Author: Claire McKinney

Book Publicity 101: 5 Reasons Press Releases Still Matter

Posted on by Claire McKinney

I have heard directly from book review editors that they toss the materials that come with review copies.  I have also had a radio producer chastise me for mistakenly not sending a press packet with a book.  Clients have asked me if press releases matter anymore: “I mean does anybody really read those things?”  The short answer is “yes”: there are media, booksellers, librarians, academics, etc. who actually do pay attention to an old fashioned press release, and you have no way of knowing who is going to insist on having one and who isn’t.  So in my opinion, I wouldn’t sacrifice this tool just yet.

Here are five practical reasons why:

  1. The Core Message: Press releases are different from any of the other copy you will use to market your book. Some of the words may be the same as what you have on the back of the jacket, but the release is supposed to achieve a few things including delivering the newsworthy or unique aspects of what you are presenting; giving the reader an idea of why you would be a good interview subject; and a relatively brief synopsis of the best points of the book (or product depending on your industry).  If you want to read some examples you can check out these links on our website:
  2. Press Approved Copy or When Your Words Come Back to Haunt You: This is my favorite.  First of all the copy on your release is assumed to be vetted and usable for the press.  It is likely that one outlet or another will actually lift the synopsis or even the entire release and reprint it online or in the newspaper.  The first time I saw this it was a little weird, but the words on the release, by the very nature of what the document is, are fair game for repurposing.
  3. SEO Optimization: Having the release available on your website, your publicist’s, publishers, etc. gives you more real estate online and can offer more search results. You will notice a search for your book brings up Amazon.com and other big properties first, your publisher, and even our website can appear on the first or near the top of the second page.  It gives you more power online when there are more references to you and your work.
  4. The Pitch Package: So many people interact primarily on email these days, so there is a bit more “room” to present the best aspects of your book. As a standard practice we write pitches according to which people we are sending them, and we paste the press release below so the media contact can choose to learn more.  In the past we would send a cover letter with the press kit which constituted the pitch, and I know that today all of those pages won’t get read in a mailing.  The release is an informational supplement that provides another tool for marketing.  If a contact only wants to read three sentences, fine.  If more is desired, it’s all there in the email.
  5. Standard Practices: More people want to see a release than not, and it’s part of the public relations/media relations process. In addition, your booksellers, event coordinators at higher end venues, librarians—they want to see the meat of what you are selling without having to read the entire book.  Having a press release gives you a more serious, professional persona when you are marketing your book.  It says, you mean business and people should pay attention to you.  Don’t sell yourself short.

The other more esoteric reason for the release is that it is an opportunity for you and your publicist to come to an understanding of what your intention is about your book and its relevance.  You may also discover some things that are unclear about your work, or an interpretation that is not at all what you meant.  It’s important to come to terms with how the book will be presented and what the selling points are.  It’s super competitive out there, as you know, and you want to make sure your work is getting the attention it deserves.

 

Book Marketing101: 10 Things You Need To Know About Bestsellers Lists

Posted on by Claire McKinney

NYT BestsellersI’ve been doing book publicity and marketing for a long time.  I keep doing it because I haven’t lost that kernel of idealism and drive that truly believes in the potential for success of a good idea, book, and/or person who has something to contribute to the conversation in the world.  Coming up with a strategy that makes these things work and makes my clients happy is immensely gratifying.  But (and you knew this was coming), I do raise a caution flag when I get into a conversation about books and bestsellers lists.  I hear all kinds of myths about the “right” way to do this and although there can be exceptions to every rule, there are certain realities we all have to know.

Amazon BestsellersAll of the lists are generated by proprietary algorithms based on quantity, rate of sale, range of sale, date, time, etc.  No one, except the people who wrote these things, knows for certain how they work, and I’ve been told that they are tweaked occasionally when it looks like someone out there is trying to be smarter than the system.  You can’t buy a thousand copies of your book the day before pub date.  You can’t tell a hundred friends to visit your book online or click through to anything.  The numbers are based on actual sales, POS (point of sale) whether online or in person at a cash register.

There are many reasons why or how a book can “list”, as the biz folks say.  If you are traditionally published here are five things you will need to have a shot at the New York Times or other national “print” bestsellers list (physical books sold).

Traditionally Published Authors:

  1. A brand name (meaning you are a known entity to a book buying or commercial audience)
  2. A marketing plan with the right jacket image; front of store placement at Barnes & Noble; and money spent on premiums on etailer sites like Amazon.
  3. Distribution across all sales channels.  This means Amazon has a bunch of copies, Barnes & Noble has a good quantity available to its stores, and the wholesalers like Ingram and Baker & Taylor have bought a solid quantity.  It would help if Target, Walmart, Costco and other “club” stores also had some, but you don’t necessarily need it if you don’t care how high you go on the list.
  4. A traditional and online publicity campaign that gets the word out about the book leading up to and during the first week of publication.
  5. A publication date that is in line with the level of author/book.  I mean that the most books are sold during October – December so if you aren’t able to compete with the titles being released in this time frame, then you don’t have a chance.  You would have to sell twice as many or more copies in order to achieve the same result you would, say, in February.  But again it does depend on the topic and your level of “celebrity” .  (See our article on when to publish.)

If you are an indie author through a small press or on your own without a nationally recognized brand on your score card, and you utilize the print-on-demand technology for your physical books, you will not jump on a bestseller list within a week or even a month of your book being available for sale.  This is an entirely different publication model when it comes to print copies because you are not distributed in stores.  However, you can achieve the coveted rank of bestseller on digital  or ebook lists, especially USA Today and different category rankings on Amazon.

Check out this list of five dos for the indie ebook:

  1. If you have a dedicated audience that is awaiting your next book you need a digital marketing plan via content and social channels that lets your audience know your book will be available for sale.
  2. If you are a new author, you need to work several months in advance at building an audience on social media or through your own personal networking channels that creates anticipation and awareness of the upcoming title.
  3. A great jacket, branding, and messaging that speaks directly to the audience that is the primary market for the book.  This is about generating a “need” for your product.
  4. Error free Amazon page for the book and “buy buttons” on your website or book page so there are no issues when it comes to making a sale.
  5. A traditional and online publicity campaign that provides opportunities for reviews and interviews and reaches your audience(s), creates awareness, and generates positive reviews that lure people to buy!

I also need to be clear and to say that all of the above is about creating the best possibile circumstances to get on a list within a couple of weeks of publication.   You can build a bestseller, but it takes time, attracting a bigger and bigger audience, getting name recognition, having a topic take hold, a news cycle item that brings your idea to the forefront of the zeitgeist, and other things that would take a lot longer to explain.

Ultimately everything is about the book itself and what’s between the covers (or on the Kindle, Nook, etc.).   I think it can be self-defeating to only look at what is on the bestsellers lists and to consider that the ultimate goal.  Does it help?  Sure, but it also can be very short-lived.  Steady sales over a longer term that show a rate of growth are way more valuable than a week on a list and a deep dive down to nearly nothing.  Grow an audience, market your book, and find every opportunity you can to let people know about it.  That is likely to be the best, most rewarding, and most lucrative path to success.

Publicity 101: 5 Things You Need to Do to do for Your Publicist

Posted on by Claire McKinney

In an article I read years ago on a PR site, one of the things that stood out and I still remember was that clients need to anticipate dedicating a certain amount of their own time to PR efforts every week.  For authors, this may be daunting because it isn’t what they had in mind when they set out to write books.  Even small business owners with brands to promote don’t have the time to commit to working an effective campaign.  And “work with” is the operative term.

Because it still happens.  We are hired for a book publicity/brand campaign and the author or client checks out after the first phone call.  Don’t get me wrong, we don’t go on working without getting paid.  We often find ourselves stalled, with a lot of questions, and in the position of hunting authors down for things we need.  The ugly truth of it is no matter how wonderful we think we are, publicists can’t work in a vacuum and successful publicity doesn’t happen in isolation.

Today’s campaigns are much more than just booking interviews.  To raise awareness, sell product, and establish a brand there needs to be a clear strategy for media relations, content marketing, and social media.  There are just so many places audiences can be now, and the great thing about it is they are able to be reached directly–from the tiny niche to B2B to a mass consumer group.  So where once you could put together a press release and some talking points and go for days, weeks or even months, now you have to be prepared to shift strategies, find new audiences, recraft messages, target audiences, and the like.  Sound overwhelming?  It can be, but as a PR professional I offer 5 things you can do to make the process more efficient, collaborative and successful.

  1.  Plan regular check in meetings.  Everyone wants to be on the same page and to make sure the trains are running on time, so set up a bi-weekly or even weekly call when you, your agency, and any other entities you suggest can get together to find out what is working and what isn’t.
  2. Provide as much information about yourself and your book/brand that you can.  You know your brand better than anyone else.  It’s also likely that you have collected a lot of information about the industry or topic; have an extensive bio of your own to share on the subject; and have met “influencers” or media contacts that could help.  Prepare a package for your publicist with a list of contacts you know a little, more than a little, and a lot, as well as your bio, CV, articles, tapes of interviews you have done, and any other relevant material.
  3. Share your own ideas.  Just because you’ve hired someone doesn’t mean you don’t have some of your own ideas.  It’s better to have an exchange with your PR people so all potential leads and strategies can be vetted properly.  Brainstorm!
  4. Keep current on your topic.  Watch the news, read about your topic or industry, and network with other like minded people.  Then tell your publicist about it.  You also know your area of interest the best and it makes sense that sometimes there will be something that you find that your agency hasn’t.  The publicist can’t have an ego about this, because it’s a benefit to all to keep each other informed.  Leads can come from all kinds of places.
  5. Be clear about your schedule and availability.  I have literally chased people to book interviews.  Believe me, it can be hard enough to get the opportunity to be on The Today Show, so please don’t vanish in the hour of need.  Another way to avoid something like this is to be totally upfront with your publicist about your schedule for the length of the contract or campaign.  If you know in advance that you are going to Madagascar for a month, let your agency know!  And, another benefit to keeping your schedule transparent is that there could be a media opportunity to be had where you are going or for what you are doing.  I’m not talking Africa right now, but Los Angeles?  That’s another story.

For more information please visit our blog pages, subscribe to our newsletter, or download our free eGuide to Social Media.

Do you need a publishing consultant?

Posted on by Claire McKinney

When I started my own business, the world of self-publishing was just getting off the ground.

At the time there were often telltale signs that a book was not traditionally published, such as:

 

  • publishing consultant - proofreaderThe use of courier font
  • No front or back matter, author bio, acknowledgements, etc.
  • Very poorly designed (or not designed) jackets
  • Xerox paper that glowed with a white/gray hue
  • At least a half-dozen errors/typos on the first and subsequent pages
  • Lack of typesetting and design

These are the things that stuck out the most, and as a result of the obviously poorer quality books themselves, the discrimination in the media against the self-published was considered justified. For a while, I considered starting a publishing consultant business whereby I would act as the Managing Editor. I would walk the author through all of the stages of publication so that the book would look more like, well, an actual book.

Boy did I learn to have an appreciation for all of those in-house managing editors, who must have had minds like traps to keep track of all of the details involved in preparing a book for publication.

Some things they need to keep track of include:

 

  • ISBNs
  • Bar codes
  • Jacket designers
  • Interior book designers
  • Front and back matter production
  • Library of Congress data
  • Copyright
  • Content editors
  • Line editors
  • Copyeditors
  • Page count/price of printing
  • Paper selection
  • Page proofs
  • Resubmission of pages after a final OK from the author
  • Submission of jacket and manuscript for printing (hopefully so they end up together)
  • E-book formatting for multiple platforms

It is an arduous list and honestly, I knew it wasn’t going to be for me as the core of a business. I’m a people person, a media relations strategist, a brand marketing consultant—not someone who is going to love keeping track of the dry details of book production.
But as the saying goes, “someone’s gotta do it” and there are publishing consultants out there who do work with authors through the entire process making sure all of the details are managed. These people know where to go to get the job done, either using their own employees or a group of subcontractors.

If you want to consider hiring a publishing consultant or company there are some things to keep in mind:

 

  • Find out how they charge—is it a project fee or hourly rate?
  • Take your list of things you need to have done for your book (like the one I have put together above). Find out how these items are accomplished and what the fees are— are these things a part of the project or will these entities charge their own hourly fees on top of what you are already paying?
  • How long will the process take?
  • What will you need to do to?
  • What projects have they recently completed and can you see some of them?

As with any contractor or consultant you hire (including a publicist), you will want to get as much information as you can so there are fewer surprises. Remember you are new at this and there are no bad questions.

You can also choose to be your own managing editor. For this path I would recommend researching how others have done it by visiting various indie-publishing websites such as the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), the Alliance for Independent Authors (ALLi) or Where Writers Win.

We have come a long way from the days of courier font, and fortunately there are many more reputable resources free and fee-based that will help you take care of you and your book that will give you an advantage when it comes to approaching media, bookstores, and selling online.

Goats vs. Cats: 5 Reasons why and how goats are gaining popularity among pet owners

Posted on by Claire McKinney

Goats

My daughter tells me that goats are super popular among the gamer set online—she would even go so far as to say that cats and goats actually rule the internet.  A quick Google search pulls up 74 million references to goats; cats get a significantly higher number of 439 million; and to be fair to canine fans, in my search there are 710 million dog mentions.

I won’t disappoint my daughter with these results.  Clearly it makes more sense that your garden variety domesticated animals would come out on top.  But I’ll tell you lately I’ve been thinking and appreciating goats quite a bit and I think I know why.

  1. They dominate petting zoos. We meet goats at a very young age and as long as we don’t lose a finger to one of them, we do develop a kind of comfort among them. As an adult I’ve found it kind of lame that these fun, furry zones are marketed as actual zoos when really the majority of the animals are in fact goats with a sheep, a pig, and an errant llama or two.  But the kids love them.
  2. The increase in goat’s milk and cheeses in restaurants, supermarkets, recipes, and dog boutiques. Twenty years ago blue cheese and gorgonzola dominated the salad menus at restaurants. Today? No self-respecting mid-high level restaurant would be caught without a goat cheese something or other in salad, on pizza, pasta, and more I probably haven’t come across yet.  In the supermarket expect to find at least three varieties and multiple brands.  At the pet shops, they push goat’s milk on my dog like fine wine.
  3. In some countries goats are a symbol of wealth. I vacationed in Anguilla (British Caribbean Territory) some years ago.  At the rental car shop we received a map with a bunch of wavy and straight lines that they called “a map” and were sent on our way.  I was busy trying to figure out if we were on the correct “shape” of road as we putted along.  One thing we weren’t warned about was the large amount of goats spilling into the roads; some tied up by the sides of the road; others grazing by homes.  An elder lady in a T-shirt shop even asked us how many goats we had at home.  Come to find out, more goats = more status in Anguilla.  Who knew?
  4. The internet. While not exactly taking over cyber space there are still many references to goats out there and if you have a kid into video games you’ll find out about more.  There is something out there called the “Goat Simulator” which my daughter thinks is hilarious.
  5. Counting goats? Sheep are out at nighttime, it’s in vogue to count goats. Yes, those bearded friends are now leaping fences in the hundreds in my house when it’s bedtime.

What does all of this mean for me?  Well a couple of years ago I agreed to move about an hour outside of New York City to a place where the land is designated as “farm land”.  On my two plus acre property, I can actually have chickens, sheep, horses, and GOATS!  With a dog and two cats under control, my family is vying for a new pet goat.  It hasn’t happened yet, but with all of the increased interest in goats these days, why not?

If you have an interesting pet to share, tweet me a picture at @mckinneypr!