Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Overcoming Challenges To Authors Getting Started on Promoting Their Books


What are the challenges for authors to generate publicity today? There are many, but there are also numerous opportunities to cash in as well.

Certainly today’s author is looking at a diluted news media landscape and an expanded level of competition. There are more media outlets than ever -- but each reaches fewer people than five years ago. The number of books published daily by some accounts is 3000 new titles. Lots of books, lots of media available -- but authors need time, money, and resources to succeed.

Authors need to devise a strategy and then implement it.

The sooner an author identifies his or her goals and then works backwards on all the steps that will be needed to position him or herself to reach these goals, the better.

Then you must divide these tasks into:
-What you will do
-What you’ll hire someone to do
-What will not be done

For the things you plan to do, figure out how and when you’ll execute these tasks. Create a metric to measure and evaluate your activity and reflect back to monitor progress, and where needed, to switch the plan.

For the things you’ll hire someone -- or multiple people to do -- research who would be a good fit to work with and get them involved in the process early.

The next step is to develop your brand and your platform. You want to create an identity or persona that people will gravitate towards. Once you find the voice that speaks best for you, the rest will flow naturally from there.

Start the PR prep process early -- at least six months before your book is scheduled to be out. Do a content audit of yourself and assess what you can create for your Web site, blog, and social media. Think about the topics, people, events, places, products and resources you plan to identify in podcasts, videos, blog posts, or media interviews.

When you promote yourself -- or work with a proud professional -- you will want to gather ideas and information that can be used in a number of ways, whether it’s to develop story angles for a magazine, interview answers for radio, blog posts, or YouTube videos.

The real challenge to PR is not just time, money, knowledge, competition, or media landscape.

The real challenge and opportunity at hand is how you harness your network, resources, ideas, and energy to create a winning campaign.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2013

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