(in response to a New York Magazine question about the marketing efforts for his books -- including Spook Country, Pattern Recognition -- author William Gibson had an interesting observation about why we market some books with such fervor):
"Well, it's what we do now. When I was a child, the United States made its own wristwatches and cars. As we've quit manufacturing stuff, we've begun trafficking in branding, which would've been incomparable in 1910--not the thing you made but what you call it. And as generation of consumers has become more aware of marketing, so marketing has had to become quite byzantine. "
It's difficult to resist the allure of branding when promoting an author-- particularly a new author -- because that's often the best shot at boosting a book in a crowded marketplace. Positioning an author with a shorthand profile -- she's an ex-cop beauty queen or he's a father of 10 and now vampire enthusiast -- is what we book promoters do to break out of the pack.
Trouble is, such tasks make the marketing less about the quality of the book, or the resonance with certain audiences. Even J.K. Rowling became a part of this maw at the beginning of the Harry Potter promotion. So much was said about her as the single mum, scribbling the book while tapping into the heat at the corner coffee shop.
Gibson is right -- sometimes the marketing does become "quite byzantine," and becomes more about the techniques, and less about the thing actually being shouted about.
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