Pitch the Story, Not Your Book

So, here’s where publishers and I usually differ, whereas most publishers pitch the book, I prefer to pitch the author. I have had quite a few heated discussions with publishers about this approach. I understand their perspective, they published the book and that’s what they want to promote. The only problem with that approach is that it’s wrong. Pitch your book and you have a certain number of stories and media hooks, pitch yourself, your life experiences, your anecdotal stories and your book and you’ve suddenly broadened the bulls eye.

Remember, when it comes to landing media coverage, it still all comes back to the media hook, to offering them a strong story. It’s the story that will interest the press. Don’t simply send out your book and information to the media, thinking that they’ll be so knocked out by your writing or the book’s subject matter that they’ll be clamoring to interview you. It seldom works that way. Develop hooks and story ideas that you can use to spotlight your book. If your book is non-fiction or a how-to this becomes a much easier task. We have represented authors who have written books on fashion, beauty, health, relationships, sex, and a variety of other topics. Even though we focus on the books in our campaigns, we do not limit ourselves to the book exclusively. Our objective remains the same: to establish our clients as experts in their field. The book becomes a part of the story, but it never defines the entire campaign. If you can place an article in a magazine or a segment on a talk show that revolves specifically around your book, you’ve hit pay dirt. But that’s not always an easy task. Certainly pitch your book as one of your hooks, but don’t limit your campaign. Come up with other story ideas which can include your book, but do not revolve specifically around it.

For example, we worked with a psychotherapist who wrote a book on how to save a troubled marriage. Although we included the book in all of our pitches, the focus remained on the psychotherapist’s expertise in relationship issues. We pitched the women’s magazines and talk shows, relationship-oriented stories in which our client could appear as an expert. The media reacted well to our pitches and interviews were scheduled. Although some of the stories were about marriages and romantic relationships, others were about other types of relationships, such as parent child relationships or sibling relationships. Even though those issues did not
revolve specifically around the topic of our client’s book, she could expertly address them. When she appeared on talk shows, our client was introduced as the author of her book and was asked questions about her book during the interview. Although the shows themselves did not always revolve around the book, the book and client were always highlighted. If we had insisted on segments or articles that only featured or revolved around the book, we would have severely limited the media opportunities. We were branding her as an expert. Whenever she was interviewed, she discussed her book, which garnered her book more coverage and led to more media specifically focused on her book. The approach worked.

So, broaden your media horizons. Make a list of all the potential story ideas about you, your journey and your book and start writing again – writing press releases that is.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2008
For further information visit:
http://www.AnthonyMora.com

I’ve Published a Book – When do I get on Oprah

So you finally did it. You wrote that book you’ve been threatening to write, sent it to
publishers, amassed a mountain of rejection slips, but finally found that right publisher. Your manuscript was accepted. You’re going to be a published author. Great – you can now turn your attention to your next book. Your first book’s finished; your publisher will take care of everything from here on out. You’re Oprah segment is just a matter of time, right? Surprise!

At my firm, we run the gamut when it comes to representing authors, from self-published, first-time writers to writers who have landed multi-book deals with major publishers and, I am sad to report, the one common link among all the authors we work with is that, unless they are already household names, few seem to receive much support from their publishers.

It would be easy to blame the publishing company’s media relations departments, but most publishing companies have slashed their in-house staffs and their publicists are overloaded. Every month, up to thirty books are dumped on a couple of in-house publicists. It’s an impossible task. And unless you have name recognition or have written a shocking expose that the entire world is waiting to read, chances are you and your book will get lost in the shuffle.

Whether you are self publishing or are publishing your book through a major house, this is one instance where I strongly recommend you hire an outside PR firm that understands book media relations to implement your campaign. This is one time you don’t have the luxury of learning as you go. You need to launch an effective campaign even before it’s published. If you want to have it reviewed, you need to send a copy of your book, or the galleys, to reviewers, often as long as three months before the publication date. Once it’s published, you immediately want to hit the local media, the talk shows, and the national press. One area you definitely want to focus on is national and regional radio outlets. There are hundreds of regional and local radio talk shows and current event-oriented programs that feature books and authors. These interviews are almost always conducted over the phone. You can be at home in your bathrobe, discussing your book, while thousands of people listen.

Even if you are publishing with a major house, I suggest that you approach your book’s PR launch as though you’re self publishing your book. View your publisher primarily as a printer and distributor and assume that all of the responsibility for securing publicity for your book rests firmly on your weary shoulders. Try to convince your publisher to pay for at least two to three months worth of outside media relations. If your publisher launches a campaign for you, that’s great, but don’t count on it doing a heck of a lot. You don’t have the luxury of being wrong. If you assume the media relations will be done for you and it’s not, by the time you discover your error it will be too late. You’ll keep waiting for the phone to ring and for that Oprah segment to magically appear. Take your PR campaign into your own hands. If possible, hire an outside firm to handle your campaign for you. You finally have your book. Make the most of it. Don’t miss your window of opportunity.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2008
For further information visit:
http://www.AnthonyMora.com

Utilizing Your Press Coverage

Too many people only look for the immediate results that a magazine article, radio interview, or TV segment can bring. In this simplistic equation, if a story brings in business or, at the very least, inquiries from prospective clients, it was a success, and, if it did not, it was a failure. A story that doesn’t bring in immediate response is not utilized further, then indeed it is a failure, but that is due to the person who implemented the campaign. There are countless ways in which you can effectively utilize copies of articles or tapes of programs you have appeared in. This media can be like gold if utilized properly. But this is where you really have to do both work and homework. This is the one area where, even if you have hired a media relations firm, you’re on you own.

Most firms will place you in the media and use your media appearances to interest other media outlets in interviewing you. But don’t rely on a media relations firm to fully maximize the various ways that your media can help your business or career grow. Be inventive and creative and to effectively utilize your media in as many ways as possible. Copy the article, video, or audio tape and send it out when the media requests further information on you. Update your biography to include your most recent media appearances. When writing or talking to the media, let them know about other segments or articles you have appeared in. Mention your media in your ads, flyers, newsletters, and brochures. Review your articles and interviews, and look for any particularly impressive quotes about you or your business that you can highlight in your ads or marketing.

If you have a staff or employees, teach them to use the media you have been featured in their pitches or conversations to both clients, and prospective clients. Teach your employees to utilize your media. If they are talking to a prospective client, patient, or customer, it never hurts to have them mention that you, your product, or services were featured in a magazine or TV program. Work with them; come up with ways to weave your media appearances into their conversations and discussions.
Copyright © Anthony Mora 2008
For further information visit:
http://www.AnthonyMora.com

That’s What Makes Media Magic

What truly makes this process magical is that when you appear in the media, regardless of how big or how small the outlet, you never know who’s going to see it or what opportunity is going to come your way because of it. A local Los Angeles-based newspaper once ran a story on my company, which elicited almost no response. I was a bit disappointed, but it was a great article and made for a wonderful tear sheet to use in my media package. A few weeks later I received a call from an author in Florida who had been sent a copy of the article and wanted to hire us. Florida? In three weeks I had not received one call from the Los Angeles area in response to the article, and here I was receiving a call from Florida. Apparently a friend of the author, who lives in Southern California, had seen the piece and mailed it to her. The author explained that the article, which focused on my firm’s ability to place clients on national talk shows, interested her. Her book was about to be published, and she wanted to appear in the national media, especially talk shows. She signed with us, and we were able to launch a very
successful campaign for her. Our relationship with the author led to a relationship with her publishing company, which resulted in us working with other authors they represented. So, even though, the article only brought us one phone call, that one call was a great one. Because of that one piece, we developed a working relationship not only with the author, but with her publisher. The article also served as a great tear sheet which I can send to other media outlets as well as to prospective clients. So look at the big picture when viewing your public relations campaign. You never know who is going to see or read a particular story, and if you don’t do the interviews and utilize your press, you never will.

You’re Placing a Story Where?

Every client’s happy when we place them on the Today show or Oprah or in Newsweek, but they’re not quite as overjoyed when we place them on an Internet TV outlet or in an obscure magazine. I know there are times my clients find my choice of media placements bewildering. The media outlets are too small, too insignificant, too obscure. They don’t reach the client’s direct target market. Why do it? There will be no response. It’s a waste of time and money.

Not really. We place the stories, because we know that we can use them to our advantage. We can use that media coverage, to help garner other coverage, to help land more articles and other TV interviews. It’s important to have a broad perspective and see the whole picture. The process isn’t as obvious as it may seem at first glance. Instead of just asking if a particular story will bring in immediate clients or calls, ask yourself if that story will help you garner other media, or if will it be useful to you in your overall marketing plan. If you look at it from that perspective, you’ll soon start to see that press coverage, whether large or small, can all be of use to help build a powerful and effective media campaign.

Effectively Working Your Media Coverage

When an article is published or TV segment runs. That’s not the end of it. You need to work it. Become the story’s distributor – and I mean distributor in the most basic sense – circulate your story, spread the word, mention the story in your biography and fact sheet, use it when pitching other stories, let other media outlets know that you were featured in the article. Duplicate it and use it as a press sample. Use quotes from the story in your mailers, newsletters, ads, and marketing to help you cement your existing client base. If you have employees, distribute it through your company as a form of internal publicity. If used correctly, you can turn this media coverage into a most powerful marketing tool.

It’s important to understand exactly how media relations works. By understanding the process, you make it a cumulative, ongoing process. Media begets media. You can turn an initial opportunity into ongoing media coverage. Be creative. Make a list of the various ways you can utilize your media, from ads and newsletters to placing framed copies of articles in you window or office. Don’t waste opportunities due to short sightedness. Be imaginative, inventive. Think outside of the box.

For further information visit:
http://www.AnthonyMora.com

If You Don’t Run this Story; I’m Taking it to Your Competition

How many people do you know that react well to threats or ultimatums? The media is no different. When pitching the press, you are trying to position yourself as a media resource or an ally, and an ally does not issue threats. You want the media to understand that you can help meet their needs by giving them interesting stories. You are not going to make your story more interesting to a newspaper editor or TV producer by threatening to take your story to his or her competitor.

If your story is hot or timely, and various media outlets are pursuing you, by all means, use that interest to your advantage. Inform the media outlets that there are others interested and that you need to make a decision as soon as possible. Try to negotiate the best coverage you can. But, even in that situation, you never want to threaten the media.

If you can convince the media that you have an interesting story that meets their needs and that you are an expert in the field, the media will feature you. Those are your primary objectives. You can threaten, scream, cry, and badger the media, but all you are going to do is alienate them. Plenty of people do these things every day. Of course, you’ll never see them in the media.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2008
For further information visit:
http://www.AnthonyMora.com

Either the Media Interviews Me Monday at Noon- Or it’s Off

You have a busy schedule, you have a job to do, a business to run, products to sell. Your time is valuable. Who do the media think they are? They think that you can just drop whatever you’re doing to do an interview when they want to do it? It’s inconvenient. It’s not fair. Maybe, but it’s reality and if you play it smart, it can pay off for you big time. Although you will usually have time to plan and arrange your schedule to do an interview, there are going to be times that the media wants to do an interview and wants to do it immediately, or wants to schedule it at a time that is inconvenient, or reschedules it at the last minute, forcing you to, once again, change your plans. I had one client tell me that he was willing to appear on the Today Show, but that they had to come to him and that the only available time he had was between 1 and 3 p.m. on Saturday. Needless to see he and I had a long talk.

There may be times that you’re just not going to be able to accommodate the media’s schedule. There are going to be some interviews that you’ll have to miss. But only miss an interview if it’s completely unavoidable – the plague, an alien invasion – you get the picture. You may be annoyed, and you may be angry, but if you can possibly arrange your schedule so that you can make the interview, do it. The press isn’t purposely trying to inconvenience you. You wouldn’t believe the amount of times that an editor or producer has to switch from one story to another on a moment’s notice. A million things can come up, a fire, an international breaking story, a Presidential speech, any number of stories are going to preempt you. This is just the nature of the business. It happens all the time.

It does you no good to take your anger out on the interviewer or the producer. It was not done to harm you. The decision was circumstantial. Always keep your objective in mind. Your objective is to build your business, to create success through media exposure. And you’re going to accomplish your goal by reaching as many people as you can. Your objective is to do those interviews, not to alienate the press. Remember, press begets press. Every interview you do is helping to pave your way to greater success.

For further information visit:
http://www.AnthonyMora.com

Why Press Kits can Backfire

You’ve got it, you’re going to put together a huge, glossy press kit, fill it with bios, press releases, fact sheets, photos, graphs, statistics, brochures, covering everything that ever happened in your life, with every possible bit of information that you have on yourself and your company, and you’re going to send it to every media outlet you can think
of. Interesting plan, if your aim is to throw money away and alienate the media. To begin with, unless you have loads of disposable cash, you’re going to go broke. More importantly, chances are, that it’s going to be incredibly boring, not to mention annoying for the media to receive all that information – information they never requested. Press kits can be effective, but only if they’re used sparingly and shrewdly. Don’t inundate the media with information, and if you’ve hired a firm, don’t give them carte blanche in the matter. Too many PR firms have a tendency to send out press kits en masse. It’s a common practice, but a wasteful one. Also, keep in mind, public relations firms can make a heck of a lot of money charging their clients for high-priced press kits.

Frills and fluff do not make a public relations campaign. Buy yourself some two-pocket folders at any stationery store. Buy a good median-priced folder; you don’t want the most expensive, but you don’t want the cheapest folder either. Inside the folder include copies of any articles or interviews you have appeared in, a fact sheet, a short bio about you and your company, a press release, and any visuals or photos that you believe are important. No fluff, only include the pertinent stuff. That is your press kit. First send a release, make a follow-up call. If a producer or editor asks for a kit, send one, but only to people who have requested it. Be selective. Be smart.

Also, modify your press kit to fit the media that you’re sending to. You may not want to send the same press kit to Time magazine that you would to Runner’s World or Forbes. Be discerning in who you send the kits to and in the materials you include. It will pay off in the long run
Copyright © Anthony Mora 2008
For further information visit:
http://www.AnthonyMora.com

I’m Only Going to Talk About What I Want to Talk About

We all have different expressions, different moods, and different topics we enjoy discussing. None of us have one-note personalities, but so many people try to launch one-note media campaigns. If you adamantly refuse to broaden the scope of your story, I hope your mother’s a good listener, because there aren’t a hell of a lot of other people who you’re going to reach. People who are inflexible, or have a one-note story, usually have failed media campaigns. Why? They’re boring! When people think this way, it’s generally because they erroneously believe that the rest of the world is just as fascinated by their ideas as they are. Well, they’re wrong.

Most people are going to be bored to tears by what you think is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Now that doesn’t mean that the topic is boring, but that your approach is. Remember, your job is to meet the media’s needs. Broaden your scope. Come up with other ways to pitch your story. You’ll be able to talk about your story, but not until you interest the media. And to do that, sometimes you have to use the indirect approach.

If you are a landscaper, you may have to pitch a story that has you critique the pros and cons of the White House grounds. That’s not the story you probably particularly want to address. You want to tell people that you are a wonderful landscaper and that they should hire you, but there’s no story there. By talking about the White House grounds, you have added another dimension. You have raised the stakes. You’re not just discussing how to landscape Joe Blow’s home, you’re outlining how to best landscape the First Family’s home. These are grounds that everyone has seen (at least in photos or TV) and can relate to. More importantly, you are establishing yourself as an expert in your field.

Be open to new ideas, brainstorm. Come up with as many ideas as you can. Let them be as crazy as you want – don’t edit yourself. Now review your list and start to edit out the ideas that don’t work. Formulate two or three new story angles. Write them up as releases. Broadening your scope will help ensure your success.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2008
For further information visit:
http://www.AnthonyMora.com