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.
1. Messaging.
In business, people refer to the elevator pitch. That’s a 30-second summary of one’s brand. In book PR, it’s all about talking points. Figure out what the big idea of your book is. This is probably very close to the subtitle of your book. It should be one or two sentences max. Usually, messaging becomes more clear, concise, and creative over time as you talk about your book more, figure out the best ways to articulate its big idea(s), and zoom in on the topics that seem to be most provocative or interesting to people.
Messaging is also about targeting different audiences. For example, a health book might have a message that’s especially resonant with women, one for parents, one for seniors, and one for workplace audiences. If you will be pitching or speaking to a niche audience on a topical subject, such as a recent event in the news that relates to your area of expertise, write down 5 sound bites, or very short sentences, that create a nice summary of your ideas on this particular topic. The better you get at shaping your message, the more effective your book promotion will be.
2. Timing.
There are two aspects related to timing that can optimize book promotion efforts. The first is about pre-publishing promotion, and the other is about maximizing news trends.
Before your book is published–three months before, ideally–you or your publicist should send uncorrected bound galleys to targeted media who do book reviews. The more publicity you can do upfront–before your book hits bookstores–the more momentum you’ll have when you launch the book. You can also write guest posts on your topic of expertise, and get them published on targeted websites, to start generating interest in your forthcoming title. Send out notices to your social media community so your contacts know about the book. Some authors even offer special promotions and discounts if people preorder books.
The second aspect related to timing has to do with breaking news stories. If you’re a business author who specializes in ethics, and there’s a huge corporate scandal that’s hitting the news, you’ll want to be front and center in the media as THE go-to expert. Pitch yourself as an authority on this topic with a unique perspective with fresh solutions and ideas to contribute. Get it to the right people quickly. You’re in a race with all the other book authors trying to do the same thing. In this case, it’s the hare who wins, not the tortoise.
3. Contacts.
To promote your book, you need to know the right people–reviewers, columnists, radio and TV producers, journalists, bloggers, and event coordinators–who will pick up the phone when you call, or open and read emails that you send. That’s one of the big advantages of using a book publicist who has long-established contacts in different media venues, and access to current contact information and personnel changes. It’s also good to work with someone who knows how to secure speaking engagements or seminar/workshop opportunities.
Once you have the right contacts,you need to know how to pitch them, what they’re looking for, and what types of story ideas are likely to fly with them. Do your homework before you randomly send something to an editor or producer. Make sure you understand their readership, submission guidelines (for guest posts), and typical topics of interest. Otherwise, you’re just spinning your wheels and wasting their time.