I’ve long advocated writing a book as an extremely effective way to market your personal brand, and I’m happy to report that more and more professionals – doctors, lawyers, financial professionals, CEOs and others – have come to recognize the value of this. After all, why slip a potential client a business card when you […]
Tag: book promotion
You Say You’re An Author, Not A Marketer? Think Again
Sometimes I speak to authors who finally have a book ready for publication after months or years of hard work, yet sadly, in all that time, they neglected to give any thought to a key reality of the book-publishing world. […]
3 New Do’s for Marketing Your Book
Recently we visited beautiful Amelia Island, Fla., to host a publicity workshop at its big annual Book Festival. Preparing for this event got me thinking about how much both book publishing and publicity have changed since 1990, when I began representing authors. With the rise of the Internet, new rules developed and strategies evolved – […]
4 Marketing Must-Do’s for 2014
Top 4 Marketing Mistakes to Avoid in 2014 I love the fresh-scrubbed feel of a new year. It’s a great time to set goals for myself and my company, which always fires me up and inspires me to charge ahead. I do more looking forward this time of year than looking back, but it is […]
What’s Your Holiday Angle? 9 Ideas
I say it every year and I’ll say it again this year because it’s that important: The weeks ahead are a great time to promote your business, product, service or book because the media are hungry for fresh new holiday-related material. To take advantage, you should start pulling together your articles or talk show pitches […]
3 Marketing Lessons from a Master Copywriter
When a pioneer and leader in any field dispenses advice, I pay attention. Wisdom gleaned from decades of experience is a priceless gift. When that person is also a renowned marketing expert and legendary copywriter, I not only listen, I also want to pass along that advice along to you. […]
Diana Nyad’s 3 Valuable Messages for Authors, Entrepreneurs
I cheered Diana Nyad’s amazing swim from Cuba to Florida last week, and I’ve been listening with exasperation as naysayers now question her accomplishment. The woman is 64. She swam 110 miles through the ocean. Let her have her day! While her feat inspires on several levels, I can’t help but notice the ways her […]
Tips and Tricks for Book Promotion
For fiction and non-fiction authors, book promotion can be one of the most challenging and potentially frustrating parts of the process. It’s understandable, really. People who have the passion necessary to write a book usually have just one thing on their minds: writing their book. Some may think ahead to getting it published, but, tragically, […]
Talk Radio’s One of the Best Values for Publicity
One of our clients, a financial advisor, recently had a great interview on a Sirius/XM talk radio show. His office got lots of calls from listeners afterward, and the show host did as well. They were both thrilled. It didn’t surprise me. As a longtime talk radio fan and a host of talk shows for […]
How – and When – to Write a Press Release
If you’re trying to get publicity from traditional media, occasionally you may need to write a press release. Yes, you read that right, occasionally. Many PR firms and other marketers do rely heavily on press releases, but I’ve found they’re not the best tool for getting the quality and quantity of coverage we promise our […]
Marketing Lessons from the Hostess Twinkie
On Dec. 10, the last batch of Hostess Twinkies went on sale accompanied by moans, groans and a “Save the Twinkie” Facebook campaign from the cream-filled cake’s devoted fans. Hostess Brands, the company that baked Twinkies, had declared bankruptcy and liquidated. But as deaths go, the Twinkie’s was short-lived. On Monday, it’s scheduled to reappear […]
AP Style Tips for Getting More Publicity
If you needed to ask a favor from someone who speaks only Spanish, you’d ask in Spanish if you could, right? At the very least, you might learn enough Spanish to get your point across. Likewise, if you’re reaching out to newspapers, magazines and other print media journalists, you’ll gain more respect and credibility, and […]
The Most Rewarding Marketing Mistake I Ever Made
Recently, a colleague asked me, “What was the most rewarding mistake you ever made in business?” It’s a great question, and I quickly had an answer for him because it was an incredibly painful mistake. However, it proved to be an invaluable lesson that has served me well in the years since. I’m sharing so […]
Is Your Book on a Summer Reading List
If there’s a season for reading, it’s summer — a time for family vacations, for afternoons at the beach, for weekends in the backyard hammock. We Americans love to get outside in the summer, and many of us grab a book as we head out the door. In fact, 50 percent of book lovers change […]
Capitalize On the Family in Your Business
Why Your Family Business Makes for Great Marketing I discovered an interesting statistic recently – 90 percent of all small businesses in the United States are family-owned. That got me thinking about the positive impact working with family can have on everything from marketing to sales to customer service. It certainly leads to lots of […]
Myths About Publicity
What It Does and Who Gets It Judging from the questions I’m asked by people from every walk of life, misconceptions about publicity – what it can do and who can get it – abound. By definition, publicity is media coverage you get because you’re deemed to be of interest to an audience. If a […]
Are You Looking for a Literary Agent
What Is The Book Industry Telling Fiction & Business Authors About Traditional Publishing? The same things we are! It was nice to get that validation earlier this month at the 31st annual Cocoa Beach Writers Conference. Our vice president for media operations, Alex Hinojosa, attended as a workshop speaker – and took the opportunity to attend a […]
Why Talk Radio is an Easy Publicity Tool
Last week, one of our talk radio clients sent us a “beautiful link” (his words) to a blog post he’d found. The blogger, who writes for a broadcast engineering magazine, had posted, in part: “I was minding my own business the other morning, listening with one ear to local AM talk radio, when something hit […]