I read with great interest SelfPublishing.com head Ron Pramschufer’s excellent piece in the January 2010 Publishing Basics Newsletter about the difficulty in quantifying marketing dollars in relationship to book sales. He even called a lot of what’s being peddled to authors “smoke and mirrors”…and, much as I might hate to admit it, he’s absolutely right!
How do I know? I’m a longtime member of the media who has personally interviewed dozens of authors as a radio station personality, and now as a station owner. I can tell you, as someone from the other side of the mic, there is no “secret handshake” that will guarantee you P.R…or, even that the P.R. you do generate is guaranteed to result in direct sales. It just doesn’t work that way. At best, P.R. can drive a viewer, listener or reader to be made aware of you and your book. In some rare instances, if you really blow them away with the interview and the topic is super relevant and interesting, a small number of media consumers may go to the trouble of trying to buy your book, but that number is likely to be small.
Think of a media hit as a first date; how many of your first dates resulted in “going all the way”? It’s a numbers game; the more you go to bat, the more hits you’ll make. Our firm, Allen Media Strategies, has worked with quite a few best-selling authors from the big publishing houses, as well as lots of self published authors in helping them generate media exposure for their books. Many times, authors come to us in desperation after they’ve been taken to the cleaners by someone who has promised them the moon, and delivered Uranus. Don’t let it happen to you.
So, how can an author who wants to generate exposure for his or her book make sure they spend wisely? Here are 5 tips:
1) If it sounds too good to be true…it is. Not probably is, but is. If they tell you you’re guaranteed to be on a certain major TV show filmed in Chicago with a book club that’ll make you rich, run screaming in the other direction as fast as you can. No one in the P.R. industry can guarantee you media placement on a certain show unless A) The host of that show is on the take or B) The P.R. flak has magical abilities. They can ask, cajole, insist, plead, beg, whine…but not guarantee specific media placement. That’s up to the producer, host or writer at the media outlet, NOT the marketing and P.R. firm.
2) Paying a retainer? Do your homework. What’s in your budget? Can you make it back in book sales or other income related to your book (like consulting, speaking, etc)? What do you get for your retainer? How often do you get it? How accessible is the team? Who will they pitch, and when? Will you be a top priority to them? And (this is a big one) does ANYONE at the firm have ANY actual background in the working media? I ONLY hire media professionals to work with our firm, because they understand EXACTLY what’s it’s like on the other side of the camera/microphone/word processor. That real world experience is invaluable in generating successful media campaigns.
3) Find a reputable company who will consider doing “Pay For Placement” work on your behalf. This will eliminate a ton of the “Smoke and Mirrors” firms right away. In this scenario, you pay ONLY for the media exposure you receive, based on YOUR GOALS. Wanna be on THE TODAY SHOW? Pay a flat fee only IF the P.R. firm gets you on that show. LARRY KING? Another fee. 20 Talk Radio shows in the Top 100 markets? Same deal. You mutually set a fee, and pay ONLY for the outlets you appear on. This will incent the P.R. and marketing firm to work on YOUR priorities. In most cases, the only additional money you would pay is a very small monthly fee that covers phone calls, book mailings, administration, etc. This is a GREAT deal for self published authors, if you can find it. One note: most firms who DO work on Pay For Placement will ONLY take on books that they REALLY BELIEVE they can get exposure for, so be prepared to get rejected if your book doesn’t have solid potential for media exposure.
4) Look for marketing and P.R. firms that can work with you to maximize the quality of your on-air performance. Marketing your book with media interviews will be infinitely more effective if YOU know how to give a compelling, interesting interview. There is are specific techniques that are involved that take into account the target demographic of the media outlet, the length of your interview segment, your specific call to action, how to redirect the host’s questions and much more. This is BIG, and it’s often overlooked.
5) Beware of “one size fits all” solutions. There is no “kit” or “special program” that you can buy that will generate guaranteed book sales for you. Don’t believe the guys that say that radio is better than TV, that if you market on the internet, you don’t need newspaper, that one is always better than the other, etc. The truth is, each book has a different target, and each media outlet can drive sales for you if your target reader consumes that media form. Often, a varied media mix is most effective; other times, a concentration of force in one media form (the “go big or go home” strategy) works best. Make sure you select the marketing and P.R. plan that’s the best fit for your book subject and for you as a potential media guest.
At the end of the day, marketing books is HARD WORK; it can make the writing part seem easy by comparison. Quality firms send out thousands of emails and make hundreds of phone calls each week nailing down every last bit of media exposure they can for your book. You need to find a media, marketing and P.R. firm with a rock solid work ethic that will partner with you to look for multiple opportunities to give your book the best possible exposure, and blow away the “smoke and mirrors” from the marketing puzzle once and for all.
Share / Print
Recent Comments