What Is Your PR Profile?

Some authors want nothing to do with PR while others are publicity whores. Many are on the spectrum in between the two. Where do you fit in?

I ask, because once you confront this question and come to grips with your PR personality, you will be able to make an effective and realistic marketing and PR plan.

To discern your comfort level with generating media coverage for you and your book, consider these issues:

1.      How important is it to you to get media attention?

2.      Do you believe media attention will help you in certain ways – sell books, brand yourself, get our positive message out to those whom you want to influence?

3.      Do you believe PR is attainable for you?

4.      Do you believe you are worthy of media attention?

5.      Are you actually afraid of media coverage?

6.      Do you have money to hire someone to help you promote – or do you have time, resources, an interest in, and an ability to garner media coverage?

7.      If you don’t undertake a media campaign, how would you market your book or advertise it?

8.      Are you shy? Boring? Unattractive? Do you think you are any of these things?

9.      Do you feel promoting your book is a self-centered exercise in ego and greed?

Based on your answers to these questions above, you will have gained a greater sense of your attitude, goals, and needs in regards to book publicity. Now go out and find a way to overcome the gaps and move to advance your PR efforts because no matter how you feel about marketing a book, it is a necessary step you must take in order to reach greater heights.

Interview With Author Julie Braun

1.      What is your new book about? Nothing But Respect – A True Victim to Victory Story is autobiographical. It opens with my own suicide attempt; something I would never have believed myself capable of. It then looks back at my life sharing some of my triumphs, and some long buried tragedies. The two biggest messages that I want people to come away with are:

·         We all deserve “Nothing but Respect.” In order to command respect from others, we must first learn to respect ourselves.

·         Whatever your circumstances, you do not have to be a victim. Everything is about perspective and healing is possible. I have made incredible progress with my own illness, and that progress began the moment I made the choice to no longer be a victim of my circumstances.

2.      What inspired you to write it? There were several reasons I decided to write my story. I had seen some VERY dark days, and wanted to reach a hand out to help others avoid, or step out of that darkness. I want to educate the public on the following topics:

·         Depression is not a sign of weakness, and it is not a “choice.” Depression is an illness; often the result of a chemical imbalance in the body. These people cannot just “snap out of it,” and need compassion, not judgment. The stigma has to be lifted if lives are going to be saved. If you think it can’t happen to you, you’re wrong. I was as judgmental as anyone until it happened to me.

·         Whatever you’ve done in the past, it does not define your present, or your future. Forgive your past knowing that you did the best you could with the information and the “processor” you had at that time.

·         Primary Care and Emergency Room Physicians need additional training and education on Fibromyalgia and mental illness. Some of the horrors I suffered after my diagnosis are things no person should ever have to endure. I intend to make sure that others do not have to endure those same things.

·         Healing IS possible. With many illnesses, a great degree of healing can be achieved with a change of attitude, diet changes, exercise, and alternative healing techniques in conjunction with traditional medicine.

3.      What are the rewards/challenges to the writing process? The biggest reward for me was perspective and healing. I realized that I was not responsible for many of the bad things that happened in my life, and I no longer had to carry that guilt or shame. I began to fall in love with myself again. Once I had forgiven myself for past choices, I was able to forgive others. The biggest challenge was ignoring all of the people who said I could never finish a book, get published, etc. When I learned about “self-publishing,” I heard “well you’ll never make any money from a book.” Those people eventually saw what I was doing, and changed their perspective.

4.      Any advice for a struggling writer? Just write for the love of writing. Don’t look back. Keep writing without doing ANY editing until you have completed the first draft. If you attempt to edit during the writing process, you will never finish the book. Write from a place of passion; from your heart and soul. If you write from any other place, readers will not be able to connect to your story.

5.      Where do you see book publishing heading? It’s an interesting time for book publishing. Self-publishing and print-on-demand services have made it possible for people to get their story out to the world without the assistance of an Agent, or Publishing Company. On one hand, this business model may flood the marketplace with “inferior” or very niche specific books. On the other hand, it allows for that “Diamond in the rough” to be discovered when, in earlier times it would have languished on the hard drive of the author.

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.