Originally Published on OpEdNews
I've been writing articles on major economic reforms since about a year after I started taking classes at the Henry George School of Social Sciences in New York City (www.hgsss.org/) in 2007. My purpose has been the same as for all my activist work subsequently -- including becoming president of the local New York City metro chapter of the Georgist advocacy group Common Ground-USA (commonground-usa.net/), the New York Coordinator of the Public Banking Institute (www.publicbankinginstitute.org/), and even graduating the school and becoming a part-time instructor there -- to educate and move people to advocate for the major macroeconomic changes that will Change the World for the better.
This article is not so much about the specific reforms, though the embedded radio recordings will provide plenty of background on those, but rather to talk about the process of using a book as a vehicle for positive social change.
Publicity experts say that writing a book is half the battle, but this really understates things if, like almost everyone, you are a relative unknown. While Bill Clinton could write almost anything, or have a ghostwriter write most of it (paid for by the publisher) and it would be an instant bestseller, most of us will write books destined for the remainder pile almost before we publish. Consider, Neilson Bookscan said that only 13% of traditionally published books sold more than a thousand copies (http://bit.ly/1N0vFuG - slide 14). But this was in 2004, and the rise of the Internet and print-on-demand since then have only diluted sales further. The definition of a bestseller is murky (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestseller), with dependence on various bestseller lists, or online sales that can be gamed, at least for a short time if you can time simultaneous purchases and reviews with lots of colleagues near the book's debut (I've done this with my novel, Neitherworld Book 1 (amzn.to/1PRkiG0) and Book 2 (amzn.to/1MZku0N), but it's much harder now than it was in 2007).
It's also a fact that unless you are a well-known personality, even the large publishers will not spend much money, if any, in promoting your book. The smaller publishers will probably not spend any at all, and with the micro-publishers, defined as a publisher with fewer than 50 titles (at publication time) like Tayen Lane (bit.ly/1yNhh43), who published my book, you're really on your own, even for reviews.
As implied above, however, the way to think of a book, especially a non-fiction book like mine, America is Not Broke! (amzn.to/1QyMmjg), is as a way to position oneself as an expert in the field. This was explained to me by a V.P. from Smith Publicity at the Spring 2015 Book Expo (bit.ly/1lzimqT). I attended this event at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City with Rob Kall, the publisher of Opednews.com, who also wrote the Foreword for America is Not Broke!
By mid-summer of 2015, I realized the book was never going to sell well, nor was I going to be able to promote the vital ideas in it, if I simply relied on my own efforts, and the past efforts of the publisher. I had sent out dozens of books on my own by then to bookstores and reviewers and although I did get some responses -- one bookstore asked for the book and the Midwest Book Review wrote a nice review - I realized would need help from professional publicists. I researched several publicists and then decided on Smith Publicity (www.smithpublicity.com/), which is one of the most established and largest of the publicity firms (some of the others were little more than one-person shops). I was assigned a publicist, Sarah Gilbert, along with a team approach to marketing the book, and we began a series of weekly conference calls. Smith is not the cheapest of the lot, however, and depending on options, a 3-month campaign costs in the high 4-digit range. In addition to that, I had to pay to ship 75 books (hardcover, which I had bought at my author's discount) to Smith, and provide a $500 postage fee for them use to send out books. As of this writing, the campaign has wrapped up, and after a grace period of a couple of weeks for any late targets to respond, I expect to receive my remaining 20 or so books back, along with the balance of my postage fee.
Smith provides a long questionnaire about your book, you, your goals, etc. In practice, I'm not sure how, or if, they ever referred to this. It only came up once or twice briefly in our earliest calls. They also put you on their mailing list so you get periodic emailings about publicity and tips to position yourself.
