Book Publicity & PR Tips: How to Improve Your Media Opportunities

David Ratner — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:23:56 +0000

Source:
Newman Communications
Book Publicity & PR Tips: How to Improve Your Media Opportunities

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:

Who do you want to be known as?
Why should be people consider you as the right expert source?
What is your value proposition?
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.

The Art of Persistence – Balancing Persistence and Follow-up in Publicity

Ed Stafford — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:01:33 +0000

Source:
Newman Communications
The Art of Persistence – Balancing Persistence and Follow-up in Publicity

There is a scene in the movie “Miracle” when the 1980 USOC Olympic hockey coach Herb Brooks has his players conduct line to line skating drills late into the night after a particularly bad game. It is this scene, where Coach Brooks, is yelling “Again,” “Again,” to Assistant Coach Craig Patrick who is blowing his whistle, that reminds me what it is like to be a literary publicist, aka book publicist. While Brooks is hoping to build up leg strength and stamina in his players, as well as form a cohesive unit, the book publicist often finds his or her strength from not giving up and working again and again and again with its contacts and with new pitches until the book, product or organization gets the exposure its deserves.

My two nine-year-old boys just watched this movie scene and were horrified that Coach Brooks would push his players to exhaustion and pain. But each day at work, the Newman Communications staff, and I am sure many of our fellow book publicists throughout the country, operate on this same principal. The more pitches you make, the harder your follow-up with the print, broadcast and online media, and the greater effort you put in, the increased possibility you have for significant national and regional media exposure and the inevitable goal, a “bestseller.”

While it is never advisable to drown an individual media member with countless calls and emails, it is appropriate to be persistent. This will pay dividends in the end. In our work, if one pitch does not take, we develop a new one. If one journalist at a newspaper or online publication does not go with the pitch, there are many others who will. If one radio talk show on a station does not accept the pitch there are other talk show on the same station or other stations in the same market that might have a news-driven or personal reason for biting.

I once promoted a self published book that sold over 300,000 copies. This was due in part to our firm accepting the adage of another one of the authors we represented a number of times, Chicken Soup For the Soul’s Mark Victor Hansen, who always taught me to do 5 things each day to promote your product or self and you will be a success.

To operate on this “Again,” “Again,” “Again,” mentality, the book publicist needs to be aggressive and maintain a certain character that obviously entails dealing with rejection while simultaneously visioning with a spirit that strives for the win or as we sometimes call it, the hit.

So as we at Newman Communications put together your next radio schedule (RMT), we will be working til the day of the tour to make sure that we have kept to our credo of “Again,” “Again,” and “Again.” As as we develop a Television Satellite Tour (SMT), we will be searching til we get to the studio for new and larger markets. And as we put together city tours or work on a full campaign, our team will be brainstorming new pitches, working with new media and following up AGAIN with those who have not made a commitment to covering the book or product.