To get media publicity, you have to have the right attitude. In fact, your attitude is more important than your aptitude, says US book publicist Jodee Blanco in The Complete Guide to Book Publicity, available on Amazon.

Having the right attitude starts with understanding how you can develop a win-win relationship with the media. Unlike advertising, you can’t buy editorial space – you have to earn it.

This means researching the media outlet you are approaching with a well-considered story idea that will appeal to their audience. You earn publicity by helping journalists do their jobs. The win-win comes when you get valuable free coverage money can’t buy and the journalist gets a story.

As Jodee Blanco says: “Many novices are either too tentative or overly cocky on the phone…”  The key is being confident enough to sell your pitch while understanding the media don’t owe you anything. You are trying to help them do their job.

It’s your preparation that brings confidence.

The other key factor to having the right attitude is overcoming fear of rejection. Your book won’t be right for every media outlet, no matter how convinced you are otherwise. When you get no interest or no reply from the media (because it will happen), don’t take it personally. Understand journalists are always busy and are only interested in story ideas that make their jobs easier. It’s not a direct criticism of you or your book. It’s just about finding the right fit with the right media for your topic.

Yours in book publicity

Chelsea McLean

It pays to listen when bestselling Australian author Rachael Bermingham gives book marketing advice. Recently Rachael spoke at a breakfast event organised by Terri Cooper to share how she came to write and publish four bestselling books in four years, including the mega-successful 4 Ingredients.

When I asked Rachael about her most effective book marketing strategy, she was quick to reply with this ‘zero-cost’ technique:

1. Write a kick-ass media release that is eye-catching – don’t be afraid to break the rules and use colours, images, bold and italics to capture the media’s attention.
2. After you send the release, personally call everyone you sent it to within 48 hours.
3. When you get a journalist on the phone, say you are calling to see if they received your media release. If not, tell them about your book.
4. Tell a story and explain how your book benefits people. Don’t ever sell your book – instead, get the right angle for a topic that will engage the media audience.
5. Make it about the community – what they want and need. Appeal to people’s emotions.
6. Watch the media and comment on what is happening within your area of expertise.

You have to sell 300,000 copies to have a bestselling book in Australia. Rachael and her co-author Kim McCosker sold over 950,000 copies of 4 Ingredients 1 which was named bestselling book of 2008 in Australia. You can see their hugely successful media release here -

Sample media release – 4 ingredients

And you can get the book’s media kit and more on 4 Ingredients 2 and 4 Ingredients Gluten Free on this web page

Rachael has also self-published How to write your own book & make it a BESTSELLER which is full of secrets for how to make your book into a bestseller.

Go here to get your copy of this easy to follow guide to writing, self publishing and promoting your own book by a woman who has sold over a million copies of her own books.

Yours in book publicity

Chelsea McLean

So you are about to launch a new book with high hopes of attracting national TV coverage and appearing on the likes of A Current Affair, Today Tonight, Mornings with Kerri-Anne, The Morning Show, Sunrise and Today.

When you pitch to these programs, they show interest! But alas! There’s a catch! Turns out every show wants to be the first to have your story go to air. That means you have to choose and risk disappointing the other programs. What to do?

For most authors, the unfortunate reality is you may not be able to appear on more than one big TV show at the time of your book launch. The producers will ask you if you are appearing on another show and if you have already committed to an interview, they might pass on your pitch because they are worried their viewers will switch off if they have already seen your story.

So what is the best way to handle this when you are seeking to maximise publicity for your book?

You can either stagger your pitches to your most promising TV programs first and wait for their response before moving on to the next one. But this takes time and you need to be ready to start pitching about a month in advance of your book launch. If time is an issue, the other option is to pitch to all your target TV shows at the same time.

A plus for pitching simultaneously is you could play interested shows off each other to encourage them to be the first to say yes to an interview. It might help you move things forward faster if you have more than one major program interested at the same time.

The downside for this is, once you have committed to an interview, it could be too late if another show asks you later. This can be a downer, especially if the other show reaches a larger audience!

Ranking which programs you would prefer to be on first can help you manage your approach and seek the most exposure possible for you and your book. There is no hard and fast answer for how to approach this, but it helps to be prepared and know how it works with TV.

Yours in book publicity

Chelsea McLean

If you want to get print media coverage to coincide with your book release in stores, you have to be ready to contact magazine editors 3 to 6 months before your book is printed. That’s how far in advance they plan their editorial.

That means if promotional timing is critical for your book to sell, you must start work on publicity before your book is ready for sale. You can send copies of the book manuscript to key target media who ask to see it in advance. Often, the media want to see your book content before they agree to endorse it.

Print lead times vary for different magazines which can be categorised into:

Long-lead magazines

Annual, quarterly, bi-monthly and monthly magazines plan their editorial content with really long lead times. These are the ones you have to be ready to contact at least 3 to 6 months before your book is out.

Short-lead magazines

Fortnightly and weekly magazines have shorter lead times. This could be good news if you want faster results. Still, they work months in advance – similar to newspaper magazines.

Newspaper magazines

Magazines inserted into newspapers have much longer lead times for production than general news pages. If you are interviewed by a newspaper reporter, generally the story could be published the very next day. Not so for newspaper magazines – they tend to work to production deadlines around one month in advance and plan their content even further ahead.

So don’t wait to put together your media kit – you can get ready to contact the media before your book is in its editing and printing stages.

Yours in book publicity

Chelsea McLean

When you get an interview on TV, it often means national coverage and this is one of the best ways to get mass awareness and orders for your book. 

To help you prepare for a TV interview, I’ve put together these five tips, in addition to the general interview advice in my last blog.

Non-verbal communication – 93% of the message a TV audience gets from you is non-verbal so be aware of your facial expressions, body posture and hand movements. You can practice interviewing on your personal video camera to pick up any non-verbal habits to be aware of during your interview. 

Be confident – just be yourself! As challenging as it may be, try to calm your nerves and stay calm so you can get your message across clearly. Try not to think about the viewing audience and just focus on having a chat with the interviewer and feel comfortable answering their questions. They asked you on the show because you really do know what you are talking about.

What to wear – never wear white, black or small prints. Instead wear bright singular colours that ‘pop’ like red, pink, orange, etc. You can try your outfits on home video to see how they look. It’s a good idea to bring one extra change of clothing as a back-up just in case any accidents happen at the last minute or if by remote chance the host is wearing the same colour as you!

Hair and make-up – most TV stations will do your hair and makeup for TV because the lights wash you out. You can check with the producer beforehand to see if this is the case. If in doubt, have your hair styled and make-up done before arriving at the studio. Men go easy on the make-up!

Bring your book – always travel with extra copies of your book and when you leave the station sign the book to someone, preferably the person who has interviewed you.

Usually the producer will already have a copy of your book ready to show on screen, but be sure to bring one just in case. You can ask the producer whether they will include a link to your book website on the TV show’s website, along with any fact sheets or summary of tips you gave during your interview. 

Always thank the producer and person interviewing you when you leave the studio and follow up with a hand-written thank you note in the mail.

Next time, more interview tips especially for radio.

Yours in book publicity

Chelsea McLean