does mainstream press coverage sell books?

we got a lot of it. read on to see what it meant for our book sales

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I have one little bit of self-promotion to get out of the way before we get into this newsletter about books. This Sunday, May 5, the Boston Independent Film Festival is screening the documentary The Herricanes, which I appear in as a talking head! The film is about the Houston Herricanes of the National Women’s Football League, which I wrote the literal book on (and if you’re here, you probably know that already). I will be participating in a Q&A directly following the film, as well.

You can get tickets for the screening here, purchase a Houston Herricanes (or other NWFL team) shirt here, or grab a copy of my book, Hail Mary, here.

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And as a lead-in to this newsletter about book promotion, I want to encourage you to pre-order

Maggie Mertens

’ brilliant forthcoming book, Better Faster Farther: How Running Changed Everything We Know About Women. I am honored to have blurbed the book (alongside Gloria Steinem???). Here is the full blurb I offered:

With her evocative prose and ever-present attention to detail, Maggie Mertens has written a much-needed examination of women's running. BETTER FASTER FARTHER is a thorough and blistering examination of how sexism, racism, and transphobia have so deeply impacted a sport that should be the ultimate democratizer. This book has the potential to change the sport as we know it, in all of the best and most necessary ways.

And in the spirit of today’s newsletter, Maggie wrote her own newsletter about how she spent her book advance.

How I Spent My Book Advance

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In a recent newsletter,

Andrea Bartz

reflects on whether mainstream coverage of a book—like excerpts, op-eds, and essays—can do much to move the needle on book sales. This is something publicist teams really encourage authors to do, and something that Lyndsey and I worked really hard on when we were publishing Hail Mary.

Bartz concludes that it’s worth it, whether it works or not. “It shows my publisher I’m one of the good ones, the kind of author who’ll work her butt off to get her book out there,” she writes. Not only that, “publicity begets publicity” and “the average consumer needs to see a book…six [or] seven times before it sticks.” Now, Bartz is a NYT Bestselling author and I am not, so I definitely put stock in what she has to say about selling books.

Meanwhile, a recent piece in Vulture isn’t so sure any of this really matters. “There’s so much creative potential in writers returning to the subjects of their books to drill down or build on their themes,” writes Tajja Isen. “But so much can get lost when the sole approach is to find the snappiest topical takeaway in a clear grab for attention.” Essentially, why try to water down your work when there’s no real proof that any of this actually sells books?

Here’s my experience, for what it’s worth.