This is a guest post from Louise Rhind-Tutt, who is an award-winning freelance publicist specialising in traditional and digital PR campaigns for the book and publishing industries. She most recently worked for the Random House Group (UK) Ltd for six years where authors included Susan Hill, David Lodge, Richard Mabey, Sadie Jones, Caryl Phillips and Jonathan Littell. She has won several awards for her campaigns including Publicity Campaign of the Year at the British Book Industry Awards, Waterstone’s Award for Best Publicity Campaign, and The Bookseller Award for Hardback Fiction. Her current freelance clients include National Geographic Books, New Holland Publishers, Penguin Random House and several authors. www.lrtpublicity.co.uk.

What is PR, and why is it important?

There is an old saying, “Advertising is what you pay for, publicity is what you pray for.”

According to Forbes:

Advertising is paid media, public relations is earned media.  This means you convince reporters or editors to write a positive story about you or your client, your candidate, brand or issue.  It appears in the editorial section of the magazine, newspaper, TV station or website, rather than the “paid media” section where advertising messages appear.  So your story has more credibility because it was independently verified by a trusted third party, rather than purchased.

PR is important because it has more credibility, often has more impact, and it’s free.

How do we get started?

You’ve spent weeks/months/years writing, drafting, editing, re-writing making your book the best it can be. So how do you make sure as many people as possible know about it? How can you increase sales?

184,000 new books were published in the UK in 2013, so, how do you convince a publication or media outlet to carry your story? How do you make a pitch stand out?

How do you decide who to approach, and how do you contact them?

Research & Targeting

The first step is to know what media you could possibly send it to. There’s no real shortcut to this – you have to completely immerse yourself in it. Get to your local newsagent or the library – look at the publications that surround your subject matter.

80% of journalists say lack of understanding of their publication is their biggest frustration when dealing with PR people.

The fundamentals of working with bloggers and websites are the same as working with media in this respect – make sure it’s relevant to their audience.

Don’t ignore local press and radio – if there is a regional hook, it is definitely worth pitching for an article. Lots of local links now get shared via social media and reaching a wider audience, so it can mean that a national newspaper or radio station also ends picking up the story. It’s also worth considering local bookshop events as well as festivals.

Press release

A recent survey said that nearly 60% of UK journalists said they preferred the traditional press release over other media channels.

• Good PRs have knowledge of what will make a good story, and only pitch it to the relevant media.
• Your main headline should be devoid of jargon or adjectives – it should be short, snappy and let’s not forget, tweetable
• Start with the peg that will best appeal to your intended audience
• Include quotes only where they’re relevant
• Do you have images that can be used alongside any prospective pieces?
• Include your contact information
• Include relevant links
• Think SEO
• Make sure you include all the key information: Title, Author, Publisher (if applicable), Date of publication, Format (hardback/paperback/ebook), Price and ISBN
• Make it look attractive and eye-catching

Pitching

• Email rather than phone: in a recent survey 73% of journalists said they’d rather receive emails than cold calls unless it’s an important news story
• Think like a journalist – how will your story fit into their publication?
• Use a catchy headline
• Put some of the main copy of the press release into the body of your email – journalists don’t always have time to open attachments if you catch them at a busy time
• Include your hook
• Keep any attachments small
• Tailor your email – address the recipient personally

Following up

• Don’t call media outlets to check if they got your email. They got it. If they’re interested, they’ll respond
• Online coverage of news often happens much more quickly than it happens in traditional media – keep an eye on this
• Think of fresh angles – what is newsworthy?
• Think like a journalist

Personal Branding & Social Media

“Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room” — Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.

One of the best ways to raise the profile of your personal brand is via social media. Don’t bombard people with self-promoting tweets/posts about your book, though! Always be polite and courteous.

If readers engage with you as a brand, they will do your PR for you.

In summary:

• Research. Be familiar with the competition, and be familiar with the media. There’s no shortcut or substitute
• Think like a journalist. What’s the story?
• Be courteous and polite. Treat people with respect. Build long-term relationships
• If readers engage with you as a brand, they will do your PR for you
• Network! Both in the real world and online.

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Photo © Grey Trilby