Thoughts on book marketing

I recently received a postcard in the mail, offering to tell me "the seven key differences between top authors and all the rest." The card was quite vague on who was providing this information, and promised that all would be revealed if I signed up for a "FREE teleseminar" (emphasis theirs) at a website or via 800 number.

Well, I did some detective work, and found out that the card was a marketing piece from Steve Harrison, owner of Radio-TV Interview Report. This is a bi-monthly magazine sent to "over 4,000" radio and TV producers. They don't pay for the report - to subscribe, one faxes in a request on company letterhead. Steve makes his money from the interviewees. Apparently, one buys an advertisement (the site is very upfront about that) in the magazine.

Don't get me wrong here. Mr. Harrison is not trying to scam anybody, and he is delivering a service to his advertisers. However, a quick look at his guest list suggests that the vast majority of the guests are non-fiction writers. It's not at all clear what good he could do for a novelist. Not only that, there's little or no screening going on. He has somebody listed as a pirate expert, Ms. Pavanne LeJeune Pettigrew. Her expertise seems to consist of writing a pirate novel and reading the news. (Huh - same expertise I have.)

This leads me to suspect that the "FREE teleseminar" will be all about how I should advertise in Radio-TV Interview Report. Mind you, that might be a good idea for me, but why be so vague about it? Just tell me upfront what you're selling and I can go from there.