First Word

An interesting discussion came up the other day with one of my new clients. We were talking about public relations for this new product line. He was saying he wanted to send a press release out a week to promote the product launch. I looked at him and said, “Public relations isn’t about press releases and how many you can send out to get attention.” I’ve noticed sometimes people mistake advertising and marketing with public relations. I thought I would take a moment to clarify it. Public relations is designed to raise awareness about your company, product or service . It puts your name out in the public domain and promotes your message. Problem is that some people confuse “message” with product promotion. Media doesn’t want to receive weekly notices about your product launch. Media wants headlines and news. When it comes to book promotion they want human interest and material that will spark discussions. Remember, media is in the business of “information” not ad...

What about those blog tours for book promotion? I wonder about those tours and whether or not they lead to any kind of success. The authors I know who have done them have not seen a demonstrative increase in book sales. If you have done one and it helped your sales I would love to hear your story. The most success I’ve seen when it comes to book sales has been in nationwide exposure. So, let me share what I’ve seen work. Nationwide exposure in one key media can make a best seller . The word here is key media. I’ve seen books enjoy national exposure in some major media, but if that media outlet doesn’t reflect the right demographic for your book, it will generate only a small handful of sales. A book promoted to the right media that reached the “sweet spot” of your demographic can produce in a single promotion a best seller. So a national spot in and of itself won’t necessarily produce results. It has to be the right media placement to the right audience. ...

The Daily Cup: Issue 5   Q: Can you market without using social media? A: No, social media is the trend in marketing and communication. Not Tweeting or using Instagram or Facebook puts you behind the curve. When doing marketing and outreach, you need a fan page or Twitter account. You need to look at demographics and reach. The younger millennials are taking over Twitter while Generation X and the Baby Boomers are generally more involved with Facebook. Many people don't even get their news from mainstream media anymore. They depend on the announcements and news feeds to deliver more specific and personalized updates. Many media contacts expect to be contacted via Facebook. I've even had people direct me to their Facebook accounts to make submissions of press releases. The real way to look at it -- think of social media as a PART of your marketing mix and not the whole. It's merely one spoke in the wheel, but it has to be a spoke for the whole thin...

This is Michelle Gamble, CEO, 3L Publishing. I wanted to personally let you know that we have some affordable new programs for writers to promote their books. You can find out more about 3L Publishing and my background as a PR expert on our website at www.3LPublishing.com . Please feel free to email me at info@3LPublishing.com. Bronze Package - $499.99 1. Media Kit (press release, about the book, book spec sheet, FAQ, sample chapter) 2. 1 Page Pitch Letter 3. Links to Book Reviewer Lists Silver Package - $799.99 1. Media Kit 2. 1 Page Pitch Letter 3. Links to Book Reviewer Lists 4. Press Release posted to our blog 5. Press Release link posted to Facebook (personal and fan page) (4700 connections) and Twitter 6. One hour of consultation on media relations and book marketing Gold Package - $999.99 1. Media Kit 2. 1 Page Pitch Letter 3. Links to Book Reviewer Lists 4. Press Release posted to our blog 5. Press Release link posted to Facebook (personal and fan page) (4700 connections...

The most successful authors who consistently sell books are the most persistent and tenacious -- and they understand it's a business. The book business is a challenge. You have a lot of competition out there. The self-publishing and eBook business have invited the average person to publish a book. The biggest mistake I see any author make let alone a self-published author is to release it on Amazon and wait ... and wait ... and that's usually about the time the author shows up on my doorstep and says, "I've sold a few books. Why aren't they selling?" I tell authors the flat reality of publishing: it's 50 percent writing and 50 percent business . As writers we sometimes get so into the process of writing and love doing it, we falsely believe our books will just sell. Voile! Books don't magically sell on their own. Behind every top seller is a marketing and public relations campaign. That some books are received better by the buying public is the ma...

If you're and author, you should realize that writing is only half the job. The other half is the true business end, which involves promoting and marketing the book. In my writers' group Writers Who Mean Business , I teach writers the "business" of writing not just the writing. While some writers' groups focus on craft, I focus on making the book do more than gather dust on the bookshelf. As a publisher , I feel that is my job. We are right in the middle of promoting the new book Vengeance is Now and my book California Girl Chronicles, Brea's Big Break . I want to break apart the media campaign so if you work in this business you might get some ideas. Please note: An effective promotional and marketing campaign should run at least six months to a year. Media and Book Reviewers -- this is the most popular promotional methodology. You promote the book to the mainstream book reviewers, which these days it's mostly bloggers. (When doesn't the Inter...

Public relations -- often referred to as the "airy-fairy" stuff can be hard to measure results, which is why concrete pick up with the media is the only clear outcome that seems meaningful to most people. What we've tried to do at 3L Publishing with our public relations programs is create complete transparency so the client knows exactly how much work truly goes into moving their campaigns forward. Without complete transparency, the client only sees that maybe they got one request for a book review. Our methods keep our clients involved and aware of our process so that there is no question of the time and resources invested in moving their projects forward with the media. Our key campaigns under way right now are showing those results. Each week on each project, we pitch and receive requests to review the books pitched. So for example, this week the book Daughter of the Caribbean received three requests to see the book, and two requests to discuss an interview with the ...