Tag: publicity

Tips for Promoting Your Fall Books

Posted on by CMPR

Calling all writers! 

Are you ready to start promoting your fall books?  If you publish frequently you may remember how 2020 went.  The newscycle was super fast and everyone was distracted by stories about politics and the pandemic.  Well in 2024 we don’t have the pandemic to worry about, but it’s “take two” in November and it could be brutal for books seeking mainstream attention.  However, I do have some tips and strategies that can help.

Start Promoting Your Fall Books Now

The time is now to start promoting your books for fall 2024.  To take advantage of holiday shopping season, publishers release way too many books. If you start pitching your book and you want to be on podcasts in September, this is your month.  The rule is to prepare and execute your media campaign two to three months ahead of publication.  If you have extra time and your book can be printed and sent to reviewers now, then start going after publications and longer leads as soon as you are ready. 

Some examples are:  Foreword Magazine, City Book Reviews, and Publishers Weekly.

Taboo Words in Marketing This Fall

Do not use the eight letter word that begins with “e” and ends with “n”.  Sorry to be mysterious here, but this post will not see the light of day if I use this word or individual names pertaining to the two opposing sides. (Hint: we have to choose one in November) 

Unless your work is about the event or related stories, do not write about social issues, politics, or the words and names I mentioned.  If you do have a topic related to social issues and you want to post on a Meta platform, then you will have to go through their identification and validation process. 

Here is an interesting document called the Hatch Act, which is a set of rules for content and social media for federal employees.  

Another source is theMotherhood.com which breaks down guidelines for marketers by platform.

Market to Niche Audiences via Niche Media

Dig deep for potential niche audiences that might love your book.  You may find a sweet spot in the news cycle that works, but in lieu of that try breaking down your book into multiple topics and subject areas.  This way you can look for media and influencers that cover topics like religion, parenting, video games, mental health and wellness, horses, pets, and more. Writers need to target an audience they know has an interest in a topic relating to their books.  Find out where these people are and focus on the media that can reach them.

For more book marketing tips check out these blog posts:

Publicizing a book? What to expect & when

How To Talk About Your Book for the First Time on Social Media

How to Find the Right Bookstagrammer for Your Work

Posted on by CMPR

Instagram (IG), like all social platforms, evolves with time.  We have talked a lot about the benefits of Instagram for books and authors.  But before you start approaching all of the  “bookstagrammers” who come up in a #search, you need to know how to find the right bookstagrammer for your work.

Find the Right Hashtags for Your Topic

There are a lot of lists if you google the term bookstagrammer. Popular sites have made lists of their favorites by genre, aesthetic, or just personal preference. Often, these lists are more general and limited to around 20 accounts. The best way to find people is to go directly to Instagram itself and dig down a little deeper.

This does require research and time. It is important to go through the process so you find the right bookstagrammer for your work by identifying the hashtags that are popular with a specific genre. For instance, if you wrote a thriller, try searching #thrillernovel or #thrillerbookreview for specific results. From there, you will find more related hashtags and reviewers who are interested in your niche. You might even find certain genres have specific, trendy tags they use so keep an eye out for those!

Evaluating Bookstagrammer Profiles

Once you’ve found a hashtag that seems active and relevant to your book, start visiting user profiles. Take a look at their bios to learn a little more about them and then look at the rest of their posts. Was the book review a one-off thing or do they do lots of them? Do they often review books that seem similar to yours? It is more productive to ask someone for a review when they already have an interest in the genre of your book. People who are avid fans of one genre are always looking for their next read!

Take note of a reviewer’s follower count while you’re on their profile, but don’t let this metric be the end-all, be-all of your search. In the case of bookstagrammers, don’t overlook the micro-influencer. Bigger accounts get DMs (Direct Messages) about book pitches often, so yours might not even make it to their proverbial desk. Getting your book in front of an audience of 30,000 people is great if you can, but several posts made over time by different accounts can also be great exposure. Smaller users that have grown their audience organically may have a more active audience as well.

How to Pitch Bookstagrammers Correctly

If you’re looking for some differences on how to pitch on different platforms, check out our previous blog about pitching! While pitching, keep yourself as organized as possible in a way that works for you. Whether you want to use spreadsheets or an address book, just make sure you have a plan of action and a way to keep track of who you’ve talked to.

We have found that the book community on Instagram is a wonderful, supportive group.  They are super creative and just engaging with them can help you learn about how to use the platform in creative ways.

For more tips, check out our other blogs to find out more about social media and book marketing techniques.

 

Finding the Best Way to Sell Your Book: Non-Fiction

Posted on by Claire McKinney
Academics, experts, spokespeople, business owners–many of them publish non-fiction books.  To look at these books as one giant group of promotable content packs is to ignore the fact that there is likely a “best way” to sell your book.  There is not a set of “book media” who generically cover anything that is made between paper covers.  And there is no giant pool of people who are awaiting the next “book”.  There is much more to the story.  How the book is structured and what it is about will determine how you sell it.  Some books are idea driven, others are more “how-to” focused.  Some are both.  Do you know which one applies to you?

Selling Ideas

Is it an idea book, a how-to or both?  It is one thing to pitch a mystery novel or a book on weight loss.  It is an entirely different approach if what you want to sell is a new concept or a new spin on something we all know.  Let’s break it down with one of the more difficult “idea” categories using some of my favorite tools from economics class.

Faux Title Study I: Selling The How-to Book

“Dominating the Widget Market for Investors”

Let’s say you are publicizing a book about investing in the widget market.  Your book describes the market, it’s history, sample strategies, tips, potential outcomes, etc.  It is a prescriptive book that can help people make money from widgets, and in general help them learn more about the stock market.

You would likely employ a strategy that included:

  • a “top ten strategies/tips” list
  • soliciting radio interviews
  • pitching long lead magazines and soft financial publications for the average investor,
  • trying to get on a morning TV show or other talk show that features self-improvement topics
  • outreach to digital networks about making money in the market

With this book you have a clear direction and advice you can impart.  You are also directing your message to digital and traditional communities that want to know how to improve their financial situations. Now let’s look at the other side of the coin.

Faux Title Study 2: Selling The Big Idea Book

“Dominating the Widget Market in a Changing World”

This book is similar to the first in that the author talks about the market and history of the widget industry.  He will also probably share some case studies of investors both successful and unsuccessful as a way of illustrating the changes.  Theories of the future of widgets and why things are or are not improving will be in the book.  The conclusion may be more gray than black/white and the author will present a picture of what things are going to look like.  He may also suggest ways we might adjust to allow for a more (or less) volatile environment.

What Makes These Books Different?

I’m sure you are getting where I am going with this.  Title 1 is a clearer “how-to” offering whereas Title 2 is based on a hypothesis and theory based on research and/or data.  There may be some takeaways that suggest what to do, but they will be implied rather than listed as “tips”.

Clearly these are simplistic examples, but I run into this all the time.  The thing is, we almost always want to try to promote the theory the same way we would promote the prescriptive, and it just doesn’t work.  First of all, authors who are writing about theory usually have a combination of academic and applied credentials.  They generally don’t want to give people “advice”.  The kind of interview where “tips” are the goal is often awkward for this kind of person.

The other author loves giving workshops and presentations about how to do things better. For her topic, how we got here isn’t as important as what we are going to do about it.

It is challenging to make these distinctions, but it is important.  If you do, you will be much more focused.  You will see your path to selling your ideas and achieving your goals.

What Does it Cost to Hire a Publicist or Digital Marketing Consultant?

Posted on by CMPR


If you are an individual or a small business, the question of what does it cost to hire a publicist or digital marketing consultant is an important one.  If you are just looking for an intern to post for you on Facebook and Instagram and you aren’t in need of a professional strategist, plan, campaign, etc., then this may be more than you need.  If you are investing in your business, career, product launch, or all of the above, then read on.

Several years ago I wrote a blog about hiring a publicist and it continues to generate traffic and interest.  Although the goals of these jobs are the same, the tools we use and the way we go about getting the job done has changed.  Instead of becoming less demanding as a result of a shrinking traditional media landscape, our jobs have grown.  In order to be successful we have to grow communities, sell to target audiences, conduct events virtually and in person, and get press attention every time we hit a goal.   The cost to hire a publicist or marketing consultant is going to be based on the level of experience of the person/team and the amount of time your project is going to take.  The more experience, skills, and services you want, the larger the budget.

What Does it Cost to Hire a Digital Marketing Consultant

I specialize in individualized brands, which include authors, experts, academics, thought leaders, and specialists of any kind.  Most of these people develop their images on social media in order to gain the credibility they need to sell something or be featured in the mainstream media.  The best way to do this these days is through social media.  There are so many firms out there offering social media services it is very difficult to know what to pay or what you should get.  Here are a few services to look at when you are deciding who to hire:

Plan and Strategy: Whether you are already on social media and are not getting the results you want, or you are completely new to this world, a strategy and plan are important.  A lot of people will worry about posting more and creating cool content without understanding how much their efforts are achieving.  You need to know that in order to make a difference and accomplish your goals.  Firms that offer these services should be spending at least four to six weeks working on your plan and strategy and additional time teaching you how to implement it.  The cost: $10,000 – 20,000.

Monthly Content Development and Posting:  This job requires a range of things from writing blogs to designing graphics and composing posts on multiple platforms.  It will require materials from you including photos, boilerplate copy for your business, and any slogans you use.  Video content can come from you directly in the form of single, in-person commentary, or be developed further by your marketing team.  This may also include running ads.  Posting will include a content calendar, scheduling, and analysis.  The range of costs: $600/month for a single campaign on one platform – $2,500+/month on multiple platforms.  The cost is dependent on the number of platforms and the amount of content that needs to be produced and scheduled.

What Does it Cost to Hire a Publicist?

I’m sure if you are Lady Gaga you are spending many thousands a month to have a PR team run your brand.  At that level you have someone listening and monitoring your brand on social media, planning, posting, blocking press and news stories, granting interviews, and more.

For our purposes, we are going to stick with a more general level of service and cost.  Again, there are many service options and people who offer them.  I differentiate them in a couple of ways “plug n’ play” and “customized campaigns”.

“Plug n’ Play”: These services are usually very reasonable, but they are limited.  If you are looking for someone to accomplish a part of the job for you, like offering a list of media contacts or pitching a set number of outlets, this would work for you.  The costs: For a limited campaign or service: $hundreds to purchase lists; $5000+ to be pitched to a specific list of contacts and scheduled for reviews or interviews over a short period of time (6 – 14 weeks).

Customized Campaigns: A campaign like this could involve regional and national media, bloggers, influencer targetting, event planning, national media, and speaking engagements.  Depending on whoever else is on your team it could also involve social media and brand management and marketing.  If you are looking for long term public relations for yourself and your brand the costs are usually set monthly for a contracted period.  If you are planning a single product launch or book launch then the campaign is usually set up as a “project” and charged accordingly.  The costs: $3,500 – 5,000/month for a retainer/contract, $20,000+/project.

Whether you are looking to grow your brand, business, or product, it is important to have a plan and a way to execute it.  Hiring an expert is an investment.  Being informed about the services and costs will help you determine what you will pay to have done and what you will do on your own.