How To Publicize Your Book With Courage
Easier Said Than Done
On the corner of my desk sits an often- dusty 3x5 plastic picture frame; I have packed it around from home to home and year to year. In the frame is a simple, colorful depiction of a stick person with outstretched arms in a rainbow burst of sun and flowers.
“With courage greater than your
fear, jump into the unknown and you will fly” it says. This $5
little desk adornment has encouraged and impelled me forward many
times over the years, especially times when I felt mired in
self-doubt.
When it comes to first-time
do-it-yourself publicity for your book, jumping into the unknown can
seem a lot easier said than done. You may find, though, that simply
having a great respect and adoration for the book(s) you seek to
publicize will enable you to sprout the wings that you need to soar,
right off the steep cliff walls of doubt.
Leaps Of Faith
Last Fall, an author friend of mine offered me a wonderful opportunity to be her publicist. She was taking a giant leap of faith since I had NO publicity experience, NO media contacts, and not one clue as to how to begin.
Additionally, I was just
recovering from a string of rejected query letters and didn’t even
have a published book of my own.
But who says you need to publish
your book before learning
about the publicity end of things?
What I DID have, and I suppose
what she saw in me, was an extensive sales background, a love of
books, and a powerful drive to promote others. When I accepted her
offer and leaped into the great unknown myself, I found that I had
wings as well! In two weeks I had this author booked on a show that
was her #1 goal as well as the #1 show in her niche.
I didn’t have as much at stake or
as much invested in her books as she did personally; they were her
life’s work. However, I felt so privileged by her faith in me that
from the very beginning I treated her books like adopted children of
mine, mothering them, nurturing them, and gently raising them up and
into the world.
I would leave no child behind.
7 Things I Have Learned About Book Publicity
Getting your book onto a show is
like getting that child of yours into the right college and beyond.
I have learned a few things over the last several months about
sending your babes out into the world:
-
TARGET, target, target your
shows; your book must be a good fit to even be considered by the
host or the producer;
-
HOOK THEM EARLY: the most
important part of your pitch most likely will be your email’s
subject line – spend some time and thought on these very few
words (“the hook”) that will determine whether the rest of your
email/pitch is even read;
-
FOLLOW UP; if you don’t, you
may never know if no reply means “no” or simply “didn’t read the
email”;
-
DON’T forget to put
somewhere in the pitch where you are located, what time zone you
are in, and your availability for interviews (e.g., need advance
notice, same-day interviews possible, etc);
-
READ, read, read what other
people have written about publicity, specifically book
publicity, on blogs and in books; you will be amazed at how many
great tips and examples are out there – even example pitch
letters - mostly FREE via your local library or the web.
-
BELIEVE in yourself! The
media needs
information and guests; why not you?
-
START EARLY; its never too
early to start learning about publicity and formulating a plan
for your book.
Don’t Forget Your Parachute
When you hand over your books - your life’s work, your soul’s dialogue with the world - to a radio or television show, you must believe in them at your very core. I have found that you not only need to love your books as your own children, as beings birthed from your heart and soul, but you need to love yourself even more than your books. Believe in yourself and know that you are valuable, that your books - and what you have to say - are worthy of the publicity – that is your parachute as you leap off the cliffs.
No matter how much you read
“don’t take it personally”, you will more than likely take it
personally when you are “rejected”. If you have sprouted those wings
and have a strong belief in yourself and in your book(s), then you
will learn to look at those “no’s” as just bringing you closer to
the next big “yes”. And the risk you took will all be worth it in
the end.
This article of mine was originally posted as a guest post over at Guide To Literary Agents. If you like this, you might also like "Book Publicity: All You Need To Know You Learned In Kindergarten"