Smith Publicity Blogs

  For authors who publish their books independently, the question of whether to hire a book publicist is a significant one to answer. Whatever you decide, the fact is that virtually all successful books have a marketing and publicity program when they are launched. The need for marketing is a reality of today's hyper-competitive marketplace in which thousands of books are released every week. It affects all genres and includes fiction and nonfiction books. Readers and book buyers are bombarded with PR from your competitors, and if you don't keep up, it's easy for you and your book to become lost in the shuffle. If you have the writing and people skills to handle your book publicity campaign DIY, it still takes up a lot of time. Also, during the peak PR period around the launch time, your best energy needs to go into speaking with the media, being interviews and making presentations and appearances. It won't leave much time to manage your PR outreach, and when it suffer...

  Successfully publicizing a book these days requires getting things right on many fronts, given the intense competition at every marketplace level. If you're an author, there are many things you can do to make it possible for your book publicist to get you the caliber of coverage you need. If you're publishing independently, don't skip any essential services such as editing, professional cover design, and formatting. When books are presented to the media, they must be polished and ready for scrutiny. Even if you self-publish, you're going up against traditionally published books that have support services. When hearing about a book, nearly everyone runs a search online. It means you need an author website with the required information (book information, bio, headshot, links to social media, blog, and media coverage). It also means you need to be thorough and conscientious about completing your book and author pages on online bookseller's websites. Include keywords...

  It takes a lot to self-publish a book and succeed these days, but if you work at it and do the needed things, you improve your chances considerably. When you work with book publicists , they'll bring up many promotional opportunities, and tie-ins to current events are one of them. The point of marketing is to help get your book noticed and earn media coverage, and it needs to be seen as newsworthy. Current events are naturally in the news, and connecting your book to them gives it an immediacy that wouldn't be there otherwise. Luckily, there are several ways to go about it, and you can choose from the options.  One of the quickest and most direct ways to become part of an event is to be a sponsor. Event organizers are always looking for funding sources, and when you sign on as a sponsor, they'll give you publicity in return. Publicity campaigns often begin locally and build to regional and possibly national coverage. Therefore, having your name and book title on a sponsor...