Publish or Panic
The credibility of books is in a million little pieces. The Web is stealing readers. But publishers are fighting back
The comparison crystallizes the fact that the basic principles of reaching out to readers really haven't changed since Judith Appelbaum wrote the original edition of her author's marketing manual, How to Get Happily Published, in 1978. They remain the same, Appelbaum says: "Figure out who the book is for. Figure out how to get in touch with those readers. Figure out what to tell them about it so they know that they want it; and then make it easy for them to get it." The Internet may make that part simpler.
But first, you've still got to write the book.
And if you're torn between whether to label it fiction or memoir, here's the industry's latest hot tip: Honesty carries its own long tail. Riverhead Books, the publisher with whom James Frey had signed for two new books, has dropped the deal.
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