I’m so frustrated by the number of authors who overlook one of the most valuable and essential book promotion tools. I mean, geez, it’s free<\/em> and it works! So why not embrace it?<\/p>\n

I’m talking about the press release — also known as a news release or\u00a0media release.<\/p>\n

I know the value of press releases to authors firsthand: My first book contract came as a direct result of a single press release that I wrote and distributed to a carefully handcrafted list of media outlets nationwide.<\/p>\n

The one-and-a-half-page press release announced a printed subscription newsletter I had created\u00a0to help explain male behavior to women. The results? Here’s a sampler:<\/p>\n

\n
• The newsletter was featured\u00a0on the first page of USA Today<\/em>‘s “Life” section exactly a week after I mailed the press release\u00a0to the media with the first newsletter issue.<\/li>\n
• It\u00a0was profiled on the first page of the second section of The Wall Street Journal.<\/em><\/li>\n
• I was interviewed by CBS<\/em>‘s top investigative reporter, Bernie Goldberg, for a segment on the third episode of “Eye to Eye with Connie Chung.”<\/li>\n
• I became\u00a0the darling of morning drive-time radio coast-to-coast , doing hundreds of interviews about the lighter side of male behavior.<\/li>\n
• I won a Silver Anvil award, the Oscar of the public relations industry, for the global publicity generated by the press release campaign.<\/li>\n
• Most importantly: I got calls from\u00a0literary agents and book publishers who asked me to turn the newsletter into a book (which I did, publishing WHY CAN’T A MAN BE MORE LIKE A WOMAN?<\/em> with Kensington\/Zebra).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  That’s why it kills me to see how\u00a0few authors are using press releases to build buzz or, just as bad, using them incorrectly.<\/p>\n

  Let’s talk press releases<\/h3>\n

  So . . . when Dana Lynn Smith asked me to talk about authors and press releases for her Savvy Book Marketer podcast this week, I did a little cheer in my chair.<\/p>\n

  I hope you’ll listen in to learn why you should be using them, how to write them, and how to use them effectively to build media and other buzz for your book. Our interview lasts\u00a0just under 30 minutes, so grab a hot cup of coffee on this frigid day (it was -7 when I woke up this morning) and listen to our conversation on the Savvy Book Marketer podcast at this link:<\/p>\n

  Savvy Book Marketer podcast\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

  <\/a><\/p>\n

  If you have a press release question after listening to the podcast, please come back here and leave it in a comment so I can answer it. Thanks!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  <\/a><\/p>\n

  I’m so frustrated by the number of authors who overlook one of the most valuable and essential book promotion tools. I mean, geez, it’s free<\/em> and it works! So why not embrace it?<\/p>\n

  I’m talking about the press release — also known as a news release or\u00a0media release.<\/p>\n

  I know the value of press releases to authors firsthand: My first book contract came as a direct result of a single press release that I wrote and distributed to a carefully handcrafted list of media outlets nationwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,20,11],"tags":[163,240,123],"class_list":["post-6638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-publicity","category-news","category-tactics","tag-book-publicity-2","tag-dana-lynn-smith","tag-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\n