I smiled to myself reading Seth Godin’s post entitled Sweet Spot Marketing, in which Seth discusses a few marketing “sweet spots” from the book industry.
There’s a sweet spot for getting on Oprah and for being on NPR as well. You rarely hear about romance novels on All Things Considered.
My point isn’t that you shouldn’t try to get these middlemen to broaden their horizons or to give up on something you’re passionate about. It’s just that it might be easier to build a new sweet spot than it is to persuade an established middleman to change his rules for you.
You’d be surprised how many authors suggest that Oprah, billboards, and an ad in the New York Times would be good marketing platforms for their books. Of course they would – just not for tech books.
I will disagree a little with Seth and say that I believe there are plenty of “established middlemen” that are appropriate and willing to be a part of a buzz machine for your book. The key is not over-stretching, and ultimately I think that is Seth’s point.
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