Writers Tricks of the Trade ISSUE 1, VOLUME 9 | Page 20

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C ULL C ONTACTS : Develop your Rolodex
by adding quality recipients from
media directories. You reference li-
brarian can help you find amazing
resources that list every newspaper
or every magazine in the US. A good
research librarian is like a shark;
she’s tireless and once she has her
teeth in something, she won’t give
up until she has what she wants.
E TIQUETTE COUNTS : Send thank-you
notes to contacts after they’ve fea-
tured you or your book. This hap-
pens so rarely they are sure to be
impressed and to pay attention to
the next idea you have, even if it’s
just a listing in a calendar for your
next book signing.
P ARTNER WITH YOUR PUBLICIST AND
PUBLISHER : Ask for help from their
promotion department—even if it’s
just for a sample press release.
P UBLICIZE WHO YOU ARE , WHAT YOU DO :
Reviewers aren’t the only way to go.
What if you’re very young? What if
writing a book is a new endeavor for
you? What if you are a senior and
therefore qualify for the many sites
and weekly newspapers aimed at
that demographic? Several editors
have liked the idea that I wrote my
first book at an age when most are
thinking of retiring, that I think of
myself as an example of the fact that
it is never too late to follow your
dream.
D EVELOP NEW ACTIVITIES TO PUBLICIZE :
Don’t do just book signings. Use
your imagination for a spectacular
S PRING 2019
P AGE 15
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launch. Get charities involved. Think
in terms of ways to help your com-
munity. All the profits from my
newest poetry book, Imperfect Ech-
oes, goes to Amnesty International.
And I let my audience know about
that.
S END PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS WITH YOUR RE-
LEASE : Request guidelines from your
target media. It never hurts to send
a Kodak (or iPhone) moment—
properly labeled—along with your
release.
F REQUENCY IS IMPORTANT : The editor
who ignores your first release may
pay more attention to your second
or twenty-fifth. She will come to
view you as a source and call you
when she needs to quote an expert.
This can work for novels, too. I re-
ceived a nice referral in my local
newspaper because I am now an
“expert” on prejudice, even though
my book was a novel and not a how-
to book. I am now writing poetry
with tolerance as a theme and that
adds to my credibility as a source.
F OLLOW U P : Shel Horowitz, author of
Grassroots Marketing: Getting No-
ticed in a Noisy World, reports that
follow-up calls boost the chances of
a press release being published.
Voice contact builds relationships
better than any other means of
communication.
K EEP CLIPPINGS : Professional publicists
like Debra Gold keep clipping for
their clients; you do it so you’ll
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE