Book Promotion: What's New?
What's new in book promotion? According to a June 10, 2008 Boston Herald article by Lauren Beckham Falcone, everything about book promotion -- for novelists, anyway -- is new. Publishers expect their novelists to spend as much time building their brand as they do writing their novels.
That's fine, but what are publishers expecting their novelists to do by way of book promotion? Appear on the Oprah Show? ? Do an inteview with the New Yorker? Get a guest gig on "Fresh Air"?
Nope, that's too simple. According to Falcone, publishers today expect their novelists to appear in retail stores, on MySpace, and even -- at least in the case of Emily Giffin, the author of a St. Martin's bestseller called Love the One You’re With -- to appear on a televised soap opera!
If you're still thinking that traditional book reviews will appease your publisher and fulfill your book promotion duties, think again. A new age of book promotion is dawning, and book publicists are rolling up their sleeves and getting to work on creative ways to help you build your brand. Get ready to meet your readers -- under conditions you never would have dreamt of just a few years ago!
Comments
Yep. Gone are the days of the reclusive author, churning out masterpieces from his secluded island home. Today, Jack Kerouac would spend his days adding friends to his Facebook list, consenting to web chats, and trying to navigate Google Adwords while drunk. And it wouldn't be enough.
Or you can skip all that labor and go right to instant name recognition with a Hollywood (or D.C.) style scandal. Nevermind tightening your plot and working on a third revision. Date a celebrity and do it messily. I call Alyssa Milano!
Posted by: Mark LaFlamme | June 10, 2008 12:51 PM
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Posted by: Carol Baldwin | June 11, 2008 9:56 AM