Why the Internet?

I just got home from my other marketing class, where we were treated to an informational lecture from a longtime book publicist on his role in the marketing and selling of books. A lot of it was very helpful, and he included enough colorful stories of life in the biz (ask him about the "Sophia Loren and the hotel pillow" story) that his presentation came tantalizingly close to not being boring. But one point in his speech left confused, and a bit cold: he said that, at this point, the Internet is not that effective a marketing tool for books.

After my initial fit of PC generation outrage, I started to wonder is it was true -- if, beyond Amazon.com, the Internet is in fact inferior to good 'ol fashioned personal selling. Well, I've thought about it, and come up with the theory that it is -- and isn't.

True, the book marketing business (and, writ large, all business) was founded on personal relationships and connections to the folks one does business with; email will never replace the after-hours drink with a client. But the "faceless" Internet is fast becoming as much a domain of personal connection as the in-store promotion junket or the live author reading, in that the more business identifies with the Internet, the more we can use it to facilitate the support network every book and book seller needs to survive.

Promote your book signing, tour, or reading on Facebook. Send up flares on Myspace. Tweet until your hands are sore. You will reach whole demographics -- younger, hipper, of opener mind -- with whom press releases, commercials and full-page ads have failed. Supplement that with TV and radio spots, and you have the potential to virtually create a new audience, relatively cheap.

So, I would say to our speaker that he should take a closer look at these newer forms of marketing -- he might be pleasantly, and lucratively, surprised.