| Do mass mailings really do any good? |
|
Q: Do mass mailings really do any good? I prefer personal contact and pre-pitching when working with the media, rather than mass mailings. Editors and reviewers are deluged with books and products and will tend to look first at the ones they are either expecting to receive, or at boxes sent by publishers whose books they particularly like. I’m referring here to the consumer media contacts you’re likely to try to reach, not to book review or trade journals like Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus and others that should only be contacted by the publisher. The times that I’ve found mass mailings to be productive are when making a specific offer. For example, you might allow newspaper feature editors to reprint a craft activity or tips taken from your book. In that case, it’s productive to buy a mailing list on labels and send the sheet out with a cover letter to feature editors and allow them to reprint the activity or tips with your permission and attribution. 12/97:1/98 |