Sarah Honenberger, the author of "White Lies," will be appearing on WTVR, Channel 6 in Richmond, Virginia. She'll be a guest on "Virginia This Morning," on Monday, January 22. In olden days, only those who actually tuned in at 10 AM would see Honenberger -- a vanishingly small percentage of people. The publicity boost for her book would be welcome, but minimal.
But as anyone who's visited YouTube.com knows, things that happen on local television can now be viewed by anyone in the world. What does that mean for a small publishing house trying to get the word out?
Consider: if WTVR posts the video to thier website, or perhaps allow it to be posted on YouTube, Honenberger could link to it from her site. All of a sudden a five-minute piece that would have vanished into the air becomes something that folks can view again and again, garnering a much larger number of viewers potentially from anywhere in the world. And they can watch it next week, next month or even next year -- whenever they discover and want to know more about "White Lies."
A YouTube posting can be great publicity not only for Honenberger, but for WTVR as well. KZSW, a small local station in Temecula, California is now regularly posting local news segments on YouTube. They understand the potential of this new media stream. Does WTVR?
- Ralph
YouTube has copyright issues for most television stations, so the video can't be posted there. Should be on the readwhitelies.com website in a week or so. Media coverage for a book is absolutely crucial to spread the word, no matter the size of the publisher. Increasingly authors are having to do their own promotion. It takes a lot of time and personal contact, a hard thing for shy, introspective writers.
ReplyDelete