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Writing a Book? Here Are Some Things To Consider About Marketing It

Guest post by: Thomas J. Madden

Article Overview: You thought writing a book was hard? Wait, the much harder part comes when it's time to market it, so you want to make sure you've got a good book publicist who knows what to do. Here are some marketing tips for making your book a best seller.

Writing a Book? Here Are Some Things To Consider About Marketing It

First, determine your audience In order to successfully market your book, you have know where and to whom to market it. So zero in and determine who is your audience. Open distribution channels Distribution is critical. If you don’t have a convenient way for people to buy your book, all the PR in the world won’t generate sales. One of the main things that must be done is to establish distribution channels with major book distributors such as Baker & Taylor as well as the world's largest book wholesaler, Ingram, with which Transmedia has had a long and productive relationship. We make it easy for the big booksellers like Borders Books and Barnes & Noble to carry your book as they like our marketing and our ability to prepare and book authors on broadcast and stimulate interviews nationwide. You’ll also need distribution through the major online distributors such as Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com to sell your book as well, which is something TransMedia Group is especially good at. Get your book reviewed Make sure galleys and the finished books are sent to the reviewers at major publications and broadcast outlets. We recommend also sending press releases, pitch letters in an electronic press kit and making follow-up phone calls to media outlets across the United States and Canada encouraging reporters and reviewers to write about your book. National Print Media Being reviewed by The New York Times, Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and USA TODAY are major goals. A good PR firm also will contact national magazines such as Woman's World, TIME, Newsweek, First for Women, as well as People and others that may be interested in your “personal” story. Perhaps you've battled overeating, anorexia or something else yourself. Sometimes the media is more interested in the author than the book itself and that is just one more angle we’ll use to promote your book. Health is hot! Everyone wants to stay healthy and live longer. Pick a PR firm like TransMedia has been marketing health products and services, including products for the diet industry, for 20 years. You want a firm on a first-name basis with the media specialists who will write about your book. Wire Services For National Promotion Most newspapers are members of one or more wire services. They rely upon the services to provide their readers with national news and features. It's common for a story that goes over the AP wire or the Washington Post wire to be picked up by 200 or more newspapers. So you want to contact these wire services directly. TV and Radio Coverage The main goal is getting yourself interviewed on radio and TV. If you are not trying to get interviewed by the producers of those shows they won’t find you because they simply don’t have time to look for you as they have so many interesting people clamoring for their attention. PR firms like TransMedia develop relationships with many producers and those contacts combined with well thought out pitches produce results. A good PR firm has frequent contact with journalists, editors, writers and producers from top national magazines, newspapers and radio/TV programs. We have successfully pitched such media outlets as, ABC's 20/20... Prime Time… CNN... People... Good Morning America... Newsweek... Publishers Weekly... Family Circle... Forbes... ABC Radio Network... Parenting magazine... Time Magazine... Charlie Rose... Dateline NBC... The View... Oprah's O magazine... Fortune Small Business... Cosmopolitan... Fox News... New York Post... Good Housekeeping and few PR firms have booked as many guests on OPRAH, Ellen, CNN, Fox and other major TV shows as TransMedia! And once that happens . . . restart the presses! Experts Subscription Service First rate PR firms subscribe to media alert service that produce leads everyday from members of the media looking for an expert to comment on a particular story they are working on. They respond to these queries and when appropriate, present an author, for example, as a diet authority for an interview. Media Training Regardless of your media experience, you will benefit from expert media training that will prepare you for all interviews, including practicing in advance the questions you’ll most likely be asked. You need to learn how to stay on topic, segue to more interesting material and how to "plug" your book without sounding like a salesperson.

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Article Tags: author, best seller, books, marketing, PR, promotion, publishing, writring



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