In today’s literary landscape, effective book publicity isn’t just about promoting a book; it’s about establishing an author’s brand and positioning them as a thought leader in their field.
With the increasing prevalence of digital platforms and AI technologies like ChatGPT, the importance of strategic publicity grows. Book publicity in this new era can enhance authors’ branding, elevate them as thought leaders, and ensure that their work, ideas, and businesses are easily discoverable on AI platforms.
Like an expectant parent, you anticipate the arrival of your newly printed book with eagerness and excitement. But the work isn’t over yet. It’s time to go into publicity mode.
Your next move is to hire a PR agency that specializes in book marketing. You want a firm with experience, a great reputation, and a proven track record to get your book off and running.
You and the firm will create a digital marketing strategy — building a brand, creating (or refining) a website and social media channels, establishing an engaging tone for your messaging, and adding appropriate, appealing images, videos, interviews, and other relevant content. Together, you and your publicity team will establish timelines for fresh material to keep your online presence fresh and relevant. If you’re incorporating digital advertising, additional appropriate content will be created for that, including images, videos, cinemagraphics, and copy.
These are difficult times in America. The coronavirus has given way to a series of historic, cascading crises: a lethal once-in-a-century pandemic, Depression-era levels of joblessness and economic despair, and glaring racial disparities and health inequities afflicting communities of color, only to be exacerbated by the continued killing of Black Americans like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police. It’s no wonder that people of all stripes are living with unthinkable angst and uncertainty.
In a crowded, hypercompetitive, and oh-so-noisy marketplace, book publicity isn’t getting any easier. To succeed, especially at the highest levels, it’s important to know why a book matters.
I’m not talking about peppy platitudes, gross generalities, or heaven forbid, shameless self-promotion. I’m talking about current, concrete relevance — in the here and now, in the real world — preferably communicated in a sentence or two.
I call this “the so-what.” And in respect to every media decision maker — whether in print, broadcast, or digital — it answers an all-important question: Why should I care?
By any measure, content marketing is the new and ever-expanding ‘it’ in business and branding circles everywhere. Regardless of type — consumer or B2B, digital or traditional — marketing campaigns now run on content. Today, even Coca-Cola spends more money creating its own content than it does on television advertising.
For authors, book publicity and promotion is no exception: Content is king — if you never run out of ideas. For articles, blogs, podcasts, videos, social sharing, media interviews, and more, you need a constant pipeline. Or as one content marketing expert put it, “you need to keep feeding the beast.”
But how can you keep the ideas coming? Here are seven surefire ways to ensure you never run out of content.
Why do authors write books? For most, their primary reason is clear: They want to build their personal brand — a smart first-line strategy, particularly now when the average nonfiction book sells less than 250 copies a year.
Today, book publicity — a must-have marketing tool in the new, overcrowded publishing world — does more than promote books. It is purposely designed tobuildbrands.
Consider these key reasons, all proven brand builders, why.
As a leading book publicist for over 25 years, I have booked my clients on literally thousands of radio interviews. Today, I know one thing for sure: radio sells books. First, however, an author must be ready and able to maximize the opportunity. Whether a “phoner” or in-studio interview, I ask my clients to use these 27 foolproof tips.
Congratulations: your nonfiction book is coming out. You’re ready to hire a PR agency that specializes in book marketing — a firm with a great reputation, experience and a strong track record. You’re looking forward to getting off and running.
You and the firm will forge a digital marketing strategy, building a brand, creating (or refining) a website and social media channels, establishing a tone and continuity for your messaging, and adding appropriate, appealing images, videos, interviews, and other relevant content. There will be a timeline established, with targets, and all the material will have to be maintained so nothing goes stale. The website will have to be updated; the blog refreshed regularly with resourceful and informative content; social media properties vibrant with daily posts, engagement responses, and updates. If you’re incorporating digital advertising, additional appropriate content will be created for that, including images, videos, cinemagraphics, and copy.
Ads on Facebook are creating amazing successes for many different types of products and services. As a way for an author to connect with the desired audience, these ads are a great tool and well worth considering. The social network has been deeply mining data for years — on what people like, find amusing and interesting, along with users personal information and demographics — and the result is a gold mine for hyper-targeted advertising. Costs are flexible, options are infinitely customizable, and the results generate powerful data in real time that’s easy to track and work with.
Q & A with Julia Schopick, Amazon.com bestselling author of HONEST MEDICINE: Effective, Time-Tested, Inexpensive Treatments for Life-Threatening Diseases.
Is TV a better platform than radio for selling books? Many of my authors ask me. So I asked Julia Schopick, bestselling author of the book HONEST MEDICINE, to talk about WHY she feels RADIO is the best way to promote and sell books. I think you’ll find her answers fascinating.
Self-Published Authors Can Benefit From Professional Book Publicity Services
Self-published authors and book publicity services go hand-in-hand. That’s because self-published authors need help; they don’t have a big publisher’s publicity department behind them to write and send out press releases, pitch story ideas to target media, and book interviews on radio and TV.
Large book PR firms sometimes don’t take on self-published authors because they feel that top-tier media is more skeptical of self-published authors and their expertise.
In Part One of this two-part series, we talked about three strategies authors can use to maximize their social media marketing efforts—ways to create sites that are engaging, informative, and collaborative. Social media is a clever way to publicize a book, to create buzz for book-related events, such as signings and speaking engagements, and to position yourself as an expert in a your given field. Obviously, the end goal is increased book sales.
Authors Can Multiply Their Marketing Results Many Times Over Using Social Media.
Let’s look at three more ways to enhance your professional brand using social media marketing.
Digital marketers seek every opportunity to connect their clients with the desired audience in the best and most engaging way. The social media landscape is much different than it was just last year, and it is certainly a full-time endeavor to remain current in tactics when marketing online.
Any Author Can Learn Social Media Marketing!
If you’re an author, YOU are the one who has to have the overview of what the social media marketing capabilities are for your brand. That brand is YOU, and everything you do.
Doing your own book publicity can be a daunting challenge.
A recent New York Times article (“Improving Your Public Relations Without a Public Relations Firm”) got me thinking about do-it-yourself book publicity. And as an author, new or seasoned, you may even be considering the idea for yourself.
But is DIY publicity right for you? Or would your book, not to mention your business and brand, be better served by you hiring an expert?
Yes, cost is a consideration. Today, though, there are scores of skilled solopreneurs and small firms whose fees won’t break the bank. As you consider being a do-it-yourselfer—an author, media strategist, content developer, and publicist all in one—I’d recommend also weighing this: what an expert can do for you smarter, faster, and better.
Here are some essential elements of a successful publicity campaign, ones that a good book publicist will be able to accomplish for you:
With effective book promotion, your great ideas will fly.
Authors who’ve just finished their book often experience a rude awakening. After spending a year or more writing their book, and several more months shepherding it through the production phases of editing, proofreading, and design, they wonder, “How do I get the word out?” Assuming you, the author, have figured out the bookstore distribution piece of the puzzle, and have your book up on Amazon and the other online sellers, it’s now time to put your energies into the next stage: book promotion.
Targeting the Three Pillars of Book PR
Book promotion can be a full-time job–as much work as writing the book itself–depending on how much time and energy an author wants to devote to it. That’s why it’s often a good idea to hire a book publicist to help you. Here are three elements of effective book promotion that you and/or your publicist will target.
Speaking engagements are ideal venues for book PR.
You worked long and hard to write your non-fiction book, and you were driven by passion. Now you have a very expensive business card—your book!—that can open all kinds of doors for you. We’ve talked in the past about how to get good media placements to help you promote your book. Now let’s look at how to use speaking engagements to promote you, your business, and your brand—and sell books in the process.
Writers are artists, and what better place to show off your creativity than on your own website? You can have gorgeous, big images of your book covers, stunning visuals, provocative blogs, interactive surveys, and much more at a site that represents the essence of your expertise and talents.
To optimize your web traffic, you need to know about the Google algorithm.
As a published author, you’ve probably worked with an agent, publisher, or editor who has offered feedback and recommendations to make your book more readable, accessible, and marketable to your targeted audience. These publishing world pros understand that a well-written book with great content needs readers, just as an actor needs an audience.
Likewise, your website needs viewers. You can generate something akin to “feedback” from Google, Yahoo, and Bing – the major search engines – to make your site into a highly effective, lively, interactive marketing tool for your book. Authors generate this constructive feedback by using search engine optimization, or SEO.
Most authors don’t know how SEO works – or even why they really need it or what it is. The purpose of this three-part article is to demystify the topic, providing authors with the basic information they will need to hire an SEO expert or do it themselves.
