10 Media Relations Tips for Authors and Publishers

Take a few minutes to read Kim Wolterman Blog Post about our workshop this past Saturday and her top ten tips for Authors and publishers.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

10 Media Relations Tips for Authors and Publishers

The Publicity Hound

Writers and publishers in the St. Louis area are blessed to have the active and resourceful St. Louis Publishers Association right in their backyard. In addition to monthly meetings and an annual class on getting your book published, occasionally a national speaker is brought in. Such was the case last Saturday when Joan Stewart, aka The Publicity Hound, came to St. Louis for a jam-packed three hour workshop on tips for profitable self-promotion. Joan is a publicity expert, speaker and trainer who works with businesses, authors, marketers and many others who need assistance with their publicity endeavors.

Saturday's workshop covered working with the media, creating video and audio, blogging (and repurposing your own content), press releases and pitching to journalists. Here are my top ten takeaways from Joan's presentation:

10. Pinterest is one of the fastest growing forms of social media. This visual platform is predominantly used by females.

9. Join LinkedIn groups that contain influencers who can help you with your promotions, not just author and/or publisher groups.

8. The Freelance Directory of the Society of Professional Journalists can help you locate journalists who write about your topic.

7. Once you have identified the journalists who represent what you write about, then read their blogs. Research them before you pitch to them.

6. Authors need to blog. Ideally, a blog post should be around 700 words so Google can find it.

5. Repurpose your content. Turn blog posts into podcasts, create YouTube videos, put tips on Pinterest.

4. Review existing podcast topics. Small, niche topics do well here because not too many people are doing it.

3. Complete a Google profile, and make sure that you have linked all of your websites to it.

2. Creating videos and audio content is imperative if you want to be found on Google, and to be recognized as an expert in your field.

And the top tip learned from Joan...

1. Promote yourself as an expert, do not promote your book. If the media sees you as an expert, they will call upon you for stories. The publicity for your book will follow.

Joan's presentation was professional, entertaining and enlightening. The fifty some attendees were attentive and engaged. What a productive way to spend a Saturday morning.

If you are not currently following Joan, I would highly encourage you to do so. Her publicity tips are priceless, though many of them are offered for free. To receive her free DIY publicity tips, you can subscribe here.

The Reason Why Readers Hate Indie Books: Poor Editing

I wanted to share this article with all the Indie writers out there.  Great points about editing.

 

The #1 Reason Why Readers Hate Indie Books: Poor Editing

We all need an editor from time to time. It’s not something we outgrow. One very intelligent and literate adult I know had to be convinced that it was “together” not “togather”. I married him anyway.
Another acquaintance, also a writer, regularly puts out blog posts that say she’s “suppose to” or “use to”. Where did those d’s disappear to? Gah.

We split our infinitives and misplace our modifiers. We can’t get it through our heads that we only use the superlative “my oldest son” when there are more than two sons in the picture.  Writers often tell ourselves, hey, we’re artists. We can’t be bothered with the mundane when we’re crafting an exciting story. But it matters.

That’s why we all need an editor from time to time.  As the founding member of the GES, I embrace my own grammarly shortcomings and put my trust in my editor.  Susan is awesome. She makes me correct my mistakes. She’s like a human thesaurus when I just can’t come up with the right word. She reels me in when I fall in love with the sound of my own voice and a scene starts to drag.  I consider her an objective critic and I take her opinion seriously.

This morning, she referred a prospective client to me for an endorsement.
Gladly!
My editor has made me a better writer.
End of story.

Check her out! Susan Hughes at www.myindependenteditor.com
Tracy Lawson has wanted to be a writer ever since she learned to read. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Communication from Ohio University, and though she embarked on a career in the performing arts as a dance instructor and choreographer, never lost her desire to write, and thus far has to her credit a coming-of-age dystopian thriller and an historical nonfiction. Her interest in writing for teens is sparked by all the wonderful young people in her life, including her daughter, Keri, a college sophomore.

You can find out more about her on her website www.counteractbook.com and on Twitter