare bill, this is the best book publicity opportunity that will ever be handed to you. By all means: contact the media and let them know that you have something to say -- immediately! Or, if you're lucky enough to be working with a book publicist, let the book promotion expert know that you're ready to go out to the media with your statement -- now!

Update your Facebook status to reflect your statement. Tweet your statement. Blog about your position. And pitch television and radio producers, and newspaper editors, and magazine editors, and web site editors. Post comments on major blogs that are related to healthcare. Let all your social networking groups hear your statement about the healthcare legislation. And hurry!

Spontaneity counts. If you're a healthcare expert, and you have a book out now -- and if you don't jump on this opportunity to garner media attention and the "eyeballs" of those in your social network -- then other authors will. Don't let your competitors get the jump on you. The book promotion opportunities are there for you now, so seek them out and enjoy them!

And for authors and publishers who are seeking to promote books, this is how it's done. Look for a news tie-in, match your expertise to it, and you're well on your way to a successful book promotion campaign.

Book promotion is also what you do for other writers.

As a book publicist, I'm biased enough to believe that book promotion describes what we do for my clients: the television, radio, and print interview opportunities that come my clients' way, the book reviews we garner, the blog and web site mentions we facilitate, the articles we publish, the press releases we disseminate, and so forth. I rarely think of book promotion as something authors can do for other authors, but a wonderful blog entry by Lisa Romeo reminds me that if you want to receive book publicity opportunities then it's always a good idea to provide support for other authors (and publishers): buying their books, attending their book signings and other events, joining (and participating in) their social networks, and doing whatever else you can think of to bring visibility to others.

Lisa Romeo, who teaches writing classes and wears a whole lot of other publishing industry hats besides, works hard to promote the books of other authors because it's the right thing to do. She hopes that, when she publishes her own book, the authors she's helped will remember her example and provide her with their support. But, even if she never publishes book (although I'm strongly hoping she will!), Lisa will still feel good about supporting authors because that makes her a solid and respected citizen of the literary community.

The challenge is for everyone else in the book publishing community to live up to the example Lisa Romeo sets. Can we do it? I know that I'm inspired to do just that.

Authors on shaky ground should fear book promotion.

As I read between the lines of a March 8, 2010 New York Times article, "Pondering Good Faith in Publishing," something occurred to me: nonfiction authors who haven't been 100% concerned about the veracity of their words should fear book promotion opportunities. An appearance on Oprah's show isn't the Holy Grail if your work would not hold up under careful scrutiny.

Yes, most authors I run into as a book publicist dream of scoring national book promotion opportunities, and many of them do. I haven't run into a situation where that's been a problem for my authors or for me. Then again, the authors I've represented have all written with honesty and integrity.

So I issue this warning not to my book promotion clients, past, present, or future, but rather, to nonfiction authors whose research has been sloppy or who have embellished their stories: steer clear of book promotion for your sake, for the media's sake, for the public's sake ... and for book publicists' sake.

In other words: be honest. Or be invisible.

How to minimize book promotion campaign frustrations.

Here's book promotion frustration #101. A client just emailed me because her publisher's in-house publicist scheduled a radio show interview for this afternoon, and the radio show producer didn't call. My client cancelled other appointments to free herself up for this book promotion opportunity. I emailed her the following:

Your experience isn't unusual. Radio producers (and hosts) usually mean well, but they can easily get sidetracked. I always try to get the radio's studio line when I'm booking an interview, and I assume that, -- 3 out of 5 times -- the author will have to use it. When the publicist you're working with gives you a studio line, hold onto it. Then, if you don't hear from the radio producer a minute or two before your scheduled appointment, call that studio line. Explain who you are, and you should be connected to the host or, at least, you'll be able to reschedule the interview (and you'll be in a favorable position to reschedule the interview on your terms!).

How this book publicist's week started.

This blog could also be titled: How to turn a very nice book promotion campaign accomplishment sour.

So here's how this book publicist's week started. I had to apologize to a media contact for a former client's actions.

What happened was this. Over the weekend, I received an email from a radio show host sending me a link to a lovely book review he'd graciously written and which was published on his station's web site. Because I considered the book review to be a result of a book promotion campaign that I conducted (even though the book promotion campaign ended a few months ago), I forwarded the radio show host's email to the author without first removing the radio show host's contact information. It never occurred to me that there was a reason to strip out the contact information, and there is a practical reason for including it, since I often have clients who are gracious enough to send media folks thank-you notes for providing them with book publicity opportunities.

Wouldn't you know that, this morning, the author carbon copied me on an email he's sent to the radio show host that critiqued the book review and requested a revision? I was mortified -- now I was obligated to email the radio show host, apologize for passing along his contact information to an ungrateful author, and assure him that none of my clients would be contacting him directly in the future.

And all of that happened to this book publicist before 8:00 on Monday morning. Can I start this week over again, please? Book promotion is supposed to be fun! What happened here?

From the NYT bestseller list to jail.

Have you heard about Kevin Trudeau's book, The Weight Loss Cure? Trudeau, whom CNN.com describes as a "TV pitchman," is the author of Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About, Debt Cures: "They" Don't Want You to Know About, and The Weight Loss Cure: "They" Don't Want You to Know About. His books have been on the New York Times bestseller list. But because Trudeau's integrity has been called into question, and because he seems to have found himself in a conflict with Judge Robert Gettleman (it seems that Trudeau stands accused of writing an unhelpful book and then rallying his readers to flood the judge's inbox with emails that support Trudeau and his diet book), Trudeau may be headed to jail.

Trudeau may serve a prison sentence and incur a huge fine as a consequence of his actions, but there's one positive thing this book publicist would say about him. If authors and publishers need any extra incentive to always conduct book promotion campaigns with integrity, and to always make honesty the first priority of a book publicity effort, then Trudeau is it.

Kevin Trudeau had achieved the dream of every author and every publisher.

And now he'll pay for it.

And he more than deserves to pay for it, according to the reports I've seen.

Did someone say "51-city book tour?"!!!!

Yes, we all enjoy book publicity, and we all appreciate the value of hard work and guerilla book promotion and dedicated self-promotion.

But -- wow! According to the Wall Street Journal, Rebecca Skloot arranged a 51-city book tour to promote her bestselling nonfiction book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

A 51-city book tour? That averages out to (yes, even this mathematically-challenged book publicist can figure it out) more than one book publicity stop per U.S. state!

It took Rebecca Skloot ten years to publish her book, and all of her hard work and effort paid off. Clearly, all the hard work and effort (and time and money) she's putting into her book publicity campaign is paying off, too.

But...a 51-city book tour? That's the most amazing book promotion effort I've heard of in recent times! I'm glad to see it's paying off for Skloot and for her publisher.

No book promotion in a blizzard.

I'm postponing a few book promotion activities that I had scheduled for today due to a major snowstorm that's shutting down much of the Eastern seaboard. My clients had a choice about whether to move forward with our book publicity efforts today or postpone them until next week. My advice was to postpone them.

Here's my reasoning. The media will be covering the snowstorm. Even if the blizzard turns out to be a dud, the media will be covering the fact that it's a dud, and the fact that it's a dud will be breaking news. In the even that the snowstorm is as serious as it's supposed to be, the media will be focused on little but that all day today, and probably much of tomorrow, too. Besides which, many members of the media probably will not commute to work in a major snowstorm, and those who do report to the office will rush to complete their urgent tasks so they can go home early.

Thus, this book publicist is treating the snowstorm as if it were a catastrophic breaking news story. Since I'm not now representing an expert on how to survive in life-threatening emergencies, I'll take a break from pitching the media until the snowstorm winds down and cleanup is well underway.

But next week...it will be onto book promotion again! In the meantime, there's plenty of strategizing to be done. Book publicity campaigns and media pitches don't conceptualize themselves.

How many books will I sell if I invest $10,000 in a book promotion campaign?

An author emailed me today to ask a very reasonable question:

How many books will I sell if I invest $10,000 in a book promotion campaign?

I wish I had a reasonable, pithy response. Unfortunately, the best that I could do was to send him the following reply:

It's very hard to equate dollars spent on book promotion with book sales. Here are the challenges inherent in even taking a guess.

First, the results of PR efforts are, to some extent (although not wholly) unpredictable. I can make predictions (based on my twenty years of experience as a book publicist) about how the media might respond to my pitches (note, though, that I take on only book promotion projects that I feel show a great deal of promise). However, I can't know for certain how the media will respond until the media does (or doesn't) respond. While I work with the media and know have a very respectful sense of how they think and what they want -- the producers/hosts and editors/writers with whom I'm in touch make their own decisions about which books and authors to feature. I can nudge them, and I can influence them, but I can't control them. The fact that I've booked other clients on media outlet A is no guarantee that I can book any other particular client on media outlet A. My media contacts make their booking/featuring decisions on a case-by-case basis.

Second, as a book publicist, it's my job to conceptualize and execute creative, professional book promotion campaigns. Simply put, I pitch stories and articles to the media, and I communicate the results of my efforts to authors, and sometimes, to their publishers. Neither authors nor publishers (nor self-published authors) would have any reason to report their book sales to me. As that's sensitive information, I never ask for it. And I haven't yet had a client who has volunteered it. Frankly, I consider that private business, and I don't want to know it.

Even if I did know how many books a client sold, I'd be unable to take credit for those sales, much as I might want to (particularly if the book were a bestseller). Some successful authors I've represented have had more irons in the fire than a book promotion campaign, and those other activities have helped the cause of book sales. Also, to be fair, nearly all of my clients have received -- and count on receiving -- benefits from their book promotion campaign that transcend book sales. A successful book promotion campaign gives authors an opportunity to build their brand, gain credibility for themselves as experts, disseminate their messages, find speaking engagement opportunities that will pay (or reasons to increase their fees for speaking engagements based on their high media visibility), and so forth.

In short, I can't offer you a scientific formula for deciding how much money to spend on a book promotion campaign. I can, and will, offer up two thoughts, though. First, if you invest nothing in promoting your book, readers are unlikely to find it. There's just too much competition out there for shrinking book-buying budgets to fail to promote a book and expect positive results. To give your book a fighting chance to succeed, you must gain media visibility for it. Second, book publicity is a risky investment. Sometimes, an author's investment pays off in book sales (etc.), and sometimes, it does not. Never invest more money in book promotion than you can afford to lose.

Finally, I've had the great fun recently of promoting my own self-published novelty cookbook, "101 Recipes for Microwave Mug Cakes." While I will not divulge sale figures, I can tell you that -- with an appearance on Harpo Productions' "The Rachael Ray Show," a mention on CNET and on About.com, and a steady stream of placements and interviews and reviews on radio, in newspapers, on blogs, and elsewhere on the Net (you can click here, http://microwavemugcakes.com/microwavemugcakes-news.htm, to see an overview of my book promotion campaign to date), I've been delighted with the results of my book promotion and self promotion efforts. I've been tickled to find proof of concept. Book promotion can work very well, and help you achieve your goals (of selling books and beyond) if your efforts are meaningful and creative and sustained.

If I were willing to give you a ballpark guess in answer to your question of "how many book sales would a $10,000 investment in book promotion buy me," I'd feel disingenuous, and I just can't compromise my integrity to give you less-than-honest response. Therefore, as counterintuitive as it may seem, I think I help you best by declining to "fudge" an answer to your question.

Best,
Stacey

Web sites are key components of book promotion.

Book web sites are key components of book publicity campaigns. That's why they have to be done well.

Designing a book web site well does not mean integrating as many Flash components and as much eye candy as possible. On the contrary: anything that distracts the web site's visitors will ensure that visitors keep their visits short. Just as importantly, the very bad design elements that turn off visitors are also likely to turn off search engines. So keep it simple, and do your visitors (and would-be book buyers and media decision-makers) and search engine a favor.

I came across an example of a bad web design choice this morning while scanning the news online (which is the first of my book promotion tasks every day as I seek ways to tie clients' books and expertise into what's happening in the world). While I was checking out MSNBC.com's headlines, I was faced with a choice between reading about the CIA's certainty that Al-Qaida will attack the U.S. within a few months or checking out why a Newsweek writer believes Meryl Streep is overrated as an actress.

I chose to read the latter -- or, at least, I tried to read the latter. Unfortunately, the web page featured a black background with a white typeface. Really bad idea. Now, as I look at a white background with a black typeface, I'm seeing horizontal black stripes across the page.

That's unnecessary, and the web site designer should have known better than to create something cute rather than functional. The takeaway? Make sure your book web site designer focuses on readability and search engine optimization. That will work, and you'll have a web site that's an asset to your book promotion campaign. Anything else is just indefensible.