I’m mentioned in more than 50 books on marketing, publicity, media relations and small business, and I’m always amazed at the number of leads and sales that result.
Publicity Hounds who want to promote their expertise should be trying to get into as many books as they can, too.
But how do you track down authors who are writing about your area of expertise? Start by subscribing to Dan Poynter’s excellent newsletter “Publishing Poynter’s Marketplace.” It’s packed with queries from authors who are looking for certain kinds of sources to interview, or for experts who can write entire chapters.
Today’s issue, for example, includes this fun query:
I am compiling stories for a possible book on funny, interesting or unusual and amazing stories of THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN CHURCH or during a solemn occasion. Email your stories along with your name and e-mail address to mailto:jaybcain@gmail.com. You can contact me 423-472-3658. Betty Cain, http://www.bedfordpublications.com/
If you need stories for your own book, send them to Dan at DanPoynter@ParaPublishing.com and put “Stories Wanted” in the subject line. Focus on a single topic and provide your contact information. Write tight. Limit your listing to 100 words. Conform to the format so he can copy/paste with no editing. Listings are free.
Two more tips:
- Before you send that article or chapter off to an editor, include an enticing title or headine. I have several dozen sample headlines in my free article Headlines for How-to Articles.
- If you have a vitual assistant, put her to work tracking down authors who are writing books on your area of expertise. Don’t have a virtual assistant to do your grunt work? Read my free articles Hire a Virtual Assistant to Help with PR, Publicity and Train Your Virtual Assistant to Help with Publicity. (VAs, have you thought about adding PR to your services? If so, this article will give you lots of ideas about skills you can learn, then raise your hourly rates!)
I am considering hiring a virtual assistant for answering phones to schedule appointments, and other work that is very important in addition to the publicity work I need. Would love to hear other’s experiences on VA’s. Most of the large corporations like Microsoft, Home Depot and others have gone to VA’s in other countries. What is your opinion. Don’t have a large budget and was just wanting to get your thoughts.
Thanks for the tip regarding the articles and Dan’s Newsletter!
Absolutely, hire a VA! I’m sorry it took me so long to make this move.
Since I’ve started working with Christine Buffaloe from Serenity VA Services, she has freed me up to concentrate on the really creative projects that generate revenue. I work fewer hours, and I’m relieved of tiresome tasks that suck the energy out of me.
I highly recommend Chris. You can reach her at 262-238-0868 or chris@serenityva.com. And I trained her myself.