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Traditional Media Still Powers Book Marketing

 


In the pre-internet days of book marketing, traditional media such as TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines were where opportunities were available to publicists. With as much as the digital revolution has changed, it's still surprising to find out how effective book publicity campaigns still utilize traditional media. The chief reason is it's nearly infinite after-life on the internet. Anything that appears on TV or in a newspaper also runs online. The traditional media coverage confers a stature that internet-only content sometimes struggles to beat. Therefore, classic publicity hits still matter a lot.

Smart (and highly effective) publicists plan marketing campaigns that are multi-faceted and contain just the right amount of each. There are influential bloggers and websites today, and coverage in their pages helps books succeed. But television shows and newspaper websites are right there in the mix and often have better-known personalities. A guest spot or interview on the right TV shows can get a book PR campaign off to a faster start. Then as the weeks go past and the links to the interview are shred repeatedly online, the reach of the coverage grows exponentially -- you can find many examples of it.

A commonly asked question from first-time authors concerns social media. People are curious about how much it can help with book promotion. A lot depends on the size of an author's following and the writer's reputation; are they well-known already? If yes, then there is n doubt that social media posts about a book will help sell copies. But for the first time or with lesser-known authors, it's probably wise not to depend too heavily on tweets and posts to power book sales. Getting out in the media and raising your profile is essential and appearing on a well-regarded show confers instant stature and status.

It's also crucial to keep in mind that publicity campaigns are incremental, and often the best-selling books make their numbers over time, selling each week steadily. While there are blockbuster book releases with publicity hype and tens of thousands of copies sold in the first week, those are the exceptions more than the rule. Publicity and PR campaigns are similar and often begin with local coverage building to regional hits and finally national exposure. A large-market TV producer looks at earlier small market coverage for ideas. It's crucial to get yourself covered to start things off.

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