One final book promotion push for Oprah Winfrey's show

It looks as though the "Oprah Winfrey Show" is set to provide one final book promotion push for an incredibly fortunate book. And -- this may or may not shock you, but -- the lucky book in question is a book about the "Oprah Winfrey Show."

Yes. The last major book publicity push given by Oprah Winfrey on her self-named nationally syndicated television show is likely to be an illustrated coffee table book about the "Oprah Winfrey Show."

Publishers Weekly, which ran the story, declined to name the coffee table book about the "Oprah Winfrey Show." However -- and I'm just going on a hunch here -- I'll bet it's titled something like "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Then again, what does this book publicist know?

Well, this book publicist knows a book promotion dream when she sees it. Congratulations to the Abrams publishing company for sealing this deal with Oprah. A better book publicity prospect is unlikely to come this way in a long, long time.

Book Promotion Tip #239: Don't Let This Happen to You

Book Promotion Tip #239: Don't let this happen to you.

Here's book promotion tip #239 from a book publicist who thought she'd seen it all. Well, now I think I've seen even more.

This "Today Show" segment seemed to hold so much promise when I saw the headline on the MSNBC web site: Girl, 4, treks through snow to save family. Meredith Vieira, polished, professional, and cool as ever, sweat as a one-year-old and a four-year-old made strange noises, crawled around the set, clamored for attention, and generally behaved the way toddlers often do when you want to show them off -- in this case, before a national TV audience.

Granted,in this case, all you had were some disappointed relatives and friends of the family who were hoping to have bragging rights ("yes, those were my babies you were watching!") and, instead, have some explaining to do ("the kids were up all night, and there were dozens of strangers around -- they usually don't behave that way"). And the mom still got to tell her story: her four-year-old daughter walked through snow for a quarter of a mile before she came to a house and got help for her mom and baby brother.

However, had the mom been an author who was on the "Today Show" to sell, say, a memoir...this segment would have been a major disappointment. Viewers would have winced and hoped for the embarrassing segment to end; that would have run counter to the goal of inducing them to rush over to the bookstore and buy their copy of the memoir.

Book Promotion Tip #239, then is, "Don't let this happen to you." W.C. Fields was right: don't work with kids, if you can help it, even if they're part of the story and if, ordinarily, the kids are perfect angels. And, of course, don't work with animals, either!

New book promotion blog.

For authors and publishers who follow my book promotion blog, you'll notice a new look and feel. I've transitioned from a Movable Type blog to a WordPress blog, and I'm now getting up to speed on the new functionality.

As you know, I've long considered blogging to be one of the greatest gifts the Web has given those of us who are involved in book publicity. So I'll be interested in learning the ins-and-outs of the state-of-the-art blogging software.

Thank you for coming along for the ride with me, and may all of your blogging experiences -- whether they're for book publicity or other promotional purposes -- be good ones. Check out my new book promotion blog at http://bookpr.com/bookpromotionblog/.

Book promotion in exchange for privacy?

Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites can be important and highly-effective components of a comprehensive book promotion campaign. But this book publicist wouldn't make social networking the sole component of a book promotion campaign; social networking -- at least, at the moment -- means sacrificing several things including privacy.

According to a CNN.com article, "The internet and the 'end of privacy,' " social networking as come a social necessity for some of us, so that segment of the population might be to share too much information with others: our politics, our online purchases, our vacation plans, and the like.

But, for the rest of us, social networking is a tool, not a necessity. It's an excellent tool for book promotion, although it's not the exclusive means of obtaining -- and retaining -- a high book publicity profile for your project. But it's one of many book promotion tools.

The question that authors, publishers, and book promotion specialists must ask is: what's the real cost of social networking? It's wonderful to see people buzzing about your book -- but you're giving up something to see that happen. You're exchanging your privacy in exchange for the book promotion value of social networking.

Privacy in exchange for book promotion might be a fair exchange ... but I wouldn't count on social networking as the book promotion solution for every author, publisher, and book publicist. This book publicist values her privacy, and she wouldn't give it up willingly as long as there are other book promotion venues.

And, fortunately, there are many book promotion venues out there. Social networking enjoys an inflated sense of importance now, because it's still new. But when the shine wears off, some of us will be left wondering what we've given up in the name of book promotion. A little bit? Too much? Or everything

Want the world's best book promotion opportunity?

The world's best opportunity is pretty easy to come by. All you have to do is become president of the United States. Do that, and your new children's book will be published by Random House; enjoy a first print run of half a million copies; garner as much media attention as it can handle; and rake in the cash (in this case, I'm glad to report, the cash will be donated to a scholarship fund for children of disabled war veterans).

So if you're struggling for book publicity opportunities, you know now what you have to do to garner those media interviews and book reviews. Become president of the United States, and book promotion opportunities will follow.

Imagine if your lost manuscript gathered this much book publicity.

NPR. Time. NBC. New York Magazine. MediaBistro.

Imagine if the discovery of one of your lost manuscripts garnered that much book publicity. "This old thing?" you might ask modestly. "Really?"

I wish Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel, of course) were here to see all of the book promotion hype revolving around the discovery of this unpublished manuscript, titled All Sorts of Sports.

Book promotion isn't always about selling books.

Sometimes, book promotion is also about knowing how very much you are loved.

This book publicist happens to believe that Dr. Seuss's lost manuscript -- shoot, and even Dr. Seuss's lost grocery list -- deserves all the media attention it garners. Good for you, Dr. Seuss! Good for your All Sorts of Sports! Good for readers everywhere!

Book promotion thought for the day.

Here's my book promotion thought for the day.

A book promotion campaign isn't an advertising campaign. Don't confuse the two.

Book promotion provides authors with opportunities to disseminate their messages and provide their expertise to potential book buyers. The goal is to establish credibility.

Advertising touts a book's assets and provides reasons why people should buy it.

As a point of clarification, book publicists do not conducting advertising campaigns. Book publicists conduct book promotion campaigns.

Book publicists let the media decision makers know about the messages their clients would like to deliver. If the producer, editor, host, or reporter is interested in hearing that message, then the book publicist will have a match. On the other hand, journalists do not want to hear or read advertisements for books. A book publicist who sends journalists ads in the guise of story pitches or guest pitches risks his or her reputation and stands to burn brides.

So, authors, keep in mind the difference between book promotion and advertising when you're working with book publicists. And please understand why, when you ask a book publicist to help you disseminate an advertisement for your books to the media, your book publicist must decline. Thank you in advance.

The Today Show gives Rick Sanchez a book promotion opportunity. Ugh!

It amazes and disturbs me that NBC's "Today Show" (or, at least, the "Today Show" portion of the MSNBC web site) gave former CNN anchor, Rick Sanchez -- now most famous for venting his Anti-Semitic perspective on a national radio show -- a book promotion opportunity. Check out the last sentence of the story, if you have the stomach for it, which mentions Sanchez's new book (the title of which, please notice, I am not mentioning here).

So what's the takeaway? I guess the takeaway is that sometimes, authors and publishers who deserve great book promotion opportunities get them. And, sometimes, authors and publishers who do not deserve any book publicity opportunities get them, too.

As a book publicist, all I can do is choose my projects carefully ... and trust that I'll know about the Rick Sanchezes of the world before I can even imagine taking on a book promotion campaign for them.

For more information on Rick Sanchez's hurtful comments, and the consequences (for him, happily), please click here.

Perhaps CNN ought to screen its anchors a bit more carefully next time.

A book promtion opportunity -- if you make it happen.

Here's a book publicist's dream come true.

A client emailed me yesterday and said, "My topic is in the news, bigtime. Please send out a pitch to the media for me."

I agreed that the news story was perfect, and now would be a good time to pitch the media on scheduling interviews for my client. That's how book promotion works best. The author's topic is in the news. The book publicist contacts media outlets, and pitches the author's expertise or opinion or insight, and the media schedules interviews.

Further, I gave my client some guidelines for providing me with the raw material I needed to create the pitch. As a book publicist, I have a preferred style for pitches that I have found to be most effective, so I told the author, "Here's what I need."

After a couple of rounds, the author sent me an email saying, "I'm sorry we missed this opportunity."

That's a book publicist's nightmare. Of course, I emailed the author back and said that we haven't missed this opportunity. (This is an ongoing news story, as it happens.)

However, what makes this a book publicist's nightmare is that the author wouldn't provide me with what I needed to help her. She's right. This news story is providing such a great opportunity for her to receive book promotion hits. However, here's what the author fails to realize.

To promote yourself, you must have something unique: expertise, a controversial opinion, or at least a perspective or insight that's different from what everyone else has. In other words, to garner interview opportunities, you have to frame yourself as a worthwhile guest.

A book publicist can't approach the media and say, "Hey there. I understand that you're busy, but please consider interviewing an author who's saying the same thing as everyone else you're interviewing on the topic." A book publicist (if she wants to receive book promotion opportunities) must say, "This guest would add the following to the ongoing discussion," or "This expert offers an insight that your readers/listeners/viewers haven't yet heard, which is...."

No author has ever received a book promotion opportunity on the basis of pitching the media with, "I have nothing special for you, but interview me anyway, please, because I have a new book out." Well, I take that back. A bestselling author might be able to get away with that pitch. However, authors who aren't yet household names must work for their book promotion opportunities. They must prove that they're worth the airtime/editorial space, and they're worth the reporter/producer/editor's time. More importantly, they have to prove how they will keep the audience from turning to another station or channel, or bypassing that page without reading it (which, obviously, would not please advertisers).

Pitch your unique/controversial/discussion-enhancing opinion or insights, and you'll get the book promotion opportunities. Say to your book publicist, "No, I won't offer that. Just go ahead and pitch me," and -- I guarantee you -- you'll have a book publicist who is living out the nightmare: lost book promotion opportunities, and an unhappy author.

Read. Learn. Do.

Book promotion and self-publishing.

As a book publicist, I'm fielding a whole lot of questions about book publishing these days. People seem to understand that, while landing a publishing contract with a mainstream publisher is still the Holy Grail, it's also possible to self publish without stigmatizing the book project -- and while enjoying all the benefits of publishing a book. A self-published book, of course, can serve as a calling card, help disseminate messages, build credibility -- and, perhaps, even generate some revenue, over time, given a successful book promotion campaign.

The funny thing is that, as a book publicist, I have learned that self-published books have become more and more legitimate for the past, oh, five to ten years. These days, I don't see much of a difference in the media's response to a self-published book and their response to a traditionally-published book. As long as a self-published book enjoys national distribution, and as long as it's professionally edited and competently produced, it enjoys as much respect as a traditionally-published book.

I'm also delighted to find new ways to self-publish books through trusted venues, and I'm especially pleased to pass along this opportunity. The online version of Barnes and Noble has created PubIt! to allow all authors (and self-publishers) to make their ebooks available for purchase online at BN.com. Read about the official launch of PubIt!, and find the links you'll need to self-publish your own ebook via PubIt!, at Publishers Weekly's site. For me, one of the best pieces of news is that Adobe's InDesign now lets you convert your file to the .PUB format which is exactly what PubIt! requires.

And, yes, you can launch a successful book promotion campaign that revolves around an ebook. You have to be a bit creative, since your ebook's book publicity campaign probably won't include book signings or book reviews. But you have every reason to expect that, as an expert in your field, you can garner interview opportunities using your ebook (and a solid media kit) to establish your credibility.

It looks as though PubIt! is also planning a service that will let authors self-publish traditionally-printed books, too, in the near future. I gather that this upcoming service (if, indeed, it does come up) will go head-to-head with Amazon's CreateSpace service. (Note that Amazon, too, lets authors self-publish their ebooks very easily, too, as long as it's in the Kindle format. And, fortunately, there's a new plug-in for InDesign that can convert an Adobe file into the format required for a Kindle. How cool is that?)

Kudos to BN.com and to Amazon for turning experts with books to write into authors with published book. And how exciting for this book publicist to be able to venture into the new world of book promotion for authors who publish directly to the bookselling streams -- and bypass the traditional publishing channels that used to have the power to defeat would-be authors before their words were even set to paper.

A book promotion opportunity from PW Select

Here's a book promotion opportunity for self-published authors that I don't necessarily endorse. But, as a book publicist, I do feel obligated to share it.

It's PW Select, and it seems to be an opportunity for self-published books to share the limelight with traditionally published books -- in Publishers Weekly, no less.

It sounds good, except that when you read the fine print, you discover that -- for self-published authors to take advantage of this book promotion opportunity, they have to pay $149. This fee entitles self-publishers to a listing that will appear in a supplement of Publishers Weekly and in an online database. PW promises that at least 25 of the self-published books they receive will receive a full review, all for that one low price of $149.

Wait a minute. Did PW say it would charge self publishers $149 for a listing and for the possibility of a full review? Hmmm. Since PW isn't offering that deal to traditional publishers, whose books are considered for review without a $149 fee, I'm somehow not excited about the book promotion opportunity that PW is offering self publishers.

It's not that a review in Publishers Weekly wouldn't be worth paying for. It's just that, ironically, if you have to pay for a review ... it isn't worth the paper it's printed on (most of the time -- there are a few exceptions to this rule), as far as this book publicist is concerned.

Sometimes, it's okay when book promotion venues leave the airwaves.

Book publicists are happiest when they hear about new radio shows and new television shows, and new magazines and new newspapers, and new sites and new blogs, and book publicists are usually at their unhappiest when they learn about book promotion opportunities' drying up. No book publicist I encountered was glad to hear that "Oprah" was leaving the airwaves, for instance.

But here's one book promotion venue that I'm delighted to do without: Dr. Laura Schlessinger's radio show. Here's a tape of the diatribe that caused Dr. Laura to "choose" to end her radio show of 30 years.

Listen to Dr. Laura's rant, and I think you'll share my relief and delight about the demise of her radio show. A person who would use racial expletives -- or who would even think in terms of racial expletives -- need not have a national forum from which to spew this venom.

Goodbye, Dr. Laura, and goodbye to another book promotion opportunity. But, this time, it's worth losing a book promotion opportunity to say goodbye to Dr. Laura and her brand of intolerance.

Lost book promotion opportunity

Yesterday, one of my clients nearly lost a book promotion opportunity. I'd set up a radio interview for the author with the producer. It was to be the author's first radio interview ever -- not only for this book promotion campaign. So I was eager to hear the interview and listened to the radio show online as it streamed live.

The host didn't promote the interview, but I wasn't terribly concerned. The producer had just confirmed the interview the day before, and the author had the studio line as a backup in case anything went wrong.

A few minutes after the radio interview was to take place, the author called me to let me know the producer hadn't called her. "Why are you calling me," I wanted to know. "Why aren't you calling the backup line that I gave you?" The author said, "Oh, is that what you meant by 'backup line?' I thought you meant that was the line I'd call if there was static during the interview and we had to find a different phone line." (I'm still puzzling over the author's reasoning.)

The author called the studio line and hooked up with an apologetic radio show host who said the producer had never put the information about the interview on her calendar, and she knew nothing about the book or the author or the topic. However, the radio show host felt so guilty that she agreed to do the interview immediately, and the author got about 2 minutes of air time (instead of the 6 to 8 minutes she'd been promised by the radio show producer).

Lesson learned. As a book publicist, I sometimes assume that authors will ask for clarification about anything they don't understand about any instructions that I provide for media interviews. However, not every author is a veteran of book promotion campaigns, and some authors need a bit more hand-holding than others. The takeaway, for me, is that I will spell everything out to authors at the start of book promotion campaigns, and if I'm explaining too much, then I will wait for my clients to tell me so.

What could have been a wonderful book promotion opportunity for this author turned into a truncated, brief radio appearance because of a misunderstanding. I take responsibility for that, and I will work hard to ensure that, going forward, clients don't miss book promotion opportunities (or find their book promotion opportunities are truncated) because of their lack of understanding the book promotion process.

And, yes, scheduling mishaps and missed phoned calls are a recurring occurrence with book promotion campaigns. That's one of the things about media interviews that you can nearly always count on: somewhere, somehow, a miscommunication will occur. Have a backup plan! That's my new motto.

Feeling bad about providing a book promotion opportunity?

I just came across a wonderful blog entry by Laurie Gold who provides book reviews for Publishers Weekly called "The Painful Side of Reviewing." In it, Gold reveals that the painful side of writing a negative book review isn't having to read a bad book. Rather, it's having to hurt an author's (and a publisher's) feelings.

Yes, Laurie, you're right. Authors (like all of us) have fragile egos and would rather be praised than criticized. And yet ... the one thing that authors like even better than to have their egos stoked is to have Publishers Weekly -- or any influential print or online media outlet -- acknowledge their books with reviews.

Negative criticism can hurt an author's feelings, indeed. But any author who's granted the book promotion opportunity that a book review, good or bad, provides is far less hurt than the majority of authors out there whose books stand little, or no, chance of garnering major book reviews.

Any book review is probably better than no book review at all, just as -- to paraphrase the old saying -- any book promotion is good book promotion.

Get over blogophobia to reap book promotion benefits

According to UrbanDictionary.com, blogophobia is real. This book publicist isn’t making it up, which is a relief, because this book publicist has inventophiba (which is not a term you’ll find in UrbanDictionary.com, by the way: fear of making things up.

Since I tell every author and publisher who listen that blogging is an integral part of every book promotion campaign, I can’t help but notice how much of the time I receive push-back. Few authors or publishers argue. They understand that blogging does, indeed, drive traffic to book web sites which is a first step toward promoting books.

But, for awhile, I’ve been noticing that many authors and publishers I talk with – however excited they are about their book promotion campaigns – seem to be experiencing a fear of blogging. They’re afraid of saying the wrong thing, or they’re afraid of saying the right thing (or the incompletely right thing) in the wrong way, and they understand that the Internet is a very difficult neighborhood for those prematurely hit the “publish” button. You can’t get a “do-over” if you publish a blog entry that you’re unhappy with, they reason, so they become immobilized. They delay blogging, and they miss out on the book publicity opportunities that might come their way because they’d rather live with a blank blog than a blog that would impress people as unprofessional, unpolished, or inadequate.

A blog that fails to make a good impression, for whatever reason (typos, sentence fragments, etc.), is a scary proposition. But a scarier proposition, from my perspective, is to have no blog at all.

Failure to blog, from a book publicity perspective, is far more frightening than blogging the wrong thing. Look at it this way. You can blog as frequently you’d like, and building up a robust number of blog entries is a lot like garnering many book reviews on Amazon: you find that one or two entries that are less than 100 percent perfect can be buried beneath the weight of better blog entries that will be more attractive to your target audience.

Blogging can be frightening, because it’s always comforting to have someone else publish your work. It’s always nice to have an editor sign off on your work, and to have a production team ensure that the words you write are ready for prime time.

But, as frightening as blogging can be, it can be a book promotion campaign’s best friend. Blogging can bring the media to you and, even better, it can bring your intended readership to your site – and to someplace where they can buy your book – instantly.

So if you’re blogophobic, that’s okay. You’re not alone.

But take it from a book publicist who has coached dozens of authors and publishers through bouts of blogophobia: if you’re stalled at a blank blog, start filling it as quickly as you can. Don’t worry about copying the styles of bloggers you admire. Leave the research for other projects. Just limber up your fingers and start keyboarding. The blog will happen…and it will become a focal point of your book promotion campaign.

The tougher road to book promotion.

No one ever said garnering book promotion opportunities was easy. But there's a challenging road to book publicity success, and then there's a far tougher road.

Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of Oprah's first book club pick, The Deep End of the Ocean, took the tougher road -- but not intentionally. According to CNN.com, Mitchard has lost "all her money" in a Ponzi scheme (she's not a victim of Bernard Madoff but, rather, another alleged creep).

The good news for Jackie: she's just made CNN.com's "most intriguing people" page. That's a wonderful book promotion opportunity, isn't it? The bad news for Jackie: she's just made CNN.com's "most intriguing people" page in an item that says Jackie is now looking for a job so she can support her family.

Ouch. Jobs are good, and so are the (hopefully) regular paychecks that accompany them. Book promotion is awesome, too...but not this way. No, Jackie. No. Not this way.

Book promotion campaigns include Twitter

These days, most successful book promotion campaigns include social networking. Even those authors and publishers who don't have legions of fans, followers, or online friends usually have relatives and former classmates who are willing to brag that someone they know and love has a new book out -- and word can spread pretty quickly through cyberspace. It's not exactly the viral marketing campaign that, say, turned us all onto Jib and Jab -- but, in fact, letting your followers at Twitter and your friends at Facebook, and so forth, know about your current or upcoming work is just a smart, core component of a comprehensive book promotion campaign.

The Huffington Post has an article about how two major publishers, Algonquin Books and Alfred A. Knopf, are using Twitter as part of their book publicity efforts. Both Algonquin and Knopf have built an online community that will read their tweets and retweet posts that, they believe, will be of particular interest to their own followers (many of whom, presumably, have similar literary tastes).

That's great, and I'm a believer. As I said, I think all book publicists -- and every author and publisher who's involved in a book promotion campaign -- should be using social networking to extend their book publicity reach. However, I had to log onto my Twitter account to see whether, in fact, I was following Algonquin and Knopf at Twitter. I was, in fact. But it's curious that I didn't know I was.

What that means to me is that, since I follow so many publishers (and media outlets and authors, etc.) on Twitter, I rarely see any particular Twitter user's tweets. Algonquin and Knopf may have the best tweets being tweeted on Twitter today (yes, I am aware of how silly that sounds!), but ... well, I personally don't routinely see those tweets.

So does that mean "more is better?" Does that mean that those of us who are using social networking as part of our book promotion efforts should tweet more, hoping that our Twitter followers see at least some of those tweets? Or does it mean that Twitter, and other social networks, aren't as effective as their press? It's impossible to be sure. But, while the jury is deciding, I'll keep on tweeting...and I'll encourage my clients to do the same.

Disappointing book promotion news -- times two

From a book promotion and book sales standpoint, it's hard to know which news is more disappointing: 1) Glenn Beck's novel, which was panned by critics, is the number one New York Times bestseller or 2) Larry King's CNN talk show will end in the autumn.

Both news items are scary for those who care about book promotion and book sales. Beck's novel, which -- based on its terrible reviews -- should have sold a handful of copies, has outpaced more masterfully written titles to leapfrog to the top of a prestigious bestseller list (presumably) because of his strong Fox News's television audience following. That's not supposed to happen. And Larry King's CNN show, which has sold hundreds of thousands of books for the past 25 years and granted book promotion opportunities to authors both deserving and not, won't be there anymore.

This is not good news for book promotion and book sales. It's not good news for book publicists. And, finally, it's not good news for authors and publishers.

Yes, Virginia, you can promote self-published books!

Not so long ago, even this book publicist thought it was nearly impossible to conduct book promotion campaigns for self-published books. But enterprising book publicists consider each book on an individual basis when deciding whether or not to take on a project, and after I'd conducted a few amazingly successful book promotion campaigns for a few great self-published books, I became a believer. Yes, you can successfully (and unapologetically) promote a self-published book.

I know, because I've conducted book promotion campaigns for self-published books by some creative, talented authors. And I know, too, because I've conducted a book promotion campaign for my own self-published book, "101 Recipes for Microwave Mug Cakes."

The Harpo Productions-owned "Rachael Ray Show" (a daytime syndicated talk show) aired a taped segment for "101 Recipes for Microwave Mug Cakes" for the first time in December of 2009, and the show aired again yesterday. Both times, the rankings on both Amazon (which fell to 130) and BN.com (which got as low as 114, this time around, and which reached the top ten the first time) reflected the national visibility the book had received.

The coolest part about it is that I'm not alone in experiencing the fact that self-publishing books is more than acceptable. It's the smart thing for most of us to do. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, there are so many new ways to self-publish books that it's almost impossible to keep up with the options. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple ... every company you can think of (and many that you may not have heard of) that sells digital books is providing authors with the opportunity to jump ship from traditional publishing to self publishing. And we don't have to feel squeamish about accepting those opportunities.

If I'd waited for a traditional publisher to come along and express interest in "101 Recipes for Microwave Mug Cakes," the manuscript would have been collecting dust for lo these many months, and I'd long since have lost interest in it. Instead, because I self published the book, I've been engaged in an active and productive book promotion campaign for my own project, and it's been a great learning experience.

So, yes, you can treat your self-published book exactly as if it were a traditionally-published book project. You can conduct a book promotion campaign for it, and you can use it as a hook for disseminating your messages, building your brand, and enhancing your portfolio. I can tell you from first-hand experience that the self-publishing experience can be wonderful and rewarding. So why not get started on your project? There's nothing to hold you back.

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.)