While writing in my Build Book Buzz newsletter about Pitch for PR, a new free service that sends story or segment ideas from publicists to journalists who sign up to receive the ideas via e-mail, I offered to help my subscribers develop pitches they can use to get publicity for their books.
I think my newsletter readers understand that they can't just say, "Write about my new book," but for some, especially novelists, coming up with a news hook or a story idea can be a challenge.
So, readers, let's get going. If you'd like help, please post a short description of your book and a sentence or two explaining why you're the most appropriate author for that book. We can all brainstorm the angles you can use to get publicity, whether it's through Pitch for PR or on your own. (This type of collaborative thinking and instruction is representative of the support authors receive from me and other students in the Book Publicity 101: How to Build Book Buzz e-course that I teach; the next class is October 5-30, 2009.) I'm looking forward to this!
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9 comments:
Hi Sandra,
I write mysteries with a Realtor protagonist. This is the long version of my pitch:
Contact information: Nancy Lynn Jarvis at: (831)-427-1320 or send email to: nancy@goodreadmysteries.com
The real estate market is a mess. What’s a Realtor to do?
One twenty year veteran of the industry, Nancy Lynn Jarvis, is writing murder mysteries set in Santa Cruz County instead of selling houses. You can read the first chapter of “The Death Contingency” and “Backyard Bones” at www.GoodReadMysteries.com .
“Real estate is an interesting business,” the author says. “The stress level involved in buying or selling a home ranks right after death and divorce. People reveal a lot about themselves during the process. The business attracts its share of colorful practitioners, too.
Their stories and Nancy’s experiences provide the settings where her Realtor and part-time sleuth, Regan McHenry, works while she unravels mysteries.
After earning a BA in behavioral science from San Jose State University, Nancy worked in the advertising department of the San Jose Mercury News. A move to Santa Cruz meant a new job as a librarian and later a stint as the business manager of Shakespeare Santa Cruz.
Nancy’s work history reflects her philosophy: people should try something radically different every few years. Writing is her newest adventure.
Any good ideas?
Thanks,
Nancy
Hi Nancy,
Let's pick a single book to work on. Which one, and what's the book's summary?
Sandy
I host a popular internet radio show for CEOs and business owners, "Tom on Leadership" (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Tom-on-Leadership/) and will be turning the "Best Of" episodes into a book.
Each chapter will be based around a "Habit of Leadership" and will use quotes and stories from the guest interviews.
Where do I pitch this, and how? (And when?)
Hi Tom,
Because your book will incorporate input from many individuals and sources, you have a lot of built-in publicity hooks. Each person quoted in the book is probably linked to (a) hometown media that will be interested in knowing that a local individual is featured in a book, (b) alumni publications, (c) employee publications, and (d) trade magazines. I'd start with these publicity connections -- you'll have the highest success rate with them.
You can create a fill-in-the-blanks press release that you then customize for each source and the corresponding type of media outlet (local, alumni, employee, trade, anything else).
Cheers,
Sandy
Hi Sandra,
My book Sensitivity 101 for the Heterosexual Male is a reality memoir--some true, some made up to emphasize the points made. It is about the journey of self-discovery that a young boy takes after the divorce of his parents as he tries to find his place in the world. As he looks for acceptance and happiness, he learns life lessons from the people he meets...and these lessons influence his life--for the goood and the bad.
Since this is based on bits of my life and I actually lived all the experiences I am the perfect person to write this as each of our journeys are as different as the fingerprints we possess.
My problem is what do I emphasize and how?
Thanks for any help!!
You can read the first chapter at www.PhilipNork.com.
Hi Philip,
Thinking of this more as a nonfiction instructive book than a memoir helps me identify pitching ideas. I'd focus on pitching an interview about the specific lessons you learned and share in the book -- maybe you've got 4 lessons for divorced families or 6 tips for people facing a challenge similar to one you faced and described in the book. In other words, what did your experiences teach you that you can share with others going through similar situations? How can you use your experiences to help others? You will need to be specific in your pitch.
I have to think that you wrote this book to share what you learned, so this approach will probably come pretty easily to you.
Sandy
I am responding to your article about Pitch for PR and would like to introduce my upcoming book Living With Mom, Spending Time With Dad which is due out in November for your assistance on getting publicity. Living With Mom, Spending Time With Dad is about a family torn apart by divorce. This book takes us through a myriad of emotions that two children, Stephen and Alex, experience through this tumultuous period. The children, especially Alex, give an extremely candid and honest account of the day to day trauma, the hostility and at times the many poignant memories that he has. I am the most appropriate author of this non fiction story that depicts what my family (especially my boys) endured through this difficult times in our lives.
Thanks,
Colleen
Hi Colleen,
Is this a childen's book? Is the target audience parents or kids?
Thanks,
Sandy
The books on my site http://www.elizaearsman.com are authenticated and urgent – see e.g. PRESS RELEASE and UNEDITED author interview.
The details in these books affect us all!
Press releases already sent + author interviews, testimonials etc. See e.g. www.elizaearsman.com and search engine results.
QUERY: How do I best market this information to US military markets - especially with gift buying seasons approaching?
AUTHOR: Police work and experience has brought heiress and non-Masonic author Eliza Earsman into close contact with most of those named in Days of Elijah (Revised and Expanded): A True Story. See e.g. the bombing of Pan-Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988, and the ongoing and very public controversy.
Eliza writes from experience and, since 1987, has become an agent provocateur re: the British Mountbatten-Windsor royal family, their Scottish Ritual Freemasons/ inner circles/familiar spirits and their atrocities.
Their intended World War Three agenda is exposed.
Further details: www.elizaearsman.com
Looking forward to your replies/links/help.
Thank you.
Eliza.
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