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Figure 1. Author Sherri Lewis featured

in Sugar & Spice

Magazine

What’s Media Candy and Why Do You Need It?

Ever wonder why some people are always on the radio, television, or on a magazinecover? Ever wonder why someone’s book is always featured in your favorite magazine? It’ssimple. The media loves them. They eat them up and order them again. It’s sickening to seesometimes. Isn’t it? Or would you like to be that favorite treat for your favorite entertainmentoutlet? Wouldn’t you like to be their Media Candy?If you are an author, you should consider it. This Years Bowker’s PubTrack survey of book buyers found that nearly all Americans read 1 or 2 books, 34% had reduced the number of books they bought, while 19% of consumers were either buying more used books or swapping

Sugar and Spice, August 2008 http://www.sugarandspicemagazine.com

Stewart/Media Candy-Sneak Peak2 books with others and, only 2% of consumers said they bought more books as an alternative tomore expensive kinds of entertainment.

If we look at the last statistic more closely, we will also understand why book reviewcolumns are diminishing(almost vanishing) in our favorite publications, why mostly celebrityauthors are featured on Morning Talk Shows(once a prime market for author promotion,) andwhy bookstores are stocking more

Twilight

trinkets than books. Our culture doesn’t value booksas great entertainment anymore. Yikes! Unless it is coupled with entertainment shows, lifestylemagazines, or the hottest trending topic on the internet, few will desire your book.Sure you can promote yourself via online marketing, but if you want to be a part of that 2% of books being sold in heavy volume, you must become Media Candy. Better yet, you need tohave your own Candy Shop.But before you can do that, you must determine if you are solvent to own one. Newsflash: every book in today’s marketplace isn’t a sweet treat. It is imperative toaccess whether your book is sweet enough. You do that by:1.Writing a great story2.Understanding New Media and3.Following the Publishing Paradigm Shift.I.Write a great storyWriting a well-written, compelling, relevant page turner is your first and last form of Marketing.If you don’t have a good book, don’t even think about the rest. Sure publicists will charge you anarm and a leg and promise you the world, but if your book sucks rocks media attention willdestroy your brand faster than you can rake or scrape.

www.

bowker

.com/.../564-nearly-one-in-two-americans-read-a-book-last-year-according-to-

bowker

s-2008-

pubtrack

-consumer-

survey

Stewart/Media Candy-Sneak Peak3My best advice: Write your best then befriend a great editor, then rewrite it. Moreover, if a publicist takes you on before reading the book, run. They’re not after your best interest just your wallet.II.Understanding New Media .Traditional Media or Old Media were information assets or marketplace gatekeepers. Thethree traditional media outlets are: television, radio, and print publications (newspapers,magazines, journals.) Their objectives were to share what they deemed were what they believed our society needed to know, experience, or own. Gaining their attention was practically similar to obtaining a golden Willy Wonka ticket. In the past, the best way to gaintraditional media attention was through a publicist like me, your publishing house’s publicitydepartment, and/or through your sphere of influence. New Media, however, contains traditional media, social media, blogs, forums, clubs,online groups and your readership gatekeepers. Although there are more outlets, their reachis smaller, wider, more compact and fleeting. Your task, therefore, will be to design astrategy to give all these forms the kind of candy they desire most by hand-feeding your content to them like candy and producing a hub to house that candy 24/7. Because boy willthey want some...Unlike traditional media, New Media isn’t purposed to satisfy advertisers, but satisfying people...readership. For example, my blog Christian Fiction earns more revenue because Ihave a lower bounce rate and a large subscriber base. Advertisers will pay me more toadvertise on my blog, then other book blogs in my niche. In order, to keep those ad rates up Imust satisfy my readers. If I want to earn more, I have to give them more content that they