TIP: Hire or borrow a media coach

In a recent interview on mediabistro.com, one of the top book publicists spoke about her effort to catch the attention of Oprah for her client's book on financial savvy.

In pitching the book, Heidi Krupp viewed the book as a vehicle for many other tasks.

One of the first steps is to polish your media presence. As in, how well do you speak, look and interact? In your budget for book promotion, consider throwing in $200 for a media coach. Outside major cities, you can find media coaches by calling your university's speech, theater, media departments. After the coaching, make sure to put together a demo tape. As Krupp noted, "To get on national broadcast television, you must have a very good tape. National shows won't consider having you on without a demo tape. It would be great to do something first in your local market."

Your appearances on local TV can serve as your demo tape, too.

Reading series are the new Oprah

(yes, Ms. Obie Joe is aware that's an ungrammatical title)

Look, there are two ways to attract audiences to your book. One is the new audience, often moved to buy your book because of hype built from some money-loaded project. Another way is to expand your circle of friends to include people who probably would love your book if you just set it in front of them.

Other authors are good bets. That's why a reading series is essential to your tour. Especially for first fiction. Ms. Obie Joe loves ferreting out a city's reading series; ferreting is the right word because many reading series have low-key presences, and often change their locations, names and focuses. Check around your town for a reading series. And make sure to solicit a reading spot at least 3 months before your book's publication (if you can).

But consider going to a reading series for some hella fun. Writers are a witty bunch, and their commentary -- sometimes loosened by a reading series' location in a bar, for example -- expands on the book immeasurably. Our favorites:

• Gist Street Readings in Pittsburgh
• 5ive:Ten Readings in Baltimore
• New & Emerging Writers Series in Boston

Wikipedia manners

If your book is a nonfiction title -- with the exception for memoirs -- one of the tenets of your online promotion is a Wikipedia page. Few other pages get higher SEO bounces than a Wikipedia page. Even if you don't generate your own page, or or wish to not replace a page similar enough to your topic, find other ways to participate in Wikipedia. Comment on a page; add a few lines to fill out a topic; or even send in a correction.

Just know one thing: Wikipedia is a world unto itself, and it is wise to know your Wiki manners. The administration of information on Wikipedia is taken very seriously by its unpaid volunteers. Ms. Obie Joe's toes still wince at some of her missteps, so take heed:

• When you sign up as a member, remember your true status is low. Even though you have access to the same options to generate, edit or dispute copy, in reality, the administrators rule.
• Know your administrators: these are the volunteers who are the creators of the base article. A good one will appreciate your e-mail, and might even engage in a lively discussion on the topic before determining which additions or corrections will go through.
• Be patient. Depending on a whole host of reasons - the administrator's whim, personality, etc. -- your suggested edits may take time to be included. Don't fuss.
• Do not, whether it's because you've lost your patience or manners, hit the Edit button in the upper right-hand corner. "This is considered very bad form, and the article administrators will usually (and arbitrarily) remove your edits the moment they find them," notes E. Keith JB Howick, Jr. of Wind River Publishing Company
• Instead, Howick says the proper form for submitting a correction is to click on the "discussion" tab, and then enter your requested change. "It will be reviewed by the admin and others, and if found worthy (yup, pretty subjective), it will be added or you will be given permission to "edit this page." Don't bother trying to find out who the admin is or how to contact them, it's intentionally and tremendously difficult. It's what the "discussion" page is for," he says.

(and yes, Mr. Obie Joe, that keychain is yet another addition to my wish list!)

No friends on Facebook

Because Obie Joe Media emphasizes online promotion of books and authors, we get this Q frequently:

"So, you think I should be on Facebook?"

While we think many social networks are innocuous at worst, and interesting at best, we haven't declared a preference for one form over another.

Except for Facebook. Here's why.

One of the beauties of independent bookstores is their familiarity with their customers, and to respect that familiarity by making recommendations for new books we're sure our customer might love. Not every recommendation is a hit, though, and when our customer declines, no hard feelings. We all move on.

Facebook has taken that type of familiarity and perverted it for profit that serves only someone else, and never you. Look, being the aged wonder that Ms. Obie Joe, she appreciates that her sense of privacy may not suit the modern version. Information is free in a sense that's never been seen before. When Facebook premiered its News Feed feature -- which broadcasts users' activity on their friends' home page -- there was a huge outcry over the perceived affront to privacy. Now? News Feed is one of the most popular features of Facebook.

When the bookstore employee "harvests" your preferences to recommend the next book, it's a limited use. Once you decline that recommendation, the bookstore ceases use of the information The bookstore does not share it with another bookstore, or a sneaker shop, or even your credit card company.

Facebook, on the other hand, mines every single aspect of you, save your actual DNA. "Most Facebook users have no idea their personal information is being commercially harvested and sent out to the thousands of third-party developers whose applications populate the site," notes Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy in an interview with GQ.

And even better? Your digital identity -- all of it -- will be further snagged by Facebook's newest collaboration with "connect." You log into your account on Facebook, and then, everywhere you go -- everywhere -- is captured by Facebook for their use and profit.

People trust Facebook because of that one little feature: the ability to say who is a friend, and who is not your friend. And Facebook’s defense for shirring away their users’ privacy is that these new systems afford greater connection between us (heh. depends who the “us” is). But what we should really pay attention to is the biggest friend-enemy of all: Facebook.

What a vision

Check out the auction now at PhotoNOLA.

TIP: Make sure your press release has a home

What's an arrow without a target?

Earlier this week Ms. Obie Joe viewed a new company promising all of the tools needed for a successful book promotion campaign. $100 for a press release (spell-checked and all!). $50 for bookmarks (also known as placecards). $200 for a web site. $125 for a book trailer.

All very well and nice, but without a strategy for these tools, what's the use? Meaning, you have a press release, but where is it going to land:
• Wide broadcast online via PRWeb, CSWire, etc.
• Mailing list to trade magazines, major media, TV/Print/Radio
• Online and mailing list to optimal vendors.

It's interesting to note that it's cheap to have a press release written, but twice the price for a customized list of targets for that press release. You could hire a firm to customize, but even after that, you should take your own chop at the list and customize it as you go along on your book campaign.

This is one of the reasons Ms. Obie Joe has lukewarm feelings for the enthusiasm for book trailers. (With the marked exception of any book trailer by Chip Kidd, of course). Book trailers just seem to flail at any old target, and unless your trailer features a sharp-shooter hamster, dressed like a Disney Princess, good luck on having your trailer seen on YouTube.

Freshening the sheets

Cobbler's children go without shoes, and publicist's web sites lie stale.

We've finally gotten around to updating the web site for the magical entity for book promotion & production that is Obie Joe Media.

Check us out.

Do the independents book more authors than chains?

Sure, all books and authors hold equal weight when we construct a campaign of venues, media and online. But truthfully? You know when you're really loved when your publicist emphasizes independent bookstores on your book tour.

Why the love for the independents? A few coins:
• They know how to bring the audiences. Not only through regularly scheduled salons which in turn encourages people to take a chance on an unknown author, but also through a relationship between bookseller and client which in turns tells the bookseller which books might be a bigger crowd drawer.
• They grant generous sale splits for smaller publishers, as well as flexibility in stocking.
• They talk with their customers with regular e-mails, newsletters, and even phone trees, all of which saves an author tremendous stress in publicity efforts.
• They welcome diversity; for authors with controversial topics, independent bookstores are one of the few remaining town halls to debate topics.

Best of all? When you call the person at the independent bookstore to request a booking -- they actually return your call or e-mail.

So. Don't forget. Shop local. Give your thanks during this holiday season for this cornucopia of generosity: your independent bookstores.

Some libraries like you more than others

Forgive Ms. Obie Joe's near-obsession with libraries as a market; it's just that, for many small publishers, libraries are rich Uncles for granting visibility and sales for your book.

Even though an author or publisher can connect the Acquisitions Editor for an library system, one can also move copies by contacting the sole Acquisition Editor or Head Librarian for a particular branch. Ms. Obie Joe thinks each branch has its own flair, and some might match your book more than others.

This morning, Ms. Obie Joe escaped the home office for the library's quiet. Of great distraction, though were the shelves of the new books. Dozens of photo narrative books. Like candy for Ms. Obie Joe's other obsession. Apparently the orderer at this branch loves photo narratives.

Sure thing Ms. Obie Joe will ferret the name of this fellow fanatic the next time Obie Joe Media represents a photo narrative book.

(photo by Rebecca Lepkoff, from Life on the Lower East Side, Princeton Architectural Press)

Book people offer the kindess of strangers

You know that old scraw that doctors and lawyers never escape a dinner party without a inquiry about a rash or ex-wife (or both)? Most often, however, these inquiries are met with hesitation.

Given that nearly every one of us thinks a book waits to be called from brain to paper, us book people can be popular people at parties, too. But here's a difference: with some exception, most any book person will offer free help when asked.

Today, as Mr. Obie Joe watches the game with the Miss Obie Joe, Ms. Obie Joe is working on a manuscript given to her by the friend of the neighbor on the hill. Some of the changes will be stylistic, others reside with defining the author's vision. Did the writer want to emphasize his growing up days, or with his time overseas as a mercenary soldier? We'll never be this author's agent, official editor or publisher, yet the impact of these early decisions will move the thing.

And that's why an acknowledgments section on a book can resemble a Christmas Card list with its sentiment and size. Not only does mean the author is a grateful sort, but is also an author smart enough to ask for help from all corners.

Which we're always happy to front free of charge.