I had
lunch with a publicist at a growing medium-sized, New York City based publisher
and discussed the trends and challenges to generating publicity for today’s
books and authors. I was not surprised
when this beautiful young woman told me that she and her fellow Millennials
rely almost solely on email and digital contacts with the news media. I tried to exhort the value and utility of
supplementing such efforts with good old phone calls. I don't know if she fully appreciates the advice.
My
colleague at work, a Boomer Baby, reported to me that he got a Fox-TV booking,
a meeting with a CBS This Morning Weekend Show producer, and a potential New
Yorker article all with phone calls. He
said after mailing books and sending follow-up emails the only real tool he had
to reach and persuade the media was the phone. It worked. He even took it a
step further and converted a call into an in-person meeting.
Now,
this doesn’t’ mean email will fail us or that calls will always produce big
bookings, but it’s obvious that we must vary our pitches, our timing, and our
means of contact if we are to reach, influence, and impact the media.
The same
goes with networking. Sure, it’s
convenient to meet people online at sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, but to
really further those relationships, phone calls and meet-ups really help.
The
other day I met a 30-year-old travel expert who is regularly interviewed by the
media and I concluded the 15-minute conversation by exchanging business
cards. She didn’t have one. I asked why not. She said she just gives out her Instagram
page. I told her it’s not always
practical. Now I have to remember her
page or write it down immediately? What
if I’m not on that social media platform?
It’s just dumb not to use business cards. Paper, phones, and postal mail should not be
demonized or ignored. They have their
purpose and can be an asset to you.
Another
thing I’m noticing is that communication have gotten shorter and thus less
detailed – which causes more people to ask more questions and for
clarification. Or worse, people throw too much at you in an email or attachment
and overwhelm you with useless materials.
Can’t we find the right balance of sharing useful, detailed, and
relevant information?
I’m
finding we’re beginning to segregate based on social media platforms. There’s a whole other world on Pinterest than
on LinkedIn, and Twitter is not YouTube.
Some of us use multiple platforms – or none at all. The same goes with traditional media. Some watch TV, but some stream and download things
that few see. Everyone’s reading,
listening, and watching two different things – or the same things but at
different times. The variety and choice are wonderful, but as a society, we’re
losing a core foundation of information and entertainment that a vast majority
can reference or understand.
There is
also a chasm in the book world. You have e-book only vs. print and e-book or
Print On Demand vs. printed books.
There’s the Amazon Kindle, the Nook, other competing devices, each
with exclusive titles. There’s
self-published vs. traditionally published, fiction vs. non-fiction, and
unknown author vs. bestselling author.
This is all normal and fine but I wonder how society will continue to
grow as it breaks down into different content silos and information segregation.
All
types of media are looking to get into the business of others and everyone
wants to commoditize content. Mergers
happen daily as brands look to align with what they don’t have or with those
that threaten them. What will the mass media
landscape look like in 2025 and how does one position themselves for the coming
changes?
We can’t
turn the clocks back nor can we speed up the future. We need to strike a balance between old and
new, paper and digital, tech and in-person.
Society will be in flux for a while and until an exact standard or
formula is established, diversity your portfolio of communication styles. Call!
Email! Snail mail! Meet in person!
Please Read These Posts
Book promoters can still learn
from Donald Trump
Is it that time for your book
marketing makeover?
Book Shepherd Reveals How You Can
Get Published Successfully
When Is Book Publishing’s
Fight of the Century?
How will book marketers turn a
yes into something more?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.