I had an experience with press releases last week that blew my mind. My husband, a high school teacher who is also a musician who will premiere in an off-Broadway show (http://www.aGRIMMproduction.com) at the end of the month, asked me for help with a press release. The program organizers had hired a publicist to deal with the New York City press, but he also wanted to run some stories in some of the Connecticut newspapers. I said no problem! I wrote a press release telling the story of a teacher who set a great example for his children and how he will have an excellent “What I Did Last Summer” report to give in the fall.
I gave my husband the authorization and told him how to send it and follow up with emails and phone calls. Actually, it didn’t get to the follow-up part. By the end of the week, three stories had been written about him, one had already been posted, along with a great photo! I must admit I was stunned. Although I write about them and talk about them, I had forgotten how powerful a press release can be. If you can write a good one, you can also harness this power to market your book. Here’s how to do it.
Contact information
Let’s start here because while contact information is the easiest part of the launch, it’s also the most overlooked! It just happens: you are so caught up in the press release that you forget the most important information: how to get in touch with you! The reporter can’t do a story if he can’t find you. So in the upper right corner of the release, you want to put the name, address, phone number, and email address. Add a fax number too, just in case. You want to give as many options as possible because you want to be found easily.
Headline
Spend a lot of time writing a strong headline for your press release. These may be the only lines reporters read before the page is thrown in the trash, so you want to grab their attention right away. You want the headline to tell your story, directly and clearly. When I wrote the headline for my husband’s press release, I knew I wanted “local teacher” and “New York City scene” in the headline because I knew that would tell a small-town boy who does it in the type of big city history.
The headline doesn’t have to be the traditional setting either. The headline St. Martin’s used in my novel’s press release did not have a traditional headline; They used a celebrity blurb as the headline because the person, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., had invoked the author’s name Toni. Morrison (she and I are from the same hometown) and that’s what stood out on its own!
Tell a good story
Once you have your headline, follow up with a solid story that matches. Think about your basics: who, what, where, when, and why. Highlight important dates (for appearances, book signings, shows, etc.) and details. Imagine that this is the story that will appear in the newspaper and that you are writing it for them (in fact, a newspaper took one of my press releases and published it almost literally!). It helps if you can make your book part of the bigger picture and not just “oh, here’s another book someone wrote.” A headline from another St. Martin press release (for Jeff Chang’s “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation”) reads “A dynamic breakdown of the most important cultural movement of the last fifty years “. Woof. That is great. It makes you want to read on just to find out exactly what cultural movement they’re talking about.
If appropriate, mention recognizable names (as in the example title above). My husband’s program is supported in part by a grant from the Princess Grace Foundation. There was no way he wasn’t mentioning Princess Grace! I also included choreographers Mark Morris and Julie Taymor (as part of the dancers’ credits).
Make it look good and ship it!
Print your press release on letterhead, if you have one. And check the entire document for spelling errors and mistakes. You want it to look clean and professional. Then send your press release via fax, email, and mail to the target media. Follow up after a few days. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t hear back. Reporters have a lot of mail to go through (believe this from someone who has had to deal with a lot of things in my career as a journalist). You are also competing with whatever else is happening on the news. A story easily published in August may not stand a chance in October. That’s just the news cycle. All you can do is your job: write the release, tell a good story, and see what happens. Hopefully, you won’t have to pick up the phone. Reporters will call you!