Promote a book, win a wedding?

Some authors are brilliant when it comes to creating book promotion campaigns.

For example, Mary Alice Monroe is picking up the $40,000 tab for some lucky couple's wedding to promote her upcoming book, A Low Country Wedding. Here's the story of how the book promotion campaign will work from WSPA.com.

For a chance to win a free wedding, who wouldn't become a Mary Alice Monroe fan? As an independent book publicist who's always planning ways to garner book promotion opportunities for the authors and publishers with whom I work, I'd say Mary Alice Monroe's book publicity strategy is brilliant. I hope her book, A Low Country Wedding, sees a huge surge in book sales from this book promotion strategy!

David Brock's Book Promotion Opportunity

Although this book publicist hasn't yet read David Brock's new book, Killing the Messenger: The Right-Wing Plot to Derail Hillary Clinton and hijack Your Government, she does know an amazingly fortunate book promotion opportunity when she sees it. Wow! Brock's book was featured today on CNN.com in an article called David Brock's new book takes on GOP, New York Times.

Even someone who's jaw isn't on the floor when she sees book reviews unexpectedly achieve the prominence in important venues such as CNN.com, and who doesn't think of "book promotion opportunities" before all else when she's reading the news , would be impressed with David Brock's good luck.

Then again, it took more than good luck for David Brock to score this book promotion opportunity. It took a combination of factors. It took a strong, opinionated, and credible voice tackling a timely and controversial topic (that made the book newsworthy), and it took reaching out to the right reporter at the right media outlet at the right time.

Good work, David Brock, and congratulations. I hope the numbers on Amazon reflect this book promotion coup, and I hope your book sales continue to benefit from it for a long time to come. Also, I hope this book promotion opportunity is just the beginning of many book publicity opportunities for you. And I predict that it will be.

Can a Name Help Your Book Promotion Efforts? Yes!

By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist

S. J. Miller Communications

bookpromotion@gmail.com

I'm a long-time advocate for self-published authors and independent publishers, because I appreciate the autonomy and empowerment that comes with self-publishing books. But even I have to admit that there are times  when a book publisher’s imprint can vastly increase a book’s promotion potential. 

I just found an example of a name that's really going to create a book promotion sensation. 

Rob Gronkowski, of the New England Patriots, has written a book that will be published by Jeter Publishing. That is about as perfect as book promotion potential can get!

For those who are wondering what’s so special about Jeter Publishing, does the name Derek Jeter ring a bell? Yes. Derek Jeter. He has his own publishing imprint, Jeter Publishing, and it’s owned by Simon and Schuster.

So, yes, as biased as this book publicist is in favor of independent book publishing, I must admit — how could I not? — that, at times, book promotion success can be greatly enhanced by having the right mainstream publishing company (and the perfect imprint of that mainstream publisher) behind the book.

Rob Gronkowski, I think you've written more than a book here. I think you've written yourself a bestselling book (It’s Good to Be the Gronk), and I wish you all the luck in the world with reaching sports fans in Boston and all of New England -- and, surely, far beyond. Derek, I might have a couple of sports-related questions for you (well, hey, I am from Boston!), but I'm so proud that you know how to use your name and your brand. Derek Jeter and Rob Gronkowski. You can find It's Good to Be the Gronk at Amazon, of course!

The Trajectory of Book Promotion

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


What does book discovery mean to authors and publishers? Everything, obviously. Book discovery is the whole purpose of book publicity and brand building: when authors and their books receive media attention, build their brand, and expand their online footprints, then they can differentiate themselves from competing authors and books (and videos, blogs, and the like), and they can persuade potential readers to purchase their books. Book discovery, then, is tied into book promotion and brand building which, in turn, directly affects book sales.

So what does Trajectory, a Boston-based firm, have to do with book discovery? According to an article in ThoughtCatalog, Trajectory will change everything about book discovery. Through Trajectory, authors and publishers will be able to match their books' content, setting, mood, and more to books that readers have already bought and enjoyed. Think of Trajectory as -- potentially -- the Pandora of books. "If you love Neil Diamond, you might want to listen to Barry Manilow" (which is Pandora's territory) becomes, "If you loved The Giver, you'd probably enjoy The Hunger Games" -- which Trajectory would base on algorithms about all of the elements that make up a book's content rather than on strictly sales information.

Just as authors and publishers currently consider it critical to get their books into the search engines, and to allow their book discovery to happen both organically and through concerted book promotion efforts, they may -- according to ThoughtCatalog -- soon be focusing on book discovery through Trajectory. Trajectory, it seems, is already forming partnerships with the major players in the world of book publishing.

So what will the trajectory of book publicity look like once the DNA of books can be scanned to see whether or not they're a match for books readers have already bought and loved? Authors and publishers: stay tuned to find out!

A Year of Books and Mark Zuckerberg, Part 2

Yes, Mark Zuckerberg, famed founder of Facebook, has launched an online book club. Now, what does that mean for book sales? Take a guess. Go ahead.

Sales of the first Mark Zuckerberg selection, The End of Power, have soared. The Telegraph's Rhiannon Williams provides these details:

* Since Mark Zuckerberg chose The End of Power, its sales have increased 775 per cent.
* The paperback version of The End of Power was, as of the Telegraph's writing, the 8th bestselling book on Amazon (and it was a number one category bestseller in several categories). At the time of this writing, however, it's number 49 (it's ranking as a number one category bestseller, however, is undiminished).
* Again, as of the Telegraph's writing, Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook book club had 189,000 members. That's up to 215,884 members as of now (and this book publicist is one of them).

So, if you guessed that Mark Zuckerberg's endorsement of a book would boost its visibility and increase its sales, then you're right on the money. Come to think of it, I always thought Mark Zuckerberg and Oprah Winfrey had a lot in common. Both of them have global influence and the respect of millions of people...and both Mark Zuckerberg and Oprah Winfrey are incredible people to have behind your book promotion campaign!

A Year of Books, Says Mark Zuckerberg

Could Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, be the biggest thing to happen to book publicity since Oprah?

According to CNN.com, Mark Zuckerberg has committed to starting a book club in 2015. He will read a book every two weeks, and he has invited his Facebook followers (and, presumably, the media) to join him.

Which books will Mark Zuckerberg read? How will that affect the books' discovery potential? Could books ever receive a bigger book promotion boost than they'd get from Mark Zuckerberg's endorsement?

The lucky book that will launch Mark Zuckerberg's book club is The End of Power by Moisés Naím. As a book publicist, I expect to see Mark Zuckerberg's book choices carrying as much weight as any television show could, and certainly, Zuckerberg's support of a book will mean as much as any media personality's in the world. Personally, I have some interest in what books the U.S. president is reading. But I really want to know the books that Mark Zuckerberg (and his followers) are reading, and what they have to say about those books.

This book publicist will also be curious to see whether Mark's book club choices will include ebooks as well as traditional books, and self-published books (independent books, that is) as well as mainstream books.

However it plays out, I offer kudos to Mark Zuckerberg for using his influence as a thought leader for good...to get people reading books, and for giving the authors he chooses to support the best book publicity opportunity they could ever dream about. Go, Mark! And, of course, go readers! Log onto Facebook, and join Mark Zuckerberg's book club today! Happy new year, book lovers!

Book Publicity Indispensible Tool

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

Believe it or not, here's a book publicity tool you once had and will probably want again for the duration of your book promotion campaign: a landline.

Yes, as a citizen of the world (besides being a book publicist), I know that just about everyone has traded in his or her landline for a cell phone. It's the economical and reasonable way to go. Why pay for landline telephone service that you don't need?

But for authors who are planning book publicity campaigns, here's an unwelcome surprise. You probably will need a landline to participate in radio interviews. Some radio show producers still check to ensure that the phone number authors provide are landline phone numbers and not cell phone numbers. Those radio show producers, certainly, are becoming relics, and they do sound strangely archaic trying to convince authors to find landlines to use.

However, this book publicist's motto is: the radio show producer is always right. If the radio show producer will book a radio interview only if the author has a landline available, then guess what? You need a landline to do the interview. You're not going to talk the radio show producer, who doesn't accept cell phone numbers for radio interviews, that your cell phone line has never been garbled or gotten disconnected. The radio show producer has heard it before, and it's nothing personal. It's just that every radio producer has had problems with other interviewees' cell phone lines and isn't willing to risk bad on-air audio again -- for any author, even for you.

So, even though you may not keep the landline telephone service at the conclusion of your book publicity campaign, you'd be wise to have a landline -- or access to a landline -- available for the duration of your book publicity campaign. Don't miss out on opportunities because you're unwilling to hold onto old technology! What's old to some people is still an indispensable book publicity tool.

Book Publicity via Twitter

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

Can Twitter be part of your book marketing and book publicity campaign? It can, according to what this book publicist has seen and what novelist Helen Clark has experience (see her excellent Huffington Post blog, "Making Twitter Work for Your Book").

Twitter, like blogging, can connect authors with their target readership quickly, and can be instantly gratifying. Book marketing means making those connections, and using those connections to build your brand, and Twitter can be an important part of the platform that you use to sell your books and your expertise. In other words, yes, Twitter can be part of your book marketing and book publicity campaign.

But here's the down side of using Twitter as part of your book promotion campaign. Unlike other book publicity strategies, such as participating in media interviews and writing articles (that byline you as their author and include a link to your book web site), Twitter doesn't have a beginning, middle, and ending. Building your brand via Twitter isn't something you can schedule into a few hours a week, and it isn't something you'd necessarily want to outsource and have a book publicist do for you.

Finding the right followers on Twitter, and reading (and responding to, or retweeting) the tweets that those you follow compose, takes time. Composing tweets, and deciding what to post, and when to post them -- and, perhaps, figuring out what not to post and learning why not to post it -- is an infinite pursuit that can occupy endless hours of your time. Now, if you're going through a dry spell as a writer, or if you're such a successful author that you can afford to take time off from writing in between book promotion campaigns, then you might well have the time that building your brand, and expanding your name recognition, on Twitter takes.

Otherwise, if you're like most authors, you'll tweet as a small (but important) part of your book promotion campaign. You'll set a limit on the number of hours you'll devote each week to Twitter, and you'll use that time wisely. And, the rest of the time, you'll engage in book publicity activities that may lead to slightly delayed gratification.

But, if delayed gratification leads to book sales, who's complaining? Not I, says this book publicist.

Book publicity idea: book giveaways and book contests

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


It may seem like a counter-intuitive book publicity idea: giving books away instead of selling them to generate book buzz. But, just as book publicists (and authors and publishers who are conducting book publicity campaigns) give away books to book reviewers (and producers, editors, journalists, and bloggers) to garner book promotion opportunities, it makes sense to directly give books away to your intended readers via book giveaway or contest.

Because you can tweet about book giveaways and contests, and post them via all of your other social networks, it's a wonderful opportunity to spread the word about your work -- and to reach your targeted readership without encountering interference from a media gatekeeper. But there are certain conventions and, more importantly, legalities that apply to book giveaways and contests, so see the way other publishers handle these issues...and learn from them before you integrate these strategies into your own book publicity campaign. For example, Orion Children's Books is currently sponsoring a competition to win children's books (read about it in ParentDish).

Take a close look at the way Orion Children's Books is running its book giveaway, and see what you can learn from it. Maybe it's time to think about expanding your book publicity campaign to include something a bit out of the ordinary. You never know which book publicity strategy will work best for you, so try as many as you can.

A lesson for this book publicist.

By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist

S. J. Miller Communications

bookpromotion@gmail.com

A radio producer sent me a positive response to an email pitch yesterday. Eager to book the radio interview for my client, I read the email from top to bottom -- and, unfortunately, I noticed that the producer had prematurely hit the "send" button, so the email was truncated. I let the radio producer know, so that we could get that book publicity interview locked in, and I expected an instant reply. It took about 24 hours to hear back from him, though, and that taught this book publicist a lesson.

Book publicity is my world, and it takes up most of the space in my head, day and night (and weekends and holidays, too). But that's not true for everybody.

Somehow, that was refreshing to learn. The whole world does not always move at a break-neck, it-has-to-get-done-this-second-or-else pace, just because it can. Just because I want to get media interviews for my clients does't mean that producers and editors and journalists sit by their smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops thinking about nothing except my authors and their book publicity needs. People still have lives beyond book publicity and book promotion. It's an important reminder -- for this book publicist!

What price, eBooks?

By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist

S. J. Miller Communications

bookpromotion@gmail.com

How much should eBooks cost? Is Amazon correct when it postulates that every eBook should be priced at $9.99 or less? Or are publishers correct in assuming that book sales hinge on many variables (such as book publicity, genre, subject matter, etc.), and numbers are impossible to predict based on price alone?

Can it be that, if all eBooks sold for $9.99, then -- all things (including book publicity and book marketing) being equal -- the only books with a competitive advantage would be those that cost less than $9.99? And would that mean the price of eBooks would fall until, finally, it cost more to sell an eBook than it would to just give it away (in the same way as you burn up more calories chewing celery sticks than you take in)?

Carolyn Kellogg, an LA Times staff writer covering books and publishing (@paperhaus at Twitter), muses about eBook pricing, and the veracity of Amazon's contention that "For every copy an e-book would sell at $14.99, it would sell 1.74 copies if priced at $9.99." Click here to read it.

This book publicist's hunch is that the jury will be out on the best eBook pricing for years to come and, in the meantime, publishers and Amazon will be duking it out over who has the right to decide what eBooks should cost. The Amazon/Hatchette feud isn't going away anytime soon. Other pricing wars are just waiting in the wings.

There has never been a better time to be an independent publisher. And there has never been a more confusing time to be an independent publisher. Or, as a famous author once said, "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times."

Wattpad is here.

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


This book publicist uses technology for every book publicity campaign (whether it's a book marketing campaign that includes social networking outreach or whether it's a book marketing campaign that revolves around traditional book publicity opportunities). So I'm surprised to say that I am hearing about Wattpad for the first time.

Wattpad, according to a goodereader article, boasts more than 30 million users, and it allows authors to write, post, and share content. That would seem to be a great way to bring a book's content to readers which is one of the main goals of book marketing.

However, as the article points out, some sort of system must be put into place to protect authors' copyright. From what the article says, it seems Wattpad has found its vehicle for protecting authors' copyright:  Open Stories, a Creative Commons option. So now authors can share their content with readers (and, one hopes, can gain new readers) with Wattpad. This will provide a book publicity opportunity that authors need. And, at the same time, the content will be protected through a Create Commons license.

Does technology get any better than when technology meets book publicity?

This book publicist is properly impressed.

Book Publicity: That's News!

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

The best book publicity opportunities are in the news. Any time you, as an author or book publisher, can tie your topic into a front-burner news story, you have an opportunity to promote your book. Your expertise is just what the media needs, and if your book publicist (or if you, acting as your own book publicist), let the media know you're available for interviews, you may just score some.

Your book can be new. It can be a backlist book. It can even be months away from publication. As long as you can tie your book, and your book's topic, into a news story, you have a good chance of garnering book publicity opportunities.

For example, Lenore Skenazy wrote a book called Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry) that was published by Jossey-Bass in April 2010. Skenazy wrote about the fact that she allowed her nine-year-old son to take the subway by himself in New York City, and he -- and she -- lived to talk about it (and, he, to learn from the experience and revel in the memory).

Skenazy's daring-do happened to coincide with a story that's in the news now about a South Caroline mom who was arrested for leaving her nine-year-old daughter alone in a public park while she worked her shift at a fast food restaurant. No less than a CNN reporter covered the story (which you can read here). As the story breaks to a national audience, Lenore Skenazy has a book publicity opportunity (and her book publicist, who sees the news story, has the opportunity). She can lend her perspective to the media that are covering the news story, and she can get her four-year-old book mentioned as part of the coverage of that news story.

Book publicists would do well to keep an eye on news stories to see which book publicity opportunities they can garner -- just by making the connection between the books they're promoting and the news stories of the day. And authors: don't wait for your book publicists to see the connection between book publicity and what's in the news. When you see the opportunity, go for it (or tell your book publicist to reach out to the media on your behalf).

Social Networking for Book Publicity

By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist

S. J. Miller Communications

bookpromotion@gmail.com

How is your social network shaping up? Have you begun to put all of your social networking accounts in order so they can help you build your author platform? Book promotion is more than just reaching out to the media. Book publicity also means connecting with readers through blogging, via the social networks that were built specifically for book lovers (such as GoodReads and Shelfari), and the basic social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, et al.) that also serve as highly effective SEO tools for authors. Is your book publicist ready to step in and take your social networking efforts to the next level? Or is your book publicist still doing all of the same things she was doing 20 years ago to the exclusion of tapping into the potential of social networking for book publicity?

Why do you need a book publicist?

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


Why do you need a book publicist? You can write your own press release, and you can garner media interviews yourself by tracking down the appropriate producers, editors, bloggers, and freelancers. You can join GoodReads, Shelfari, LinkedIn, Twitter, and all of the other social networking sites that are where readers gather, and you can post messages, and you can build your own author platform online, and you can build your brand as an author offline, too.

You can implement all of the book publicity strategies you've heard about, and you've researched, and you've intuited, all on your own. So, if you can do your own book promotion, then why do you need a book publicist?

The reason you need a book publicist is because, if you conduct your own book publicity campaign, and you do all of your own book marketing, then you'll have no time to write books.

So which would you rather be: a book publicist or a writer? Which are you?

When you want to delegate your book publicity campaign to a book publicist with experience of more than two decades, I'll be here for you.

A Book Publicist's Lament

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


A Book Publicist's Lament

So many authors are in a rush to publish their books. The production process has become so quick and easy that a book can go from the word processor to Amazon in a matter of weeks. That means the first time an author thinks about calling in a book publicist might be days before the book is available for sale online.

While that provides quick -- if not instant -- gratification for authors who want to see their words reach book buyers as soon as possible, the mad dash from the computer to the bookshelf does require the sacrifice of long lead-time book publicity opportunities.

By the time a book has been published (that is, by the time the book is available for purchase online), you've lost the opportunity to snare most traditional book reviews. Old school book reviewers (who still matter), require at least three months' lead time. And they ask that you send them galleys instead of finished copies of the book.

So calling in a book publicist just before the book's publication date means that you're trading the possibility of traditional book reviews for the possibility of early book sales. But here's the paradox. How many book sales can you reasonably expect if you don't let your potential readers know that your book is going to be published?

That's why, despite the fact that traditional book reviewers should probably have changed their submission requirements long ago, when the technological changes in book publishing shortened the book production schedule so much, it's still impossible for book publicists (and for authors who are conducting book publicity campaigns) to bypass the rules and garner traditional book reviews without having at least three months' lead time.

Book Publicity by Reading Rainbow!

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

Kids' books are about to receive an old-but-new book publicity opportunity by Reading Rainbow host, LeVar Burton.

The wonderful LeVar Burton has long been a champion of children's books, and children's literacy (he was hosting episodes of "Reading Rainbow" even during his Star Trek: The Next Generation days!), but now he's an innovator, too. Burton is bringing "Reading Rainbow" to kids, classrooms, and homes via a new app. Those who can pay a monthly subscription fee will have all-you-can-eat access to kids' books that are part of the program. Disadvantaged kids will have access to the kids' books, too. Along with being a great book publicity opportunity for the children's books in the program, it's also a wonderful chance to turn a new generation of kids onto the joys of reading ... now and, I hope, for the rest of their lives.

Obviously, this book publicist isn't the only book lover who's crazy about LeVar Burton's new project. A recent Kickstarter campaign, launched by Burton, "burst the seams, broke the dam and went through the roof" according to a CNN article. Burton met his goal within 11 hours of the campaign's launch!

As a book publicist who frequently promotes children's books, I am eagerly looking forward to the Web version of Reading Rainbow's tablet app. And, as a children's book fan and addict (yes -- my Kindle is filled with books penned by current and classic children's books and young adult novels, too), I can't wait to support the "Reading Rainbow" project and catch up on some of the great children's books I may have missed. Thank you, LeVar Burton, for the good work you're doing. I know that all of "your" kids will thank you, too!

Book Publicity Cheat!!!

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

I'm absolutely appalled by what Penguin Young Readers is trying to get away with!!! *tongue firmly planted in cheek*

First, and seriously, congratulations to fans of Roald Dahl's wonderful book, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, which celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year. As every book lover knows, Dahl's classic children's book inspired the also-classic Gene Wilder movie, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." (The book also inspired a second and more recent "Willy Wonka" movie, not starring Gene Wilder, that I'd prefer not to discuss as well as some candy that, similarly, will not be part of this discussion.

Anyway, the anniversary of Charlie & The Chocolate Factory's publication is a wonderful opportunity to score some book publicity opportunities for the book which, hopefully, will lead to an increase in interest in the book...and a surge in book sales. Book promotion is easy when you're Roald Dahl, everyone loves your work, and most of your readers credit you with changing the way they look at the world.

That said, this book publicist has a major complaint about the sweepstakes Penguin Young Readers is running so book sales will spike even more. No, this book publicist has no problem with the sweepstakes, per se. The sweepstakes are a very cool concept -- particularly since, as you know, a good part of the Charlie & The Chocolate Factory story involves a group of sweepstakes winners. No, I have no complaints about the sweepstakes. What I must complain about are the sweepstakes prizes. According to MediaBistro (whose fault this whole book publicity travesty is not), "Five young readers will win a trip to New York City and a VIP experience at Dylan’s Candy Bar. In addition, winners will get a year’s supply of chocolate, a library of Dahl books and tickets to see Matilda the Musical."

A year's supply of chocolate? Really? That's what I call book publicity cheating!!!!

As everyone who loves Roald Dahl's wonderful book, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory knows, the character who won the sweepstakes in the story won -- not a year's supply of chocolate, but a lifetime supply of chocolate!

Give me a break, Penguin Young Readers. If you want this book publicist to feel great about the book promotion campaign you're launching for Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, then get it right! Give your sweepstakes winners what they deserve! Give them the chocolate, Penguin. Please! Give them all the chocolate they deserve to go along with their terrific literary taste!

One kid's book publishing dream

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


In the midst of all the controversy and drama between Amazon and Hatchette, let's not forget that CreateSpace (which is the self-publishing arm of Amazon) does something that the traditional New York publishing industry could never do. It lets kids make their book publishing dreams come true.

As a book publicist, I'm always scanning the news and trade media for examples of book promotion successes, and I came across one this morning. A ten-year-old Chicago-based boy, Jake Mayer, was featured on the CBS (Chicago) web site because he is writing his second novel which is a sequel to an Amazon category bestseller that he wrote! His first novel, A Tale of Friends, Enemies and Minecraft, has sold more than 14,000 copies on Amazon in only one year. That would be a wonderful feat for an adult, but the fact that a pre-teenager (and, to be fair about it, his family and teachers) made it happen both astonishes and thrills me.

According to the CBS article, A Tale of Friends, Enemies and Minecraft began its life as a school assignment. Jake's father imagined that, once the book was published, it would sell fewer than a dozen copies.

Mr. Mayer was wrong in his projection of book sales,  but that seems to be the only thing he was wrong about. He is raising a young man who is an inspiration to all kids, and to everyone who wants to write and publish a book.

Amazon, despite its quirks and shortcomings, has made it possible for Jake Mayer to become a successful novelist at age ten.

This book publicist appreciates the fact that book promotion opportunities have come Jake's way. He's earned them!

A Book Publicist's Take on Negative Book Reviews

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

Book publicists who snare book reviews for authors always want to give novelists and experts what they want: positive, affirmative book reviews. We want authors to feel good about their books, and all book publicists have worked with authors whose egos have been shattered by criticism of their writing. It's particularly hard for book publicists to read negative book reviews since, as book publicists, we take on only projects in which we strongly believe. That means a negative book review doesn't only reflect poorly on the author. It also is a statement about a book publicist's judgment, and a book publicist's reputation is only as good as the last book he or she promoted...so negative book reviews affect a book publicist's bottom line, too.

So I must say, with just a tad of schadenfreude, that this book publicist was a bit relieved to read an article in BuzzFeed Books called "30 Writers Other Writers Loved To Hate." This Buzzfeed article quotes William Faulkner's scathing criticism of Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway; memorializes Ernest Hemingway's disdain for William Faulkner (well, at least it was mutual!); and documents George Bernard Shaw's distaste for none other than -- are you ready for this? -- William Shakespeare!

Of course, Twain, Hemingway, Faulkner, Shakespeare, and the 26 other writers who were slammed by their peers (if not their contemporaries) in the BuzzFeed piece are long past caring about negative book reviews. And if they weren't, I would hope their support networks (inclusive of their book publicists) would tell them that critics -- whether they're fellow authors, Amazon shoppers, or professional literary reviewers -- always have an agenda.

So, next time you find a negative review of your book on Amazon (or, for that matter, in Publishers Weekly), remember that you're in pretty good company. If Hemingway, Faulkner, and Mark Twain persevered through criticism of their work, so can you. You're tougher than you think!