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I mentioned this resource before, but want to remind you: Annie Jennings PR does teleseminars just about every week, and she then offers free downloads on her site in case you can’t make the live call.

Today she started a wonderful series that will go for at least the next two weeks. She and Tony Trupiano are going over the web sites that are submitted and offering feedback on how media friendly the site is, and what to do to make it easier for the media to book you when they see your site. I already have plans to make changes in my own site.

The number one mistake that was made in the several sites they looked at today was not making contact information very prominent on the site. And they’re talking about a phone number, not just an email address. If a reporter or producer wants to contact you, he or she wants to do it right away. The media will move on if they can’t find your contact info immediately–or if they don’t think that they will actually get through to a real person. (Annie recommends you put something like “media hotline number” with your cell phone number listed.)

You can download this week’s call and catch up. Then go sign up for the next week’s call and, if you want, you can submit your web site for their review. (Don’t worry–Annie and Tony are very kind, but also helpful.)

(Note: If the link for yesterday’s call isn’t up yet at Annie’s publicitypro page, it should be by the end of Thursday. Also, you can still download my interview with her, “The Turning
of the Tides of Publishing” from that page.)
Why do I harp on this publicity thing so often? Because it is so helpful, no matter what stage of publishing you are at currently.

If you’ve written your book, publicity is invaluable in promoting your book.

If you haven’t yet written your book, publicity helps you build that all-important platform that allows you to create an audience for whatever products you will create.

Watch for an article in the September newsletter, on how to write a press release.

In my August newsletter, I wrote up a Case Study of what Maria Veloso has done to market her novel, Midwinter Turns to Spring, since she self-published it last November. Maria was one of my early coaching clients, and her story is remarkable as it unfolds day by day.

I won’t rehash all the things Maria did to sell 4,672 copies in 9 months–you can read it in the newsletter. I will tell you that as of today, what I know is that Larry Kirschbaum, of LJK Literary Management, called and asked her to sign with his agency. He is now contacting major publishers for their offers.

In case you don’t know who Larry Kirschbaum is, he is the former chairman of the books division of Time-Warner Book Group, and was named the first ever “Publishing Person of the Year” for 2005 by Publisher’s Weekly, the industry trade journal. Last fall, Kirschbaum left TWBG to start his own literary agency, where he continues to sign on best-selling and future best-selling authors.

Which is how he sees Maria Veloso, apparently.

We’ll see what transpires. Perhaps an auction, where the agent invites publishers to submit bids for the rights? Stay tuned….

Oh, and by the way, you might want to grab a copy of the current edition of Midwinter Turns to Spring.

Once it becomes a best seller, who knows who much an original edition will be worth? And I’m not sure the publisher will offer the vacation package that currently comes with the book and accompanying soundtrack (yes, this is the first novel with its own soundtrack).

What’s in the August issue:

• QUOTES OF THE MONTH: More on Creativity
• ARTICLE: How to Find Time to Write a Book
• CASE STUDY: Success Story in Process
• INSIDER’S TIP: More on Publicity
• PUBLISHING TRENDS: Special Report Preview
• On the blog …
• Get your questions answered!
• Jump Start Your Book
• Pass it On
• Reprint/Copyright info

Read the August issue in PDF format. (Left click to read, right click and “Save as” to download.)

(If you do not have a pdf reader, you can download FREE adobe acrobat pdf reader at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html )

Publicity is a great way to build your platform, and I’ve been having lots of fun with it lately, as you probably know. Today (Aug. 1) my coauthor, Janet Penley, and I will be guests on the Midday Connection radio show to talk about our book, MotherStyles: Using Personality Type to Discover Your Parenting Strengths.

(If you can listen to a Moody station, the show airs live at 1 p.m. Eastern, noon Central, 11 a.m., Mountain, and 10 a.m. Pacific time. You can also listen live online, by clicking the link to “listen live” on the left.)

Tomorrow, Aug. 2, I’m going to do a teleseminar with Annie Jennings PR to talk about the major trends the publishing industry has seen in the past decade, and how that affects authors. When you sign up, you’ll get a free CD of a live media trainining event with national media trainer Tony Trupiano. If you can’t listen live, you can download it later and still get the CD, so do sign up!

Yet another publcity exposure this week: my local newspaper will do a story on my Words to Profit book coaching business. The reporter interviewed me yesterday, the photographer comes tomorrow (have to clean my office!) and the story should run on Friday.

I will report on the results of this media exposure later, but I want to share how I got this publicity. The principles are not difficult to carry out, and they will help you build your own platform.

1. Do your homework. Master book marketer John Kremer, author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Book, talks about creating a list of 100 key contacts. This will not happen overnight, of course. Start with the people you already know, the blogs, newspapers, newsletters you already read, the radio and TV shows you’re already familiar with.

In each of the three media instances above, I was already very familiar with each outlet. I read the Daily Herald and follow Kim Mikus’s column on local businesses. I listen to Midday Connection regularly, and sign up for most of Annie Jennings’s teleseminars (which have been a wonderful self-education).

Start with what you know, but then look beyond. Notice which newspaper reporters are doing stories on your topic. Sign up with Google Alerts for keywords on your expertise, and start noticing the names of people who cover that “beat.” Read that reporter’s other stories. Go over the blog posts.

When you give feedback and show you’re familiar with what a person has done, it will lead you to step 2.

2. Build relationships. Remember, you’re dealing with real people. People who love to hear honest, sincere, positive feedback. When I heard a Midday Connection show I especially liked, I sent an email saying what especially helped me. I sent Kim Mikus a sincere note about how much I enjoyed her columns. This is not flattery; it’s finding a way to give sincere appreciation in a world where that is in short demand.

3. Be a giver. What can you give to the person that would be of value to him or her? You might put their blog link on yours (tell them, but leave it no-strings-attached). Yoiu might give them, or their subscribers, a special report. Offer to mention their newsletter in yours, or on your blog. Whatever you can give–positive feedback, valuable information–do it sincerely.

4. When you ask for something, always think in terms of their interests, not yours. Kim Mikus, the Daily Herald business reporter, needs input from businesses that have an interesting story. So I crafted my pitch in terms of what I knew her readers would find interesting and valuable. Midday Connection often does shows on parenting that offer practical help. I showed how talking about MotherStyles would solve some problems mentioned by callers to other shows on mothering. With Annie Jennings, I offered a number of topics I could talk about, and let her choose what she wanted.

Nobody wants to hear about your book, per se. What the media wants is good content for their readers. Show how what you can talk about solves some problem they know their audience has.

5. Be persistent. I believe I began corresponding with Midday Connection in April, or perhaps even before. I sent several emails with various ideas, often in response to a show and some issues the callers brought up that I thought MotherStyles would address. Suddenly, I received an email saying, “We want to schedule you for Aug. 1.” I was afraid I was being a pest, but in truth, media people are very, very busy. Don’t take silence personally, and keep on trying. I even said in one email, “If you’re not interested for some reason, let me know and I won’t email you anymore.”

6. Be flexible. On the other hand, sometimes things move fast, and you have to be ready. I sent Kim an email on Friday, she called me Monday, did the interview, photographer comes on Wednesday, story will appear Friday. When the media calls, you have to be ready–right then.

More later … gotta go and get on the radio!