How Diets Become Popular: The Inside Story

Just like when 60 Minutes promotes a book published by Simon and Shuster, which is also owned by CBS.

The media is in business to make dollars and always has an agenda that is usually dictated by the management. That agenda is to make more dollars. If Meredith owns all these media outlets then it's natural to promote their own products through their own outlets. It would make good business sense to the management. The revenue from the book adds to the bottom line.

But, on the other hand, it is quite deceptive to the unassuming public.

I'm somewhat guilty of perpetuating the inquisitive mind to new media info about diets. I ask questions to those who jumped on the bandwagon with their money. When it involves too many restrictions in the line of food, I prefer to stick with the kind of food in the house, and try to use the old stand by of portion control and calorie out put.

sure the conspiracy theory sounds nice, except I work in book publishing (not for Meredith or their owner), and it really doesn't work that way. and whether or not the company owns another also-media-related company doesn't make a whit of difference when you get down to the level of promotion. when push comes to shove, most large media companies talk about synergy of this sort, but it never actually comes to fruition.

my guess as to why you've heard of the Sonoma diet, and not the other book? Meredith is a well established company who has done this type of book before. Who has ever heard of Quill Driver books? My guess is they're a regional house who doesn't have the distribution or the publicity department to get the word out. And never overestimate the abilities of a self-promoting author.

Also, take a look at the covers and the cover design. And the title. Snappy, attractive and not too complex but eye-catching will always trump overly wordy, poor photoshop and hard to read type.

Re: Cover design. You are right - the Sonoma Diet has truly captured the right title, and the right design. "California Wine Country Diet" is too wordy and generic.

Tell me this: How does one get their book presented as "news" on the 10 o'clock news (whether Fox or CBS or other)?

Conspiracy theories always engender a good discussion...

A while back, I sold all the diet books I had purchased over the years, in a yard sale. They were the first things to sell!
I bought everyone of them because I had read about them either in a magazine or on the web. All of them worked until I got tired of them and dropped them. Then I gained back the weight I'd lost.
I won't buy them anymore, no matter how they're hyped. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. Eating right, and ercising. When the sum of calories burned > the sum of the calories consumed, you lose weight.

I must admit that I, too, was intrigued enough by the photo cover & title of Sonoma Diet to stop & browse thru it....Only to discover, at a glance, that it advocates a well rounded/balanced diet that emphasises PORTION CONTROL!!!! Americans are guilty of gluttony, buying into the large corporations' "value meals" regardless of fast food or a sit down restaurant. The only value there is would seem to be if you honestly shared the meal with somebody to obtain proper portions....or if you can justify the "value" of today being a profit in the doctor's pockets later in life....cause you WILL eventually need them!

ok so theres hundreds of diets and the point is people are still fat, the reason because they dont work! none none none none none or the odd do but because it takes so long to come off they give up.

Jim--a good publicity person at the publishing company and/or a private publicist hired by the author, and possibly, though not neccessarily, an author with excellent media contacts, are generally how books get on TV.

Also, if someone on the show (producer or anchor) has been sucked in by the media web surrounding a property, seen in the stores, heard about it somewhere else, or picked it up themselves, they're more likely to think of the book when they're in desperate need for that human interest story to fill those 45 seconds.

An attractive, media savvy author who is approachable and personable on TV helps too, but doesn't guarantee anything.

I figured there would have to be some good "networking" going on - and a lot of contacts in the appropriate industry.

So how do I get the media on my side? I have a great new diet book that is worthy of world-wide exposure. My Diva Diet: A Woman's Last Diet Book. We present our message using animated "fitness superheroes" and "diet villains". Did you know that one out of five children are obese? What is being done? We want to do something. We plan on making an animated TV series and video game for children to be entertained, educated and motivated toward healthy habits.