Promoting Your Books Home Page Book Marketing Radio Publicity Other Media Publicity Online Marketing Bookstore Marketing Rights Sales and Branding Editorial & Design Unusual Tips Writers' Tips My Friends: Entries Other Notes Search This Site Book Order Form Contact Us Copyright © 2007 by Open Horizons and John Kremer Last modified: 9/07/07

Promoting Your Books Using Radio and TV Publicity to Sell Your Books Being a Good Radio Guest From Gerri Detweiler . . . Thanks for all the terrific information you've shared over the years. I have your books and tapes, and appreciate your advice. I've been an author and done many media interviews over the years. I now host a live weekly Everyday Wealth radio show where I interview other guests to talk about consumer and financial topics. For more info on the show, go here: http://www.wsradio.com/everydaywealth. I know your readers have heard the advice many times about creating an interesting hook, following up, etc. But it often doesn't happen. I now see from the other side -- as a host -- what can make a difference between an OK interview and a great one. Since my interviews are archived to the Internet so they can be heard for months afterward, it's a great feeling when someone does an interview that's worth hearing again and again! A few points authors should know: 1. It is virtually impossible to find a live publicity contact for a book publisher if I am interested in interviewing an author. Try it. Pretend you are interested in booking yourself for a radio show and go to your publisher's website to request a review copy of your book. You'll spend hours on dead ends and finally get directed to send a fax on letterhead, which will go into a black hole somewhere. Make sure there is another easy way for prospective hosts to find you, and google yourself periodically to check. 2. Publishers send me books with no press releases, and in some cases, no contact information. I may have a book that interests me but no easy way to book the guest. 3. Authors rarely follow up with my request for sample questions. I'll admit, I've been guilty of this in the past as a guest. Not anymore! This is the chance to tell the host what topics you would like to cover. As a host, I LOVE IT! (Mind you my show is weekly not daily.) It's a no brainer. (BTW, Alex Carroll is the master of this technique.) 4. Authors will not test their phone lines ahead of time to make sure they have a good connection, even though my studio gives instructions for doing so. I've had interviews where the guest is breaking up due to an older phone or phone cord, or on a cordless phone...Voice Over IP lines where they sound like they are in a tin can (which the studio cannot moderate, NOT good!)...and other glitches. Go to a local store and buy an inexpensive old, fashioned phone that plugs into the wall phone jack phone for your interviews. Next time you get booked for a show, ask them if you can quick call the studio the day before to check the quality of your line. They'll likely appreciate your attention to detail.

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 websites: 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

5. Convey some energy! This is what makes Alex Carroll so great, but why so many guests don't come across as strongly as they could. (For a great example of high energy, listen to my archived interview with David Bach at wsradio.com/everydaywealth in the 1.13.05 archives.)

6. I have no problem with guests repeating the title of their book in the interview, but if it's one of those long two-part titles, just stick to the first part after the first mention. Otherwise it sounds a little forced.

I am really a very easy host to work with...I love to see authors succeed and hope these tips help them do that! Of course, I am always looking for prospective guests on consumer financial topics. :-) A pitch and press release can be faxed to me at 941-227-4497. — Gerri Detweiler

Just a tidbit of advice from a senior producer at the Entertainment Tonight TV show:

“Show us how your item works. Show us where our viewers can get it. If it’s a book, a show or a drug — put it up there. Also, show us real people — not just product. We have an enormous appetite for people over product.”

All TV programs have an enormous appetite for people over product. In fact, all media have such an appetite. Give them people. Give them stories they can use. Focus on benefits to people not features of a product.

Entertainment Tonight, Sharlette Hambrick, Senior Producer, Paramount Pictures TV, 5670 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles CA 90036; 213-954-2597; Fax: 213-954-2661. Web: http://www.etonline.com.

Excerpted from Bulldog Reporter's Journalists Speak Out on PR ezine. Web: http://www.bulldogreporter.com.

Directory of Top TV Producers

Question: I am the author of Not Tonight Honey Wait Til I'm a Size 6, due out in May from Kensington. I was wondering where I might find (buy) a list of top TV producers to which to pitch my new wacky book? P.S. I love your web site! John's Answer: The best place is here: FreePublicity.com — Bradley Communications offers a database/directory of the top 241 national TV & cable shows that interview authors and other guests. You not only get contact names, addresses and emails but also detailed profiles on each show including what types of guests they want and the best ways to approach them.

Promoting Your Book Via Radio

Radio Publicity That Sells Books! — When you decide that you're ready to start dealing with radio stations directly, get Alex Carroll's program. His top radio show database, tapes of dealing with producers, and examples of actual talk shows will help you to become a radio talk show star — and sell more books via your interviews!

I hosted my first ever teleseminar on Monday, April 11th. My guest was bestselling author and radio publicity expert Alex Carroll of RadioPublicity.com.

He explained step-by-step just how simple it is to generate millions in book sales as a radio show guest without leaving home or spending anything on advertising. Alex himself has been a guest on 1,264 radio shows over the past 10 years. He's rarely left home (most radio interviews are done by telephone), he's never spent a dime on advertising (radio interviews are free), and most importantly, he's grabbed over $1.5 Million in direct to listener book sales.

Below are my notes from the teleseminar. These are obviously brief.

4 ways to get radio interviews and which ones are the most effective:

1. Place an ad in Radio/TV Interview Report. They'll help write your pitch.
2. Hire a pr firm. Expensive.
3. Mass email/fax/mail to producers. Rarely works.
4. Call the stations and pitch them yourself. Most effective.

10 things you need to have before doing radio interviews:

1. You've got to have a good show.
2. A toll-free number.
3. A web site is much more important now than a toll-free number.
4. Accept credit cards.
5. You may want to use an answering service. Wait and see what the demand is.
6. A good clear phone line to do interviews from.
7. A call recorder so you can critique your interviews afterwards.
8. A database of the top radio shows.
9. A great press kit.
10. Credentials: either PhD, etc. or experiential; for example, an ex-courier driver who beat 8 out of 10 tickets.

How to create a compelling press kit and media page on your website that'll have producers and hosts clamoring for you:

• Use color envelope to stand out.
• Place a sticker outside with a cartoon or other eyecatcher.
• Write “requested material enclosed” and circle it.
• Always hand-address envelope.
• Use a double-pocked portfolio.
• Paste your book cover on the outside (using something like 3M Super 77 spray-on adhesive).
• Put your press release in the left hand pocket.
• Include a page of sample questions behind news release. This simple trick gets the host to ask you the questions you want to talk about. It works 95% of the time.
• Include a controversy sheet behind your Q&A page. This sheet features newsworthy controversial points.
• In the right hand pocket, place letters of recommendation from previous radio producers plus news clippings.
• If you've done no previous interviews, feature articles on your subject. This is how you can use other people's publicity to get booked as a guest. Check out Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature at the library to locate articles related to your pitch.

The format for your news release:

• Upper left: Available for interview
• Upper right: contact and phone number
• Headline: the most important thing
• Subhead: added reason to book the author

3 columns: Print in color if possible:

• Column 1: bullet box teasers
• Column 2: photo of book plus interesting statistics in bulleted paragraphs
• Column 3: author bio plus photo of author

Doing your phone pitch, some hints:

• Keep track of your phone calls.
• Keep your pitch short.
• Leave one voice mail. No more than one.
• When you call the second time, hit 0, talk to the operator, and ask that the producer be paged.
• Give a short pitch to the producer.
• Let him or her know how you are going to send the package. E.g.: Watch for the big red envelope in the mail!
• Follow-up in a week by phone.

The two best days of the week to do interviews ... and the one day of the week to avoid.

• Tuesday is the best day because it gives people the entire work week to respond.
• Wednesday is next best.
• Thursday is next.
• Monday is next. People returning to work are easily distracted.
• Friday is the worst day because people are only thinking about the weekend.

How to do a great interview and sell your book at the same time ... without sounding like a commercial:

• Give people reasons why what you have to talk about is important. Use personal experience or statistics.
• In the first 60 seconds, establish WHY they need to listen to your interview. What will it cost them not to listen?
• Give lots of details to establish yourself as the authority.
• The more information you give them, the more likely they are to buy your book.
• Your close: The best way to order my book is from the publisher and if you mention the host's show, you'll get two free bonuses... The addition of bonuses was a little tweak that cost him a nickel, but tripled his sales overnight.
• Repeat your toll-free number and spell it out.
• Give people a reason to go to your web site.
• Don't ever leave an interview without your plug.

A clever way to get the radio host to keep promoting you ... weeks after you're gone:

Give them extra copies of your book to give away after the show.

How to get radio hosts to book you on dozens of other shows:

• Send thank you letter with your cell phone for emergency fill-in guests.
  To the host, write: If you happen to be a member of a radio show bulletin board system, please let them know I did a great show.
• BitBoard, Radio Online, RadioStar: bulletin boards where radio show hosts share great guests.
• You cannot join these. Only hosts can belong. If a host recommends you on one of these boards, it could result in another dozen interviews.

The most important keys to success in radio interviews:

1. Must have a good show and be passionate.
2. You have to have a good database of radio shows.
3. Be persistent in contacting producers.

Fiction books are more challenging to book. Here's what to do:

• You need to tie into the news with some element from your novel.
• Look for something controversial.
• Tie the news into the plot or major characters of your novel.
• Make it a great show. Be entertaining. Have fun.

Radio Publicity: Another Perspective

This following is an email I received from a very good publicist in response to a teleconference interview I did on getting radio publicity:

As you probably noticed, I was present at the teleconference on booking radio. As you offered it to your newsletter subscribers for free, and I have such great respect for you, and there was so much good information in that talk, (and as this is such a big can of worms), I'm reticent to bring up any feedback, but here I go.

It's always a conundrum when someone who is good at what he does has his underpinnings in something rather off-centered, so it's tricky. However, I cannot help but notice the following about your guest:

First, he's not completely honest. Examples include the fact that many big stations in big cities carry big wattages. So to tell your participants that stations the FCC reserves big wattages for little bitty towns that would otherwise not be heard and that if stations in big cities carried big wattages they would "bleed" into each other is simply not true and is very misleading. KGO in San Francisco is a 50,000 watt station and isn't bleedin' on anybody and reaches a whole lot of people up and down the coast. Hello?

[John's Comments: High wattage stations can bleed into other nearby stations (on the radio dial, not in physical location). That's why some high wattage stations can only turn on their highest wattage at night when other nearby stations are off air. The other way this can be controlled, of course, is to have no nearby stations on the radio dial, at least within near reach of the 50,000 watts.]

Also, *big* hole in telling people what their options are in getting on radio. He doesn't even mention book publicists!! He mentions public relations firms and then quotes staggering monthly prices. Mon Dieu! For the written record for all of you listening last night (or reading John's blog): book publicists are the work horses of the book marketing world and we do NOT (repeat, NOT) get (or charge) "five to ten thousand dollars a month." Baloney. I WISH! We are more likely to get two at BEST. And while it's all fine to tell people it's "easy" and "you don't need publicists to book radio" (John...), you might. I think your guest suffers from what I myself sometimes suffer from and I know other publicists who suffer from the same thing. We don't GET how what is "easy" for US is "hard" for someone else. We simply do not
get it. And that's why WE are the marketing people. I myself specialize in print media (I'm looking for serious readers), but the publicists who excel at booking radio such as Planned Television Arts, Newman Communications, Kathlene Carney & Associates and Peg Booth are not going to be charging such exaggerated fees, I assure you. They'd be out of business.

[John's Comments: Ah, but many PR firms do charge $5,000 or more a month. I know because I've talked to many of them. And they get it. Phenix & Phenix, for example.]

And this brings up a bigger can of worms for me, which pains me to say, which is the entire movement that tells the masses that it's easy to publish your own book, market your own book, distribute your own book, make those calls. It is not. It might be easy for those few of you who possess the qualities that your guest has, or I have, or John has. But it is NOT easy for the masses. And that's why they are now clamouring for teleconferences like last night because they were duped into thinking they could publish their own book and become, and be good at, oh, let's say TWELVE different professional jobs, and they are now sitting there wondering how in the heck they got into this and NOW WHAT DO THEY DO?

[John's Comments: Personally, I usually discourage people from self-publishing, if they ask me. The first questions I ask most of my clients is: Why are you self-publishing instead of selling the rights to a larger publisher? I think most authors are not cut out for self-publishing. As you say, it's a business, a time-consuming business.]

And you guys are now telling them they "don't need publicists", either?? Shame on you. :)

[John's Comments: I do believe that any author who is self-publishing can do most of the publicity work themselves if they sit down to learn the business and they create their Kremer 100 list and focus on it. They need to build relationships. I tell them that if they don't want to do that, they should hire a publicist who already has those relationships built up.]

No, instead your guest is telling them to leave ONE message to a producer, and then on the next call to simply hit zero and page the poor producer and then (oh, yes) "be succinct". Boy, now I know why 25 years ago I could get producers on the phone and why now I can't. Because some marketing bunny is profiting (bigtime) by telling people who are NOT professionals who have not been trained to call producers in the middle of their work day and have at it. Lordie.

[John's Comments: To be fair, in his course, he does teach people how to be succinct.]

OK, here's my last big big bugaboo with last night, where I'm referring to what people are hinged to, what their real agenda is. Because I'm thinking of all these poor working folks who are driving home in their cars after putting in what, ten hours including commute? And here's Our Expert telling book authors to "create controversy" because that's what radio wants, and that's what sells books. FORGET the effect this has on the commuter. Forget what he might really be needing at that moment, like an intelligent, thought-provoking conversation. No, go for the juglar. Because I profit. And the heck with the effect it's having out there on the roadways where we now have road rage to deal with and erratic and rude behaviours. Just feed the beast. That's the name of the game.

[John's Comments: Oh, my gosh, I never thought that creating controversy meant to upset commuters. I thought it mean to make things interesting. Most amateurs who go on radio are so boring simply because they are afraid to take a stand. I thought he was telling them to take a stand. Be interesting.]

I am a socially responsible publicist. I have maintained for (now moving toward) three decades that that title is NOT an oxymoron. I remain committed to *improving* what I call The Conversation. I promote thoughtful books aimed at raising consciousness, of reawakening people to their own true spiritual roots, to making a difference. And I deplore some of what was taught last night, because it is not good for people's hearts or souls. And as Chris Rock would say, "That ain't right."

[John's Comments: I believe very much in improving people and trying to create a better world. I do know that Alex sometimes pushes the point, but remember that he is often speaking to people who are afraid to stand up for their own point of view. He has to push their buttons sometimes. Most listeners get probably 25% of what he says. Most act on about 10%. As a speaker, I know this to be true for most audiences. They really get only a portion of what you have to offer. If you want them to get more, you often have to be outlandish, push buttons, be dramatic, overstate the case, etc., just so they do something.]

End of email message.

I think book publicists fill a great need. Secondly, few books will benefit from an all-radio publicity campaign. You really need to work print publications as well -- and, in many cases, more so. Personally, my favorite media vehicles are magazines and national newspapers such as USA Today and Wall Street Journal.

With any publicity or other promotions you do, the most important thing is to have fun doing it. If you're not having fun, hire someone who does enjoy it. Because only someone who truly enjoys what they are doing can be effective.

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.

Radio and TV Listings

Question: I love your site! I was working for another author sometime back that had a radio data base that I was using to get radio and tv interviews across the country. I am wondering if you can tell me where I can purchase this as I am working for another author. I also want to get your newsletters and want to become a member.

John's Answer: For a good radio database, contact Alex Carroll at AceCo Publishers, 924 Chapala Street #D, Santa Barbara CA 93101; 805-962-7834; Fax: 805-564-6868. He offers a database of radio stations as well as a course on getting publicity via radio phone interviews. Web Site: Radio Publicity.

For TV shows, Bradley Communications offers a directory of the top 240+ national TV & cable shows that interview authors and other guests. You not only get contact names, addresses and emails but also detailed profiles on each show including what types of guests they want and the best ways to approach them. Web site: Free TV Publicity.

My Book Marketing Update newsletter: $227.00 to $397.00 per year, depending on your status and what you want. You can order at BookMarket.com. $227 gets you the newsletter. $397 gets you the newsletter, free 10-minute consulting calls with me every month, 4 teleconferences, and access to all the back issues. A good value.

Do you currently also get my free email newsletter? You can do that by signing up at http://www.bookmarket.com/tips.html.