This piece by Mike Shatzin caught my attention this week.
As we know, the burden for book marketing has fallen increasingly on the back of the authors, with the publishing houses too overwhelmed, understaffed, and/or underfunded to give each book the attention it’s due. But as Shatzkin points out, there is a fundamental lack of communication and support between the authors and their publishing houses and even their agents, who could potentially fill the role of Hollywood managers but are held back by ethics and the book-by-book nature of their arrangements. Instead, some authors are turning to each other to help promote their books in the form of marketing collectives, such as the Tall Poppy Writers.
What does this mean for you? What does this mean for independent book publicists? The repercussions remain to be seen, but increased initiative and collaboration in book marketing can only benefit the industry as a whole.
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