- Barbara Taylor Bradford, Dangerous to Know
- Ken Blanchard and Don Shula, Everyone's a Coach
- Rodney Dangerfield, No Respect
- Radio Advertising in Major Markets
- Margaret Thatcher, The Path to Power
- National Advertising in New York Times Book Review and six other newspaper review sections
- Alternate Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club
Other Book Promotion Techniques
Today's book promotion people have stretched their skills and imagination to a degree of sophistication beyond the limits of even ten years ago. In January 1994, Simon & Schuster published Helen Thayer's Polar Dream, about a solo journey of a woman and her dog to the North Pole. Thayer was accompanied on her eight-city author's tour by her loyal husky, Charlie.
In promoting a cookbook, the publisher ran a cross-promotion with a major food company, which included supermarket tie-ins and inserts in suburban newspapers.
To promote a garden book a publisher conducted press receptions for garden writers and reviewers.
Publishers often tie in elaborate promotions to the industry's annual ABA convention. Here, publishers reach the book trade in a receptive setting.
When a book is developed into a movie, TV show, or miniseries, there are numerous opportunities for cross-promotion. Just the line at the bottom of the movie ad, "From the novel," is worth additional sales of the book. Bookstores will often cooperate in these efforts by displaying the book prominently.
Point-of-sale displays in bookstores have always been strong promotional tools. Of course, these are expensive and require bookstore cooperation. The stores must order a quantity of a single book and devote space for the display.
The Benefits of Book Promotion and Publicity
In an article in Publishers Weekly, Thomas Weyr sheds light on book promotion and publicity: "Although book publicity and promotion is still an inexact science," says Weyr, "there are accepted norms in its practice, and unanimity in its necessity."
Leigh Haber, publicity director of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, states it positively: "Publicity used to be the icing on the cake; now it is far more significant. It can make or break a book."
The multimedia aspect of book promotion is clearly a positive factor. Books are reviewed in thousands of newspapers and magazines. They are "talked about" in these media as well. Not a day goes by where an author is not plugging his or her book on the network morning talk shows.
Authors appear regularly on the syndicated shows Donahue, Geraldo, and Oprah. These shows can "make" a nonfiction book. One publicity director claims that an author's appearance on Oprah can sell as many as thirty thousand books.
CaJrle, too, is a player in the book publicity game. ESPN works well for sports books, and CNBC is a good showcase for business books.
Do all new books receive the publicity treatment? Weyr's PW article includes an informal survey. At Putnam, 60 percent get some form of promotion. Random House does something for each book on its list, as does Little, Brown. Macmillan estimates that 50 percent of its books get more than routine publicity, and 25 percent of its authors are toured. Crown, a division of Random House, publishes five hundred books a year and tours about 20 percent of its authors.
Getting Hired in Book Publicity
Publicity staffs at publishing houses are not large. At HarperCollins, the staff numbers seventeen, at Putnam twenty-three, Simon & Schuster fifteen, and Random House eleven, plus six show-bookers on the West Coast. Most other large houses have about ten people in their publicity departments.
What qualities do publishing companies look for in publicity candidates? A number of qualities surface in Weyr's article: style and flair, enthusiasm, organization, savvy, flexibility, sense of humor, creativity, love of books, and college paper experience. One should also have secretarial skills, and, once hired, be prepared to spend much busy time on the phone booking interviews.
