On Publishing Perspectives (@pubperspectives), Drew Nellins writes about the offense he took when he was presented with a fully stuffed publicity kit promoting a book by an author he likes. It raises the question, “When does zealous publicity information oversell and actually become a detriment?”
...It didn’t come with a page or two of information about the author or the book itself. No, it came with a folder overflowing with material, the contents of which I would like to share with you....
Now, imagine opening a folder, and the second you open it, pages spew out of it like fake snakes from a can of gag peanut brittle, because the folder is so overstuffed that no matter how great its quality (and its quality is pretty damn great) this volume of pages simply cannot be contained by this folder. Now dial that image back a few notches, and you’ve got a pretty close approximation of what we have here. A brief inventory included therein follows:....
I think the reason the “Folder of Acclaim” bothered me so much is that, taken in total, it arguably leaves the realm of standard corporate supportiveness and enters the terrifying realm of intellectual bullying....
I don’t want to have books marketed to me the way that Hot Wheels are marketed to eight-year-old boys. You don’t have to show me images of other kids crashing their cars and smashing them into one another. Just give me the toy already, and if I have fun with it, then I have fun with it. Sheesh! It all just seems so... aggressive....
What do you think? Do you agree? How do you keep from crossing the line in creating publicity that might be over-the-top? Write your comments below.