Putting these truisms together with what you see—an absence
of advertising for books—should lead you to the conclusion that publishing
companies don't generally advertise books in the popular media because it
isn't profitable. This is a correct conclusion. Books are a low-ticket
item. At approximately $10 to $15 for the typical trade paperback, a
$10,000 ad campaign needs to generate an awful lot of sales in order to make
business sense. In addition, books are directed to a very targeted market.
A book about how to care for an aging family member, for example, has a
very specific audience. Also, books tend to be current for only a
limited time. They have a shelf life of a few years, then they fade
away. Thus, one of the major purposes of advertising, that of building
name and brand recognition, doesn't apply to books.
Books, however, lend themselves nicely to media
publicity. Since nonfiction books contain information, they are great
sources for feature newspaper stories, radio interviews, television
appearances, and magazine articles. Not only are these forms of promotion
much less expensive than paid advertising, they have a great advantage in
credibility with the public. There is an inherent skepticism that people
have of paid advertising, and this is a hurdle that all paid promotions
have to overcome. Unpaid interviews and articles, however, have much
greater credibility and thus greater impact, and therefore make much more sense
for marketing books. And since authors and publishers are willing to
provide this information and entertainment for free in exchange for an
opportunity to plug their books, editors and hosts find this an attractive
proposition.
There are some best-selling books that have a broad,
mass appeal for which it makes sense to use paid advertising in mass
media. However, if you will notice, there is very little of that activity
going on. Most publishers use radio and TV interviews and newspaper and
magazine articles to promote their books. Now you know the reason.
There is another possibility for advertising, and that
is highly targeted advertising that is directed toward a certain
demographic or interest group. For example, a religious book being
advertised on a religious television station or a religious magazine, or
posters in a bookstore. If the readers can be targeted specifically, this
can help with sales and make economic sense for the publisher, and some
publishers use this approach. But mass advertising for 99% of the books on
the market simply doesn't make economic sense.
