|
Copyright © 2007 by Open Horizons and John Kremer
Last modified: 9/05/07
|
Promoting Your Books
Selling Books Via Media Publicity
Writing Good News Releases
I hate so many news release leads. How about this one?
“Revolutionary parenting book is released to worldwide audience via
online outlets such as Amazon.com, bn.com, and at retail bookstores
nationwide, including Borders, Books-A-Million, and Barnes & Noble.”
Well, gosh, that makes me want to read the rest of the news release.
Where's the news? Where are the benefits? Why would I as a reader want
to read more? Why would I as an editor want to read more? There are new
revolutionary parenting books published every day. That's not news.
“xxx teaches us a radically new approach to parenting, unlike the many
parenting techniques in the marketplace, this is the first one that
shifts the focus back to the parents, and away from the kids. The
result is a more peaceful and calm household, and a way to launch your
kids out into the world as the great adults that you want them to be.”
How does shifting the focus from child to parent create a more peaceful
and calm household? No logic to this paragraph. How is this radically new? Gosh, I'm sold.
Now the third paragraph is interesting? It says something:
“The key to good parenting depends on you, because you are the one you
can ultimately control,” says parenting expert and family therapist,
xxx. “If you make sure you behave — even when your kids misbehave —
then you have a greater chance of positively impacting the situation,
any situation. Let's face it: parenting is the hardest thing you will
ever do — but it can also be the most rewarding.”
From then on, there are some great details, but the news release is way
too long and disjointed. No central message.
The mistake most news release writers make is to try to say everything
in a news release. The result? They say nothing.
What is the key to a good news release? Simple. Tell a story. Take it
down to one person, a real person. Key on that person's needs -- the
same needs as 90% of your target audience. How can you change that one
person's life? That's the story. Always was, always will be.
Stories are never about abstract ideas, never about abstract audiences.
Stories are always about people. Real people. People with hearts that
break, toast that burns, and lives that always seem somehow incomplete.
Your goal? To complete.
|
John Kremer, Book Promotion Expert
John is the author of 1001 Ways to
Market Your Books and editor of the Book Marketing Update newsletter.
Amazon.com Secrets
The Inside Secret of Book Marketing
An Interview with John Kremer
Selling Novels
Q&A: Selling
Children's Books
My web sites:
BookMarket.com
The Self-Publishing Hall of Fame
The Biology of Business
JohnKremer.com
JohnKremer.net
JohnKremer.org
CelebrateToday.com
Hot
Times, Cool Places
WayBackWords.com
My blogs:
Promoting Your Books
Hot Times,
Cool Places Blog
Open Horizons
P O Box 2887
Taos NM 87571
505-751-3398
|
Newspaper Book Review Editors
Question: Is the list of newspaper book
reviewers posted on your site (http://www.bookmarket.com/newspapers.html).
recent? It seems like a very small list, compared to the number of newspapers
out there.
John's Answer: I note in the newspaper
listings when I updated each listing (see the dates in parentheses). The list is
small (only 50 newspapers), but it does include most of the major newspapers
that actually do their own book reviews.
There are certainly many other newspapers, but if you want to get noticed in
them, you'll probably have to reach their special interest editors (sports,
food, business, religion, or whatever fits your book).
The reality is that, for most books, newspaper reviews have little impact. You
will get the most impact from reviews, interviews, or notices in magazines.
The time when you most want to appear in a newspaper is when you are doing a
bookstore appearance or other speaking engagement in the local area. Then you
want the interview to occur before or on the day of your appearance.
The Biggest Mistake in Writing News Releases
In the last issue of his Million Dollar Publicity Strategies newsletter, my good friend Paul Hartunian wrote about a press release he received. Here is the lesson he teaches. It is something many of you need to read more than once. I know, because I still see so many of you making this same mistake over and over again.
Their press release started with the words: “XXX Network's slogan, ‘Get business, not just business cards!’ sums up their networking philosophy. The organization, founded in 2003, is an extremely productive and high energy networking organization.”Now, what's my first publicity lesson to you?
If you said, “Nobody gives a rat's rear end about XXX Network,” you win a gold star. You've been reading my lessons over the past months and years.
The release goes on to yap about how wonderful XXX is. And more yap, and more yap and more yap.
Then they make a sales pitch to join their networking company.
How many times have I taught you that no one — absolutely no one — cares about you. People only care about what you can do for them.
The #1 mistake people make when they write press releases is that they fill
the release with information about themselves, their business, their product, etc.
I've said it over and over again in these lessons — absolutely no one cares
about you, your product, your business, or whatever.
No one.
Even your mother lies to you.
Did you understand his message? It's really very simple: No one cares about your book, your publishing company, or you. What they want to know is very simple: What's in it for me?
Even those of us who are unselfish, caring, and giving people — even we
still want to know what benefits you have to offer to us. You can tell me
everything you can think of about your product, but if you never tell me how I
can use it to make my life better, or save money, or lose weight, or take
better care of my family, well, then your product means nothing to me. I don't
need it. I don't want it. I couldn't care less.
The sad thing is that your book might be just what I'm looking for,
something I really need, but if your news release is focused solely on the
book, I will never hear about it.
Make me care. Tell me why I should be interested. Move me to act. Break my
heart. And heal it again.
Writing and Sending News Releases
The following is excerpted from:
How To Steal To The Top Of Google: Use the News by Danny Wall on SEO
Chat. It describes how to write and send a news release that gets attention.
===
Let me give you a good example. Lets say you sell a product that teaches
people how to swing a bat properly and is aimed at baseball and softball
players (and their parents). What you do is you hang back and you proceed to
watch some baseball games, waiting for one of the big name batters to make
some significant batting mistake. When they do (and they will because no one
is perfect) you send a press release that says:
“Holy Crap! Did you See The Mistake Barry Sosa Made At Bat?”
You then talk about the error, that was made, say what the correction is, and
give a link to a page on your website that talks about common batting errors
and how to fix them, and gives contact information for reaching you by voice.
And you had better answer the phone, and if you miss the call you had better
call back promptly.
Let me reiterate what I just said. The phone number you give goes to you. Not
your secretary. Not your marketing VP. You.
That press release gets sent out to every single sports reporter in the
country (or at least to those that you know about), by fax (not email, not
B.S. internet media press release, by fax) well before the game is over. You
just became a sports reporter's best friend. You’ll probably get written about
by a very significant percentage of the sports writers. But you may find
yourself getting called for interviews by both TV and radio personalities.
You’ll find that article popping above the number one search term for things
like “baseball” and “hitting” or “batting.”
You see, the technique I just mentioned allows you to solve a reporter's
problem. How to find news that is actually news. Any idiot can report the
scores and the newspapers know that. But the reporters that pick up your
“story” will be heroes to the newspapers because it’ll be something
interesting. It’ll be about something that happened to a “celebrity” and
explains how to “fix it.” All it takes is imagination and the willingness to
keep your eyes open and “exploit” current events to your favor.
Did you just hear about some bad business decision by some major celebrity?
That’s good news if you do almost anything related to the financial sector.
Is the price of gas going up? That’s good news if you do almost anything that
helps to extend a car’s fuel economy.
But you have to be willing to be bold, to use your imagination. Notice that
the headline above may actually “offend” some people. Believe it or not,
that’s a good thing. Now, you don’t want to go out of your way to be
offensive, but at the same time, some people are always offended by anything
that is bold and out of the ordinary.
If you want your company, your web site, to be picked up by the news you have
to stand out. You have to be bold. You have to be willing to stand out from
the crowd. Some people are going to be offended by that.
===
To read the entire article, which provides great advice on getting to the top
of Google, go to
SEOChat.com.
Book Publicity Notes from Irwin Zucker
The following are a few pieces of advice from my friend, book publicist Irwin
Zucker:
“Radio is a very good medium for steady, progressive publicity. But for massive
exposure, nothing beats a national TV show like Oprah's. We all want that and
other hot TV shows. Good local TV shows are needed as well and the news segments
of TV stations mean a lot to gain sales.”
What then is the value of radio? “Radio is very, very important because you get
more time with this medium and you can rise to the occasion with your
viewpoints. Interviews in daily papers are also essential as well as book
reviews. I think a good balance of radio, TV and print can generate sales on a
book that really has it between the covers.”
The caveat is: “You can't make a lousy book a bestseller no matter how intensive
the PR might be. In the end the public tells us whether a book is good or
not--based on sales. That’s the reality. You’ve got to have the product to win
this type of ballgame.”
For information on Irwin's services, contact him at Promotions in Motion:
323-461-3921.
Reader Brag:
Emailing Media for Fast Response
The following is a mini-brag that Paul Krupin sent to the
Publish-L discussion list a few months ago:
Yesterday I sent out a news release for author and
relationship expert Barbara de Angelis. Many of you may remember her TV shows
and infomercials several years ago.
Barbara has just published a new book titled How Did I Get
Here? Finding Your Way to Renewed Hope and Happiness When Life and Love Take
Unexpected Turns. We sought to get a few interviews for Barbara to provide
commentary and analysis on the Runaway Bride - Jennifer Wilbanks story.
Great guest, timely topic. Quick action on a developing story.
Jennifer had just called in from Albuquerque to say she was safe. The news
release was 498 words in length and was sent to radio and TV in html with a
picture of Barbara and the book cover. We sent the news release at exactly
11:55 AM Pacific Time. Here's what happened:
One minute, yes, one minute after I transmitted the release, Geraldo called
Barbara. He said: “I'll send a car up to Santa Barbara to pick you up and
bring you to the studio.” She was on the show live at 7:15 PM. She did a great
job.
CNN called half an hour later and booked her for a phone
interview at 7:30 AM this morning.
Good Morning America watched Geraldo and called her
right after the show, and they booked an interview via satellite uplink for
GMA from Santa Barbara for the main show for Monday morning. This bumped
another radio talk show interview that had come in from New York and also
wanted her for the same time slot on Monday morning. Oh well.
Not bad for a Saturday morning news release. Sure is fun
contributing to the national dialog.
You never know who's reading their email. Media also pay attention to other media.
— Paul J. Krupin . . . Transmit your news releases to custom
targeted media lists:
http://www.imediafax.com. Or call 800-457-8746 or 509-545-2707. The cost
to work with Paul is 15 cents per email, with a minimum fee of $50.00. That
includes his help in creating the right media list for your book. For a small
additional fee, he'll critique your news release or write one for you. He's a
good fellow to work with. Alas, he doesn't pay me any referral fees.
Book Publicity and Having Fun
If you watched the Harry Potter phenomenon pass by, one thing
you will have noted is that Scholastic enforced an embargo on all bookstores:
None could sell the book until the publication date (July 16th). Anyone who
broke this rule would not be able to buy from Scholastic again — and would not
be allowed to sell the next Potter title.
Well, from what I read, only one store inadvertently sold three copies. The
three people who bought the books were tracked down and offered an autographed
copy of the book in exchange — with a promise that they would not tell anyone
what they had read. The embargo really worked.
Now, why am I writing about this embargo? Because you can play off the idea if
you'd like. Here is a suggestion from Martin Foner, publisher of the
Publishing Newsletter monthly email:
Note that the secrecy, keeping the books in boxes until a
specific date and time, is simply another marketing tactic designed to create
more and more hype. It didn’t hurt that a court in Canada had to issue an
order to recover a dozen pre-sold books. It also didn’t hurt that dozens of
websites created huge lists of questions and possible resolutions to the
various themes and sub themes of the series.
How can YOU take advantage of this kind of promotion? I have thought about it
and have come up with this very much off the wall idea. When it works, send me
a note about how you did it and your results:
Choose your title carefully. This will work one time and one time only, so
make it a really interesting title, one that will have bestseller potential,
or one whose subject would benefit from this odd approach.
Send a package to your reviewer/media/buyer lists with a notice printed on the
manila outer envelope:
NEW BOOK FROM ABC PUBLISHERS.
DO NOT OPEN THIS PACKAGE UNTIL (SET A DATE AT LEAST 30 DAYS
AFTER THEY WOULD RECEIVE IT) OCTOBER 15.
IF YOU OPEN THIS PACKAGE BEFORE THE DATE,
A MICROCHIP WILL TURN THE REVIEW COPY INTO A BLANK BOOK.
Of course, no one can resist such a challenge, and every
person will simply rip open the envelope. Inside they will find your media
materials, press release, and related info, all as normal. When it comes to
the book, they will discover a blank covered, blank 32 page book, with a note
clipped to the cover stating if they did (accidentally!) open the package
prematurely and their book is blank, to call you/email you at…. and you’ll be
glad to send them another copy of the book.
You might find this a juvenile way to do business, but it will open your eyes
as to how many of your reviewers/media/buyers are actually opening your
packages. And THAT is one very important piece of information for future
campaigns. Notwithstanding, the buzz and response you’ll get for being
creative will exceed the usual attention level your materials have been
receiving in the past.
Yes, some people will actually ask you how the book turned into a blank book.
Do not give away the secret. Just send them a new book and keep their name on
a hot inquire list for the future.
There are two big advantages to trying this experiment once:
1. You might get more attention from reviewers. 2. You will get a better idea
how many people open your packages. That's something worth knowing.
Now, before anyone accuses me of cheating and deception, please remember that
I am passing along an idea from Martin Foner. If you have problems with this
little fun, please email him at
mfoner@nplconsulting.org.
I actually believe that you should have fun sometimes with your press releases
and test variations, mailing packages, etc. You never know what will get
through the gates at various media outlets. So experimentation is a vital part
of your publicity arsenal. Have some fun with your publicity. Don't be shy.
Ask stupid questions. Do stupid things. You won't know what really works until
you try. Stop being so tied up by rules, mine or others. And, believe me, I
have lots of rules. But I have fun, too.
Writing Letters to the Editor to the New York Times
At MediaBistro.com, the MB Toolbox blog featured a short tip on how to get
your letter to the editor featured in the New York Times. It offers
some great succinct tips that should increase your chances for success in
writing letters to the editor of any newspaper. Take a look here:
http://www.mediabistro.com.
Approaching Newspaper Book Reviewers
The following three paragraphs of advice are from a newspaper book
reviewer. You should heed her advice if you are approaching newspaper book reviewers.
“The best way for unknown writers to get their work reviewed is to look at the
papers and reviewers they would like to see cover their books and then write
to these people as if they actually had an interest in the paper or reviewer.
“The sort of bitter, demanding letters I have been getting (the legitimate
letters) are off-putting as hell. The idea seems to be that just because
someone has written a novel—and had it published by some POD outfit—he has the
God-given right to have it reviewed.
“BUT, if the writer had spent a little time (about 1/100th of the amount he is
asking the reviewer to spend) looking into the reviewer's work and bothering
to, shall we say, CURRY the reviewer's favor in some way, there is an outside
chance someone might give the book a shot. You probably know this--but you are in a miniscule minority.”
PR Web Direct News Release Service
“PR Web Direct (http://www.prwebdirect.com/index.php)
recently sent out a 400-word press release for me. I spent $80.00 for this
service. Within hours of the release going out, it was picked up by a news
wire service. A journalist called to interview me about Random House's release
of Flying by the Seat of My Pants: Flight Attendant Adventures on a Wing and a
Prayer. The story he wrote was sent out on the news wire to radio shows around
the world, and now I've been swamped with media calls. I've been doing morning
radio shows from as far away as Ireland, and all over the United States and
Canada. My sales at Amazon.com have gone through the roof, and the book isn't
even released yet. And all this from one press release. I highly recommend PR
Web Direct.” — Marsha Marks,
http://www.flyingbytheseatofmypants.net.
Promoting Your Books with a Great News Release Lead
Below is a great example of a lead sentence for a news release, this one written by Shel Horowitz for a client.
First paragraph:
It's 10 O'clock. Do you know where your credit history is? How about
your employment records? Your confidential medical information?
Second paragraph:
How would you feel if you found out this sensitive and
should-be-private material is vacationing in computer databanks around
the world -- accessible to corporate interests who can afford to track
down and purchase it, but not necessarily open to your own inspection?
John's Comments: The first
paragraph is great. It plays off an old line about knowing where your
children are — which only makes knowing where your credit history is just that more vital.
The second paragraph is one long sentence. If I were writing it, I'd
probably rewrite that sentence into two or even three sentences. But the
points it makes are still important. Any media reporter would pick up this
news release and know that there is something important that the author has to say.
Promoting Your Books by Telling Good Stories
The following is courtesy of Rosalind Miller, author of The Great Success Manual:
How many of us can look back as to the source of motivation that
sparked off that initial direction we took in our careers? Who acted as
mentors, friends, inspirators, pastors and teachers--that individual
who you could look back and say thank you for that break you gave me,
the confidence and love you had for me? Sadly, not all past experiences are positive.
Well the story goes: An alter boy during Mass, made a mistake and was
severely ostracized by the priest, warning the boy he would grow up as
a failure. Across the ocean, another boy made an error at Mass, but he
was gently told that mistakes do happen and that he would someday grow
up to be successful. The first boy was Stalin, and the second was Bishop Fulton Sheen.
John's Comments: What stories to
you have to tell? Stories are an essential part of writing any book --
and an even more important part of promoting your book. Learn to tell
stories that make a difference. It's not hard. And, as you can see from
the above story, it doesn't take many words to make a point.
Reader comment on above:
John, as you say, telling stories to sell books can go well beyond the
stories printed between their covers! As an author and editor, I promote
my books and my clients' books by telling the story behind the story.
In a few months, Sacred Visitations: Gifts of Grace that Transform
the Heart and Awaken the Soul, a story-filled guide for ordinary
folks, will be released. I'll tell even more stories to our online
community members on
SacredVisitations.com (soon to go live!).
In the meantime, I'm telling behind-the-book stories to folks who
subscribe to my author ezine, OPIE... Thanks for your fabulous work to
level the playing field for self-publishers! I'm a longtime fan. — Ceci
Miller, CeciBooks.com
Publicity, Publicity, Publicity
Question: I am working on a story about
different organizations and their observance months. In the story, I would
like to discuss why some organizations are more well known than others. March,
for example, is American Red Cross Month and National Kidney Month. But March
is also known as National Eye Donor Month and is the month when Brain
Awareness Week is observed. I myself never heard of Brain Awareness Week.
Could it be that we, as a society, put more emphasis on some public health
issues and ignore others?
John's Answer: Which months we pay
attention to have more to do with publicity and advertising rather than merit.
National Dairy Month in June is better known than National Blueberry Month,
National Seafood Month, National Chicken Month, etc. because it has been
promoted for so many years.
There really aren't that many weeks or months that are well known because the
organizations behind the months haven't put in the work to make them better
known. We do know of Black History Month and Women's History Month because
schools pay so much attention to them. But schools don't pay hardly any
attention to various health months.
In my International Special Events Database, I have 1,033 months listed. How
many can I name off the top of my head? Perhaps 30.
How many weeks? 780 of them. And I doubt the average person can name more than
five and probably place the correct dates for one.
But then how many people can tell you when Human Rights Day is. Or
Constitution Day. Or Flag Day. Many people know about Father's Day but most
would have to look at a calendar to say when it was. And there may be only ten
people in the world who really know how to figure the date for Easter. (There
are basic rules, and then some exceptions that make it sometimes controversial
when it should occur.)
I could write more, but you get the idea. To get people's attention, you have
to create and create publicity. Year after year, even for special
commemorations. How many of us would forget Mother's Day if every retail store
in the country weren't reminding us? Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas,
Easter -- most of us will remember them. But how many would remember Martin
Luther King Day, President's Day, Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, Columbus Day --
if not for schools and postal holidays?
And you wonder why it is that sometimes people have not yet heard of your
book? Publicity is not a two week event. It is a day in and day out persistent
effort. Knock on doors. Make phone calls. Write email. Send letters. And don't
forget to call Mom on Mother's Day.
Why We Leave a Message When Phoning Media
The following tip is from Bryan Farrish of Bryan Farrish Radio Promotion. I
thought it was a gret explanation for why we make phone calls and more phone
calls when attempting to break through to the media. Enjoy the read...
When authors or public speakers (i.e., clients) hire a PR firm or promotion
company for the first time, they are often taken aback by the large number of
messages that the firm leaves with radio stations. The clients view the
situation as, “Hey, why are you just leaving messages, and not promoting me to
them?!”
Well, there are several answers here. The first is: Messages ARE promotion.
What has happened is that the client assumed that (1) the firm is not
including the client's info in the messages, and (2) that messages are of
absolutely, positively, no use at all.
And let's not forget the receptionist factor (also known as the assistant or
producer factor): Anyone who thinks that leaving messages with these folks
(and thus warming them up to the idea of having the client as a guest) is a
waste of time has obviously never had to work their way through business
situations in the past. |
|
Suppose you loaned your next door neighbor $500. You did not know him that
well, and now you hear that he might be moving out soon. You want your money
back, so you knock on his door, and you call, but no answer. So what do you
do? You leave a message. But wait.. why would you leave a message if messages
are so useless? Then, you hear he might be moving out as soon as tomorrow, so
you try again but can't reach him.
So you leave ANOTHER message. The chances of you getting your money back
are based on how many times he hears your messages, of course.
But some clients still just don't like messages. Some PR firms skirt this
issue by changing the words "Left Message" to "Pitched" (giving the impression
that a phone conversation about the client occurred,) or, by not putting the
messaged-stations on the report in the first place (waiting instead until
there is human-human contact), or, by not giving reports at all, and just
letting the client see the end results. The advantage to this is that a client
won't complain of all the messages, since the messages are invisible. But the
disadvantage is that the client does not know what is going on with these
stations either, or, that the firm is doing any work at all.
Also hidden in some reports is the fact that many people (especially at
talk stations) are involved in the possible booking of a single client. Matter
of fact, if the client is a general-topic client, there are some talk stations
that have over THIRTY separate hosts and producers (not to mention the
assistants and receptionists) that need to be pitched individually, by phone.
But on the report, it may only appear as "Left Message" for that single
station. This type of report is easy to read, but it does make it look like
there is less going on than there really is.
One client made our point for us; he said "I've booked myself before, and I
had a 70% success rate AFTER I GOT THEM ON THE PHONE." Yes, of course... and
how do you think he got them on the phone?.... Messages! And that's how we do it.
Messages are especially important with the only non-visual medium: Radio.
Radio people work best with sound, and they are just not going to react as
well to visual press releases.
Depending on how much you are paying your firm, they might try to reach
each station once, or they might try twice (this would cost twice as much,) or
they might not try at all, as is the case with some lower cost campaigns. With
these, they just send a press release.
Point is, the more attempts and messages that are left, the more responses
are obtained, and the more people are spoken to (as a result of the messages.)
And thus, there are more results.
— Bryan Farrish Radio Promotion is an independent radio interview promotion
company. Call 310-998-8305 x95. Email:
interviews@radio-media.com.
Web: http://www.radio-media.com.
