Authors: Do you know how to use the tools and communications media this publicist uses every day?
When we’re in the midst of flux and running to keep up with all the changes, it’s easy to forget how many accepted protocols have been transformed in a short time period. Check out this blog from a book promotion specialist in Massachusetts named Stacey J. Miller titled What is Full Service Book Promotion? Thanks for the Twitter tip from Tim Underwood of Graf-Martin Communications Inc.
Here’s an excerpt:
Then came web sites for books and web sites for authors and web sites for publishers. Then came podcasts and book trailers, and along with that, along came iTunes and YouTube and other video-sharing sites. On the heels of that came online press release banks and online article banks. That was a paradigm shift for full service book promotion firms. Suddenly, book publicists didn’t have to hope the media would pick their story ideas from the slush pile.Sure, book publicists could, and should, still proactively pitch their story ideas to the media. But, while book publicists were waiting for the producers of the Oprah Show to return their call, they could be maximizing their clients’ search engine placement. That way, if Oprah’s producers were seeking an expert with an author’s expertise, an author’s web site would come up in a Google search — and the book publicist would get the call (or the email) from Oprah’s producers.
Then came blogs, and then came RSS feeds, and then came mySpace, and then came Facebook, and then came LinkedIn, and then came Twitter, and then came web conferencing and virtual book tours through Skype and other tools…and tomorrow, who knows? Every new medium, and every new channel of communication, is something that book publicists will want to incorporate into their full service book promotion offerings.
All of which helps to explain why no one can have an answer for “What is a full service book promotion campaign” that’s valid for longer than a week or so. The definition of full service book publicity campaign is in flux, and that’s why book promotion is so much more effective than it was just a year or so ago…and so much more fun for book publicists and, I hope, for authors and publishers.”
