By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist
S. J. Miller Communications
[email protected]
Book publicity and, ultimately, book sales begin with book discovery. For the media to find your book, and for readers to learn about your book (thus, enabling readers to buy your book), they have to know that your book exists.
In light of the correlation between book promotion and and awareness of your book, every author and publisher (and book publicist) should focus on expanding the book’s footprint. Here’s how:
- Author interviews. If you want the public to be aware of your book, then talk to the media about your book’s messages. You’re the expert. Let the media know that you’re available to share your expertise. A book publicist will help you pull news hooks from your book and, assuming you have the credibility, can garner opportunities for you to speak to radio and television, and newspaper and magazine reporters, and bloggers. Do this on an ongoing basis, and you’ll raise awareness of your book.
- Press releases. Although few people in the media want authors, publishers, or book publicists. to just indiscriminately mail or email press releases to them (they just lack the time to read full press releases, and to think about how the information in the press release might relate to a current or breaking news story), the search engines are eager to index the keywords with which you can fill your press releases. And press release banks, such as AuthorPublicity, which exclusively hosts press releases for authors and publishers (and can create press releases for you, too, at a fair price) as well as paid an unpaid online press release distribute services, will help you expand your book discovery potential through Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines.
- Articles. If you want the media and readers to know about your book, then create content for your target audience to find. Read published articles to see the format that the blogs, newspapers, and even magazines accept, emulate that style, and submit your own articles to these media outlets. A competent book publicist can help you conduct a bylined article campaign.
- Blog. Besides submitting articles to blogs, newspapers, and magazines, and hoping these media outlets will publish your articles, remember that creating and maintaining your own blog is a reliable way of calling attention to your keywords and your expertise without having to impress a gatekeeper. Therefore, blogging on a regular basis is one of the best ways to positively expand awareness of your book and ensure that your work is well-positioned for discovery by your target readership. Your book publicist can work with you on the types of keywords and concepts that you might incorporate into your blog entries. This can be particularly helpful as you launch a new blog, and as you look around for topics to help fill it.
Book sales will increase as you focus on book discovery and your book’s online footprint. If you haven’t yet launched a book promotion campaign — which should include both traditional and online book promotion strategies, and you hope to help readers learn about your book, then it’s time to get started. A book publicity firm can be a great asset as you begin the book promotion process.