Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Why Pitching Your Book To The Media During A Crazy News Cycle Makes Perfect Sense


The News Cycle: It's Time to Reclaim It | HonestReporting

There will always be tough news cycles to pitch a book through. Thousands of new books are published every day in America. Every day there is a crisis, a terrible accident, a natural disaster, a hideous crime, a political dilemma, or a scandal. That has been the one constant through time.  But what do you do when you try to promote a book while these four things are unfolding:

·         A killer pandemic that throws our healthcare system in disarray.
·         Economic meltdown due to corona and shutdowns.
·         A movement as powerful as Black Lives Matter that seeks to challenge policies, policing, history, and cultural norms.
·         The most important national election for Congress and the White House in generations.

You do what any savvy book marketer does - run towards the controversy.

Take advantage of whatever is in the new cycle and pivot your message to remain relevant. Find a way to talk about yourself or book in a way that shows a connection to what people want to know and what the media wants to hear. There is built-in interest for any of the above four topics, so link to them as best you can.

On the other hand, you can pitch yourself as an alternative to the things everyone seems infatuated by. Even the media tires of covering the same story for weeks and months at a time. Show them you are a fresh face, with a unique voice, on a topic of interest, that moves us away from the big four of corona, BLM, politics, and the economy. Americans need an escape to hear that life goes on, to dream a little, or to think about other things of importance, inspiration, or interest.

There's no better time to promote your book or market your brand than now. Waiting doesn't help you. Next month, the same four issues will loom even bigger. Six months or even a year from now, we'll still talk about corona, the economy, politics, and race. You can't outrun the news cycles. You can only plan around them, work with them, or find some happy medium. Ignoring them or hoping they'll change over time is not a great approach.

Your book will never be the most important thing in the news. It will always be bigger stories, best-selling books, or something important out there that will distract the nation from paying attention to you. But that is okay. You only need to impress a microscopic portion of the population to be a wild success. 

So, the lesson here is don't fear or evade the news cycle. No matter what else is going on, you can still find your way to get media coverage, sell books, and influence others.

Keep at it. Don't give up and don't make excuses.

Embrace things as they are and work through them.


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Brian Feinblum’s insightful views, provocative opinions, and interesting ideas expressed in this terrific blog are his alone and not that of his employer or anyone else. You can – and should -- follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels much more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2020. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s Independent.  This was named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. Also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo 

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