As a public relations professional that's worked with a number of authors I've had my share of disagreement with publishers regarding this approach. I understand their view. They published the book and {it's the book they intend to promote|that's what they want to promote. Unfortunately this is the least effective way to go about it. By pitching the author instead of the book, and you have a variety of different hooks. The other himself, his experiences, his anecdotal evidence, and additional research offer much more to an interview than the subject of the book alone. Journalists are often looking for the back story, and that's something you can't always get from the story itself.

Just sending your book isn't going to land you killer interviews. The writer is still going to need a strong media hook. He must offer the news papers, radios, and television stations a story. The author needs to develop hooks you can use to spot look his book. Of course this is going to be much easier for non-fiction books, but creativity rules public relations. Sometimes the pitch never mentions the book, aside from the bio in the press kit. Getting the interview is what's important. After that the author work his stories into the interview and plug the book.

The goal is still to spotlight the book, but we focus much of our energy on establishing the author as the expert in his field. The media needs authorities to interview and the book is the evidence of his knowledge.

One particular author we worked with wrote a book about the phenomenon of Facebook. We pitched the author to technology magazines and talk shows as an expert available to discuss social media. Although some of the interviews were related to Twitter, Myspace, or Linkedin, they all provided him publicity to plug his book. These interviews would not have been possible if we just pitched the book about Facebook. Even if the interviews weren't exactly the same as the topic on the book our client was introduced as the author of his book and was asked questions about his book during the interview.

The bottom line is that authors should pitch the story and the news angle, not the book. It means more publicity.