So – finally – you have a book deal. It has been bought by a publisher.
Congratulations!
With visions of sugar plums dancing in your head, you are dreaming of glamorous cocktail parties for the press, an appearance on Oprah, book signings at major bookstores, first class air, limousines, luxury hotels and media coaching.
Not so fast.
If you didn’t have a “platform,” it is unlikely that they would have bought your book in the first place. A platform is your ability to promote your own book maybe through a blog that has 10,000 subscribers, a social network with a huge following, are a well known speaker -something… It doesn’t matter if you are William Shakespeare reincarnated or have written the last great American novel.
Unless you are a tested and true celebrity author who has delivered millions of sales in the past or a major media political figure with an expose – you will be expected to do most of the publicity work yourself. And pay your expenses.
This is nothing new. Except for the super stars, the majority of authors who were featured on my national cable show paid their own way to Chicago. And the budgets have shrunk further since then.
The publicity department for your publisher will help some. They will send out press releases, offer free review copies to prospective radio, TV and journalists who request them. They may send you to the Book Expo convention.
One exception. I guarantee you if you happen to interest Oprah or The View, they will pay to get you there. Otherwise, it is up to you.
I can hear you. Why should you share your revenue income with an agent and a publisher then? You did the work. You wrote the book.
Having a publisher buy your book has one huge advantage. They have a distribution system which will get your book in stores. That is HUGE. And the stores which have stocked your book will welcome you to come in to speak and sign books so they can sell them.
There are several ways for you to get publicity and the following applies whether you have a publisher, are self published or have written an E-book. It is also applicable to a program or course you have developed to sell.
Some ideas -
You can hire your own professional publicist. Just as an estimate, this would cost between $1500. to much more with a usual minimum contract of six months. The price reflects how much clout they have with print media, TV and radio stations and which authors they have represented before. They will prepare press releases, make the calls, send out books and make appointments for you. It is best to hire someone several months before your book actually comes out. They will probably suggest a media coach.
You will want to do some research on the Internet to see whether they are experienced with the type of book you have. After you get a list together, they all have web pages. You can also get recommendations from your publisher and even other authors.
You can be your own publicist. You can feature your book on your own blog. You can work out an affiliate program with other blogger friends; you can prepare your own sales page and list your book with a service like Clickbank.
Use social networks to get the word out like Face book, Twitter, LinkedIn or forums. Call in your buddies to feature you – and Retweet you. You’ve helped them in the past.
Write an article based on your book and send it to your local newspaper. Find out in advance how many words are ideal for them. If they have a slow news day they might just plug it in.
Advertise in RTIR. It is a magazine that goes to thousands of media outlets. Not really cheap but I got many interviews out of it. I started with three months.
Getting on national or cable TV or a major radio station show is more of a challenge. But use any contacts you have and you may get lucky. Have a professional looking press kit to send out with a head shot.
Find out who the decision maker is and write directly to that person. Get the spelling and their title right. Snail Priority Mail is still used. Don’t waste money on FedEx. No one will be impressed.
If you use E-mail you should consider doing a cut and paste besides an attachment. Some producers will not download a file.
Speak. Speak. Speak. Bookstores are a given. But – according to the relevance of your topic – what about Rotary, Lions, University clubs, Senior Centers? These unpaid and overworked program chairpeople are always looking for speakers.
If you can garner a crowd, a book store may handle “back of the room” sales. Especially if they give a donation to these charity based organizations.
If you are promoting an E-Book, your web address is on your business card, right?
Don’t overlook Public Access Television in your town. Start looking at the local shows and approach producers who look like they might have interest in your topic.
Internet radio, like Blog Talk Radio, is a great way to get publicity. There are quite a few now. Again, do your research and listen to some of the shows to see who features topics like yours. Contact them individually by name and make reference to the shows you have heard. No mass emails please. You don’t want to contact a sports show if your subject is archeology. Offer to send them a copy of your book on request.
If they don’t answer, contact them again. Mention you are available on short notice. Some guests cancel late.
TV and radio shows are voracious monsters. They need to be fed constantly with new guests. So don’t be shy. Keep asking. You are doing them a favor by filling their space.
Start your own show on one of the Internet radio stations. Most are free and will allow you to promote your own products. Ask your talented friends to come on and interview you. Then return the favor. Everyone is selling something these days.
One of the advantages of the Internet radio stations is they usually allow you to post the show to your blog. So it keeps on giving even if you don’t have a lot of audience at first. People can listen later.
Does publicity sound like a lot of work to you? It is.
You will learn a lot. Your next book publicity program will be a snap. You will be your own media coach.
You have come this far. Go all the way. Share your great writing everywhere you can.
Writing your book has been the hard part.
Are you up to it?
Yes. You Are.
People ask me what I do as a media coach. My question is – What do you need? Are you being interviewed and need to tune up your story so it is tight and punchy? Are you an interviewer who needs to do research on a guest and develop questions? Does your copy need to be more crisp and to the point? I usually work by the hour – not monthly. So you can get as little help – or more - as needed.
I have had fun in my media coaching practice by being with my clients on their laptops on Skype while they are on live radio. I give them guidance and even the next question or what to go back to and cover in the interview. Yes, while they are on the air! When you are new at it, you can get a little lost.
I’ve been on so many sides of the game that I either know how to solve your problem or know who can. We need to talk.
Posts on this subject you can click on:
INTERVIEW LIKE LARRY KING – Learn from the Pro
AUTHOR MEDIA COACHING FOR THE FERMISHED AND CONFUSED
HOT OFF THE PRESSES – NEW IDEA TALKING BOOKS TV
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
It is important to utilize things like Facebook and Twitter for getting quick and easy publicity. Blog talk radio is also good, but it hard to gain an audience. Good luck. Regards!
Excellent post, Corrine.
It really involves a lot of WORK!!
But I’m sure the pay off is much greater. It’s time to visualize about it. Thank you.
Raymond Chua´s last blog ..Inventing Your Future
This is a very helpful article. For one thing, I had never heard of RTIR before. And I had underestimated the power of Blog Talk Radio (my bad – I should know better.)
I forwarded your URL to a Sisters in Crime group and a couple of my local RWA chapters.
One thing I noticed, though, is that, when you mentioned social media, you left out MySpace. I know of a cozy mystery writer who swears by her MySpace presence. Granted, she uses other social media and blogs well, too. But I wondered if you had a reason for omitting MySpace?
It is really difficult to get on the internet radios from my exprience. Only when you are a professional acclaimed expert in your field you will be permitted to speak on thos shows. All I ever tried was unsuccessfull.
Dear RhondaL -
Didn’t mean to leave out any social networks – just giving some examples. There are many like MySpace that are also great.
I am glad you liked my post enough to forward it to your groups.
My intention is to help and you are helping in doing that.
By the way, the links in the article are for information only based on my experience. I am not an affiliate of any of them.
I probably should have mentioned that in the article. But I have now!
Thanks for your tremendous support.
Dear Richard -
Sorry about that. Keep trying. Change your pitch to them. Make it more exciting.
Perhaps you are being too modest about your authority.
My advice is if you can’t beat ‘em – Join ‘em.
Start your own show.
Dear Raymond -
Didn’t I say it was a lot of work????
Since when have you been afraid of work?
You are one of the most active bloggers on the Internet.
JUST DO IT!
Dear Chicago Hospital -
Thanks for weighing in here. You are definitely a first.
You are right. Listeners have to be built up.
But if you can put the recording on your website, which most Internet radio outlets will allow -
You are LIVE all the time.
Think about it.
Truly, Corrine, your advice is superb. Let me add one thought, then share a true story. The thought: If you are fortunate to know an “Icon” who is well known to the public and relates somehow to your subject matter or plot, ask that “Icon” to write a “Forward” to your book. Better yet, write it yourself and ask for changes or a rewrite if needed. Now for the true story:
I have a beginning author friend who wrote a noval based on his experiences as a high-school football player. He asked if I had any thoughts that might help peromote it. I told him I think about it. Finally the “light bulb” went on!! I called my friend and said, “you and I are going to have dinner together and I know JUST the restaurant. But before we do I want you to do some home work: Write a ‘Forward’ to your book.” Then off we went….to Mike Ditka’s.
As we walked in I asked the hostess if Coach Ditka was in. “Oh, yes, he’s always in on Tuesday evenings. You’ll find him upstairs at the bar.” Up the stairs we went. Sure enough, there was Coach Ditka at a side table injoying his cigar. Now it so happens that in his novel my author friend mentions Ditka and a number of his famous players.
We showed “da coach” the Forward my friend had written and asked if he might sign it so it could be included in the book. Guess what? HE DID!!
Yah, it helped. My friend found a publisher. Bottom line: Think out of the box….then DO IT!
REED -
YOU ARE A GENIUS.
BEST IDEA OF ALL!
Hi Corinne
I’ve also come at this from all sides – I had to do all of my own promotion when my first book came out 10 years ago, and even more to promote my documentary. Now I’m on the other side with my radio show, and I’m always looking for quality guests – some are better than others, and I love the ones who can talk succinctly! Great advice!
Your new site is superb !!!! And this advice is right on.
Corinne,
This is one of the big things I need to get a lot better at, publicity. Right now just for my blogs, but I will eventually write a book or repurpose early blog posts and make them into a book.
Honestly, I suck at good publicity. I’m not consistent, I don’t always follow up, and it’s costing me readers, I know. I’ve been improving, but there is a lot of room for more.
I really have no excuses either because I’ve got all my social media integrated; twitter, facebook, and friendfeed. I’ve also been better at stumbling all my articles as I publish, and that has helped. I’ve reached over 100 subscribers on each of my blogs for the first time.
What I seriously need to work on most? Building email lists for my most prominent blogs. My RSS subscribers far outpace my email subscribers. I need to give something away to get people to subscribe, but I dropped the ball there. I’ve started reports and never finished them.
I love your new blog theme, too! Very clean, easy to read and navigate.
Thanks for more great advice!
Sherri
Being the Change I Wish to See – Sherri´s last blog ..Can’t the GOP Keep It In Their Pants?