Have You Written A Press Release Yet To Get Your Book Free Publicity?
by: Phoenix
So, you have finished your book and have published it yourself. Now how are you going to get sales?
Perhaps the books page of one or more of the national papers with their countless numbers of readers will pick it up and run a fantastic review for you. Maybe you could contact the advertising sales department of the newspaper and its competitors and purchase some advertisements. But if it were me I would see if I could not get some free PR. There are a couple of reasons, not only does it cost you less, but an article in the body of the publication will be better received by the readers.
Most magazines and newspapers need to find copy to fill the pages between their paid advertising, this is a commercial fact of life. Now if you have an interesting angle to tell about your book then use your ability to write a press release and send it to the Editor. The general advice I was once given was to find out the name of the Editor and address it to him or her. Telephone the publication’s office if you need to, or look it up on the web or in the directories of publications at most libraries. If you are able to persuade them, with your well crafted press release, to run a piece you will find that free publicity will out rank any bought space that you might take in a publication. Why? Well as marketing students are often taught, readers of magazines and newspapers give more credence to what is written in an article than an advertisement. The public have a healthy distrust of an obviously paid for advertisement, and yet an article in the very same publication is given more weight. Most readers have no idea that the reporters do not write everything themselves and they would probably be shocked to know that it is not unheard of for a press release will be printed almost word for word.
My own experience of once phoning a features editor to try and get an article written on some creative work done by a man that I was helping promote. To begin with I was told that they were not interested. But, after a short phone conversation, the features editor realised that there was an interesting angle in the story. The subject was a man in his early eighties and he was financing his travelling around the world in his retirement by his work. When the piece came out it was, to my amusement, nearly a word for word copy of my own press release about him. The paper, however, had added a photograph taken from his website and the whole thing covered half a page of their publication. Now how much would that have cost from the advertising department?
To make sure that you write in their style you should first take a look at the articles that they have published and then try to write your press release in the same tone used by the journal that you are submitting it to. The aim is to help the hard-pressed sub-editor from having to rewrite it to match their house style and so easily use it. Do it right and it can massively help them decide if your press release gets used at all.
This sort of advice features in the Write Your Way To Freedom manual and 3 Audio CD pack that my company has compiled for the new author/self-publisher. As booksellers of over 19 years experience, who are passionate about books, we have gathered advice from other experts in the book industry and packaged it along with some resources on good English and other helpful information on writing and then selling a book. By doing this we are hoping to encourage authors to bring to the marketplace new books of all genre.
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