Under the Radar Tactics for PR Challenged Authors


Some authors find it difficult to call the media to promote their books. Many of us are either introverted, working full-time or, quite frankly, we don’t like to feel like we’re either bothering someone or asking for something. I like to think of it as human nature getting in the way of our book promotion goals.

If you are not a PR professional, then you have two choices to obtain your piece of the PR pie for your book:

• Compete with PR professionals using traditional methods to cultivate media contacts and develop excellent follow up skills, or

• Use technology and under the radar tactics to accomplish both

A Word of Caution
Regardless of which technique you chose to use, you still need to have something of interest to offer the media. Just having written a book may be okay to get some courtesy coverage in your local newspaper, however, unless you are a celebrity or controversial, it will not produce your desired results. You need to spend time upfront determining what you can offer that the media will want to share with their readers, listeners or viewers.

One suggestion is to become an expert on a niche topic that is associated with your book’s theme. For example, if you’ve written a novel about how your main character faced or overcame a particular hardship or illness, you can offer quality information that will help others who are experiencing the same challenges.

Create a content-rich Website that provides valuable information about your niche topic and use your book for credibility. Essentially, do not promote your book – promote yourself as an expert and published author on your niche topic. This approach will attract the media’s attention and your expertise will help you to sell more books, as well as help others.

How to Effectively Use Technology to Accomplish Your Book Marketing and PR Goals

To say that media professionals are inundated with telephone calls and email messages is an understatement. To be effective in this era of information overload, you need to develop both “proactive” and “passive” campaigns. The proactive component is directly contacting the media, while the passive component is having your content-rich Website place in the “Top Ten” of the major search engines. When reporters and producers are searching for information on your niche topic, they need to be able to find your Website.

Under the Radar PR Tactics
When you conduct your PR campaign, you need to use a “rifle,” as well as a “shotgun” to achieve better results. For example, posting your press release on-line or paying to have it mass distributed can produce disappointing results unless you write it for good search engine placement and follow up with the editors and producers that you have contacted.

The PR “Shotgun” Approach


1. Write a Keyword-Rich Media Release
Incorporate one major keyword phrase and two – three secondary related keyword phrases into your release. This helps to ensure that the search engines index it and give your release a good ranking.

2. Post Your Release to the Free Press Release Distribution Websites
Make your release available to reporters and producers by posting it to the free press release distribution Websites including:

PR Web - http://www.prweb.com


MediaSyndicate - http://www.mediasyndicate.com


Free-News-Release - http://www.free-news-release.com


Press Release Spider - http://www.pressreleasespider.com


3. Sign Up for Google Alerts
Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, blogs and groups). By entering your keyword phrases and e-mail address, Google will forward links to the posted items. This will act as your clipping service - http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en – Include your name as one of the keyword phrases.

The PR “Rifle” Approach - Research - Email – FAX – Leave Message after Hours – Email Again If you want to get through the information overload, this tactic will get your release noticed without initially having to talk to a reporter.

1. Research Media Contacts
Create a list of specific media contacts that are interested in your niche - including their email addresses, telephone and fax numbers. For an excellent US media research tool, go to: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media

2. E-mail Your Release
E-mail your media release to each contact. Do not mass mail to your list. Address each contact by name and ensure correct spelling. Have a “catchy” subject line and stress the benefits you are offering their readers, listeners and viewers within the release. To test your release, contact the first five and measure your results. If the response is poor or non-existent, review your release to determine if it is written to stimulate interest. Then send it to the next five, and so on.

2. FAX Your Release
The following day, FAX the release to each editor with the following message preceding the actual release. “Yesterday, date, I e-mailed you the following media release. The subject line is _____________ and my e-mail address is ___________. As I know you are inundated with e-mails, and the SPAM filters can also play a role, I wanted to ensure that you received it. If you did not and would like me to resend an electronic version so you do not have to retype it, please let me know.”

Faxing a copy is a great follow up reminder and provides them with a hard copy version in addition to the electronic version.

3. Call and Leave a Message after Hours


Then, in the later evening or early morning, call and leave a voice message when you know they are not in the office. The message can be as follows:

“Ms. ______, This is _______. I wanted to follow up with you concerning my media release. (Describe your content and why her readers will love it). In addition to e-mailing it on (Date), I also faxed it to you. My phone number is _________. If you have any questions or need more information, please call or e-mail me. Again, my phone number is ___________.”

4. Follow Up E-mail Then wait two days and follow up again by e-mail.

Subject line: Follow up: Your release title. Ms _______, How are you? I am following up to see if you are planning to use my release on_______. I feel that your readers will benefit_______________ (State benefits, solutions, etc.)

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you, Name / Phone number / Media Kit URL

Conclusion
With this technique, you are productively making several media contacts in less time and “surrounding” them with your release to ensure that they read it. You are also creating a content-rich Website that the media can find in the search engines.

When the media does express interest, remember to be professional, friendly and get them to like you.

Author Website Mistakes to Avoid - Part II


A website is an author's chance to make a first impression with the book's readers. It’s design, readability, and ease of use is a reflection of both you and your book. When done well, an effective website can do wonders for an author’s career. Whereas a poorly crafted website can result in lost sales and missed opportunities.

Here are some of the top mistakes that authors should avoid on the website they use to promote books:

7. Irrelevant content

One way or another, the purpose of your website is to advance your writing career. Everything contained on it - especially the home page - should reinforce this objective. The concept to keep in mind with all of your website content is focus, focus, focus. For example, I’ve seen authors promote a friend’s website on their home page with: Click here to view my friend’s new website. Visitors follow your advice and rather than learn about you, they have now left your website and are visiting your friend’s. As another example, avoid announcements like your grandchild’s birthday. While both of these examples are nice statements about who you are, they detract from your objectives and don’t meet your audience’s needs.

8. Too many font colors

Too many, or an inconsistent use of, font colors is both distracting and disorienting to people on the Internet. Your website should always be leading people from one place to another and font colors can play an important role in making that happen. Further, font colors can also contribute to making it easier to scan your website. At most use two or three font colors and use them consistently. For example, make all of your headlines one color, your sub-headlines another, and your body text a third. Be sure you choose a background color that works well (white is usually best—there’s a reason why you see it used most often in professionally designed websites).

9. More than two font sizes in the body of the website

Similar to the use of font colors, you want to create a consistent experience for visitors where they can more readily find the information they want. A person’s eyes will naturally gravitate to larger font sizes. Use this natural instinct to draw attention to important information. If you put less important content in larger fonts you will draw your visitors’ attention from more relevant information.

10. Poor color combinations

Some authors who are designing their own websites will combine colors to create a more artistic and dramatic looking website. However, sometimes readability is sacrificed as a result. For example, yellow or pink on a white background and blue on a black background is very stressful on the eyes. Conservative looking, even somewhat boring, websites often yield better results than dramatic websites.

11. Navigation that is not immediately seen

Put your navigation bar “above the fold.” That is, do not place the navigation bar anywhere where a visitor to your site has to scroll to find it. The more work you require of visitors, the more visitors you will lose. Many authors inadvertently hide their website’s navigation bar. Since the navigation bar is the primary way people get the information they want, it is critical to put the bar in a prominent location.

12. Unclear terminology used in navigation

If people don’t know what something is on a website, they generally will not click on it. Make sure the titles in your navigation are clear. Ask friends what they think they’ll find should they click on the different navigation titles on your page. If they get any wrong try adjusting the terminology a bit to improve clarity and expectations. Don’t forget to have a “Buy the Book” tab in your navigation.

By avoiding these common mistakes you will maximize every visit to your website.