The Boston Bombing Impact

Boston Tragedy Rekindles Old Fears; Ties Up News Media

As of now, not even 24 hours after what happened at the Boston Marathon, no one fully knows what happened.  Is it a terrorist attack and if so, is it homegrown or overseas? Is it an isolated protest or are there more attacks to follow? When will we know who did it and why? Will they ever be caught?

So many questions, so few answers. Anyone who knows anything is not saying. One thing is clear, however: America lost lives at what should have been a celebratory event for thousands of runners. Once again, fear and anger grip Americans. Theories fly and suspicions are raised. Everyone is speculating.  To fill the void, the news media is covering this in real time, around the clock.

Questions of safety, politics, war, guns, etc. abound again, in greater frequency and detail. The media, for at least the near term, will obsess and rightfully so, on what happened this past Patriot’s Day.

So what does all of this mean to the book industry, aside from natural humanistic concerns over safety, security, and recovery?

If you are about to launch a book, don’t. Delay it at least a few weeks. This is not the time to expect a lot of media coverage for books on topics not related to this bombing.

If you have media tour appearances planned over the next few days or even weeks, be prepared to see disruptions or cancellations of those bookings.

Contacting the news media – especially national media, news/talk media, and New England media – will be challenging over the coming days.  Only contact them if you have relevant experts for the news at hand.

Soon details will come out, spurring new cycles of coverage and fresh topics of discussion. Eventually, it will play itself out, but who knows how long that will take.

I would suggest you monitor the media coverage and proceed with caution and care. If there are additional bombings or a suspect is caught, the story will no doubt get bigger and last longer.  Yesterday’s event reawakens us to 9/11, when 3,000 people died and buildings collapsed and airports were closed, the Pentagon was assaulted, and the whole idea of being attacked on American soil was so new to us. All of the confusion, fear, and anger lead to a month of around-the-clock media coverage concerning those horrible events. What happened yesterday was a tragedy and is certainly deserving of our sympathy, support, and attention. We cannot tolerate violence and loss of life of any size. But perhaps it will turn out to be a more isolated incident that, though gripping on many levels, will not consume all of the media all of the time beyond a certain near-term time period.

Only time will tell what yesterday’s events mean to both the nation at large and how the news media will move forward with its coverage.  I just wish everyone a safe harbor and the rest will work itself out.

My heart goes out to the families and survivors suffering a loss or an injury. May their healing begin soon, for the road to recovery no doubt will take some time.

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This blog is copyrighted material by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2013