How to Blow a Book Promotion Opportunity

By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist

S. J. Miller Communications

bookpromotion@gmail.com

Would you like to see a great example of how to blow a book promotion opportunity? I give you Joan Rivers who walked out on an interview with CNN's Fredricka Whitfield while promoting her latest book. What was Joan River's new title, again? It seems to have flown clear out of this book publicist's head. Sorry about that, Joan Rivers.

And you know what? If Joan's arrogance and belligerence were a book publicity stunt, then -- because I don't think combative behavior is ever defensible or attactive -- I hope it fails, miserably, in the book sales department.

Tony Horwitz's Book Publicity Tale of Woe

By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist
S. J. Miller Communications
bookpromotion@gmail.com

Author Tony Horwitz is disgruntled with the world of ebook publishing and his prospects of earning a living wage as a full-time author. With a small advance, he relied on his ebook publisher's book promotion machine...and, when that book promotion machine stalled, Horwitz found himself in the unenviable position of having to make potential book buyers aware of his book himself.

Besides which, Horwitz's publisher dropped the ball (it's complicated), and then Amazon (it's even more complicated but, this time, Hatchette doesn't seem directly to be involved) dropped the ebook.

But there is good book publicity-related news for Tony Horwitz and his ebook. First, his ebook is back on Amazon again. Second, the op-ed that Hortitz wrote describing his book promotion woes was published in the New York Times. You can read it here.

Good for Tony Horwitz. The New York Times is a whole lot of lemonade to squeeze out of a lemon.

Tony, I love how you turned your foray into ebook publishing and ebook promotion from a tale of woe into a tale of wow. Keep up the great work! And enjoy the fact that the New York Times was nice enough to include the title of your ebook ("Boom") approximately -- by my conservative estimate -- about ten times. Way to go!!!

Bad Book Publicity?

By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist

S. J. Miller Communications

bookpromotion@gmail.com

They say there's no such thing as bad publicity, and I'd interpret that to mean there's no such thing as bad book publicity, either.

Sometimes, I would agree with that. Usually, I would say that even a lukewarm book review is better than no book review at all, or a combative interviewer is far kinder than the interviewer who chooses to ignore you completely.

But, after seeing the book publicity opportunities recently garnered by Gary L. Stewart, author of the new book, The Most Dangerous Animal of All: Searching for My Father...and Finding the Zodiac Killer, this book publicist has to wonder about that.

Stewart, as you might know (if you've read or seen interviews such as the one he did with CNN's Erin Burnett), believes his father was the Zodiac Killer. He has spent more than a decade believing he is the son of a serial killer.

Now, with every book publicity opportunity that he accepts, he has to share the information that he believes his father is the Zodiac Killer with the world. His book publicity campaign is, in essence, an attempt to teach the public to associate the Zodiac Killer with his book and with his name.

So, the more Gary L. Stewart's book publicity campaign succeeds, the more Gary L. Stewart, and his family members, lose.

Therefore, I have come around to thinking that, for some people, there might, indeed be such a thing as bad book publicity. Gary L. Stewart is one of the authors for whom too much of a good thing is probably a pretty bad thing after all.

This is something authors should not do for book publicity!

Disowning their own books generally is not something authors do for book publicity...but the io9 10 Great Authors Who Disowned Their Own Books list should make an author who's in the midst of a book promotion campaign stop and think. Sure, every author finds it natural to say, "My book is important, and that's why I'm working so hard to enhance its book discovery potential." But what happens when authors specifically ask readers to not buy their books? How does that work out for them?

Consider the case of Stephen King's asking that his book, Rage, be taken out of print (because he felt it had the potential to inspire school shootings). There's a case where Mr. King was likely right -- that particular book was not an asset to our civilization -- and, yet, his desire to see the book eliminated probably inspired as many book sales as the best book publicity campaign might have. ("Oh, yes, I've heard of Rage," book buyers probably all said when they heard King's opinion of his book. "I'll bet I can find a copy now at that online secondhand book shop or the auction site! I'll go for it! And, who knows...if it's out of print, maybe this second-hand edition will someday be pretty valuable!"

So if you ever find yourself in the position of wanting to disown your book, just remember this. If you tell readers, "Please don't buy my book," then you'll probably send sales of that book soaring. That's not the way this book publicist recommends promoting your book...and that's not why this book publicist recommends a book publicity campaign...but, strangely, the tactic probably does increase awareness of books!

Backflip for book promotion?

By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist
S. J. Miller Communications
bookpromotion@gmail.com


Would you do a backflip for book promotion?

Book publicists frequently hear from authors who say, "I want a viral book marketing campaign. Do you orchestrate viral book marketing campaigns?" This honest book publicist always responds, "Not on purpose. By definition, you can't orchestrate a viral marketing campaign. Viral marketing campaigns are regular marketing campaigns that go viral. You can set up all the right conditions so that your book marketing campaign has a chance to go viral. You can integrate whimsy, humor, or controversy into the campaign, come up with catchy sound bites, and tap into pop culture events that everyone seems to be discussing at the water cooler. But, no, I can't guarantee you a viral book marketing campaign.  I can only guarantee you a creative book marketing campaign. How does that sound?" Authors who are determined to pay a book publicist to orchestrate a viral book marketing campaign simply make additional phone calls until they find a book publicist who disingenuously promises to do the impossible, and to force a book promotion campaign to go viral.

Authors and publishers: you can't make a book marketing campaign go viral. If you could, though, a book marketing campaign would look something like this. Note that, if this college graduate's blackflip had gone the way he'd intended for it to (in other words, if the blackflip had gone as planned), there'd be no video of his blackflip going viral online right now, and CNN certainly wouldn't have picked it up.

So the question is: would you -- metaphorically speaking -- do a blackflip for book promotion? This particular book publicist doesn't recommend it! No amount of author publicity is worth the pain of that thud! But she's glad the college graduate didn't hurt himself. Onward and upward!

Why we don't hear more about eBook promotion.

By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist

S. J. Miller Communications

bookpromotion@gmail.com

Why don't we hear more about eBook promotion? According to Futurebook, a digital blog from The Bookseller
, the media still are reluctant to take eBooks seriously. And this book publicist, too, has noticed that few authors make the round of broadcast media shows as part of their book publicity campaigns. Traditional book review outlets, too, seem to be taking a wait-and-see attitude about eBooks. It's as if traditional book reviewers are taking a wait-and-see attitude. If eBooks really catch, on then traditional book reviewers might start to take them seriously.
Of course, the number of readers who have successfully resisted eBooks is diminishes all the time, and those of us who have gone over to the Dark Side (and switched our allegiance from "real" books to eBooks) are rarely tempted to look back. So what's a book publicist, or an eBook author, to do when they want to find eBook promotion opportunities and they can't find them in the usual places that were so friendly to traditional authors who needed media visibility for their traditional books?

Fortunately, eBooks have spawned their own eBook promotion opportunities. One of the book publicity tricks I've developed is to pitch the eBook (if it's available along with a traditional book) to the venues for eBook promotion that do not consider traditional books. A book publicist, and an eBook author, has to promote an eBook differently from the way he or she would promote a traditional book...to a great extent. But some things never change. Now that eBooks are so popular, there are ways to promote eBooks that are emerging all the time. Find a book publicist who can help you take leverage those eBook promotion opportunities so you won't be left behind...and you won't be left wondering how, on Earth, you can get the traditional book publicity venues to take your eBook seriously!

Book Publicity for...What Kind of Books?

By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist
S. J. Miller Communications
bookpromotion@gmail.com

Since the book publishing world is changing all the time, I rarely comment on the technological revolution that's taking place all around us. It's enough to say that indie books (or self-published books, or whatever you'd prefer to call books that are not traditionally published and distributed) have lost their stigma, and all of the book publicity opportunities that are available to authors of traditionally published books are now on the table for indie authors, too.

But I did want to comment on a technological marvel called Blurb. Blurb will make it easy for any author, anywhere, to create and publish picture books using its proprietary (free) software or a plug-in to your existing Adobe In-Design software. Once your book is published, you can choose to distribute it via Amazon, Samsung, and other online book selling and book sharing platforms.

So, in the future, will book publicists be promoting travelogues that authors created, and then published, in real time as they travel around the globe? And will author publicists be promoting the cookbook that grandmothers create as they're preparing Thanksgiving dinner for the family?

This book publicist can't see a downside of Blurb, and she can't see any limitations on what the future holds for the publishing industry, either. Wow! What kind of books can you imagine publishing? The possibilities are endless.

The Challenges of Author Interviews

By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist
S. J. Miller Communications
bookpromotion@gmail.com

The challenges of author radio interviews are legion (and legendary), but so are their benefits for book publicity campaigns...and that's why we put up with them. Sometimes, it seems that scheduling the radio interview requires even less effort than making them happen.

Radio producers (this book publicist will go on record as saying) are usually bright, well-meaning professionals. But they're overloaded with work responsibilities, and sometimes they multi-task...and important things slip through the cracks.

Okay. I'm making excuses for them. Here's the truth. Sometimes, radio producers book a radio interview to take place by telephone, and they forget to write it on the calendar. Thus, when the time comes for the author to receive that phone call from the radio show, it doesn't happen. Or, perhaps, the author radio interview is preempted by a news event...but the radio producer fails to let the book publicist know. Or perhaps the radio producer typed the author's phone number incorrectly, or failed to save the author's phone number (but is too embarrassed to let the book publicist know). Or, sometimes, there's just no reason at all why the call doesn't come through to the author who's waiting for the radio show to call. It's just that, for one reason or another, it doesn't come through.

So many authors -- even book publicity veterans -- feel that, if the scheduled radio interview doesn't take place, it's an act of the gods, and they drop the whole thing. Sometimes, they don't even let their book publicist know! They just sigh and get on with their day.

But if the radio interview was worth scheduling, then it's worth pursuing. So here's what to do before the radio show mishap occurs: get the radio show's studio line to use as your backup line. Do this when you're booking the radio show. The producer will ask for your contact number; you ask for the studio's line and let the producer know you'll use that as your backup line in the event that wires get crossed, and the call doesn't come through.

The radio producer will appreciate your professionalism, your book publicist will be grateful you saved the day...and you'll be grateful to have salvaged a book publicity opportunity that you otherwise could have let slip away!

eBook Publishing to Spread the Word

Ebook publishing can be a quick and effective way to disseminate your message. 

This morning, a friend let me know that her nonprofit organization had raised $30,000 to provide ten K9 vests to police departments in one year. What a wonderful accomplishment! In congratulating her, I asked my friend whether she would consider writing an eBook about the importance of providing police departments with K9 vests. It would be an honor for me to then conduct an eBook promotion campaign for her nonprofit as long as she's willing to approve media materials and act as a spokesperson for the organization. It's easy enough to learn about eBook publishing, I promised her, and I'd handle her eBook's editing, and the conversion of her Word or PDF file to Kindle's mobi format (and to Barnes and Noble's Nook format, too, if she were interested in even wider eBook distribution). 

I made the offer automatically because I spontaneously realized that eBook publishing isn't only for traditional authors anymore. Ebook publishing is now available to everyone who has something to say, and needs a platform to delivery that message. 

If my friend wants to become an author, I can make it easy to achieve that goal. I'm already offering coaching for eBook Publishing and eBook promotion services to authors. Why not encourage a friend to tap into my expertise to help outfit as many service dogs with K9 vests as possible? The only thing this book publicist cares more about than family, cooking, friends, and books...is our four-legged companions. I hope we can use eBook publishing to help as many of them as possible!

The Etiquette of Author Radio Interviews

Congratulations! You've done your first radio interview (or you've completed your first flurry of radio interviews), and you're hoping to leverage that accomplishment and build long-term, mutually productive relationships with the radio producers and radio hosts who were gracious enough to invite you to be on the air with them. It's time to learn, and practice, the art of follow up radio interview etiquette. Here's what to keep in mind after your author radio interview:

• What you want. Of course, you want a copy of your radio interview. Take it from a book publicist who has been in a lot of radio studios over the years: you don't want to ask for a copy of the interview. The radio interview may have been a peak and important experience for you. For the radio show, you were just one of hundreds of authors and other experts who have appeared on-air. Know your place in the radio food chain. Radio stations are typically understaffed. The producer who booked the interview with you, and the host who interviewed you, doesn't have time to dub copies of the radio interview. They don't have flunkies who can do it for them. Don't ask, and don't ask your book publicist to ask for you. Be clear about this point: your book publicist isn't "too shy" to speak up and ask for what you want, and she's not giving you the brush-off if she refuses. It's just that your book publicist is wise enough to know that the answer will be (or should be) no, and that asking for a copy of your radio interview would mark the book publicist as a rookie or, worse, as a disrespectful pain in the neck -- and not the type of book publicist the producer or host would want to work with again in the future. If your book publicist burns a bridge with a radio station, this doesn't help you (and it surely doesn't help your book publicist, either). Your instinct is correct, however. It is a good idea to hear what you sounded like on the air so that, going forward, you can build on what you did best and make adjustments to your weak points. Listening to your radio interview will help you to improve your performance next time. Fortunately, most radio stations do archive some of their radio shows on their web site. Google the show a couple of days after your interview airs, and you might be lucky enough to find your segment online. Otherwise, you can ask your book publicist to ask the producer when, and where, a link to your segment might be available. That's a way to get what you want without incurring any of the complications of what you definitely don't want: anything that might hinder your relationships with radio producers and hosts!

Give thanks. It was nice of you to give up your time, and expend your energy, to be a guest on a radio show (or radio newscast). You didn't get paid for it, and you have a right to expect gratitude for what you did. But the reality is that you're probably not going to get the thanks you deserve. Just look at it from the radio show's perspective. You got a chance to plug your book, build your brand, and raise the public's awareness of who you are. Radio producers and hosts could have given this opportunity to any of your competitors, but they gave it to you, this time. And you want them to choose to give you an opportunity another time, too. So express your gratitude. Your book publicist will have the email addresses of the radio producer and the radio host (and anyone else who was involved in booking the interview). Ask your book publicist for that contact information, and then use it to write sincere thank-you notes to the media people who were kind enough to invite you to be their on-air guest. A little bit of gratitude goes a long way in building relationships with the media. Also, mention your availability to do additional interviews with the host in the future (if you can make yourself available on short notice, mention that, too -- it's a great selling point for many radio shows). Specify some topics that you can address on the air. You'll get bonus points if you can tie your expertise into upcoming holidays or events that the broadcast or newscast will likely cover. Make your ideas easy to read by formatting them as a bulleted list. The radio producer and host will be best able to digest your pitch if your gratitude begins and ends the email -- and if your email is short and to the point. Then put aside your expectations. Don't be dismayed if you don't get a response to your email. Understand that time is short for radio folks just as it's precious for you, and email silence doesn't mean your email when unnoticed or unappreciated. And don't let the lack of good manners on the part of some busy radio people dissuade you from thanking the next radio producer and radio host who invite you to join them on the air.

Follow through. If you promised to stay in touch with the radio producers and radio hosts when you wrote them thank-you emails (better still, if they asked you to stay in touch with them while you were on the air or in response to your follow up email to them), then follow through by sending them occasional emails. You might let them know about future projects, or point out your perspective on a breaking news story, or offer a connection between current events and your expertise. Always close with a reminder that you're available for radio interviews and that you'd like to be considered as a guest if the opportunity arises.

With a small investment of effort, you can turn a one-shot radio interview opportunity into an ongoing dialogue with radio producers who are always willing to listen to your ideas. Be respectful, show your thanks, and making a continual effort to build and then maintain your relationships with radio decision makers ... and you can find a single author radio interview turning into a career-long, mutually rewarding relationship.

Stacey J. Miller is a book promotion specialist and founder of S. J. Miller Communications. Visit her at www.bookpr.com (connecting with her on Facebook or Twitter is strictly optional).

Book Promotion on Twitter

Although traditional book publicists still think of book reviews as mainly appearing in newspapers, magazines, and journals, there are also online opportunities to get book reviews. I like to approach book review bloggers whether or not I'm setting up a blog tour for authors and publishers. Bloggers are the obvious, most reachable book reviewers. However, there is also another book review venue to consider: Twitter.

David Duhr, a self-described "Austin dude," wrote a wonderful column for Publishing Perspectives about the etiquette of Twitter book reviews (from both perspectives: that of the author, and that of the reviewer). Take a peek at David Duhr's brief bio so you can see where his advice is coming from.

Duhr's column might encourage you to start, or nurture, your relationships with Twitter book reviewers as part of your book promotion campaign. If you tweet -- read David Duhr's column, and start integrating Twitter into your book promotion campaign today!

A major book promotion disappointment.

You might be a veteran media guest. You might have successfully done hundreds of radio, TV, print, and online media interviews as part of your book promotion campaigns. You might have wonderful media relationships, and you might have earned those friendships the honest way: through years of offering the media what it needs, of making yourself available when you're called upon to do so, and of coming through for the media with professionalism and charisma every time you've had the chance.

In other words, you can have a long and impressive history of doing everything right. And still, book promotion disappointments can happen. They can happen to anyone, at any time.

They can even happen to this book publicist and to an author who simply deserved better.

I know that no one in the media is obligated to give my authors airtime, bandwidth, or editorial space. I'm lucky to have the media's ear and to be in a position where I can ask them to listen to my story suggestions. I guard my media relationships very jealously, and if an interview doesn't always go according to plan ... well, I take responsibility for that. Was a reporter uninformed when she spoke with my author? I make a mental note to get more background material to the reporter the next time she does an interview with one of my clients. Was a radio or TV show host combative? I make a note to warn my clients about the potential to be ambushed by this host, and I always give authors the option of taking known-to-be combative interviewers off my list of media targets as we proceed with book promotion campaigns.

So I'm disinclined to ever blame my media contacts when something goes wrong. If an interview doesn't go the way that I want it to, I see it as a learning experience, and I use the experience to be better prepared the next time around. It's unusual for me to say "never again" about working with anyone in the media.

But I make exceptions to that rule, and I was motivated to rethink my relationship with a radio talk show host by a specific unfortunate event.

Here's what happened. One of my favorite clients -- in fact, one of my favorite people -- committed to staying up very late last night (or very early this morning, depending on how you look at it) and to forfeiting a good night's sleep to accommodate the host of an overnight radio talk show host's interview request. This author has done hundreds of interviews, and she is a consummate professional. She appreciates all interview opportunities, and she was glad to have another one.

The author was to call into the studio line, and her book publicist was awake -- I'd purposely set my alarm for this -- only to hear that the interview did not take place. The author emailed me to let me know that the host had cancelled the interview opportunity because he was onto a topic that was working for him, and he had spontaneously decided not to switch gears (and, potentially, sacrifice all of the enthusiastic calls he was generating). He wanted to reschedule the interview, at some point.

If he does want to reschedule, my client and I are both on notice that, as likely as not, he'll flake out again. Therefore, my best advice to this client is to cut her losses and never deal with this inconsiderate radio show host again. And this may very well be one radio talk show host who is on my short list of media people to avoid dealing with on the grounds that he is just too undependable to take chances with (unless I'm working with an author who is a night owl and doesn't mind taking a chance on being disappointed by a talk show host).

This was a good reminder for me, though. Even reputable shows (or other media outlets) can cancel interviews, with or without a good reason, at the last minute -- and, this, after an author has put aside time and made scheduling changes to take advantage of a book promotion opportunity. Cancellations don't happen often, but they can, and they do, despite meticulous planning and the best of intentions.

Don't internalize book promotion disappointments, when they happen. Just do what I have decided to do: note the person, log the event, learn from the incident, and move on.

Book promotion for self-published books, too

You've tried -- for months, or for years -- to convince a literary agent to persuade a traditional publisher to lend its imprint, and its credibility, to your book because you're under the impression that book promotion opportunities exist for traditionally published books that aren't available for self-published titles. 

Wrong.

Here's the good news. For the most part, the stigma that used to be associated with self-published books is gone. While traditionally published books have lost none of their cache, even with all of the changes in the published world, new opportunities have arisen for those whose books haven't been picked up by traditional publishers. While the traditional publishing world was doing its thing (the same old, same old thing, for the most part), self-published books (and that includes self-published ebooks, by the way) have established their own strong track records and earned their own top-notch book promotion opportunities.

To reinforce my point, here's an interesting link from -- ironically enough -- a venue that's all about traditional publishing (but that, in recent years, has begun to take self-published authors seriously, too).

This Publishers Weekly article shares the results of a recent Writer's Digest survey that compares writers' (those who have worked with traditional publishers to publish books and have also self-published their own books) satisfaction with traditional traditional publishing compared to self-publishing. Self-publishing came out ahead, and I believe it's because self-published authors gain so much (specifically, monetary rewards and control over every aspect of their work) and sacrifice so little by way of media recognition, credibility, and distribution/sales potential. 

In short, it's as easy to find book promotion opportunities for self-published books as it is to find book promotion opportunities for traditionally published books once you look beyond book reviews (some of which are still unavailable for self-published authors since some traditional book review outlets are still holding onto the last vestiges of discrimination against self-published books).The book promotion opportunities for all books, and ebooks, have grown in number over the years as new venues have emerged. All books, and ebooks, regardless of the way they are published, have access to these book promotion opportunities.

Now it's just up to you, the author, to find those book promotion opportunities, and to see how your book can take advantage of them.

A book promotion "don't do"

There are some things you shouldn't do for book promotion. Here's a question that just came to me, via email, from a "prospective book publicity client":

Hello Dear,
I am an author who is currently working on a book and I wonder if you offer a service where you buy 500 -100 copies of a book to increase the sales rank of an author?

Kind Regards
XXXXXX [I have masked the name of the author to protect his/her identity)

Because of the odd language, I suspected that one of two things is true about the sender of the email. Either the email was written by someone for whom English isn't a first language, or the author isn't playing with a full set of Legos. Or, perhaps, both of those things are true.

Anyway, here is the reply I fired off to the author:

In a word, no. I don't engage in practices I consider unethical.

Stacey Miller
S. J. Miller Communications
www.bookpr.com

*sighing* I know we all want to sell books, and our ranking in online bookstores does matter. However, there's a way to promote books, and then there are book promotion ploys to avoid. Hiring a book promotion specialist to purchase books from a bookstore (a traditional bookstore or an online bookstore) is, plain and simply, a dishonest practice, and this book publicist would never even consider it.

Hopefully, no book publicist would.

Are we entitled to book promotion?

Are we entitled to book promotion? Or book sales? Or shelf space in a particular bookselling venue? Joan Rivers seems to think Costco has banned her autobiography, I Hate Everyone … Starting with Me, and I guess that's possible. However, the book publicist in me tends to think that Joan Rivers is on the wrong track here. Many books are pitched to Costco. Given Costco's limited shelf space (so to speak), few books are chosen. Saying that Costco banned Joan Rivers' autobiography is like suggesting that "Entertainment Tonight" banned Joan Rivers' memoir by choosing not to schedule her as a guest or that Publishers Weekly or Library Journal banned Rivers' autobiography by deciding not to review it (assuming "ET" didn't book Joan Rivers, and assuming PW and Library Journal didn't review Rivers' memoir, which I don't know to be the case).

So, okay, Costco might have found Joan Rivers' book (or Joan Rivers herself) to be objectionable, and its book buyer may have decided to forgo the opportunity to stock Joan Rivers' book. But does one potential book buyer deciding to not buy a book constitute a boycott? Joan Rivers seems to think so...but this book publicist, I'm happy to say, has a bit more common sense than that.

Book Promotion: How to Abuse the Privilege

Would you like to abuse the privilege of embarking on a book promotion campaign and scoring A-list media coverage? Then follow the example of Chase Brandon, former CIA agent. Brandon is promoting his new novel, The Cryptos Conundrum, whose publication was more or less timed to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the incident and subsequent cover up(or non-event, and the crazy myth-making and rumor-spreading that followed the non-event, as the case may have been) as the case may have been) at Roswell, NM.

Brandon (and his new novel) garnered coverage in Time Magazine, the Huffington Post, and other top media outlets. All of that book publicity and the nice timing of the book's publication have helped the book's Amazon ranking; it's just a shade about 5,000 as I write this.

So, evidently, Brandon saw something in the secret files about Roswell that he'd like to tell us about but just can't bring himself to divulge (just like all the other intelligence agency people who saw things in the secret files about Roswell and can't bring themselves to talk about). Touching, isn't it? Brandon has a secret (Brandon has a secret, Brandon has a secret, Brandon has a secret!) but doesn't want to share it with the poor schlubs who'd be scared to death (and, perhaps, scarred for life) if he did.

Now, I'm not taking sides here. Maybe there really was a UFO that crashed at Roswell, NM, or maybe it was a weather balloon, or maybe something else happened that I just don't happen to know about (and, maybe, wouldn't want to know about, since evidently Captain Kirk or Captain Picard weren't around to deal  it -- whatever "it" was). But if Brandon knows more about this then I do, and he'd like to earn the editorial space and airtime that the top media outlets are granting him, then let him spill it: all of it. Book promotion, in this book publicist's opinion, isn't about teasing. It's about saying it. Either saying it, or hushing. In this case, since Brandon has no specificity to offer, I wish he'd taken the latter route and just hushed altogether. And I wish his book promotion campaign were a bit lower key. That's all I have to say.

Stacey J. Miller is a book promotion specialist and founder of S. J. Miller Communications. Visit her at www.bookpr.com (connecting with her on Facebook or Twitter is strictly optional).

Book Promotion When the Time Is Right

It's so simple to self-publish a book that, according to a thoughtful Forbes article, it's tempting for many authors to move forward to quickly. According to Forbes, authors are using social networking to promote books that aren't ready for book promotion campaigns. Worse, authors are social networking to connect with book designers, literary agents, publishers, and others in the book publishing industry to move forward their book publishing project when, unfortunately, their books aren't ready for publication. The only thing more embarrassing than publishing a book that's not ready to be published is having your intended readership learn, through your book promotion campaign, that you've had the bad judgment to publish your not-ready-for-prime-time book. Running your manuscript through spell check isn't enough. You have to have your book professionally edited and, in some cases, you might even be well advised to get some help in turning your manuscript from a mediocre manuscript into a polished, professional manuscript that will help you establish credibility and build your brand.

I was scanning Amazon's Kindle bestseller list recently and happened upon a novel that tempted me until I read the reviews. To paraphrase one readers review, "Come on, everyone. Cut the author some slack. Don't be so hard on him. This is his first novel. Could you do as well your first time? So what if it isn't perfect. It's still a valiant first effort." Do I want to read a novelist's first effort? Maybe, if that novelist is J.D. Salinger. Otherwise, not so much.

So Forbes's article is right on target. Self-publishing can be a terrific opportunity to disseminate your messages, sell your products or services, and set yourself apart from your competitors. Book promotion campaigns can work to your advantage when your book is excellent. If your book is anything less than that, then book promotion can wait.

Book Promotion by Doodle

Can you doodle your way to a successful book promotion campaign? A free doodle app and web site called doodle.ly lets you launch a free (do you enjoy the concept of "free" book promotion as much as this book publicist does?) contest for readers and fans of your book. You can read more about how this doodling for book promotion idea works at GalleyCat. In short, though, you ask readers to doodle sketches related to your novel or nonfiction book for a chance to win prizes. The success of a doodle.ly book promotion campaign relies heavily on social networking to get readers excited about participating in the contest -- thus, creating buzz for your book.

And speaking of book promotion, there's good news for those of us who live in Greater Boston. Parts of Massachusetts (hopefully, that will include my part of Massachusetts) can expect to see thundershowers this afternoon and, with that, a cold front will approach. That means the three-day heatwave will come to an end. For those authors, publishers, and book publicists who are based in New England and have pitched a heatwave-related story to the media, does that mean your story idea is dead in the water. On the contrary...Massachusetts (and New England) residents have long known that, once summertime begins, it's only a question of time until the next heatwave settles in. That means there will be ample opportunities to get media coverage if you can relate your book, and your expertise, to the summertime weather. So congratulations, Boston, on the approach of cooler weather. But do not fear. Your chance to pitch summertime stories to the media continues....

Boston and Book Promotion

Boston is hot today. It's 73 degrees in Boston as I write this, and the weather forecasters say that the temperature could reach 100 degrees in Boston (and in other parts of Massachusetts).

So what's a book publicist (or an author or a book publisher) to do? Pitch a heat-related story to the Boston media outlets, of course!

Think about whether your expertise can inform those who are facing the beginning of Boston's summer season in terms of healthcare, education, sports, real estate, workplace, parenting, entertainment, and the like -- and pitch your story to the Boston media outlets. That can get you coverage, particularly if you're a Boston-based author or publisher.

If you're book promotion campaign is focused on other parts of the country, then note that there's a heatwave in many major metro areas ... and plan your book publicity efforts accordingly. This book publicist loves heat, and she loves summertime story ideas, and she's ready to dive in -- pun intended!

Stacey J. Miller is a book promotion specialist and founder of S. J. Miller Communications. Visit her at www.bookpr.com (connecting with her on Facebook or Twitter is strictly optional)

Local Book Promotion Options -- Part 2

In Local Book Promotion Options -- Part 1, I explained why authors and publishers who are promoting their books on a national level should include local media outlets as part of their book publicity campaign. For example, a Newton, Massachusetts-based author who reaches out to national TV shows and is lucky enough to get an invitation to appear on, say, "Good Morning America," should still pitch local media outlets (the "Newton Tab," which is a community newspaper with a Newton, Massachusetts readership, for example), local radio stations (in this case, WNTN which is based in Newton), and the community newspapers and radio stations in surrounding cities and towns (such as, in this example, Arlington, Cambridge, Concord, Lexington, Weston, and others).

But you can take that a step further. Besides pitching media outlets that are local to where you live as part of your book promotion efforts, you can also pitch the community newspapers, and radio and television stations, in any other cities and towns where you have (or have had) strong ties: where you were born and raised, where you went to school, where you work, where your family lives, and so forth. So if you're currently living in Newton, Massachusetts but you were born in Seattle, you went to school in Los Angeles, your first job was in Houston, and your parents are living in Miami ... you have four new sets of local media outlets, beyond the Newton, Massachusetts media outlets, to contact and incorporate into your book promotion plans.

To that list, you can add any cities or towns you happen to be visiting. So if business meetings take you from the Boston, Massachusetts area to four other cities on the Eastern Seaboard, factor the local media outlets in the "tour cities" into your book promotion plans, too. Emphasize the local news hook -- when you'll be in town, what you'll be doing when you're there, and how your expertise can tie into the events that are happening there or the controversies that are unfolding or the politics of the area.

After a "Good Morning America" appearance, it may seem lackluster to find yourself appearing on local radio shows or being interviewed by weekly newspaper reporters. But every interview you do adds to your portfolio and reaches a new audience, so no media outlet is "too small" or "too insignificant" to be a worthwhile component of your book promotion campaign.

And, after all, local media outlets are seeking local media news hooks and local story angles which you know you can provide. So why not give the media what it needs? It will benefit your book publicity efforts and become part of your sustained book promotion campaign.

Stacey J. Miller is an online book promotion specialist and founder of S. J. Miller Communications. Visit her at www.bookpr.com (connecting with her on Facebook or Twitter is strictly optional).