Note: The following post is written by Brian Feinblum, Chief Marketing Officer, Planned Television Arts.

If you look at where advertising bucks are invested, one would conclude that television is the most influential medium and the Internet would be dead last.

The Wall Street Journal reported (May 10, 2011) that, according to Kantar Media, more than 65 billion dollars was spent on advertising in 2010, virtually unchanged since 2006. Magazines took in about 25 billion last year, down from a high of 30 billion in 2007. Newspaper ad revenue hit 18 billion in 2010, a steep 35% drop from its 2005 high of 25 billion. Radio, at about 8 billion dollars edged out online advertising in 2010 by a few hundred million dollars..

Some of this has to do with price and availability. There are fewer opportunities to advertise on TV than in other types of media. The Internet has endless opportunities. As a result, TV charges a ton of money and the online world charges relatively little.

But don’t let the ad revenue fool you. The most influential medium, by far, is the Internet. It has changed how all of the other media operate. There is an ongoing convergence of all media and it is meeting online. Eventually the Internet will take over the No. 1 spot for advertising.

A bigger question is this: Does advertising pay off, especially for authors and publishers? For the most part, I would conclude it does not. Strategic marketing, savvy social networking, the use of professional publicists, and an author who can hit the road with seminars and book signings can do a lot more with valuable ad dollars than paying for ads that don’t quite pay for themselves. Not only do ads cost a lot of money, you need repetition to break through, which means more money needs to be spent. Finally, many authors lack the distribution to match the ad campaign, thus, the investment has less of a chance to pay off.

Who does advertising pay off for? The media outlets selling the ads! But the rare instances that advertising pays off would be:

• To promote a series vs. a single title.
• If the ad is in a publication that targets the books’ likely reader.
• If the book is a must-have (need) vs. must want (desire).
• If the book is by a known author and the ad doesn’t need to explain anything, only merely announce the book.
• If the book has a high price tag and a low production cost.
• If the book is being packaged with other products or a Web site that sells other things.

Even under any of these circumstances, advertising is just not cost-effective. But I’m not here to bash advertising because it can pay off for some, especially to sell non-books or things with higher price tags.

So, if you’re looking to choose between doing some advertising, publicity, marketing, social networking or anything else to get your book noticed and sold, explore all options and be ready to find the medium and method that offers the biggest potential return on your investment. Whatever you choose will involve an investment of money, time and resources and it’ll take luck, timing, and a quality book to succeed.

And if you hit the bestseller list or find a way to get rich off of your writing, take out an ad to let us know.

– Brian Feinblum, the chief marketing officer for Planned Television Arts, has been promoting and marketing authors since 1989. Pick up the phone and call: 212-583-2718. Email: feinblumb@plannedtvarts.com. Web: http://www.plannedtvarts.com. Brian’s new blog can be found at http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com.

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