Public Relations (PR)

If you have done your part to ensure that you have both an audience and a book that fits them, you might consider hiring a publicist. Publicist costs can get out of hand in a big hurry if you aren’t clear about what you want out of publicity and don’t give direction to the publicist. You can easily spend $2,000 to $6,000 a month, and the expenses can go up from there. When you hire someone to handle publicity, you need to look for two things: experience and connections.

A full-blown publicity effort for a book might include a four-to-six-month publicity campaign, strategically outlined to obtain the most media exposure possible for your book and your business.

A publicist hired to handle such a campaign would:

•   Create the PR strategy (whom you are targeting, when and how) •   Write all the materials in the media kit •   Pitch you and your book to his or her media contacts •   Follow up after the pitches •   Schedule interviews and handle journalist queries

A publicist should help you schedule your launch date and all the activities surrounding it to get the most exposure possible.

A publicist could also design a combo media and book signing tour by contacting all appropriate media in each tour city. The goal would be to make good use of the travel dollars and schedule as many media hits in each city as possible. This could be a local, regional, or national tour.

Finally, your publicist should also train you or help you find training for successful media interviews including keeping you on target, showing you how to handle difficult questions, and informing you about the special issues with print, television, radio, and online media.

Tanyab 08:44, 5 December 2008 (UTC) | www.publishing-store.com