Kaylene Johnson's biography of Palin, Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment on Its Ear (the lucky publisher is Epicenter Press, and the pub date was April 2008) broke into Amazon's Top 25 list within hours of the big announcement.

I heard a news report this morning that said the publisher is going back to press for 50,000 more copies immediately. That is probably a good idea.

One individual from the U.K. who posted a used copy of the book on Amazon is asking $105.55 for it.

Epicenter Press is an independent publisher, and they couldn't have planned on this book promotion opportunity. Good for them! I wonder what percentage of the proceeds they plan to pass along to John McCain.

Posted by Stacey J Miller at 8:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When I heard about Dave Freeman's untimely death, I hadn't heard of Freeman -- and I barely had heard of his book, 100 Things To Do Before You Die. My second thought, after I slogged through the horror I felt at the way the 47-year-old author died -- he fell at home and hit his head and just, somehow, didn't make it -- was that this incident was going to sell a lot of books. What better book promotion opportunity could there be than the author's death? Book promotion opportunities, finally, are news items, and this was a big one. It was ironic, heart-wrenching, and unacceptable -- and, of course, every media outlet in the world gobbled it up. Here's an example of just one article about the Freeman's death that opens with the title of his book.

What I didn't realize, until later, was that Freeman's death wasn't only a horror show combined with a book promotion opportunity. It was also a chance to promote a movie -- in this case, "The Bucket List," that was apparently inspired by Freeman's work. This Reuter's article, published by MSNBC.com, talks about how Freeman's death has inspired people to create their own "bucket lists" -- just like in the movie. Had I heard of the movie before Freeman's death? Vaguely -- but only in the sense that I hear about other movies with strong lead actors that I probably wouldn't schlep to a theater to see but would probably, eventually, put into my Netflix queue.

Book promotion and movie promotion -- Freeman's freak accident (at least, I hope it was a freak accident -- I think it was a freak accident, because people in their forties typically don't die in their homes because they slip and fall, do they?) was a two-fer. Book sales and movie ticket sales (or DVD sales, if the movie has moved on from theaters, at this point) are positioned to soar.

Book promotion and movie promotion opportunities aren't worth dying for, but this one is worth learning from. What makes a promotion opportunity? A news event. An attention-getting action. An unexpected happening.

Create one, if you can. But don't do it by dying.

Posted by Stacey J Miller at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The following is not only a book promotion tool (although you can use it to snag some book reviews), but it's also a valuable information source for publishers and authors: Publishing Poynters Marketplace by Dan Poynter. It's a free newsletter, and you can see the September issue online here.

For publishers and authors who are interested in finding readers to review their books on either Amazon or Barnes and Noble's site, Poynter provides a free classifieds section where industry professionals can list their titles. Free book promotion? Sounds like a deal to this book publicist!

Thank you to Dan Poynter!

Posted by Stacey J Miller at 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday was an exciting day for this book publicist. I received three emails from an editor at a major magazine acknowledging the upcoming publication of three articles -- written by three of my authors -- each of which will carry my authors' bylines and refer readers back to their book Web sites. Good for the editor who received content for her magazine. Good for my clients, each of whom received visibility in a national magazine. And good for this book publicist -- that's three more book promotion opportunities to show off about, and all in one day!

Posted by Stacey J Miller at 6:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)