Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Which Media Outlets Really Sell Books?




One of the most common questions authors ask publicists is:  “What types of media – or which specific media outlets – really sell books?”

The answer is simple:  “All of them.”

We live in a world where the media is carved into many parcels.  Look at the media landscape – it contains four major types of media:

·         Print
·         Television
·         Radio
·         Online

Each media type can be local, regional, national, or international.  Within each type you have many forms of coverage.  For instance, with print media you can hit daily or weekly newspapers, magazines, newswire, trade journals, newsletters, and airline magazines.  You can have book reviews, interviews, feature stories, news stories, by-line articles, book excerpts, or calendar event listings, gift guides, or mentors in a roundup of books.

Online media is diversified and could include social media,such as blogging, tweeting, facebooking, and youtubing.  It can be the dotcoms of traditional media, such as CNN.com or forbes.com.  It can be online-only websites, like HuffPost. It can also be bloggers or podcasters. The coverage can range from online book reviews and interviews to feature stories and guest-posts.

Authors need to diversify their media portfolio, but which media really moves the dial?

1.      Big Media That Influences Other Media
       Leading authoritative media outlets such as Vogue, USA Today, New York Times, Today Show, NPR, Wall Street Journal, AP, etc. really set the agenda.

2.      Popular Online Sites
Things can go viral once they are posted online.  There are certain sites, bloggers, or podcasters that stick out -- based on clicks and traffic – but also based on being specialty-based.  The best sites to push a sci-fi novel are not necessarily the same as those to hawk a health book.

3.      Book Reviews
A good book review in Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, NYT, WSJ, USA Today, and a handful of leading book review sections at major publications can really get bookstores or libraries to buy in.

Book sales depend on key factors, from the quality of your book to competition, price, distribution, packaging, publicity, marketing, advertising, and trends in society at large.  Go after media that’s big, popular, and viewed as important – but also go after smaller, achievable media.  It all adds up and helps move book sales.

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Brian Feinblum’s insightful views, provocative opinions, and interesting ideas expressed in this terrific blog are his alone and not that of his employer or anyone else. You can – and should -- follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels much more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2018. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s Independent.  This was named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. Also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource."

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