ABSTRACT
Features and reviews of books in the media are one of the most influential ways of promoting purchase. Coverage is important to almost every kind of reader, from academics noting reviews in a journal they respect to general readers in a bookshop (on-or offline) turning to the back cover to see which newspapers or columnists have endorsed it. For some material it is not even important that the coverage is favourable; negative coverage can do tremendous things for sales. Coverage in the media is often dubbed ‘free advertising’. But even if you set
no value on your own time, done well it takes an immense amount of time and effort. This chapter is devoted to telling you how to go about it. Opportunities for media coverage go far wider than their traditional location
on the book review pages. As well as the traditional section-heads (home and foreign news, features), other specialist sections are growing too (cookery, travel, family, gardening, home) – and these are echoed in opportunities in broadcast media too. The internet has also vastly increased the possibilities for both specific and mass
market coverage, in as many specific fields as there is publishing output – and each community is likely to have its own specific forum(s), whether on-or offline, official or independent. In all these locations, presented as editorial content (rather than as an adver-
tisement), you have the chance to inform and re-orientate popular debate, or simply to spread information by word-of-mouth. Similarly, getting authors on to ‘talk shows’ or news programmes as an expert can make a tremendous difference to their public image and interest in their material. When coverage is harnessed
(as it always should be) to information on the associated product or service available for purchase, you should achieve the real aim: larger sales.
