Social Media Versus Traditional Book Marketing

by Dan Smith

Social media, it seems, is everywhere and part of everything. You can’t get away from it even if you try. It’s no different when it comes to book marketing; social media is all the buzz in the publicity trade. Experts will tell authors they must engage in a robust social media program to promote a book, and still others will say that social media is the only way to promote a book effectively.

But let’s slow down and take a brief look at the reality of book publicity and social media.

Social networking is a terrific way to get grassroots buzz about a book, and to establish an online presence that builds a fan base. A coordinated, planned cultivation of your presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and special interest social media platforms can indeed spread the word and spark book sales. As we’ve all heard, authors can even “go viral” and reach that magical tipping point at which it seems everyone knows about their book.

So does this mean “old school,” traditional book marketing is a dying art?

To begin the answer to this question, I’ll tell you that: You can’t Tweet credibility, and 5,000 friends on FaceBook might actually be worth nothing when it comes to your book. Like life, it depends on who these friends are and how much they really care about you.

Anyone can build a FaceBook page and develop a presence on any social media site. There are no gatekeepers. It’s the wild west where anything goes.

Traditional book publicity via media outreach, on the other hand, is very different. Publicity is all about getting others (media) to think enough of you and/or your book to write about it or put you on the air for an interview. When this happens, an author acquires credibility – the single most important element book promotion. Social media is about making as many people as possible know about your book. Publicity, on the other hand, is about getting people of influence – editors and producers – to take interest in you and your book.

FaceBook “friends” are often superficial. We want to show that many people actually like us, and ostensibly really care about what we do, sometimes to the point of reporting the most mundane of activities. Social networking, ultimately, is a supremely narcissistic endeavor (not that there’s anything wrong with that!). Publicity is about getting the right people to actually take a true interest in you and your book, and then from their position of influence, tell others about it.

You can see, there’s quite a difference between the two.

But don’t think for a second that I believe social media isn’t a great tool as it relates to book marketing. It is. It can be powerful. It can be very, very effective.

Most importantly, in my view, social networking is the perfect compliment to a promotional campaign. I recommend every author establish a social media platform. Traditional publicity and social media can work amazingly well together. Publicity can get you credibility, and provide you with the perfect material to populate your social media sites.

I personally don’t care to read that someone just saw a good movie, or to see mind-numbing motivational phrases posted on FaceBook. I do, however, love to see a link to a TV interview or newspaper article about a person/author in a Tweet or on FaceBook. It makes that person interesting. It makes me possibly want to buy their book.

Social media is certainly here to stay and traditional book publicity isn’t going anywhere – it will always be effective.

Instead of choosing one over the other, bring social media and traditional book publicity together, and you have a perfect promotional marriage.

Now I need to go and post a link to this article on FaceBook and send a Tweet out about it …

Baseball and the Art of Book Publicity

Baseball and the Art of Book Publicity

by Dan Smith

If you’ve spoken to many publicists, you may have heard some analogies between baseball and book promotion. I probably use them everyday when speaking with clients or prospective clients, because they make key points succinctly and in an understandable manner.

Here is the analogy distilled to its simplest form: Publicity is like baseball because both involve small hits, medium hits, big hits, and huge hits. (Think singles, doubles, triples and home runs). If you try to “swing for the fences” every time, you’ll strike out the vast majority of the time. The smaller “hits” – singles (i.e. local radio interviews), doubles (regional print publications, local TV), and triples (syndicated radio interviews, regional TV, large newspapers, etc.) often provide as successful promotion as one of the home runs (national TV, national magazines) can.

When the Oprah show was around, I grew to dislike her (well, not really, but you’ll see what I mean). She in many ways retarded the growth of authors and publishers in terms of fully understanding publicity. She was the obsession of many, many authors. I had people offer me $20,000 to place them on Oprah. I had a client who wanted to mail himself in a box via UPS to one of her producers (I’m not kidding). Another author wanted to pay me to camp outside her home in Santa Barbara and catch her while she was leaving for work. I have fielded probably 300 calls over the years from authors who clearly made the point that all they were interested in, period, was getting on Oprah.

Oprah was the grand slam of publicity, or so many authors thought. The odds of an author hitting the Oprah grand slam were miniscule; not even statistically significant. When someone asked me if I could get them on Oprah, I usually said flat out, “No, it’s doubtful, the competition is unbelievable, but, we of course will try, because that’s the only way you have a chance.”

The odds of hitting other grand slams–national daytime TV talk shows, and the Good Morning America types are absolutely better, they should be targeted but all other media–of any size–should be vigorously pursued and valued.

So, the “Big O” changed the playing field. What I’d like authors to know is that if a successful book campaign is analyzed, book sales and valuable exposure typically result from persistent, steady coverage in all types of media. A grand slam can change the trajectory of a campaign and cause huge jumps in book sales, but only focusing on the “biggies” is a recipe–the vast majority of the time–for publicity failure.

Pete Rose set the record for most hits and is legendary as a champion, and he hit only 160 home runs over 24 seasons. My firm has had clients who’ve enjoyed very successful, long campaigns with no true home runs. You see the point, I’m sure.

So, I suggest authors relish the small hits–do as many radio interviews as you can, regardless of where they are. Do an interview with your tiny hometown newspaper. Get a mention of your book in a tiny special interest trade magazine with a circulation of 500. Get a mention in your college alumni publication. Take it all; do it all; relish it all; and stick with it.

Do indeed try for the homeruns–you have to–but don’t swing so hard you end up striking out and never get on base.

The Death of the Book Review?

The Death of the Book Review?

Industry experts offer varying opinions on the issue of book reviews, but as anyone in the publicity business knows, securing ‘traditional’ book reviews is more difficult that in years past. Large galley mailings are becoming less common. Instead, as my agency has done, the more efficient and economical practice is targeted advance copy mailings, to very carefully chosen outlets.

So what do I mean by ‘traditional’ book reviews? The printed review; in newspapers or magazines, is not nearly what it once was. The newspaper industry continues to be hurt by reduced circulation and ever-increasing challenges from online media. Additionally, with thousands of new books coming out every month, the competition for print space is limited, and the ‘big houses’ dominate in terms of book reviews. Many print outlets simply await catalogue mailings from major publishers, choose books they deem worthy of review, while many small/independent presses and most self-published authors are left out in the cold. It’s really that simple.

But, all hope is not lost. Aside from very targeted mailings–what we call ‘high priority’ outlets with high probability of interest in a specific book–online reviewers are flourishing. Don’t discount the value of online reviewers. Every time your book is mentioned on the Internet, it is picked up by search engine spiders, and the more and more your book appears online, the more word spreads about the book.

Online reviews aren’t as limited by space or type of publishing. Many reviewers welcome self-published books; some only review self-published books.

Here’s something that might surprise you: I don’t think ‘traditional’ book reviews sell books. I’d much rather see our clients get a feature story, print interview, author profile, etc. in the same newspaper or magazine, rather than a write up in the book review section. These pieces can move books much more than a traditional review, as the feature story will typically draw in your target audience, who may easily miss a book review. Plus, a feature story, for example, is seldom negative, whereas a book review can certainly be.

Years ago we would routinely send hundreds of galleys out at the start of a campaign. We don’t do this anymore. Our advance review copy lists usually number around 20 to 50, and, we’re really pitching for stories over reviews. We do this by also reaching out to long lead magazine editors (not just book review editors) who are good targets for the topics in your book. Of course, we are still sending galleys to select book review editors with the goal of securing some reviews.

The Internet is fast becoming the best friend of authors. Traditional publicity, the old-school type of pitching for interviews, stories, etc., is still crucial to a campaign, but more and more the viral nature of the Internet should not be ignored. From online reviews to blogs to online book listings and podcast interviews, the Internet has changed the face of book promotion.

My suggestion: Do not rely upon the Internet only for your campaign; I still believe a comprehensive campaign attacking newspapers, magazines, radio and TV is crucial. But, get on the Internet, as many places as you can. Get your name and book on as many sites as possible.

Is the book review dead? Nope. It simply has changed with the times.