Let The Media Hits Rain Upon You!

It never gets old for me to see my clients get great media hits. When their book gets coverage and their name appears in ink I feel as if it’s my name up in lights. I guess the day I take it for granted or don’t get excited over a nice media hit is the day I should stop working in the book publishing industry.

This was a particularly good week. One author was on The 700 Club, another in The New York Post, one in The Globe, another in Army Magazine, and one in The Wall Street Journal. There were other strong placements for these and other clients, and it’s so nice to see a smiling author—especially when you gave them reason to grin.

Getting a quantity of quality media coverage is no easy feat but there are proven strategies, approaches, and pitches that if timed right and presented creatively, can yield many interviews and stories. But sometimes it takes time. It took five months, but my team landed National Geographic online recently for an author. We also got Reader’s Digest, Fox-TV, Huffington Post and other hits.

Being patient but persistent pays off with book publicity. A book is not a movie—though it’s important to get PR around the time a book launches, pre- and post-launch publicity is just as important. Whereas movies get big box office for a few weeks and then fall out of theaters, books have a longer shelf life and PR cycle.

No matter how good you think your book, credentials or press release is, only the media can determine if it’s any good. You’ll need to change it up over time and of course customize it to the outlet/person that you pitch. No one pitch fits all, and no one pitch works for long.

Media begets media—small hits can lead to big ones and big ones can lead to other big ones or more small ones. It all adds up. No PR should be dismissed as too small, and no PR, no matter how big, can be relied on for long. Each day you go back and look to get more PR.

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, 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 © 2014