When it comes to book publicity, KNOW YOUR NICHE, MAKE YOUR PITCH!

In the book publicity world in which we book publicists “play”, trying to generate media exposure for clients is often a difficult challenge.  There is no shortage of experts and authors who are competing for the same space, be it in print, television, radio or online.  We have no doubt, if given the opportunity, that most our authors can do a tremendous job of impressing the media with their insight and knowledge, but in order to get them there, we need to be on point with our pitches.  In acting as their mouthpiece, and trying to open the media gates, it is essential for our authors to help us help them.

Find your Focus

When discussing this with our authors, especially those who are looking to use their book and the media coverage it might yield as a means to broaden their brand and platform, we try to get them as focused as possible.  To do this, we ask a few questions:

1. Who do you want to be known as?
2. Why should be people consider you as the right expert source?
3. What is your value proposition?
4. What are your “bold statements”?

For many, the answers seems simple, yet as the conversation develops and we start peeling away the layers, they (and we) often realize that they are entering crowded waters because the answer is too broad.  These questions should be answered in a few sentences at most, not paragraphs.

Know your niche

It is incredibly important that authors have a deep understanding  of their niche expertise and where it adds value (the niche within the niche).  It’s great to have a broad understanding of a given topic (i.e. personal finance, health, human behavior) but there are a lot of experts who have that same scope of understanding, and in many cases, with bigger platforms.  Instead, the focus should be taking an area (or a few) within the niche and honing in on that angle to create opportunities.  Rather than being all things to all people, find something that you can really dig your heels into as an expert and establish that first.

Sizzle is good, substance is better

While how you say it does make an impact, it’s what you say that is most important.  Make sure your message and outreach ties in with your initiatives (selling books, creating new business opportunities, laying the foundation for more speaking, populating your brand) and then run with it.  It is also important to know your audience.  While everyone wants to be in The NY Times or USA Today, it is often the more niche-related outlets that will have an impact on your goals. !

Once you have done the good work  in your “tightened-up” niche and developed a level media credibility, it will open doors to cast that wider net most experts are hoping for.  So, the next time you engage in a book publicity or promotional effort, “know your niche, then make your pitch!

Visit our site at Newman Communications for more Book Publicity information and services.

Book Promotion and Book Publicity Tips for Authors

Promoting Your Book on Facebook

If you use Facebook (and who doesn’t), you’re probably by now familiar with  Facebook Business and Brand Pages. As an author, or anyone with a product or brand, you should familiarize yourself with these pages and learn how to take full advantage of their benefits to increase your visibility, marketing, and publicity efforts.

We’ve put together a few tips to help you get started with the new pages and to kick-start your book promotion and publicity. And if you’re not an author, we think you’ll find this information just as helpful.

The Cover Image
Judging a Facebook Page By It’s Cover

The Cover Image is new to Timeline and gives you a chance to really personalize or create an identity for your page. This is the first thing people will see when they visit your page. Just like the cover image of your book, you can really make or break a first impression here. Give this some thought and create an aesthetic and powerful heading for your page that really illustrates who you are and what you do.

The Cover Image is a landscape formatted image (horizontally long) that stretches across the top of your page. This is a feature you should take full advantage of on your book promotion page, but be careful not to over-promote. You have creative freedom over how you design your cover image, but there are a few “rules” to be aware of.

[UPDATED - 5/22/2013]

• The image can not be Ad-centric. In other words, you can not use the image as an Ad or to directly promote a product or service.
  • It cannot include prices or discount information
  • It cannot include contact information
  • It cannot use calls to action: Visit our site, Download now, Like our page, etc
  • It cannot contain more than 20% text
• The image must be at least 399 pixels wide. Facebook recommends 851×351 pixels.
• (NEW rules) All covers are public. This means that anyone who visits your Page will be able to see your cover. Covers can’t be deceptive, misleading, or infringe on anyone else’s copyright. You may not encourage people to upload your cover to their personal timelines.
• Covers may not include images with more than 20% text.

It’s interesting that these changes now seem to allow page owners to use calls to action in a page’s cover image that encourage visitors to perform some specific action (download now, click, share, etc).

You can read all about the “official” rules on Facebook’s FAQ Page and Facebook Page Guidelines

Profile Image
Giving your Book Promotion a Face

In addition to uploading the Cover Image, you may also want/need to upload a new profile image. The Profile image is pretty important and should be selected with care. This image will be used as your visual identity across all of Facebook, appearing next to all of your activity, comments and posts. Be sure to select something that reflects you or your brand. A logo or personal picture are good options. As an author, think about using the same personal photo used in the book sleeve, or a photo of the book itself.

The profile picture is displayed as a square either as 125 x 125 pixels or 150 x 150 pixels, resizing automatically according the the screen size of the viewing device. Facebook suggests that you upload your image using a minimum of 180 x 180 pixels for the best results.

Highlight The Goods

One of the new features of Timeline is the ability to Highlight posts. Activities and news generated through a book promotion or publicity campaign make great pieces to add and highlight on your page’s timeline. This is a great way to include milestones or add emphasis to and make the good stuff stand apart from the usual posts. Normally, posts are reduced to half the width of a page and arranged to either side of the Timeline which runs vertically down the middle. Highlighting a post expands it to fill the full width of the Timeline. Using this feature will draw attention to posts that you want your page visitors to see above all others. The results of a good book publicity or book promotion campaign can produce lots of great events to highlight.

Highlights:

• Posted great interview with media
• Add Links to your articles that get posted on New York Times and other popular sites and blogs.

Milestones:

• Made the Amazon Bestseller List
• Goals Reached:  Sold X copies of your book

To highlight a post, hover over it. You will see a small box appear in the corner with a Star and a Pencil inside it. Click the Star and your post will transform, taking up the full width of your timeline.

Pin the Important Stuff

Pinning posts is another new feature similar to highlighting, but with some added emphasis on the “emphasis”. This is another effective book promotion tactic that you can easily include with your strategy. Pinning a post will move it to the top of your page where it will be one of the first things your visitors see. Any post on your timeline can be pinned to the top where it will be visible without having to scroll through the timeline (or at least not have to scroll far). Once pinned, the post will remain at the top of the page for 7 days. After the 7 days has passed, the post will be moved back to it’s original place in your timeline.

This is a great way to inform visitors of upcoming book promotion events, announcements or news. If you have an upcoming book signing, or a scheduled interview appearance, pin the post to make sure your visitors are aware of it.

To Pin a post, follow the same process for highlighting. Instead of clicking the Star, click the Pencil and select “Pin-to-top”.

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Visit our site at Newman Communications for more Book Publicity information and services.