While authors and
publishers seek to promote their books, every single day some 3,500 new books
are published or self-published. That’s
five books every two minutes. Only a fraction of those books are promoted to the news media, competition is fierce
to get the attention of journalists, bloggers, podcasters, and producers. Here’s what you need to know to even have a
chance of influencing media coverage for your book.
In order to garner
media exposure for your book you need to fully understand what the media is
looking for, how they like to be approached, what turns them off, and what they
want and expect to receive from you.
1. Understand
The Media
Even the biggest
media outlets don’t have a lot of resources dedicated to covering books and
authors. News rooms have been slashed by
declining ad budgets, decreased circulation, viewership, and listenership, and
changing media consumption habits of consumers.
Understand that short-staffed, overworked staffs need things presented
to them in a concise, neatly packaged manner.
You have to do the leg work to bundle a story for them. Do not expect
them to spend hours tracking sources down, reading your entire book, and
meditatintg on how they can cover you. If
you don’t make an obvious case for yourself, they won’t probe any further.
2. What The Media Wants
Each media outlet has
several key concerns. First, how do we
scoop the competition and increase readers, listeners, followers, or
viewers? Second, does a story match with
our advertising demographics (will your story appeal to the types of people the
media outlet hopes to sell ad space to)?
Third, will a story go viral or get more attention because the subject
of the story (you) has a large online following?
3. Is The Story Easy/Cheap To Cover?
The media’s slashed
budgets means that their smaller staffs lack time and budget to cover
stories. If you can help them produce a
free or low cost story, this will appeal to them.
4. Do
You Offer Something New, Unique, Timely Or Unusual?
The media seeks
differentiation, not just more of the same.
It wants what it has not yet covered or what competing media outlets
have not yet gotten ahold of.
5. They
Want What Sells
The media wants
something that either involves its core beats – crime, politics, business, sports,
weather, entertainment -- or it wants what pushes buttons – sex, religion, weird
stuff, scandals, or a violation of ethics that offend us.
6. News
Before It’s News
Timing is key. Talk to the media about your book BEFORE it’s
officially published – not months later when other media has covered it or it
ceases to be considered news.
Interesting
Random Factoids
How To Read & Why
“Information
is endlessly available to us; where shall wisdom be found?
“Ultimately
we read – as Bacon, Johnson, and Emerson agree – in order to strengthen the
self, and to learn its authentic interests…
“The
pleasures of reading indeed are selfish rather than social. You cannot directly improve anyone else’s
life by reading better or more deeply…
“And
yes, though the moral decision cannot be made merely by reading well, the
questions of how to read and why are more than ever essential to help us decide
whose work to perform.”
--How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom
The
Importance Of Unread Books
“A
person’s library is often a symbolic representation of his or her mind. A man who has quit expanding his personal
library may have reached the point where he thinks he knows all he needs to and
that what he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.
He has no desire to keep growing intellectually. The man with an ever-expanding library understands
the importance of remaining curious, or open to new ideas and voices…
“The
sight of a book you’ve read can remind you of the many things you’ve already
learned. The sight of a book you haven’t
read can remind you that there are many things you’ve yet to learn. And the
sight of a partially read book can remind you that reading is an activity that
you hope never to come to the end of.”
--New York Times Book Review October 14, 2018
Library Of Alexandria
“The
Royal Library of Alexandria or Ancient Library of Alexandria in Alexandria,
Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient
world. It was dedicated to the Muses,
the nine goddesses of the arts. It
flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and functioned as a
major center of scholarship from its construction in the 3rd century
BC until the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC, with collection of works,
lecture halls, meeting rooms, and gardens.
Alexandria was considered the capital of knowledge and learning, in part
because of the Great Library. The
library was part of a larger research institution called the Musaeum of
Alexandria, where many of the most famous thinkers of the ancient world
studied.
“The
library was created by Ptolemy I Soter, who was a Macedonian general and the
successor of Alexander the Great. Most
of the books were kept as papyrus scrolls.
It is unknown precisely how many such scrolls were housed at any given
time, but estimates range from 40,000 to 400,000 at its height.
“Arguably
this library is most famous for having been burned down resulting in the loss
of many scrolls and books; its destruction has become a symbol for the loss of
cultural knowledge. Sources differ on
who was responsible for its destruction and when it occurred. The library may in truth have suffered
several fires over many years. In
addition to fires, at least one earthquake damaged the city and the library
during this time. Possible occasions for
the partial or complete destruction of the Library of Alexandria include a fire
set by the army of Julius Caesar in 48 BC and an attack by Aurelian in the 270s
AD.”
--Wikipedia
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