The following is a guest post from Mary Lu Saylor, a 30 year veteran in television news. On Thursday, November 13 she’s co-hosting a free webinar entitled “5 Things You Can Do To Gain Favor With the Media.”
I was asked by the folks at Ambassador International to provide a little insight for authors to promote their books. I have a background in journalism and have been on the receiving end of all sorts of information from organizations, businesses, and even publishing houses touting their latest offerings. I also am an avid reader.
Quick tips to promote your message:
- Make connections with your local TV stations and offer to do a live interview (it really isn’t as scary as you think!) They may have a day time talk show or slots open during their morning, noon, or weekend newscasts.
- See if your local newspaper will do a feature on you.
- Local radio stations occasionally will feature people who are doing unique things in the community.
In your pitch to these outlets either via telephone, email, or snail mail make sure the information you provide is short and concise. Give them the who, what, when, where, and why. Most importantly, make sure you tell them you are available.
Insight from authors
I reached out to two authors that I know and they have this advice for you:
Christian author Margaret Feinberg:
“As far as promoting books, we think it’s important for authors to know they are the plan. They are the editing plan. The marketing plan. The design plan. Everything. Authors shouldn’t think that if they sign with a traditional house everything will be taken care of. They need to be intentional about building and maintaining a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and others. They are the marketing plan. Great content is everything.”
Christian author Dwayne Morris:
“My greatest promotional tool was guest-posting on other people’s blogs. I connected with several people who have big platforms and they allowed me to speak into the lives of their audience. They also posted links to my book. (These include Michael Hyatt and Michael Nichols.) The bottom line…make connections with people and serve them and their audience. If you help enough people get what they want, you’ll eventually get what you want.”
I’m one of the presenters for an upcoming webinar “5 Things You Can Do To Gain Favor With The Media” which will give you more ideas about successfully delivering your message. Click here to sign up for the November 13 event.
I’d love to hear from you! Email me ([email protected]) for a free tip sheet with more detail on some of the items I’ve outlined above.
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