Let’s just say it’s hard, if not impossible, to get into my book group. When we moved to town, it took me three years to get an invitation. It’s not that I didn’t try. I did. There were no openings.
But, I did have one qualification in my favor: I live within the four block radius that new members could come from. Ten years later, I’ve trusted these dozen or so women to guide my reading, share their stories, treat me to sumptuous home-baked delicacies and invite me to an annual outdoor evening of Shakespeare.
Where do we get our reads? Members bring suggestions, we talk to our local independent book store and some of us [usually not me] are kind enough to read the book before sharing the title. Maybe that’s why most of the reads are worthwhile. It also helps to have a dedicated leader who organizes and communicates our reads and activities. Enjoy and remember to add your suggestions to this list.
If there’s one thing every speaker and author could use it’s more publicity.
“I See Your Name Everywhere,” the title of PR/PR founder Pam Lontos’ new book, was also the topic of her presentation to NSA-IL today. Pam covered what you need to know to get more publicity, media attention and bookings!
My top takeaways:
- start at the top and work you way down – it’s often easier to get into national publications
- keep at it: one author sent a new press release to Oprah every week – for four years! – before he got on the show
- write the book; you’ll get instant credibility
- contain media kit costs by limiting your information to one page
- produce an easy to reproduce and update speaker promotion book you can print-on-demand
- don’t be in a rush to get industry book reviews
- contact trade industry publications directly to place 800-1000 word articles
- author popular articles that can run over and over again – one of Pam’s clients’ articles ran over 120 times!
- grab attention with your headlines that list benefits or solve problems
- get in the habit of responding to news immediately with a press release
I asked for it . . .Yesterday I did a live question and answer session for public relations students. On the call I asked for questions that I could answer on my blog. Here’s one of them that came in today:
On Fox TV this week, author Cooper Lawrence commented on virtual nudity in video games in a story about Mass Effect, which set off a massive PR explosion.
According to Game Daily‘s post mentioned above, on Thursday negative reviews for Lawrence’s book, The Cult of Perfection, numbered 565, 502 [1-star] and 48 [2-stars]. Now that Amazon.com is reviewing and censoring negative ratings for The Cult of Perfection, the book’s amazon.com forum is buzzing with 45 discussions about the book and this practice.
I could stop here and answer, “No, this kind of bad publicity is NOT good for book sales.” But, the surrounding media attention is good for name recognition.
And, because one question always leads to another, I’ll add in: How far can you go with gamers -from a PR perspective?
First, let’s take a look at Cooper Lawrence.
With a radio show, The Love Doctor! – a dating and advice column – in CosmoGirl, mega media clips and several books, Lawrence appears to have mastered marketing.
COOPER LAWRENCE is a relationship and psychology expert with a master’s degree in developmental psychology. She is currently finishing her doctorate in applied developmental psychology. She is the host of her own nationally syndicated radio show aptly named The Cooper Lawrence Show.
Key phrases from Lawrence’s book “Been There, Done That, Kept the Jewelry: Find True Love–Turn Your Tarnished Dating Past into a Brilliant Romantic Future” on Amazon.com suggest she’s a relationship or dating expert.
Back to question one: Might this bad publicity ultimately be GOOD for her book sales?
The biggest problem here is a mismatch. Lawrence’s new book is about overachieving; her column is about dating. Will commenting on virtual nudity in any video game sell more books about women’s self-esteem or dating? What does calling a video gaming expert “darling” on the air say about respect in a relationship? Do her readers date guys who play video games? What, exactly, is her niche?
I have to wonder why Ms. Lawrence was asked to step in to take this stand. With her level of media exposure and influence, it’s surprising that her publicist would agree to this assignment.
To be credible [and sell books], subject matter experts must match their interviews to their exact topic. And, they have to be sure there’s something to talk about before they take the interview. In this case, there was no real controversy to debate, only misinformation to contest afterwards.
A brief interview brought down book sales and opened up a new levels of criticism. Lawrence already apologized, but is that enough?
What do gamers think? I decided to find out. Going straight to the source, I interviewed a gamer about sex in video games, Mass Effect and whether or not gamers cared about what a psychologist has to say: listen to an audio interview with a gamer.
Gamers sound a lot like bloggers: frequently misunderstood, often perceived as misfits, passionate about our games/subjects, willing to communicate and create virtually, always ready to get to the next level, don’t mind spending hours or days in front of a screen and we enjoy meeting up with each other – both virtually and offline.
Studying the video game culture is smart marketing. Watch the launch campaigns, study the game sites, see how communities relate and check out the titles for ideas on how to attract an audience of raving fans. Playing the games will give you a feel for how to build up a challenge, develop characters and lay out storylines. From a PR perspective, know that gamers are ready to respond, react, defend and defeat en masse. So, be careful when you comment, especially when you haven’t played the game and you’re on national TV.
Helping out gamers can bring you good attention, though. I know from personal experience. In November 2007, I wrote about how we got the Nintendo Wii in eight minutes. But, wait a minute, this IS a PR blog – right? Well, yeah, but . . . after telling the story to everyone I knew, I just had to retell it here. So I did. At last count over 800 people have read it and hopefully our tips paid off for a few other families.
Parting Shots
Know what you’re talking about before your criticize – anything. Controversy polarizes audiences and can get you mega attention: both good and bad. Before you go there, consider how you’ll feel when the swarm against you stings all at once. When you make a mistake, apologize immediately. Be true to yourself and your audience. And if you want to sell more books? Make sure your publicity – good or bad – attracts attention from a supportive audience.
For a limited time you can grab your own copy of Tim’s new book for under $20 and get over $4,000 in bonus downloads provided by other Internet Marketing legends like Mark Joyner, Joe Vitale, Rich Schefren, Mike Filsame, and over 90 others – including me. Here’s my bonus page promo . . .
But . . . I haven’t even seen Tim’s book yet.
Even so, Tim motivated me to put together an ebook called Power PR Secrets I’ve been wanting to write for months. How long did it take me? A few hours . . . how could that be? It’s funny how you sit on a project so long that when you finally get the opportunity to make it happen all you need is a nudge.
In this case, the nudge is the opportunity to include the book in an all-star bonus pool. If you click the links in this post and buy the book from my affilate site, http://www.tim-knox-book.com, you’ll be able to download over 90 bonuses.
Tim’s been called “A cross between Jeff Foxworthy and Donald Trump.” Because his new book takes a down home, humorous look at the business world, Tim’s been getting lots of major media attention, including interviews with the New York Times and major TV networks.
Here’s the promotional information I’ve been asked to share:
Tim is one of the most successful entrepreneurs on the planet, having started multiple businesses over his long business career and for the last few years he has established himself as one of the Internet’s top seven figure marketers.
By the way, Tim is so confident that his new book can help put you on the road to business success that he says if you
don’t like the book just send it back to him with your receipt and he’ll refund your investment and you can keep all the bonuses!
For the last few days I’ve been answering calls for a literary agent. Each time the caller left a message saying they found my listing in the Yellow Pages online. So, I checked it out and yes, indeed, CoryWest is listed in the Literary Agent category – along with Marketing Consultants, Marketing Programs & Services, Public Relations Counselors and Writers. Hmm. . . how did we wind up with the literary agents?
Of course, I promptly return every message to let the aspiring novelists know that although my company does many things, I am not a literary agent. And then I say, “I’m curious. What’s your book about?”At that point, the real story begins. Passion for their project radiates right through the phone.
Sometimes I have to set them straight. While writing for a living is certainly doable – I created a class called “Write from the Start: Running a Succesful Freelance Business” that empowered more than a few successful writers, selling one book won’t support your family or maybe even your cat.
Even so, there is omnipotent power in passion. Before we hang up, I give them this list of resources. Until I can figure out how to change my listing, I can tell them to check this post. I will miss the stories, though. Have a resource to add? Leave the link in the comment section or email connectATcorywestmediaDOTcom.
Let’s just say it’s hard, if not impossible, to get into my book group. When we moved to town, it took me three years to get an invitation. It’s not that I didn’t try. I did. There were no openings.
