Publicity for Buzz Marketing for Authors
Sankofa Literary Society Posting Home
Congratulations, you've written a book and even gotten it published!
Now, all you have to do is get people to buy it. Getting people to
actually enter a bookstore with the purpose of buying your book is not
easy because you're not a "brand name" yet. But you do have a potent
weapon at your command-- the telephone. Use it.
Call the editor of the books section of your paper. Say you'd like to
send a copy to him or her. Ask if he has a few minutes so you can
briefly tell him about the book on the phone. After you send the book,
give her a chance to read or at least glance at it, then call again.
If you can possibly tie the book to something in the news, that's
great. Let's say you wrote Cooking with Chocolate and the health
section of your paper has an article on the health benefits of
chocolate. Call editors and reporters in the health, food and book
sections.
If there's a human interest reporter or columnist, call and then send
them a copy of the book. Human interest reporters can usually write on
anything that interests them. Try to interest them in you. What did
you do before you wrote the book and why did you write it? Do you have
eight children and wrote it at your kitchen table every morning
between 2:00 and 5:00 am? Did you gain 20 pounds writing the book? Or,
did you lose 20--proving that chocolate really isn't fattening?
Call the assignment editors at television news programs. Frequently,
if there's an interesting hook, they will interview you. Track down
book shows on radio and television and call the producers.
Don't be afraid to make the phone calls and don't believe someone when
he says he'll get back to you. He won't. The person who has the most
to gain (you, in this case) has to make the call. Too often people are
afraid to call. Ask yourself what's the worst that can happen. They'll
say no, right? Editors are not going to gather menacingly on your
doorstep or come after you with garlic and torches. They'll say no.
Can you live with that? Of course, you can, so call.
Put on a comfortable pair of shoes, gather up copies of the book and
hit the pavement. Stop in at every small bookstore and beg to leave
copies. I assume you've already called the biggies. Offer to appear to
talk about and read from your book or do a mini-seminar.
You've got to do things to create a buzz. The author of the
aforementioned book on chocolate could give away chocolate bars with
each copy. Or slices of cake she made (recipe in the book) during her
appearance in the bookstore. It wouldn't be a bad idea to drop off a
cake with the book in the newsrooms.
Don't forget retailers. They might agree to do a window around your
book. I once got a prominent jeweler to do a window with diamonds
falling out of toe shoes and copies of the book, written by a dancer,
displayed.
By Miriam Silverberg
Miriam Silverberg is president of Miriam Silverberg Associates, a
publicity firm in New York City. Listed in Who's Who of American
Women, she has publicized authors, restaurants, hotels, New York City
Ballet and people in the fashion, beauty and medical fields. She is a
guest on the publicity panel at Marymount Manhattan College's seminar
for writers.
She may be reached at silve...@iopener.net.
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