What does the perfect book publicity strategy look like?

A perfect book publicity strategy can take a self-published author to the next level (AKA quickly reaching more readers and even becoming a bestselling author). No matter what book you have written and self-published, you will want to consider getting publicity for your book. Radio, TV, blogs, magazines, podcasts, and old-fashioned print interviews are valuable components of a successful book public relations (PR) strategy.

What Does A Modern-Day Book Publicity Strategy Look Like?

A book publicity strategy looks different today than it did in the past, but it still works to achieve similar goals. The desired outcome of a successful book publicity strategy will never change. PR will always  help you establish credibility, boost book awareness, and extend your readership. 

The biggest difference in PR today is in its execution. Modern PR is much less transactional and more relational than the past.  In the past, you could get away with just sending a press release in hopes of some self-promotion in the form of a write-up by the media outlet who picked up the story. This does not exist anymore. 

Modern-day PR is focused on building relationships and working with journalists, influencers, editors, hosts, and contributors. Your goal is to focus on giving them value that their audience will want to hear. When it comes to a strong and perfect book publicity strategy, building trust is key. Trust is earned when you deliver valuable content to media outlets who can then use this content to further provide value to their audiences (AKA the audience you are ultimately trying to reach yourself). 

What Does The Perfect Book Publicity Strategy Look Like?

The perfect book publicity strategy is all about meeting your goals and getting the best results for you and your brand. At Talk+Tell, I helped one of my clients go viral by creating a well-defined PR plan and by ensuring I had all the elements needed for a successful publicity strategy. 

My client’s story was picked up by The Huffington Post. Before The Huffington Post was ready to write and publish the article, we needed to further work with them to fact check everything, find extra resources, talk to universities to get a quote, and more. It took us over a month to get the article ready to be handed off for a series of edits. 

The results of taking the time to create a great publicity strategy and find supporting materials gave us a foundation for success.The result of this article went beyond my expectation – it went viral and had one million reads within 24 hours! The Huffington Post‘s Chief Editor also made it one of her top articles to read of the week. Yale University even invited my client to speak to 700 of its students, and  media outlets and boards invited the author to be a guest on their shows. 

It has been almost a year since this article was published and we are still seeing the results. Recently, the article was nominated as a finalist for a James Beard Award! It’s one of the 3 finalists in the Health & Wellness category. 

PR helped my client not just go viral, but also grow their business and brand. Getting the media’s attention and getting your story to go viral takes time and hard work. But putting in the hard work is soooo worth it.

Understanding The Steps Needed For A Successful Book Publicity Strategy

Starting a book publicity strategy can seem daunting. Luckily, it is easier when a trusted book publicist or marketing guru gives you their advice and/or help in developing a marketing campaign. A perfect book publicity strategy starts with a plan. Without a PR plan, it is difficult to properly evaluate the success of your strategy. Before hiring any book publicist or marketing company, make sure you educate yourself on the elements of a PR plan and know the questions that you should be asking to create a successful book publicity strategy. Below is a list of five key elements that need to be included in every book publicity strategy: 

1. Research And Situation Analysis:

1. Before starting any publicity strategy it is important to always start with research. Research for a PR strategy begins with looking into current media trends. You’ll want to find stories that the media published and social media discussions about books that are similar to yours. You need to know everything about the media landscape around the book you are pitching before you send any pitches. 
2. Once you have a clear understanding of how the media is talking about your book’s subject matter, you will want to look into how other successful books in your genre are using PR. When it comes to any strategy, you don’t want to reinvent the wheel. Research which PR strategies already work and which ones don’t. Then, see how you can use the PR strategies that have worked for similar books in your own campaign. 

2. Objectives And Goals Of The Publicity Strategy:
   1. Never pitch for the sake of pitching – this is not strategic. Pitching without defined goals is useless and you will never find any results. Every perfect book publicity strategy needs a clear goal or objective and should include at least one tangible goal. When deciding on what goals you want to achieve, we recommend developing S.M.A.R.T goals:
      1. S = Specific
      2. M = Measurable
      3. A = Attainable or achievable
      4. R = Results-oriented or relevant
      5. T = Timely
   2. Answering these questions will also help you further define a goal for your next book publicity strategy:
      1. Who is your ultimate reader?
      2. What message(s) do you want to deliver to that reader?
      3. What are you hoping to achieve?
   3. Your answers to these three questions will guide and help form your key messages and will define what media outlets you should be targeting. 

3. Materials Created For The Publicity Strategy:
   1. Before you reach out to the media you need to create the right materials that capture your book’s value and explain why the media should care and why their audience will love your book. These materials include a
   2. , a press release, and a series of pitches. 
   3. Research to better understand your target reader and competition along with having a clear goal will define and shape all materials needed for your book publicity strategy. 
   4. At Talk+Tell we have written two other articles on how to create the perfect pitch for your book and what goes into an amazing book media kit. 

4. A Plan For How The Publicity Strategy Will Be Executed:
   1. The execution stage is where the tactics and activities in your book publicity strategy come into play.  When executing your publicity strategy, create a timetable and task list to ensure you keep on track. With many publicity strategies you will have to keep up momentum if you want to get the best results. If you miss publication deadlines or dont use them to your best advantage, you won’t get the best possible results. 

5. Evaluation Reports:

1. If hiring a book publicist and/or a marketing company, make sure they send you evaluation reports regularly. An evaluation report will tell you if your PR strategy is on track and show you areas that need improvement. 

Conclusion

Media outlets, no matter what their form, want engaging content that they can share with their audience. The most important component of starting a book publicity strategy is making sure the story and pitches you are sending to the media truly offer valuable content they can use. Don’t send media a pitch that is stuffy, self-promotional, or is not aligned with what their audience likes to read.