In a previous post on Fonts That Make You Look Lame, we included Comic Sans in a list of five typefaces that are either played-out or just downright atrocious. And who doesn’t hate the goofy, amateurish font? The Wall Street Journal recently ran a story about the man behind Comic Sans, Vincent Connare, and the couple who founded Ban Comic Sans, an organization with “global ambitions” to eliminate this ominpresent affront to aesthetic sensibility. Fortunately, Connare seems to have a sense of humor about his creation—according to the article, he and the founders of Ban Comic Sans are considering doing a picture book together. Good idea! I’d buy it.

However, Comic Sans is merely the most visible in a huge group of stale typefaces. Papyrus is a personal pet peeve and also has its own mockery cult. For an interesting debate on Comic Sans, other lame fonts (Souvenir is a “crime against humanity”), and whether anyone even cares about fonts, be sure to read some of the WSJ article’s comments.

Content removed—’twas an April Fools’ gag.

Getting news media coverage for your book can be challenging, especially when the number of traditional media outlets (such as daily newspaper book review sections) is shrinking.  However, too many of the lucky or deserving handful who are given a chance to get their message to the masses waste their opportunity.

As one who has worked in book publishing for twenty years and has been involved in arranging thousands of interviews for authors, I can say that most authors—even seminar speakers, motivational trainers, and life coaches—often don’t fully exploit their knowledge, ability, or passion.  Rather than turning their radio or television interview into a memorable, experience, they simply treat it as a defensive situation with a standard approach of “I just don’t want to be embarrassed.”

Here are nine ways to be proactive and steal the show.

1. Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good line. Instead of merely making a statement, say something with some colorful language. One could say,  “To lose weight, drink eight to ten glasses of water a day,”or you could show some personality: “If you wanna drop those ten unwanted pounds, then drop down ten glasses of water every day. Drink up or fatten up. It’s your choice.” See the difference?

2. Give an action step, not an advertisement. Never say, “You can buy my book at www.whatever.com.” Instead, say the name of your book in a smooth sentence: “How to Lose Weight on Your Lunch Break is like having a therapist in your bed. You can access twenty-five free tips at www.whatever.com.” Now you’ve provided value and stated a specific offer.

3. Make a point and provide an example. People remember a story or something they can specifically identify with rather than an abstract statement.

4. Make it relevant when possible. Tie your message into the news or to what’s on people’s minds at a given moment in time.

5. Confess or admit to something. Don’t tell us you cheated on your spouse when you’re hawking a cookbook, but do tell us how your six-year-old kid thought your cake tasted like crap. Self-deprecating humor is good. Or tell us how you made a dish twenty times until you found the missing ingredient.

6. Create an enemy. Put every conversation in the context of good versus evil, new versus old, us versus them, etc. Enemies are everywhere. If you’re talking about personal finance, vilify government bailout and corporate greed; if you discuss a disease, you want to eradicate it; if you want to help parents be better at raising kids your enemy can be a situation (kids whining while you’re driving). There’s no end to finding a villain—it can be a person, group, ideology, circumstance, fate—whatever.

7. Express emotions and play to people’s fears, desires, needs, and weaknesses. Make assumptions about the people who will buy your book and identify their concerns. Your interviews should answer these concerns. If you wrote a book on dating and you know the fear of never getting married is in the back of your potential readers’ minds, address the issue and do so in a way that it gives a positive, proactive feeling. This will naturally lead them to visit your site.

8. Ask the talk show host or his or her audience for help. Tell them you’re trying to do something (i.e., get people to stop smoking if your book is about addiction).  Suggest people email you their ideas on how to eradicate the problem.  Not only does it unite people, it gives you a whole bunch of email contacts to follow up with.

9. Be colorful, not boring. Think of a waitress who can simply bring you a plate of food or one who can do a little dance before serving you.  Who will you remember? Don’t just drone on with useful info or ideas—deliver it with style.
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Brian Feinblum is the Chief Marketing Officer of Planned Television Arts, a book publicity company and leader in the media placement field since 1962. If you want to know more on how to promote your book during a media interview, please send your queries to Brian at feinblumb@plannedtvarts.com or call him at 212-583-2718.

A book’s title is important. It’s a crucial summary of the essence of the content inside, and one of the key ways a book pitches itself to browsers when it’s all alone on the bookstore shelf. Get the title wrong and a book is crippled from the outset. And there are all sorts of mistakes to be made in titling: genre-inappropriate titles, overly clever titles that don’t reflect what the book’s about, titles with strange formatting or cute intentional misspellings that make the book not show up in online search results.

If you’re trying to title your book and getting frustrated, you’re in good company. For instance, George Orwell almost called his dystopian masterpiece The Last Man in Europe instead of 1984. Bo-ring. And Moby-Dick was named after a real-life whale named “Mocha Dick.” It’s a good think Melville changed it up—can you imagine the cleverly named Starbucks menu items? (Starbucks got its name in part from Captain Ahab’s first mate in the novel.)

Those two title tidbits came from a website we recently came across called, quite appropriately, How Books Got Their Titles. Author Gary Dexter gives anecdotes and insights into well-known titles and how they were derived. Some—like Married Love as the title of a sex manual that very well could have been accused of obscenity upon its 1918 release—artfully spin the book’s presentation to appeal to its target audience while accurately representing the content inside. Read through these and perhaps you’ll gain a little inspiration for your own titling endeavor.

Dexter’s full-length book on the topic is called Why Not Catch-21?

With the bulk of publishing industry news of late centering around layoffs, declining retail sales, and holds on acquisitions, it’s easy to get pulled into the downward spiral of doom and gloom. While none of us want to see our colleagues out of work or industry decline, the bad news hardly comes as a surprise: inefficient and outdated practices have been pushing us in this direction for years. The current economic bust was (or will be) the last nail in the coffin for many publishing operations struggling to say afloat.

But, to quote Albert Einstein, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” The constant but quiet call for change that has been building for years is now more like an air raid siren. The shakedown coming in 2009 may bring an about-face in our general acceptance of wasteful practices while also bolstering the lines of smart, lean independent publishers and distributors: continue reading

We’re forever reminding people to mention their book in media appearances. Preferably repeatedly, with a jumbo graphic of the cover momentarily superimposed over you and the host. Work the pitch into the conversation naturally and you’re worth your weight in gold. You know, like this:

But, seriously, we like Media Training A–Z, and Greenleaf is publishing coauthor TJ Walker’s new book, TJ Walker’s Secret to Foolproof Presentations in May.

Here’s the full Daily Show segment featuring Media Training Worldwide (of which TJ is CEO).

Tip #1: Tweak Cover Design Conventions—But Don’t Discard Them Entirely

Business books don’t look like self-help books don’t look like fiction. This may seem obvious to some, but it is a common problem I see when we’re evaluating new books for publication or distribution. When consumers want to buy a business book, for example, they expect certain imagery, fonts, colors, and layout styles, whether they realize it or not. The best-selling business books often use large, simple fonts and bright colors to keep the focus on the title (like this or this).

If your book cover or layout doesn’t make sense for its genre, it could hurt your sales. continue reading

Reading is often a solitary activity, an intimate connection between reader and physically absent author. But books, of course, also create and shape communities and cultures, and part of the pleasure of reading is discussing what one’s read with others, whether they agree with your assessments or rapidly alter them. That’s why book clubs and bibliophile friends are such valuable assets to the devoted reader.

These days, seems that everyone’s talking about Roberto Bolaño, the Chilean author whose massive, posthumously published novel, 2666, was recently released in the U.S. (in hardcover and a delicious three-volume paperback set). If you’re a Bolaño fan, you might think about catching the train of this online reading group, which has only just left the station. continue reading