Book Marketing Loses When Journalism Fails

 

The news media, particularly newspapers, is shrinking in size, influence, and capability. This is not only devastating for our democracy and safety, but it is detrimental to the process of authors seeking to promote their books. We need a stronger, more robust media in order for books to flourish.

We readily acknowledge that a free society needs to remain informed, inspired, and protected from the lies, corruption, and secrets of our nation’s wealthy elites, corporate powers, government officials, and military forces. That means we need a vibrant, expansive, and honest news media to keep things legitimate.  

The news media act as our eyes and ears, skilled in fair, accurate, and comprehensive reporting, and as unbiased aviators in the pursuit of discovering the truth and in the sharing of well-informed opinions.

As for the book world, the media, in its many forms, offers interviews, feature stories, book reviews, news stories, opinion columns, byline articles, and events coverage for authors. The newspaper is consumed by other media outlets, who then gain awareness of authors to interview or cover on their media outlets. Then, social media outlets and users may cover what appears in the newspaper.

A recently published book is worth exploring: What Works In Community News: Media Start-Ups, News Deserts, and the Future of the Fourth Estate. It details the state of the newspaper landscape and warns us of what happens when communities lack a newspaper.

According to The State of Local News 2023, a document produced by Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern, there have been over 2,900 newspaper dailies and weeklies shuttered since 2005. 130 of those came in the past year. 204 counties don’t have a newspaper.  1562 counties have just one. The NYC metro area has lost 210 papers since 2005. CA is one of the states with the fewest newspapers per capita. 

These numbers are not pretty. 

As we lose local media outlets, these communities become more dependent on fewer original local news sources, giving way to newswires, non-newspaper media outlets, or non-journalistic hyper-local websites that are filled more with opinions or unsubstantiated reporting of basic incidents, like a murder or car crash. But who is doing local investigative journalism?  

When the media shrinks, citizens get dumber, and powerful institutions like big corporations, government agencies, wealthy individuals, and lobbyists go unchecked. And for the book world, it simply means one less authoritative voice is out there to support books. Sigh.  

Need PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with 3.6 million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.8 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.