Lots of doctors and health experts write books and ebooks. They usually do so because they’re passionate about getting important healthcare information out to consumers. Not only can a skilled publicist do book promotion for these health authors and sell their books, but she can turn them into news makers and position them as thought leaders so their message reaches the widest possible audience.
One of the genres our book publicity firm specializes in is health books, and we’ve helped nutritionists, naturopaths, pediatricians, cardiologists, spinal surgeons, women’s health specialists, and many others shape their message and spread it far and wide.
If you’re a doctor or other health professional with an important message to share, you can benefit from hiring a publicist who will customize a publicity campaign that brings your message to the healthcare consumers you’re trying hardest to reach. This will increase the success of your book promotion.
A Skilled Publicist Can Position You as a News Maker
Here’s how a publicist can promote your book and leverage your expertise to turn you into a news make
Make your book’s health insight message user-friendly.
Sometimes your message, for any number of reasons, isn’t tailored for its intended audience. Dr. Jay Cohen, a prostate cancer survivor, wrote Prostate Cancer Breakthroughs: New Tests, New Treatments, Better Options, so men could learn about the little-known tests and treatments now available that saved his own life. The problem is, research shows that many men avoid doctors and health books. Our solution? We angled a media pitch for women—after all, they’re usually the ones who help their male partners and loved ones get the life-saving information and medical care they need.
Position you as a thought leader in the health field.
When we started working with bestselling author Dr. Michael Ozner, of The Miami Mediterranean Diet fame, he had an important message to share: most heart surgery is avoidable with lifestyle changes. The challenge he and we faced was that the heart health industry is one of the wealthiest and most influential health fields in the US. One cardiologist’s warning wasn’t going to change that. However, after we pitched Dr. Ozner as a maverick to The New York Times and they ran with the story, he got many prestigious keynote speaking gigs at international medical conferences, where he was able to preach to industry insiders. Both of Dr. Ozner’s books, the other being the Great American Heart Hoax, went on to become national bestsellers.
Create followers and increase book sales by generating controversy.
Pioneering researcher Dr. James Fadiman wrote a science-based book called The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide on the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics. Our challenge was how to get the generally conservative mainstream media to run a story on Dr. Fadiman and his ideas. So we highlighted one aspect of his message—that the US government has suppressed and shut down important research on psychedelics. Coast to Coast AM invited Dr. Fadiman on their 2-hour call-in show, and he sold thousands of books that night.
The book publicist partnership take away…
If you’re a health specialist who’s written a book in the hopes that you’ll enlighten the masses with an important health message, working with an experienced book publicist in that genre can make an enormous difference, both in terms of book sales and the audiences you reach.