Marketing With
Press Releases
Fiction and Poetry
Editors are swamped with
press releases. As a fiction or poetry author, you are not sure how to interest
them in you and your book. If only I wrote non-fiction, you say to yourself.
Then I could at least contact medical publications with something I know they
would be interested in.
Do not despair. Every
fiction book and every poem is based in non-fiction: in your life and
the experiences of the people around you. Nothing you can write is truly
unique…and that is the beauty of literature. These shared experiences
and themes are why we read, and they can help you craft the perfect
press release for your book and its market. Actually, make that plural:
‘press releases’ and ‘markets’. To get the most exposure you
will have to rewrite at least the introduction to your press release, to
explain how your book appeals to each interest group you have
identified.
But how do you identify
the groups that will be interested in your book? Well, your book has
themes, it has a locale, a timeframe, characters, and specific events.
And don’t forget, it has an author, and the research you did. Each
time your book is featured in a publication is an interesting story in
itself. Use these features as markers to target your audience.
THEMES
Author Jake Mosher’s new
book The Last Buffalo Hunter is about a sensitive 14 year old boy
who spends a wild summer in Montana with his headstrong grandfather. His
grandfather is resisting the changes brought by the twentieth century
and this provides plenty of confrontation. These themes have some
identifiable targets. The book is about a sensitive 14-year old boy so,
if I were Jake Mosher, promoting my own book, I would write a press
release playing up that angle, relating it to real life concerns of
statistics. For example “X% of young men today grow up without a
strong male influence in their life…” or “are being raised by a
grandparent. The Last Buffalo Hunter explores themes that will
resonate with…”
This release would go to
parenting publications and organizations, perhaps targeting those that
focus on single parenthood or the issue of raising boys. If a regional
paper has run a recent series or article on this issue, send the release
to the reporter or editor in charge.
I would find out if Big
Brothers of America (http://www.bbbsa.org) has a newsletter or a
resource guide for its members, and send the release there. I’d send
it to Scouting groups. If the book was one that would appeal to young
men themselves, I’d send a release to high school librarians and their
associations. (for example, the Pennsylvania High School Librarian’s
Association: http://www.psla.org).
Facing, or ignoring, the
challenges of modern life is a theme that will appeal to publications
focusing on rural life. It could also be the basis for a slice-of-life
vignette for women’s magazines, Sunday magazines or Reader’s Digest,
each one with the book’s title in printed with the author’s name, of
course.
CHARACTERS
The headstrong grandfather
character suggests many audiences. American Association of Retired
Person (AARP)newsletters (http://www.aarp.org/) and
publications are aimed at the grandparenting generation. Many of them do
not get to spend such extended periods with their grandchildren,
although they would like to. Perhaps they would be interested in a story
about one man who does. Of course, the press release has been re-written
to explain why the book would appeal to these audiences: feisty elder;
interaction with a grandchild; conflict with a changing world…
LOCALES
The book is set in rural
Montana. Obviously a tailored press release should go to editors of
Montana newspapers, especially if the location in the book is, or is
based on, a real location. If it is, then bookstores and gift shops in
that locale are my next target. Again, if based on real or legendary
Montana characters, their hometown newspapers should be hearing from me.
Tourist agencies and
regional travel agents would be on my list along with publishers of
guidebooks. These would include an invitation to include an excerpt of
the book, or interview me for their introduction.
TIMEFRAME
For Baby Boomers, the book
may bring back memories of their own grandparents, their own parents and
their own childhood vacations, so find publications that target this
demographic (not hard to do these days, since this is the new fave
target of advertisers). This release could go to publications that deal with family
issues, and to elder care websites and organizations.
EVENTS
Alexandra Daye’s book All
The Missing Pieces, tells the story of a college girl, unexpectedly
pregnant, and abandoned by her boyfriend. She struggles with the idea of
giving the child up for adoption. Not only the themes but the events in
this book suggest organizations that would be interested in a press
release: adoption groups; pro-life groups; support groups for birth
parents and for adopted children; university and college newspapers;
family law publications and more.
PUBLICITY
The Last
Buffalo Hunter is
described as ‘story telling at its best’ by the owner of Toadstool
Books, an independent bookstore in Petersborough, NH. There are
organizations of storytellers and if the author is skilled at oral
storytelling, he might investigate this.
This review can be
more fruitful than that, though. If this book appeals to the owner of
one independent bookstore, why not more? I would send a press release
and an order form to a list of independent bookstore owners. I would
also send it to Booksense, the Indies’ answer to Amazon.com and the
chains (www.bookweb.org/booksense).
I would also send
a release to all the papers in or near Petersborough, the location of
the store. Picking up a review or a mention, in one of those papers
might give me a clip with which I could interest reviewers at larger,
regional papers.
In every inch of
coverage, there is a new story with which to interest the next
journalist – everyone loves a success story. Readers love to hear what
it was like to be on the radio or surprising stories of how many books
you sold after a five-second mention on ‘Marketplace’.
YOU
Who are you, and who might
be interested to know you have written a book? Well, your local media
should hear from you and yes, that means the 25 cent weekly and the
city daily. It means the AM talk show and NPR; the local cable
channels as well as Oprah. If you are a member of a professional
organization, I’m sure they have a publication – and I know your
alumni magazine would love to hear that you had published a book.
YOUR RESEARCH
Any research you did for
your book could be of interest to many organizations. Trade access to
your research for a mention in their next newsletter. In Jake Mosher’s
case, local historical associations would love to have any background
research he did on the area and its past. Preservation and cultural
societies would, similarly, love to hear any tidbits. If these is an
ethnic or minority aspect to a book, advocacy groups as well as cultural
preservation groups will be interested – especially if you conducted
any interviews, or based events and characters on real life.
CONCLUSION
Every aspect of you and
your book is linked to other people through shared experiences. Write a
list of all these aspects and begin to jot down ideas about who would be
interested in them. And remember; don’t give up after a single
success. As any advertiser will tell you, you must get your product
before the consumer at least three times.
But with all the themes in your work, all the links
in your life, and all these ideas, that repetition should now be a snap.
***
I’d love to hear
your comments on this article: was it helpful; have you had success with
press releases, marketing or editors; is there anything I missed that you would
like to know about? Send your comments to jd@jdwrite.com.
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