Author Resources & Education
A book marketing and media/influencer outreach campaign require an author to be engaged and to understand the process, strategies and tactics we employ. The more you, as an author, understand what we do the better you’ll be able to monitor and assess activity.
On this page you’ll find important information about:
* Smith Publicity Consulting Services
* Keys to sparking book sales
* The essential elements of securing media coverage
* How we make authors newsworthy, and how authors can do the same
* Book marketing resources for authors
An Educated Author is a Key Book Marketing Resource for Publicists
Unlike many business-to-consumer services, book publicity is a cooperative endeavor, requiring an involved and motivated author. While authors pay us to promote them and their books, our publicists need authors to understand what they are doing, how they’re doing it, and what to expect in terms of media response.
The core elements of a book promotion campaign implemented by our book publicists are:
- Research – In-depth research and understanding of the author and book topic
- Media targeting – What media should be targeted that aligns with the book topic and author goals, as well as current news cycles
- Pitching – Contacting media contacts through various means including email, phone calls, and traditional mail. Pitching isn’t simply sending out a press release; it involves personalized outreach based on a media contact’s preferences and past topics they have covered. Often, we reach out to the many contacts with whom we’ve worked previously, and who know we provide quality content and guests.
Publicists also created very tailored, small lists of groups of media, and distribute personalized pitches.
Note: While a press release is the foundation of publicity materials, our publicists sometimes send just a pitch, followed by a press release if the contact is interested, or a pitch with an accompanying press release
Non-media pitching is also key. This, depending on the campaign plan, can include bloggers and/or social media and content-expert influencers.
- Follow-up – in today’s media landscape, follow-up and repeated pitching with adjusted angles is paramount. Our book publicists know how to professionally follow up, and know-how individual contacts prefer follow-ups.
- Flexibility – In every campaign we build flexibility. If the response is not what we want or anticipated, we tweak or change pitches and targets. Sometimes, a small change makes a big difference
* How to Market a Book to Spark Sales
* Book Marketing – How to Get Media Coverage