by Chelsea Mclean on April 9, 2009
1) Have a professional media kit for your book – a media release is your main publicity-generating tool and this should be one or two typed pages. The kit should also include a short author bio, a sample interview Q&A, a media backgrounder on your book, and high-resolution images of you and your book cover.
2) Research your target media – get familiar with their style and format. This means building a list of all the possible media outlets that might be interested in your book. Include newspapers, magazines, radio programs, TV shows and websites, e-zines and e-newsletters. Make sure you list all of your local media as well as state-wide and national media. Now the key to getting publicity is to put yourself in the audience’s shoes. This means being the audience by watching the TV shows, listening to the radio programs, reading the newspapers and flipping through the magazines you plan to target. This is the only way you can visualise whether or not they will be interested in your book. You need to be familiar with the format, style and content of each media outlet before you send them your media kit.
3) Always offer to help the media – be humble, be polite and be persistent.
Yours in book publicity
Chelsea McLean
The Book Publicist
by Chelsea Mclean on April 1, 2009
First I want to reassure you there are no April Fools gags in this post… I’ll leave that for the media outlets who love to brainstorm the wittiest yarns – like today’s mUmBRELLA post about the Government’s plan to introduce Tweet Tax for Twitter users.
In my recent interview with The Creative Penn, Joanna asked me why authors should get a publicist for their book launch. I said because it takes time and focus to get publicity results and you need to understand how the media works to be successful. You see, there are no guarantees when it comes to free publicity because you have no control over whether the media pick up your story, offer you an interview or even mention your book.
You also need the time and focus to diligently follow up with polite persistence. Few authors have time to do all of this themselves and get it right. A publicist understands how to work with the media to make their job easier so they favour you and your book.
Publicists at publishing companies have multiple books to promote at once and can only spend a limited time on each book. A freelance publicist is likely to get better media results because they can spend more time focussing on your book and giving you the attention and best possible chance your book deserves.
Yours in book publicity
Chelsea McLean
by Chelsea Mclean on March 27, 2009
The main thing authors need to do to get their book mentioned in the media is give free information and advice.
You need to give first to receive later. It’s the law of reciprocation – offer valuable, timely and relevant information to the media and they might reward you with a mention that will boost your credibility, without you having to pay for it.
In fact, that’s what makes editorial so credible and valuable – you can’t pay for it… you have to earn it.
Or as they say – “with publicity you don’t PAY for it… you PRAY for it”!
Yours in book publicity
Chelsea McLean
by Chelsea Mclean on March 18, 2009
Once your book is complete, you need to tell people about it. I met Joanna Penn on Twitter. She is a book business consultant, author and speaker who interviewed me about how authors can get free media publicity for their book.
Publicity drives book sales. Even if your book has been published by a publishing company, it is still the job of an author to be responsible for their sales and marketing. Publishers want to see how you intend to sell your book and you can strengthen your proposal with a red-hot publicity plan. If you are a self-published author you absolutely must invest in publicity and marketing if you want to sell multiple copies of your book.
There are lots of free publicity tips in my interview at Joanna’s Blog.
Yours in book publicity
Chelsea McLean
by Chelsea Mclean on March 12, 2009
You know the old KISS principle Keep It Simple Stupid… well this applies to many things in life including media releases.
If you are a published author seeking media publicity for your book, you will need to have at least one well-written media release. In fact, the more you have the better. You see, your topic lends itself to hundreds of story angles you can turn into media releases to multiply your chances of getting valuable free editorial publicity for your book.
The trick is to keep the focus of each media release clear and simple. If you try to include too many different angles the release will not work for you. So don’t try and cram too many messages into the same release. Follow the formula of one idea per release.
You should write one different media release for each different idea. Each release should only expand on the main angle clearly stated in your headline and lead paragraph.
For examples, scroll to the bottom of this web page to check out the long list of recent media releases I have written with dietitian and author of Portion Perfection – A visual weight control plan Amanda Clark. We send a new release every week or so to our target media list. As a result Amanda has been asked back as a repeat guest on 7’s Sunrise breakfast program and 9’s Brisbane Extra program. She has also had her book mentioned multiple times in New Idea, Good Health & Medicine and other key media outlets that reach her book’s target audience. You can do the same for your book.
Yours in book publicity
Chelsea McLean
by Chelsea Mclean on March 3, 2009
“Marketing is sharing your love for what you do with the people who will most celebrate hearing about it.” Australian-based author, speaker and business consultant Joanna Penn shared this quote in her recent post, along with her award-winning free book marketing plan that anyone who wants to sell their book would be crazy not to download.
Joanna is a co-author of Living an Abundant Life along with other authors such as Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Neale Donald Walsch, Brian Tracy and Dr Wayne Dyer. Joanna helps people become authors by sharing heaps of extremely valuable tips on writing, self publishing and book marketing. Hers is the kind of golden information bestselling author Mark Victor Hansen shared at his Mega Book Marketing University 3-day conference I attended in LA in 2007.
I believe the most effective marketing tools are books and media publicity because they both give you instant credibility. Media love to interview authors because when you’ve written a book you instantly become an authority in your field. Look out for my interview with Joanna on book publicity at The Creative Penn soon.
Yours in book publicity
Chelsea McLean
by Chelsea Mclean on February 28, 2009
Prepare, prepare, prepare before you pitch. It’s really important to do your research so you can feel confident what you are pitching is of interest to the media outlet you are targeting.
It is always best to target pitches individually. Sending the same pitch and media release to all your target media outlets is a good way to find out who is on holidays or no longer there, but you won’t get near as many results as if you personalise each pitch.
It also helps if you tailor your media release to fit your target audience. For instance, you would write a release for the mainstream media differently than you would for the business media. For mainstream media, write using clear, simple language the average person will understand. For niche media you can get away with using more specific terms their audience would relate to.
For tons of useful resources on how to prepare your book publicity campaign, browse the Resource section at US book publicity guru Rick Frishman’s website.
Getting valuable free editorial publicity for your book requires careful consideration and planning. Your number one goal must be to help the media so they can help you.
Yours in book publicity
Chelsea McLean
by Chelsea Mclean on February 10, 2009
Following my recent blog where I said the best strategy is to be honest with the media, I thought it was timely to reiterate that the best strategy is always to be honest with the media.
Quite simply, if you lie you will come unstuck. And it will definitely not help your cause.
Recently a publicity stunt backfired for Surry Hills-based marketing group Naked Communications when they employed an actress to pretend she was searching for a handsome mystery man who left his jacket at a Sydney café.
The fact is the stunt was for a new menswear line of a large Australian retail company which previously sold only women’s fashion. Now they look bad and the hoax never really worked anyway because most media wouldn’t name the fashion label.
The mystery jacket
Social media expert Brendon Sinclair of Queensland-based Tailored Web Services said, “These clowns are screwing the Australian digital media landscape and giving everyone a bad name with their amateurish attempts at viral campaigns and use of social media. Here’s an idea I want to run past you people. Try, geeeez I don’t know… how about you try a little honesty? How about you actually engage your customers or market? How about you just be authentic? How about you get a clue?”
In their attempt to use viral marketing to promote their client’s new range, this agency has committed the sin of lying to the news media. You see, it is never wise to lie to the media. Never – about anything and under any circumstances.
Yours in book publicity
Chelsea McLean
by Chelsea Mclean on February 3, 2009
This week’s brilliant Flying Solo e-newsletter features a video interview with journalist, author and entrepreneur, Valerie Khoo. It shares insights into what a journalist really looks for and great tips to spread your message in the media.
In this interview, Valerie makes the point about how crucial it is to avoid advertising speak in your media releases. When giving information to journalists you have to keep it brief, concise, factual and to-the-point. The media can smell commercialism a mile coming.
The Flying Solo website also has some terrific articles by Sue Currie with tips on how to get media coverage.
Yours in book publicity
Chelsea McLean
by Chelsea Mclean on January 29, 2009
When you are pitching to get onto a national TV program, first approach the show your book sales will benefit from the most. In Australia, if your story behind the book is right for A Current Affair or Today Tonight, those shows tend to sell the most books.
When you have your pitch fully developed and are ready to go on the show, contact those programs first. They will probably ask whether you have been approached by any other national TV programs because they usually want the first interview.
A TV producer’s job is to get and keep the attention of their viewing audience. They worry their viewers will switch off if they just saw you on another program.
There are usually ways around this… You can hope for interest from your key target media first in each of the TV time slots – breakfast, mornings or evenings. Then you can let some time lapse after you appear on one show before pitching to a program competing in the same time slot.
The best general strategy is to be honest with TV producers when they ask if you will be on another program, as they will find out anyway. It is best if they hear this from you, otherwise you could risk them dropping your story completely and damaging future relationships with these very important media contacts.
Yours in book publicity
Chelsea McLean
