Getting the Word Out Through the Media - Utilizing Free Print, Radio & TV to Promote Your Book

Getting your book written and into print is only the beginning. Next you've got to get the word out so it can reach the hands of those who need to read it. One of the least expensive way to get the word out about your book is through the media.

The initial type of free media we will discuss is print media. This could be newspapers, newsletters or magazines. There are a few different ways of getting coverage in these types of publications.

• Interviews: An author in the local vicinity is always a great human interest story for a newspaper. Also, some magazines do feature articles where they may interview an author regarding their story and/or book.

• Articles: You may write a specific article based on the message of your book, or create an article by utilizing an excerpt from your book.

• Book reviews: Many newspapers and magazines regularly review books.
When approaching newspapers, attempt to tie into a national holiday or current event to give them a reason to act now. If that is not a possibility, then just let them know that you are a local author and knew they would be interested in an interview from the human interest angle.

A few years ago we wanted to get the larger newspaper in the Seattle area to cover a writing class my pastor's wife was teaching to some homeschoolers. We made a point to pitch it to the editor as a great story to go along with the national "I Love to Write Day" on November 15. This was just what we needed to get the paper's attention. They came out almost immediately to do an article which later turned into an additional full page article when the journalist was intrigued with Carla's ministry and came out to interview her during a Bible Study and writers critique group.

If you approach a magazine, find one that targets your ideal audience and request their "theme list" for the upcoming year. Keep in mind that many magazines and take home papers work 6-9 months out, and not all of them make their editorial schedule available. But if they do, and you can target your article or excerpt to something they already have on their editorial list, your chances of getting accepted are, of course, much greater. Also, don't send an article or excerpt from your book on parenting to "Biblical Archaeology" or "World" magazine. Make sure the magazine you send an article or excerpt to is geared towards the same audience as your message and that they consistently print articles or excerpts similar to yours.

And remember to query the editor in advance to see if they would be interested in your article. Oftentimes if a magazine accepts your article there will be payment to you as the author. When an article excerpted from my book was used as a "One Woman's Story" in Today's Christian Woman, I opted to waive the payment if they would put the ordering information in my byline at the end of the article. I would rather give the reader the opportunity to order a copy right then than make $500-800 on the article...and buying an ad in that magazine to run concurrently with my article would have cost much more than that, so I felt the trade off was a good deal, and it generated quite a few sales.

When contacting a newspaper or magazine about doing a book review, find out who handles the book reviews and contact them directly. Find out their submission requirements, as some want a "bound galley", some want an "unbound galley", some want the published book, and some don't care one way or another. Be sure to let them know that you can provide them with a digital image of the cover if they need it for the review, and include your press kit so they have some background information on you when they do the book review.

Expanding on different ways to get free media, the next aspect we will take a look at is utilizing electronic media in the form of radio interviews.

I prefer radio interviews, not only because they are much easier to book than TV, but there are way more radio stations with the talk radio format where interviewing authors is the norm. Also you don't have to travel anywhere to make the interview happen. In fact, you can do an hour long interview and be speaking to a listening audience of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even millions of people...in your robe and slippers in the privacy of your own home!

Most of the time the radio station will call you on their dime, but occasionally they will require that you call in on a non-toll-free number.

Radio interviews can be anywhere from 5 minutes to 120 minutes, and if appropriate, may even take live calls for you to respond to. You will need to be fully prepared to articulately communicate your message either way, with short sound byte answers for the shorter interview and more detailed answers if time permits. If you do have call ins, make sure you take notes as they speak, and write down the callers name so you can be more personal with your answer.
And don't be afraid to get the interview back on topic if the host asks you a question that is irrelevant or begins a rabbit trail that will end up off topic. If the host asks you a question that you don't know the answer to, it's ok to say, "I don't know about that, but what I do know is....." and move the interview back to your topic.

You'll want to make sure that you let the host know that you have a toll free number for callers to use to order your book (that is, if you do have one!) and ask if it will be ok for you to give it out once or twice during the show. Don't get too aggressive about promoting your book or the host may get offended and cut the interview short. An interview is not intended to be one big advertisement for your book, but an informational segment intended to encourage and equip the listening audience and at the same time, it will naturally be a promotional piece about the message of your book. You want to give the listeners lots of good information, but leave enough out so that they have a reason to buy your book. Instead of giving ALL the information when asked, give some of it and then say "I go into much more detail in chapter four of my book."

If your book is available online, make sure you mention that as an alternate way for listeners to order a copy...and be sure, from the start of your interview, to speak clearly and project a little more than you feel that you need to. Your voice needs to carry over all those airwaves and there needs to be enough inflection to keep the audience listening....if you're too monotone, you'll lose them right off the bat.

In order to keep the door open for future interviews, always, always send a thank you card to the host. This business is all about relationships and if you can become a resource to many of the hosts who interview you, it will pay off in the long run.

Now let's take a moment to cover TV as the last type of free electronic media we'll mention in this article.

While TV is a lot more demanding, and requires travel time and expenses, it is not the greatest way to get free media, but it certainly has its place.

When my first book, Consumed by Success: Reaching the Top and Finding God Wasn't There, came out in 1995 I was doing quite a bit of traveling to speak at Christian Writers Conferences all across the country. At that time we did not have an in-house publicist so I was using a freelance publicist to book all my radio and TV. I gave her the list of all the speaking engagements I had scheduled for the year and had her book as many TV interviews as she could at each stop I would be making, scheduling them for the day before or sometimes even during the conference when I knew I wouldn't be needed. That way I didn't incur the added expense of traveling to get the free media, since I was already in town for the conference.

One of the first (live not taped) TV interviews I did was with Dr. Karen Hayter, with Family Net out of Fort Worth, TX.

"You're the first author I've interviewed in a long time who not only wrote your own book but read it as well!" Karen exclaimed after we finished. This was amazing to me, but it still holds true today. Many of the big time authors don't even write their own books (they have ghostwriters) and they often don't even take the time to read them before an interview...which leads me to my first piece of advice regarding TV interviews:

1) Re-read your book before going on a TV interview. Since the camera is on you, it will catch any hesitancy or "deer in the headlights" look you may display if a question comes that you're not ready for! It's not like radio where no one can see the look on your face.
2) Make sure you provide the producer/host with your list of suggested questions ahead of time so you are both on the same page.
3) Give the producer the ordering information on your book. If you have an 800 # to give out for easy ordering, make sure you do that before the show starts so they have it and can refer to it.
4) Stay away from wearing black, white, stripes, plaids, hounds-tooth, or other patterns like that.
5) Apply makeup a little heavier than usual, since the lights will wash you out and you'll need the extra color. (most shows have a make up artist who can do this for you, but some don't).
6) Arrive early, well rested, prepared and at peace. Go with the attitude of a servant, not a celebrity.

Make it a point to offer yourself as a resource or on-call expert to the media in your area. Make that first interview turn into a long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationship that will, in turn, give your message the exposure it deserves.

Athena Dean, founder of WinePress Publishing and three-time self-published author, has coached hundreds of authors through the daunting task of book production and promotion. Over the last 17 years she has helped bring the degree of credibility for self-published works up to the high level of acceptance in the industry it enjoys today. Athena functions as Acquisitions Manager for WinePress Publishing Group http://www.winepressgroup.com and is currently the President of the Northwest Christian Writers' Association http://www.nwchristianwriters.org Check out her You Can Do It - Promote and Market Your Self Published Book Blog at http://athenadean.authorweblog.com