Marketing, publicity,
and promotion

• Secrets of successful book covers and Titles
• Book marketing and promotion
(including book promotion on the radio)
• Thoughtful radio and TV talk shows and video
• More resources for and articles about marketing,publicity, and promotion
• Recommended reading on book marketing,
publicity, and promotion
• VidLits (a/​k/​a book trailers)
• Social networking for readers
• Marketing wisdom for introverts
• Does RTIR work? Is it worth the money?

<<<== Here are some well-designed authors' websites (left column).

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Book covers and titles

Secrets of successful book covers and titles

• Cover story: a year of beautiful books (Kathryn Hughes, Guardian UK, 12-2-11). Publishers have responded to ebook surge by bringing out exquisite new releases and revamps of pritn classics. (Here's a Flickr group celebrating beautiful books.)
• All-Time Great Titles (e.g., Goodbye to All That -- Abbeville Press's blog)
• The Creative Road to a Great Book Title (Arielle Ford, HuffPost)
• Computer Model Names Agatha Christie’s Sleeping Murder as “The Perfect Title” for a Best-Seller (Lulu) and you can put your title to the test with the Lulu Titlescorer
• Two Book Covers Go from So-So to Wonderful (John Kremer, who does book cover critiques for $150
• Two Very Ugly Book Covers (John Kremer)
• Where the cover of your favorite novel comes from Charlotte Strick (The Atlantic, 3-15-11). The Farrar, Straus and Giroux art director behind the jackets of Freedom and 2666 explains what goes into designing book jackets
• Judging Books by Their Covers (Erin Moriarty of CBS Sunday Morning, 12-19-10), text and video. The Designs of Dust Jackets Are as Artful as the Words They Encase, but Will e-Books Spell the End of Book Covers?
• Book cover transformations (before and after, Dunn & Associates)
• Book cover makeovers, with explanations (Foster Covers)
• What Makes a Good Subtitle and How Long Should It Be? (Susan Kedrick, Book Cover Coaching)
• My Favorite Book Covers of 2009 (The Book Design Review, NY Times, 12-22-09, with links to favorites for 2005-2008 as well)
• Book Covers: Paper Stock and Cover Finishes (John Kremer)
• Elements of Good Cover Design (John Kremer)

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Book Marketing and Promotion Book authors traditionally lament their publishers' failure to run ads about their books in book review media, but advertisements (for which one pays) lack the credibility of reviews and publicity (news and feature stories, for which one doesn't pay). It pays to understand the full marketing mix, which in this day and age includes getting to popular bloggers, websites, and anything the purchasing public is likely to read and be influenced by. The most important thing is to get information about your book out there, where people know it exists, and can easily purchase it -- and make it tantalizing in as few words and images as possible. • Book Marketing Update (John Kremer's very useful site) • Book Promotion 101 (Bella Stander's links to useful resources) • Book Promotion Newsletter(bi-weekly ezine for authors by Francine Silverman), small subscription fee • (The Book Publicity Blog Yen Cheong's news, tips, trends and miscellany for book publicists), which contains a great blog roll for book lovers • Annie Jennings reports on getting author publicity (free) • AuthorBuzz (marketing service that puts authors directly in touch with readers, booksellers, librarians) • Author Central (beta site for author profiles on Amazon.com) • Author Marketing Experts (several consultants) • Author's platform (Jeff Rivera's 60-second YouTube video, The Write Stuff) • Author Videos: The Author Takes a Star Turn (Pamela Paul, NYTimes, 7-9-10), on the importance of the author video for connecting readers to authors (and book buyers). • Autographed by Author stickers. Buy them from Wax Creative Design and put them on books you sign for bookstores and others. • Backspace Book Promotion Network • Author Promoting Book Gives It Her All Whether It's Just 3 People Or A Crowd Of 9 People (Onion spoof of the Author Book Tour, 4-14-11) • Bookstore Lists on the Web, John Kremer's list, including Top 20 Independent Bookstores • Book tour? More like a safari (Carolyn Kellogg, L.A. Times 3-7-10). With publisher publicity departments backing away from traditional author tours, writers are left to their own devices--and strangers' couches. Which is where we learned about couch-surfing! • Chris Bogan's marketing blog • Book Bites Talk Radio (Christine Kloser and Lynne Klippel) • Build Book Buzz (Sandra Beckwith's blog). • Frugal Marketing (Shel Horowitz on Book Marketing) • Publicity Hound's Tip of the Week • Marketing Matters (Brian Jud's blog) and articles, especially about selling through nontraditional channels • Portland Badge Company (customized name badges at reasonable prices) • Book Marketing Online 2010 (video of panel discussion organized in March 2010 by the NY chapter of the Women's National Book Association). • Savvy Book Marketing (Dana Lynn Smith's tips, tools, and techniques for promoting your book), including her list of eZines for Authors • Build Your Author Platform: 10 Tips from a Pro (Alan Rinzler, The Book Deal) • Do authors really need to promote their own books? (Mary DeMuth, guest-posting on MichaelHyatt).Check out the comments! • Novice Authors Must Promote Themselves, Since Publishers Won't by Neely Tucker tells how Kelly Corrigan sold 80,000 copies in hardcover and 260,000 in paperback of her memoir The Middle Place. • Case Study: Book Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation And Using Press Releases For Your Book (Kit McKittrick, guestblogging on The Creative Penn: Adventures in Writing, Publishing, and Book Marketing • Why Print Advertising for Books Doesn't Work (Foner Books, a Self-Publishing blog) • Book Launch 2.0(Dennis Cass, as clueless writer resisting the new social media), satiric YouTube video) • Top 10 cool, free book marketing resources (Build Book Buzz) • Detailed analysis of a perfect blogger pitch (Chris Abraham, Marketing Conversation, 12-3-11, on how best to reach bloggers, how to engage them, how to get them to carry our client’s message to their readership) • The Top 10 Things Book Publicists Want Authors to Know (John Kremer, Ask the Book Publicist, 8-17-11) Book promotion on the radio • How to Get on Radio Talk Shows All Across America w/​o Leaving Home by Joe Sabah (available on Amazon). Does not contain his database of radio shows, which you can order here. • Talk Radio for Authors: Getting Interviews Across the U.S. and Canada by Francine Silverman • 8 Steps to Getting Radio, TV, and Podcast Guest Expert Interviews (Scott Fox, SPANnet) • Radio interview promotion (Bryan Farrish's helpful articles about) • Radio Interview Promotion (Bryan Farrish's many articles on the subject) • Top 10 ways authors can make radio interviews pay (Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound) • Roster of intelligent radio and TV talk shows and video • RadioGuestList.com (this free service uses e-mail to help connect talk show hosts and producers with authors and experts) • Radio Locator (this site provides a comprehensive, searchable list of all the radio stations in the world (and, in the U.S., by city, by zip code, by call letters, including Internet streaming). What I found for my zip code was a far more complete list than I've been able to find locally! "To me, the secret to everything is radio. I was busy doing radio interviews for a year, and finally book sales started increasing." ~John Gray in an interesting interview on how he honed his message down to something people could hear (it took years) and how he worked his way to the bestseller list, where Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus stayed for seven years. "We've actual found that signings are the least effective author promotion which can take place in the store. What really works are events or panels. For instance, the topic of taxes is something that starts to concern everybody after the first of the year. What we do is put together events by various tax money management people or financial consultants from January through March in the stores." ~ Marcella Smith, Small Press Business Manager, Barnes & Noble (on Book Marketing Matters--see back issues here)

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Publicity is getting some media to do a story about you. You may have to pay someone to help you get an interview, but you generally don't pay to get the interview. Advertising is when you pay someone to feature you or your product. Marketing is basically the catch-all term for everything else, and may or may not include advertising and publicity, depending on who's talking. With a book, a good title has to be MEMORABLE--otherwise you can't get good word-of-mouth, which is essential to book sales. Marketing requires more of a commitment of time than money. "All marketing is really just relationships."
~ part of John Kremer's recorded comments on Great Writers Book Marketing Series, hosted by N. Kali Mincy (loosely captured--not verbatim). John is the author of an excellent guide to book marketing: 1001 Ways to Market Your Books (get the Sixth Edition). You can subscribe free to his useful book marketing e-letter here: http:/​/​www.bookmarket.com/​

Ads. An emotional tipping point for ad research. "Advertising that generates a strong emotional response, even in the absence of a discernible product message, is more efficient than message-based advertising," reports Orlando Wood, Brainjuicer, in the Warc blog

And Now, the Tricky Part: Naming Your Business (Emily Maltby, WSJ, 6-29-10) and Name Choices Spark Lawsuits (Emily Maltby, "Start-Ups Can Get Mired in Costly Trademark Scuffles With Bigger Firms," WSJ, 6-24-10)

And the Award for Best Book Trailer Goes to (Jennifer Schuessler, Paper Cuts, NY Times, 5-21-10, on the 2010 Moby Awards with links to great book trailer!

Audio podcasting as book marketing tool (Lynette's Book Marketing 6-13-11)

Author/​Illustrator Network. Children’s Literature (CL, an Author & Illustrator Booking Service) currently helps schools, museums, conferences and other organizations identify authors and illustrators for speaking engagements -- to provide insight into their craft and connect their audience with the world of literature. ("Takes the stress out of ordering books to coincide with author visits.")

Author Promoting Book Gives It Her All Whether It's Just 3 People Or A Crowd Of 9 People (Onion spoof of the Author Book Tour, 4-14-11)

Author Videos: The Author Takes a Star Turn (Pamela Paul, NYTimes, 7-9-10), on the importance of the author video for connecting readers to authors (and book buyers).

The Author Will Take Q.'s Now (Kara Jesella, NY Times, 9-2-07, on appearing in discussions on blogs and websites as part of a "virtual" book tour)

Badges, customized. Portland Badge Company (customized name badges at reasonable prices -- be memorable when networking!)

Beware Who's Who scams. Know who the legitimate Who's Who operations are (Marquis in America and A&C Black in the UK) and who just wants your money (Victoria Strauss, Writer Beware)

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Book readers' social media:
You want your books to start getting talked about here:
• GoodReads (a popular site for rating and commenting on books)
• Shelfari (another popular site for rating and commenting on books)
• BookCrossing (a popular book sharing site, with some paid features, including book tagging: You physically tag books and keep track of who has a book, what they write in journal, where it has traveled)
• LibraryThing (enter what you're reading, or your whole library--and connect with people who read what you read)
• BookMooch (Give books away. Get books you want.)
• PaperBack Swap (a paperback book sharing service and community)
• Revish (a book rating community)
• Reviews of these and other niche social networking sites (Kevin Palmer, Social Media Answers)

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Bookstore directories:
• American Booksellers Association directory, as well as a directory of resources for booksellers
• Bookstore lists on the Web (John Kremer)
• Top 20 Independent Bookstores and Top 700 Independent Bookstores (John Kremer)

Book tour? More like a safari (Carolyn Kellogg, L.A. Times 3-7-10). With publisher publicity departments backing away from traditional author tours, writers are left to their own devices--and strangers' couches. Which is where we learned about couch-surfing!

Branding. Personal Branding Basics for 2011 Chris Brogan's explanation: a brand is a promise. Scroll down and you'll find links to excellent tips on branding.

Building a Mailing List: How I Did Mine by Steve, on Vertical Response, a newsletter service. One of the responses is from Joann Ross, a successful romance writer, who uses interesting techniques to build reader loyalty.

CAN-SPAM Act, a compliance guide for business. This law sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have you stop emailing them, and spells out tough penalties for violations. Here's John Kremer's page on Sending Emails to Bookstores and Other Potential Buyers

Does Free Pay? Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired and author of The Long Tail, thinks you should consider giving your book away. Jordan E. Rosenfeld on why he thinks so. (Writer's Digest, 11-3-08)

Embrace Life (the buckle-your-seatbelt video that has caught attention worldwide), and the production company's story of "The Making of Embrace Life"

For Whom the Shill Tolls. Paul Devlin (Slate, 10-13-06) on Hemingway's lost work for Ringling Bros. and Ballantine Ale, a review of Hemingway and the Mechanism of Fame: Statements, Public Letters, Introductions, Forewords, Prefaces, Blurbs, Reviews, and Endorsements (edited by Judith S. Baughman and Matthew J. Bruccoli) and an overview of changing attitudes toward author self-promotion.

Get Booked on Radio Talk Shows (Mark A. Kaye, SPANnet)

Google Analytics: How does it work? You'll find a number of excellent Google Analytic tips at this site: Occam's Razor by Avinash Kaushik. Among those I found interesting (and could understand):
• How balanced is your Google Analytics pie?
• SEO Metrics & Analytics Questions + Answers
• Tip #18 Make love to your direct traffic
• Win With Web Metrics: Ensure A Clear Line Of Sight To Net Income!
• Segment Absolutely Everything
• Tip #8: Measure the Real Conversion Rate & "Opportunity Pie"
• Kaushik's videos, podcasts about Web analytics

Chris Guillebeau's case study of promoting his own writing, 279 Days to Overnight Success, on his blog The Art of Non-Conformity. A follow-up blog entry expands on lessons learned about using social media.

Hidden Meanings in 12 Popular Logos (Vicki Passmore, WalletPop, 1-14-11)

How Authors Move Their Own Merchandise (Joanne Kaufman, WSJ, 1-18-11)

How Authors Really Make Money: The Rebirth of Seth Godin and Death of Traditional Publishing. Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, on the economics and practical realities of being published in print, in e-books, and through self-publishing (vs. traditional publishing). (No simple answers.) Listen to the realistic video. (Publishers are good at distribution and making good book covers.) Three books Ferriss recommends:
• The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout
• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
• Author 101: Bestselling Book Publicity: The Insider's Guide to Promoting Your Book--and Yourself by Rick Frishman, Robyn Freedman Spizman, and Mark Steisel.

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How to publicize your writing by speaking in schools, libraries, and shopping malls (Anne Hart, Ground Report, 11-1-09). "f you are writing children’s books," writes Hart, "purchase your state’s public school directory. Contact schools and school librarians. Charge a fee from $400 to $1,000 to visit schools. Select the appropriate age group to speak to assemblies about your book(s) if they are suitable for that age group." (One colleague who has made a good part of her living through such school visits says that recession-induced cutbacks have dried up this source of income.)

How to publicize and promote your own work
Rusty Shelton and Katie Andrews, of Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists, were guest bloggers on Lisa Tener’s Writing Blog, where you can read several useful postings on how to publicize and promote your work:
• Why Publicity Is Your New Best Friend
• The Publicity 411: What to Know Before Getting Started
• Press Releases & Pitches: How to get the word out about your book
• Virtual Media Training: How to Rock Your Interviews
• Social Media and Beyond: Why You Must Join the Movement and Where to Start
With "extra credit" for a three part series on the Phenix & Phenix blog about prepping authors for TV talk shows:
• Part One: Booking the interview
• Part Two: Soundbyte prep
• Part Three: Networking

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How to Sell a Book? Good Old Word Of Mouth (read or listen to Lynn Neary, NPR, 9-10-10 on the launching of Emma Donoghue's novel Room, from which NPR posts an excerpt.)

How Writers Build the Brand. Tony Perrottet (amusing New York Times essay, 4-29-11) on author self-promotion from Herodotus on, including Balzac, Colette, Guy de Maupassant, Gerald of Wales, Ernest Hemingway, Georges Simenon, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf, and Grimod de la Reyni่re (who carried promotion to an extreme). Stendhal is quoted as saying, “Great success is not possible without a certain degree of shamelessness, and even of out-and-out charlatanism."

Is All Publicity Good Publicity? Nathan Ihara (MobyLives 3-16-11) writes about a new study by the journal Marketing Science, which reports that the effect of negative reviews on books by well-known authors is a 15% decrease in sales. “For books by relatively unknown (new) authors, however, negative publicity has the opposite effect, increasing sales by 45%.” Delays after reading negative reviews help unknown books more than well-known books. "in short, if you’re a nobody, it’s better to have your book attacked than ignored. Over time readers will forget the mean stuff said about you, and will only remember your book’s name." Thanks to Sue Russell and Bill Morris of The Millions for this lead.

IttyBiz: marketing for businesses without marketing departments. Word Nerd Naomi Dunford's delightful site makes sense, entertains, and has great voice. See especially her posts for marketing school:
• Identifying Your Target Market, Or Why I Don’t Want A Monster In My Pants
• Marketing School, Day One: What Is A USP and Why Should I Care?
• Marketing School, Day Two: DIY USP
• Writers: How Not to Suck at Marketing a guest blog for Freelance Folder
• Marketing School: How to Be a Spammy Pants
• What The Hell Is Branding and that's only the beginning. This delightful woman is a one-person marketing school. Brava!

Marketing Wisdom for Introverts • Caring for Your Introvert (Jonathan Rauch, The Atlantic, March 2003). Essay on the habits and needs of a little-understood group. For example: "We tend to think before talking, whereas extroverts tend to think by talking..." Further: introverts are not good at small talk. • The Introversy Continues (follow-up to Rauch's "astonishihgly popular" 2003 article) • Introverts of the World, Unite! (Sage Stossel's conversation with Rauch, with insights like this: "a lot of introverts are actually very good at being social. It just takes a lot of work for them." • The Introvert's Guide to Marketing Your Business (PDF file, Ruth Ann Woodley's interview with Nancy Ancowitz) • The Introvert's Guide to Marketing with Video (Marcia Yudkin on SiteProNews 6-5-11) • How to Network: For Introverts Rob May (Business Pundit) • Marketing to Introverts (Nedra Weinrich, Spare Change 12-15-06), making a difference with social marketing • The introvert's guide to speaking (Mack Collier)

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Media mailing lists, sites -- sources for:
• MagaGenie Media Spotlights (John Kremer's profiles of magazine editors, book reviewers, columnists, and key media contacts in radio, TV, newspapers, and syndicated columnists)
• Top 101 Book Marketing Sites (John Kremer)
• Poynter's secret list of book promotion contacts ($4 to download)
• BurrellesLuce (media mailing lists of top daily newspapers, blogs,consumer magazines, and social networking sites), expensive

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Nick Morgan's blog, advice on public speaking, by the author of Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma, Working the Room: How to Move People to Action through Audience-Centered Speaking, and Give Your Speech, Change the World: How to Move Your Audience to Action

One Author's Quest for Tribal Leadership by Mary DeMuth, author of the popular Christian memoir Thin Places. See also Three Benefits of Finding Your Tribe and Leading It. Her tribal theme: Turning Trials Into Triumphs.

Online Book Reviews: How to get them (Annette Fix, Publishing Basics). Excellent links to review resources.

Plucked From Their Web Writing to Promote a Vaseline Brand (Tanzina Vega, NYTimes, 11-8-10). Vaseline uses crowdsourcing to find product spokeswomen.

Poken. Techno-business card.You touch gadgets with someone else and exchange contact info. What is a Poken? (check out wedding edition, for your guests on social media)

Press releases. What is the correct press release format? (Andrew Bolinger, SPANnet)

Roar! Get Heard in the Sales and Marketing Jungle: A Business Fable by Kevin Daum, a sample of which you can download at http:/​/​kevindaum.com/​.

Stop Freaking Out About Personal Branding (Becky Johns, 11-23-10). "Seems like most people are working hard at making their personal brands more professional. And most professional brands are trying to figure out how to become more personal."

A Tale of Two Authors. Matilda Butler, guest-blogging on Straight from Hel (Helen Ginger's blog), with Part 2 continued on Women's Memoirs.

Think Like a Rock Star: How to Build Fans and Community Around Your Social Media Efforts (presentation by Mack Collier on rethinking your relationship with your customers)

13 Key Tips for Getting Booked on National TV (David Perozzi, producer of Anderson Cooper’s daytime show, on Ask the Book Publicist)

Twitter Book Club (the Jewish Book Council's twitter book club lets twitter users engage in real-time conversation with the author of a particular, predetermined book. And those who don't participate can read the archived twitter-discussion, on the JBC site.)

Virtual Author Visits in Your Library or Classroom, the mission of the Skype An Author Network (a way to provide K-12 teachers and librarians with a way to connect authors, books, and young readers through virtual visits)

Website design: Smashing Magazine has excellent material on website design (including 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines, tutorials, navigation, typography and free fonts.

The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Commercial Freelancer in Six Months or Less, by Peter Bowerman

Writing a Press Release (Get-your-message-out.com)

Does Radio and Television Interview Report (RTIR) work? Is it worth the money? It depends on your topic, your budget, your marketing moxie, and whether the planets align, apparently. On Thursday, 3-19-09, Debra Sanders wrote in her blog, A Matter of Panache, "I have been running ads in The Radio and Television Interview Report (RTIR) since September, and let me tell you, these are not cheap ads. RTIR is one of the mainstays of the radio and television talk show industry—every month it contains almost a hundred pages of tabloid type ads, all clamoring for the attention of talk show hosts ranging from the likes of the guy running the little radio station up the road, to those in charge of finding guests for Good Morning America and Oprah." Debra was writing about a small subset of head injuries: concussions. And in five months she got not one call. Then Natasha Richardson died of an untreated head injury and Debra's phone started ringing. Her main message: "Anyone I mean, anyone and everyone who sustains a jolt to the head (note that I said jolt, not crack or bump to the skull) needs to be carefully watched for a minimum of twenty-four hours, with the absolute understanding that slow bleeds which cause swelling, can cause death if not treated. The subdural hematoma that killed Natasha Richardson was easily enough treated had it been caught. Physicians treat it all the time—they open up the skull and make room for the swelling, and rarely does the injury become fatal. Left untreated however,the outcome is nearly always tragic." Without a celebrity death, the media weren't interested. If you have a book topic or personal story that the media ARE more likely to be interested in, listen to "Rich Guy" Robert Kiyosaki talk about how marketing, not good writing, was the key to his success selling Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! This is basically a plug for RTIR, and a knock on the publishing industry, which said "no thanks" to the book, which the author and his wife self-published. It sold 26 million copies. For yet another take on TRIR, read the exchange (especially "Manny) on the Absolute Write forum on how Manny (presumably Stuart J. Smith) tried three ads on RTIR and had an interesting kind of success selling The Russian Bride Guide.

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Recommended reading on book marketing, publicity, and promotion
• Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers, or get a free sample here, or better yet, listen free to his presentation at O'Reilly Tools of Change on 10 Bestsellers: Using New Media, New Marketing, and New Thinking to Create 10 Bestselling Books
• Author 101: Bestselling Book Publicity: The Insider's Guide to Promoting Your Book--and Yourself by Rick Frishman, Robyn Freedman Spizman, and Mark Steisel.
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott
• The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't, by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
• The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living, by Peter Bowerman
• 1001 Ways to Market Your Books: For Authors and Publishers by John Kremer
• Complete Guide to Self Publishing: Everything You Need to Know to Write, Publish, Promote, and Sell Your Own Book, 5th edition, by Marilyn Ross and Sue Collier (once over lightly focus on nonfiction)
• The Publishing Game by Fern Reiss (three titles: Bestseller in 30 Days, Find an Agent in 30 Days, and Publish a Book in 30 Days ). Shorter books.
• Beyond the Bookstore: How to Sell More Books Profitably to Non-Bookstore Markets, by Brian Jud
• John Kremer's Self-Publishing Hall of Fame
• Publicize Your Book: An Insider's Guide to Getting Your Book the Attention It Deserves by Jacqueline Deval
• Guerrilla Marketing for Writers : 100 Weapons to Help You Sell Your Work by Jay Conrad Levinson.
• Marketing with Speeches and Seminars: Your Key to More Clients and Referrals by Miriam Otte
• The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout ("customers want brands that are narrow in scope")
Many resources are available online. Check the links above.

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Book Trailers (Book Videos, VidLits)
Like movie trailers but for books and on the Web, book trailers (some call them VidLits) are increasingly used to promote books. Do they sell books? The jury is still out on that. But check out these examples. Do they make you want to at least look at the book?

Attitude Is Everything (a Simple Truths book, DVD, and inspirational website)

Kelly Corrigan, reading an essay on the power of female friendship, to promote her memoir of cancer and caregiving, The Middle Place

Mary Karr's trailer for Lit: A Memoir

Christopher Hitchens's trailer for Hitch-22: A Memoir

P.S.: What I Didn't Say, a do-it-yourself book trailer that Megan McMorris made
(using iMovie and Garage Band) for her anthology, P.S.: What I Didn't Say: Unsent Letters to Our Female Friends

VidLits--examples of book trailers from one of the first sources
• Laura Sydell's NPR story about Web 'VidLits,' featuring Yiddish with Dick and Jane
• The Dog Dialed 911
• Julie and Julia (brings out the book's appeal, which is different from the movie's)
• Liz Dubelman's "Craziest" (8 minutes and a 'must-see' for Scrabble fans)
• Yiddish with George and Laura
• More VidLits

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Interesting and thoughtful radio and TV talk shows and video
Some of the best talks shows are not only good places to market a book but good ways to hear about what's going on in the world, and why. This is also a fantastic list for if you want something to listen to while you're doing mechanical work -- like checking website links! Let me know which intelligent talk shows that are available online are missing here.

Academic Earth (thousands of video lectures from the world's top scholars). Read How To Go to Harvard for Free (Farhad Manjoo, Slate, on the joys of Academic Earth's online video lectures)

AfterWords (C-Span's Book TV) -- authors of the latest nonfiction books interviewed by journalists, public policy makers, and legislators (both current guests and archives)

All Songs Considered (ASC)

All Things Considered (Robert Siegel, Michele Norris and Melissa Block present a daily mix of news, interviews, and features)

The Animal House (weekly discussion explores the latest in animal science, pet behavior, and wildlife conservation, WAMU)

As It Happens (long-running CBC interview show, with humor on the side)

BBC Radio 4 programmes, such as A Point of View

BBC radio programs (alphabetical listing)

BBC World Service

Bob Edwards (and Bob Edwards Weekend)

Booknotes.org (C-Span's amazing archive of Brian Lamb's 800 interviews with nonfiction authors, 1989-2004, many with streaming video, all with transcripts -- searchable alphabetically or by category)

Book TV (C-SPAN2, booktv.org, top nonfiction authors and books)

Car Talk, Tom & Ray Magliozzi acting silly in Boston and answering questions about car problems (NPR)

Charlie Rose (archives, alphabetical by name)

Chicago Public Radio (produces "This American Life," "Eight Forty-Eight," "Odyssey," "Schadenfreude," "Performance Space," among others)

C-Span Podcasts (After Words, American Political Archive, Newsmakers, Outside the Beltway, Podcast of the Week, Q&A, Road to the White House, The Communicators, etc.)

The Current (investigative radio news, Canadian Broadcasting Corp.)

Democracy Now

The Diane Rehm show (excellent guest interviews)

Freakonomics Radio (co-produced by Marketplace™ and WNYC -- Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner use the tools of economics to explore real-world behavior)

Fresh Airฎ with Terry Gross, excellent interviews, often with novelists or musicians

National Public Radio programs guide
NPR podcasting directory
• alphabetical by title
• by topic (for example, segments on gardeningon
• by provider (radio station)

New America Now (hour-long news and culture audio magazine for and from California's ethnic communities, New American Media)

On Point (Tom Ashbrook)

On the Media

Public Radio Exchange (PRX) playlists

RadioLab . You can listen to great storytelling online as either hour-long episodes or "shorts". Here are some interesting (sometimes "heart-swelling") programs, which you can download or listen to online. Once in a while this comes on while I'm driving and I think I'm listening to This American Life. Found this episode on Lost and Found especially interesting.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide (in English)

Science Friday (Ira Flatow -- must listen for science fans)

Snap Judgment (a themed, weekly NPR storytelling show, compelling personal stories - mixing tall tales with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio)

Soundprint (outstanding documentary radio)

The Splendid Table (the show for people who love to eat, with Lynne Rossetto Kasper). Click here for recipes.

State of the Re:Union (a series that set out to explore how a particular American city or town creates community, the ways people transcend challenging circumstances and the vital cultural narratives that give an area its uniqueness)

The State We're In (TSWI, from Radio Netherlands, explores human rights, wrongs, and what we do about them)

The Story (with Dick Gordon -- first-person stories from real people, not experts, to help us understand what's happening in the world). Special features:
The Story Salon -- e.g., The Tribesman Who Friended Me on Facebook (partner, Salon Magazine); Following the Oil (stories about oil & the environment following the BP Oil leak 2010); Good Water (stories about the ways we use, waste, and pollute water); Messages from [Little] Mogadishu (Abdi Iftin reporting on his new life as a Somali refugee); Stories of Haiti, and more.

Studio 360 (Kurt Anderson's smart guide to what’s happening in pop culture and the arts -- and the people who are creating and shaping our culture)

TED Talks: Ideas Worth Spreading. Excellent speakers on fascinating topics, free to the world, on video, often or usually with transcripts. Browse themes and categories here.

***This American Life (Ira Glass rounds up some great storytellers!)

Transom Podcasts archive (Transom is a showcase & workshop for New Public Radio)

To the Point (Warren Olney, host; news on hot-button issues)

WAMU-FM (this is a station, not a program--my local station at American University, in the D.C. area, and it runs great programs. Its slogans: "Radio without all the noise" and "The mind is our medium.")

A Way With Words(lively language show, with Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett; be sure to browse the newsletter archives)

World Religions 101 (Interfaith Radio)

The Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor brings poetry to the people!)

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Social networks for readers
• LibraryThing (enter what you're reading, or your whole library--and connect with people who read what you read)
• GoodReads (a popular site for rating and commenting on books,for keeping track of what you read, and would like to read--or forming a book club, answering trivia, or collecting your favorite quotations)
• Shelfari (another popular site for rating and commenting on books -- a community-powered virtual bookshelf, to display your favorite books and connect to people who love to read what you love to read)
• BookCrossing (a popular book sharing site, with some paid features, including book tagging: You register a book, get a Bookcrossing ID, use that to physically tag a book, and release it (e.g., leave it in a coffee shop or on the subway). The person who finds the book you set free can register it, so you can follow where it travels)
• inReads (WETA, DC's public television affiliated, launched inRead 6-22-11, in Beta). Lets users converse about books, read reviews and get recommendations. Read (PW account here.
• Scribd (pronounced "skribbed") may be the largest book club in the world--on many topics
• Kobo's Reading Life. Explore. Unlock. Share.
• Wattpad (an eBook community). Fiction-oriented. Read stories. Vote for your favorites. Create a library.
• Bookperk. HarperCollins' site offers perks for "insiders."
• Nook Friends (Barnes & Noble site for Nook readers)
• BookMooch (Give books away. Get books you want.)
• PaperBack Swap (a paperback book sharing service and community)
• Revish (a book rating community)
• Reviews of these and other niche social networking sites (Kevin Palmer, Social Media Answers)

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