“Prior to the 21st century, the path to garnering or generating publicity and media awareness for a product or service was laborious and cost-prohibitive for many. The encyclopedic volume Be the Media seeks to identify the plethora of millennial electronic media outlets available, and put them into the hands of entrepreneurs, self-publishers, and anyone outside the mainstream who is seeking media access. Persons who are unable to hire a music producer, publisher, or media professional may use this volume to navigate the new media environment. The book includes submissions from academics, writers, consultants, and syndicators.

The first part, "The Personal Media Renaissance," is a how-to guide that helps readers navigate the world of radio, music, podcasting, videos, and film. Following this is "The Community Media Renaissance," which reviews public access, social networks, open source, and community radio. Practitioners, students, and others who are not afraid of hard work will find these articles inspiring and informative.

Those who want to take ownership of their media message without depending on traditional outlets should read this book.

"We've been hearing for the last two or three years that the social media revolution was upon us and that Web 2.0 was creating a paradigm shift in the way we can do business.  I knew intellectually this was true, but until I read this book, I didn't understand the enormity and power of this shift or exactly HOW it was happening.  This book describes a true revolution-one in which the former small fry of various industries are shown how they can wrest control of their preferred media platform.  No longer do authors have to wait until they are accepted by a publisher.  Musicians no longer have to depend on a record label or prominent radio station disc jockeys to be heard.  Filmmakers can produce their own work.  Nonprofits can reduce their TV and newspaper advertising budgets, because there are other ways to spread the word about their mission.

There are nuggets of gold here for journalists, publishers, activists, broadcasters, marketers, publicists, licensors, and anyone who has something to promote, whether it's a product, a service, or a message.  The information in this book empowers you and me to take control and get a wider audience than was ever possible even as little as five years ago.  In fact David Mathison, the compiler of these articles written by a wide range of experts, chose self-publishing himself for this book instead of sharing the profit with a publisher.  Instead, he is sharing the profits with anyone who wants to become an affiliate and help him sell the book..."