Interesting Facts Behind A Book Publicity

Being able to finish writing the book of your dreams is such an overwhelming feeling. With the book’s numerous drafts and revisions, it has finally reached its final page. It seems exhilarating yet it’s not the end of the journey. After writing a book, it is intended to be read by the world. And for it to be read, it has to attract the attention of the public. And to gain attention, it means publicity.

Rick Frishman, the founder of Planned Television Arts, has said, “The scary fact is that about 500,000 books are published each year, not counting all the ebooks and self-published books. Only about 20,000 of those new titles even make it into a major bookstore. For a book to sell with all that competition, it's so important for an author to be able to get publicity.”

Generating media coverage helps a lot in publicity. This includes radio and TV interviews, feature stories for newspapers and magazines, book reviews and interviews online. It builds presence through social networking, press releases, and other PR efforts to attract readers’ attention. Media release is the most effective way of providing information to media outlets about programs or events because it gains the interest of the media outlet and provides how to present the book the way I should be.

In a TV interview, Reza Aslan, the author of “Zealot,” a provocative new biography of Jesus, has found an inadvertent ally in generating book publicity: Fox News. Aslan was asked in the interview about him writing a book with Jesus as the subject when he is a Muslim. Since then, the Buzzfeed page featuring the video has been viewed nearly four million times. Mr. Aslan quickly amassed an additional 5,000 Twitter followers. On Monday, Random House, Mr. Aslan’s publisher, said the interview had clearly helped the book: in two days, sales increased 35 percent.

And media has changed with the internet. People can get access on anything or anyone. So, it is helpful to have sites where authors can be searched conveniently. Fortunately, the top five internet-related tools are free: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and blogs sites.

Chuck Sambuchino, editor of Guide to Literary agents, shared five tips about how the world works concerning coverage and exposure for books: 1. publicity is insanely hit and miss ; 2. your local connections matter; 3. radio interviews are easier to secure than TV appearances; 4. bookstores cannot return signed stock; and 5. book signings and readings are insanely miss and hit, too.

Book publicity entails methods and strategies added with persistence. It goes to show that a book, before it finally lands the shelves goes through a lot. Authors don’t immediately taste the fruits of their labor. Hard work is done but, of course, to those who persist, labor is not vain. Authors may experience rejections but as the quote goes, ”good things come to those who wait” and I’d like to add “and persevere”.