Our friend, J., published a nonfiction crime book. Because the book started to get decent local publicity, the publisher tells J. to go knocking on the bigtime publicity firms in NYC, and see what kind of national press her book could garner.
One firm she visits makes their firm's plans plain:
"For $5,000 we'll get you on The Today Show."
What about other media venues? Nope.
What if the Today booking does not happen? We still keep payment.
And there you have it: lottery ticket publicity. Where everything rides on one outlet. Authors are often derided for thinking only Oprah will make their book big, but Mr. Obie Joe is convinced there are many publicity firms who think the same.
Wouldn't it be better to count on The Today Show after seeding the ground with many other publicity methods: hometown newspaper, alumni magazine, radio and so on?
Think about how far $5,000 goes in that strategy? Best of all, betcha The Today Show will come calling -- for free.
2 comments:
I'm scratching my head over this one.
1) Why is the publisher telling J to find a big-time publicist AFTER the book is already out? The time to get a publicist, whether "big" or "small", is 4-6 months before pub date.
2) Why didn't/doesn't the publisher's publicity department (assuming there is one) pitch the book to "The Today Show" themselves?
1) My understanding was that the publisher was surprised the book sold well in the its first few weeks. Their strategy, 4-6 months before publication, had been limited to a press release.
2) The publisher, in its limited experience, did not know what they wanted, and so set the authors themselves to the task.The authors were kind of bumbling around. I think they would have done a fine job pitching The Today themselves, except there is, well, value in the "who you know" we publicists give to the process.
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