Science Fiction is Everywhere

A Guest Blog by Author John Taloni

As a long-time fan of Science Fiction, it’s been interesting to see the genre grow and grow, to the point where it is now just about everywhere.

In the days before Star Wars came out (yes, and dinosaurs still roamed the Earth) only a few people could make a living writing science fiction. SF fans routinely referred to the “Big Three” of Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein, or included the more Fantasy oriented Bradbury in a “Big Four.” Their works included technology as a major component of the story. Asimov postulated intelligent robots following three laws. Clarke was famous for the monoliths of “2001.” Heinlein developed an entire “future history” that included warnings of the dangers of nuclear meltdowns. Bradbury’s famous “Martian Chronicles” considered the effect of a new environment on the human race.

By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist
S. J. Miller Communications
[email protected]

A Book Publicist’s Lament

So many authors are in a rush to publish their books. The production process has become so quick and easy that a book can go from the word processor to Amazon in a matter of weeks. That means the first time an author thinks about calling in a book publicist might be days before the book is available for sale online.

By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist
S. J. Miller Communications
[email protected]

Four Ways to Deal With Confrontational Interviewers

A few authors seek publicity in any way they can grab it. Recently, a highly successful comedian stormed off the set during a nationally-televised interview during her book promotion campaign.

The story went viral, and it deserved to, because it was so unusual. Most authors appreciate interview opportunities, and they don’t try to create drama during those interviews. In fact, when they come across hosts whose style is confrontational, most authors see that as their worst nightmare. They hope to make it through their entire book publicity campaign without ever encountering conflict during an interview. Yet, because there’s a built-in audience for highly dramatic interviews, it’s likely that, sooner or later, every author will run into an interviewer whose style is confrontational.

You might be a veteran media guest. You might have successfully done hundreds of radio, TV, print, and online media interviews as part of your book promotion campaigns. You might have wonderful media relationships, and you might have earned those friendships the honest way: through years of offering the media what it needs, of making yourself available when you’re called upon to do so, and of coming through for the media with professionalism and charisma every time you’ve had the chance.

In other words, you can have a long and impressive history of doing everything right. And still, book promotion disappointments can happen. They can happen to anyone, at any time.

You’ve tried — for months, or for years — to convince a literary agent to persuade a traditional publisher to lend its imprint, and its credibility, to your book because you’re under the impression that book promotion opportunities exist for traditionally published books that aren’t available for self-published titles.

Wrong.

There are some things you shouldn’t do for book promotion. Here’s a question that just came to me, via email, from a “prospective book publicity client”:

Hello Dear,
I am an author who is currently working on a book and I wonder if you offer a service where you buy 500 -100 copies of a book to increase the sales rank of an author?

Kind Regards
XXXXXX [I have masked the name of the author to protect his/her identity)

Are we entitled to book promotion? Or book sales? Or shelf space in a particular bookselling venue? Joan Rivers seems to think Costco has banned her autobiography, I Hate Everyone … Starting with Me, and I guess that’s possible. However, the book publicist in me tends to think that Joan Rivers is on the wrong track here. Many books are pitched to Costco. Given Costco’s limited shelf space (so to speak), few books are chosen. Saying that Costco banned Joan Rivers’ autobiography is like suggesting that “Entertainment Tonight” banned Joan Rivers’ memoir by choosing not to schedule her as a guest or that Publishers Weekly or Library Journal banned Rivers’ autobiography by deciding not to review it (assuming “ET” didn’t book Joan Rivers, and assuming PW and Library Journal didn’t review Rivers’ memoir, which I don’t know to be the case).

It’s so simple to self-publish a book that, according to a thoughtful Forbes article, it’s tempting for many authors to move forward to quickly. According to Forbes, authors are using social networking to promote books that aren’t ready for book promotion campaigns. Worse, authors are social networking to connect with book designers, literary agents, publishers, and others in the book publishing industry to move forward their book publishing project when, unfortunately, their books aren’t ready for publication. The only thing more embarrassing than publishing a book that’s not ready to be published is having your intended readership learn, through your book promotion campaign, that you’ve had the bad judgment to publish your not-ready-for-prime-time book. Running your manuscript through spell check isn’t enough. You have to have your book professionally edited and, in some cases, you might even be well advised to get some help in turning your manuscript from a mediocre manuscript into a polished, professional manuscript that will help you establish credibility and build your brand.

Can you doodle your way to a successful book promotion campaign? A free doodle app and web site called doodle.ly lets you launch a free (do you enjoy the concept of “free” book promotion as much as this book publicist does?) contest for readers and fans of your book. You can read more about how this doodling for book promotion idea works at GalleyCat. In short, though, you ask readers to doodle sketches related to your novel or nonfiction book for a chance to win prizes. The success of a doodle.ly book promotion campaign relies heavily on social networking to get readers excited about participating in the contest — thus, creating buzz for your book.