Earlier this week, I wondered whose buzz sells more books, the New York Times or NPR?. "I'd put my money on Terry Gross any day," emails Clea Simon (left). But, she adds, just about any kind of radio will do. She recently learned that the first printing of her latest cat-themed mystery novel, Cries and Whiskers, sold out in less than two months—"and I attribute that to being featured on 'Steve Dale's Pet World' on WGN in Chicago." After she was interviewed on the show in early January, she reports, sales of the novel "skyrocketed... A Sunday evening pet show. Go figure."

Of course, one of the great things for authors about appearing on radio programs today is that local shows are no longer local—even if a program isn't syndicated to any other stations, there's a good chance it might be podcasted and thus available whenever a listener with a keen interest in the subject matter happens to stumble upon it. (Like Simon's appearance on Pet World, for example.) Wired editor (and The Long Tail author) Chris Anderson predicted earlier this week that "radio is going to get microchunked," with the emphasis shifting away from broadcast stations and towards neatly tailored programming. "The more granular, the better," he says, and though authors and publicists may hope for (and occasionally find) that one big radio placement that will create massive attention, there's a lot to be said for finding the perfect little show that reaches an ideal audience.