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Always compile a media "wish list" before embarking on your book promotion campaign. Once you've determined which media outlets are the most important to you, and are most likely to reach your potential book buyers, you'll have the roadmap for your book publicity efforts. |
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Keep an eye on pop culture.
When there’s a media frenzy, producers and editors are always competing for fresh angles and perspectives. Offer up your expertise, and contact as many media decision makers as you can when the news is hot. |
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Watch the calendar.
Seasons and holidays (the big occasions, such as the Fourth of July, and the more esoteric ones, such as Grandparents Day or Nutrition Month are predictable, and if you figure out ways to tie your messages into various months of the calendar in advance, you’ll be a sought-after expert all the time. |
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Contact your alma mater’s media outlets. Every college and university (and just about every high school) in the country has a magazine, Web site, or at least a newsletter in which they can announce alumni news. |
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Get in touch with every community newspaper you can find, in every city or town where you’ve ever lived, studied, or worked – or where you have (or have ever had) relatives. Al editors love the “local citizen makes good” news angle. |
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Send out books.
No matter what your budget, you have to send out some books (and probably more books than you’d like) to score interviews. Books and postage are relatively inexpensive compared to losing book promotion opportunities. |
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Tune into the media. Television and radio shows appear (and disappear) constantly, and new columnists (and even new magazines and newspapers) emerge all the time. Keep an eye on what’s happening in the media, and stay on top of how your topic might fit in. |
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Bring visitors to your book Web site, and make sure your site is professionally designed and easy to navigate.
Yes, your goal is to entice people to buy your book, but your Web site is the first stop for many potential book buyers, so be sure it reflects well on you. |
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Blog.
Blog like crazy. Blog, blog, blog. Search engines love blogs, and potential book buyers use the search engines to find you – and, ultimately, to make the decision about whether to buy your book. Blog as often as you can, and use your keywords as often as you can in your blog entries. And don’t worry if you don’t quite know what to blog about – other bloggers seldom know what to blog about, either. Just blog! |
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Create postage stamps with your book cover on them.
Try Stamps.com and Zazzle.com, or any service that lets you customize stamps based on images that you provide. |
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