How to Best Connect with the Media to Boost Your Book's Success - BM389

Welcome to Book Marketing Mentors, the weekly podcast where you learn proven strategies, tools, ideas, and tips from the masters. Ex Every week, I introduce you to a marketing master who will share their expertise to help you market and sell more books. Today, my special guest is Mickey Kennedy. Ex As the founder of Ereleases, he's dedicated the past 24 years to helping small businesses, authors, and start ups ex their visibility and build credibility with the power of press releases. Mickey, what a pleasure it is to welcome you to the show, And thank you for being this week's guest expert and mentor.

Mickie Kennedy [00:01:10]:

Thanks for having me, Susan.

Susan Friedmann [00:01:12]:

Press releases. I never want to assume people know and understand what they are exactly. So let's start off very granular and talk about What they are, and then we can start talking about why it's important for authors to include them in their strategy. So first of all, what exactly is a press release?

Mickie Kennedy [00:01:32]:

A press release is simply an announcement written in the third person That generally you're presenting to the public, but usually most specifically to the media. They may say at the top for media release, it. Headline city and state, dateline area, then the opening of the announcement. They're pretty simply written. There may be a quote that you might be in the 1st person, but I would say the writing is not very elevated. You're just really just ex Giving people facts top down, what the most important aspect of the announcement is, what your most newsworthy angle or hook is that you're trying to bring people in to read the press release. a

Susan Friedmann [00:02:16]:

Okay. And we're gonna go into that in more depth because That I know is a really important aspect of the release, knowing that you've got that hook to be able to ex Get somebody to read it. But let's look at, first of all, the importance of having a press release or press releases as part of a marketing strategy for authors.

Mickie Kennedy [00:02:40]:

I think that authors should consider a press release. The advantage for nonfiction authors is that it's much easier to get media coverage with a nonfiction book. For example, a fiction book has so many elements of a fiction book, you only know them once you've read the book, e.g. the style of the writer, how well-written it is, the plot, and things like that. But with nonfiction, it's a little bit more about expertise And what is the hook or angle of the book? What differentiates this book and its subject matter from all the other books that are out there? You know, there's the author, what their story is.

Perhaps they've overcome struggles or obstacles or, you know, just Their journey that led them to this. All of these are elements that potentially could be fodder for a press release. For example, someone who was always in corporate America and then stumbled into a completely different career has written a book about transitioning later in life. And that journey they took can really ex be something a powerful hope that people could identify with because there are people who always seem to need a change in their life and maybe a career change or something like that. It could be valuable, and learning from their journey and what worked and what didn't work could be valuable. So It can take a lot of permutations as to what, you know, a nonfiction book could be about, But there's lots of different ways to approach it.

Mickie Kennedy [00:04:16]:

And it's a matter of trying to reverse engineer what you think a journalist is going to be receptive to. At the end of the day, they are gatekeepers, and they're trying to decide what's worth sharing with their audience. And they want to be sure that when they share stuff with them, it will delight or interest them. As a result, what is it about your book or your journey? e.g., That would interest or delight an audience? And if you can sort of tap into that and build that into a press release, you stand a much higher chance of getting media pickup.

Susan Friedmann[ 00:04:51]:

That is a critical point here in getting their attention and finding out if this is something that they would be interested in. And having worked in PR and knowing how hard it is sometimes to get a journalist's attention, are there some tricks of the trade here that you could share?
What do we need to know that would really help us ensure the success of this release?

Mickie Kennedy [00:05:19]:

 I think that being authentic, for example, being vulnerable. I've had clients who share missteps that they've had, and often, those are the things that get picked up. We had one Who shared that they had to cancel their Thanksgiving dinner with the extended family as all of them were doing fulfillment in the warehouse ex Over Thanksgiving because they were just inundated with orders. And that was the introduction to the article about them in Inc Magazine. They loved that little anecdote, and I think they led with that because it's something that many entrepreneurs can identify with. So are there elements of your life that other people could identify with? Or the subject matter that you've written about, Could people identify with that? So there's also other different ways to pepper in some newsworthiness in a press release.

Mickie Kennedy [00:06:13]:

Example: The media loves numbers and statistics. So if you have numbers that back any of what your book is about, For example, you know, in the example of the career change, you could have a quote that says, you know, according to some kind of bureau, ex 64% of people will change careers after the age of 50. That could be a really interesting jumping point for you. Because all of a sudden, you've made it very clear to the journalist that this affects a lot of people or will affect a lot of people. And it hones in the fact that this isn't just some isolated experience, but this is something that a lot of people will probably struggle with. Therefore, they might identify with this book. If not now, later.

Susan Friedmann [00:06:59]:

What I like about what you're saying is that we're not focusing on, hey, I wrote a book about it's more about some aspect of the book that people can relate 2 or the newsworthy or maybe it relates to I know that there's, these national days. Every day is the day of something or other, the popcorn day, or the chocolate chip cookie day or whatever.

Susan Friedmann [00:07:29]:

So it's tying it into something that is relevant, that is newsworthy, that could interest the target audience. Ex Talk to us about how to get those releases out there. Now I know that your company does this. It's knowing which media to go after because it's not just throwing enough spaghetti against the wall hoping some will stick. So How do you decide which media you're going to go after?

Mickie Kennedy [00:07:59]:

I think that with distribution through ereleases like we do, It includes a national distribution over here in Newswire, and you get to select appropriate industry trade publications. You want to, like you know, who would be of interest for your book? What's your ideal audience? Ex Is your book sort of about business experience in the fashion world? Then maybe business and fashion might be the two categories that you pick or whatever subject. So you just have to get a feel for what type of readers. And, you know, the business one's gonna include many business Publications, magazines, and newspapers. The fashion one's gonna include a lot of fashion trades, but also just newspapers and people who cover the fashion industry. And so, you know, doing these identifiers industry identifiers ex are specific to the beat of the journalist, you wanna find the one that mostly correlates to What your ideal reader would be part of, what group?

Susan Friedmann [00:09:04]:

Now I remember that forming relationships with the media was always very helpful. Does that still happen today, or is there just no time

Mickie Kennedy [00:09:15]:

for this? Well, it is more challenging today. Some of your larger PR firms still do that and foster relationships with journalists. And It is time-consuming, but the rewards are when you're in a pinch, and you've got a client breathing down your neck, You can lean on some of these people you have relationships with, and they might cut you a favor or say, hey, is there a way you can couch this to fit this? Yeah. That's kind of what we're working on right now. That's harder to do if you don't have a relationship with a journalist. And I guess one of the things that I I would say is ex nothing is stopping you from establishing a relationship with a journalist. I think it's good practice in your local market ex To build a Rolodex of local journalists or producers and bookers of TV and radio that cover your industry from time to time. You know, it might be a local newspaper who writes on your industry or covers What the beat that would be closest to what you're about, you can call and ask for their email address.

Mickie Kennedy [00:10:20]:

They're not trying to hide it. They're accessible to the community. It's not strange or unusual to request their email address. You could also check Twitter because some of them like to be on Twitter, but I think many people are currently hitting pause on Twitter. So I think that, building your own Rolodex, if you have a business newspaper, your book would align with business readers. You could also reach out to your local business magazine or business newspaper ex Segments, you know, sometimes there's spotlights in industry or, like, they'll cover a new book, maybe a piece of nonfiction you've seen. So you know they're receptive to that, Then you could call and ask who the producer or booker of that segment is and get their email address. And then once you have that, you You can reach out to them.

Mickie Kennedy [00:11:06]:

You don't even need a press release. You need a good pitch. Like, I'm a local author. I've released this new book. This is what it's about. Maybe put a captivating quote in there. Quotes are really powerful because if you have a very meaningful quote that has some pizzazz, journalists can build a story around it. So many quotes on press releases are safe, e.g. benign quotes.

Mickie Kennedy [00:11:31]:

They can easily be paraphrased, and there'd be no loss. So, really spend a little extra time on your quote because it's one way in which you can really stand out.

Susan Friedmann [00:11:40]:

Thank you for including the local media because it's something that I often talk about here that this is a market That's right on your doorstep, and it gets overlooked because you're like, oh, I want to be in the big papers. You know? Ex a thing that everybody's heard of. I live in a very small town. There's 1 paper here in town. Now I've said in the past, I can send a release, and the editor will print it verbatim. Usually, the only thing he ex Changes is the headline. I'm very fortunate that you're talking about larger cities where, yes, you have different papers, some business related, and it's finding that journalist who covers the particular area, the arts ex sort of fashion or business, etcetera. So thank you for highlighting that because I think that is very much an ex Overlooked market, but one that could be very helpful.

Susan Friedmann [00:12:40]:

You could be a big fish in a small pond there in your own town.

Mickie Kennedy [00:12:44]:

Ex Right. And and local media is is some of the easiest to obtain because journalists generally like to celebrate local wins. And a local person writing a book is generally one of those wins. And so even if the time isn't perfect when you send your pitch, They may keep you in mind for plugging you into an article they might be working on in a few months and reaching out to your local media ex On a regular basis, you know, a couple of times a year, 3 or 4 times a year is a great way to stay on their radar and make sure that when the opportunities come, they will keep you in mind.

Susan Friedmann [00:13:25]:

That's nice. I really like that. I love talking about mistakes, Mickey, and I know in this environment, you can really make a lot of mistakes. So let's touch on a few of the most common ones That we could get our listeners to avoid.

Mickie Kennedy [00:13:41]:

Sure. So I think one of the most common mistakes that I see with the book press releases that come through ex is that it's really just trying to generalize what the book is about. And from beginning to end, almost, it. It's like they've condensed it to a page. Here's the book. What you're really trying to do is find lots of little hooks ex the engage, little bits of curiosity that will get them to say, hey. This looks like a book I wanna explore. Rather than give them the answers, Ask them the intriguing questions that maybe they haven't even thought of yet and sort of, you know, get that into The press release in a way that you're talking about these are subject matters that are covered, but, you know, I'm not gonna explain what the, you know, the answer is or The path that you're going to take, I think that, if you sort of build it from intrigue, almost like a  marketing type approach, You'll get a lot more people interested because journalists by and large are story builders.

Mickie Kennedy [00:14:47]:

Most articles are written in a story format, ex And having the elements in your press release for a story can really go far where describing the book In great detail isn't necessarily going to build a story, but your journey of how the book Came to be your past, your career experience is if relevant to the book, all of these things are the story. It's like the hero journey through this path. And I think that keeping that in mind and making sure you have those elements to build a story are really important. Ex Product launch press releases are one of the most common type that we get. And it's usually just here's the product and a list of features. And that's very little for a journalist to build a story with. But if you were to start incorporating it with things like, here's someone who used it. They achieved this result.

Mickie Kennedy [00:15:44]:

Here's a quote by them, you know, that says wonderful things about this product. All of that with the product launch really Allows them to build out a whole story arc and take the readers on a journey. And I think you want the press release to have those elements of building a story. What is it that, you know, makes the book intriguing? What is it that makes you intriguing? Who is this author, and why should people care? And I think that, again, these really great quotes that are either witty or ex Philosophical or just extremely concise and precise language and just powerful will add to it and make the journalists feel like, Wow. I could build a really good story around all of these elements.

Susan Friedmann [00:16:31]:

I love the fact that you call a journalist a story builder, ex That's so true. I mean, they are. It's all about stories, but I just had not thought of that description for them, so I love that. Ex I recall too many authors saying, oh, I need to send a book to the paper, to a journal of the editor or to, you know, maybe somebody who writes a column, a business column. What are your thoughts on that?

Mickie Kennedy [00:17:01]:

Ex I think you're just wasting a book. I think that the journalists are so busy. They're just not gonna have the time to read a book. So you're gonna do them a big favor of making the press release a digestible window into the book And why this book should be of interest to their readers and what promises can be made from this book. What what will they glean? Ex Is it the story, or is it the information, the way that it's told or organized? All of these different aspects, you know, put that in the press release. Ex If they find the press release interesting, they'll often write an article without ever looking at the book. I mean, Probably 98% of articles about books that get written, the person didn't read the book. And maybe that's, you know, a little bit of a, an exaggeration.

Mickie Kennedy [00:17:54]:

But I do think that most people just like talk show hosts where they have people coming in who've written book after book, They don't have the time or energy or bandwidth to read all of those books either. So it's just, you know, understanding that Your expectations should be that you'll get a lot more mileage out of a very well written press release than you will from sharing your book with someone.

Susan Friedmann [00:18:17]:

Thank you for that because I've often said too that, yeah, it's a waste of time, it's a waste of a book to do that. Let's talk about realistic expectations. So you get a press release published, then what?

Mickie Kennedy [00:18:34]:

Ex After it goes out, you'll get a report from the Newswire that shows the release on a few websites, Maybe like a100. Usually, Yahoo Finance is there because they pick up all press releases whether they're financial or publicly traded or who they are. You know, I always tell people, don't get excited about the syndicated report because it's pretty automated, and it happens with all paid releases. What we're looking for is earned media, where a journalist actually reads the press release and writes their own article about it. Ex And those are hard to come by, but they are attainable. And I think that I had 1 customer who was a self-published author Who got the front page of the entertainment section of, USA Today. You know, that's a very large get-ex or a self-published author, but it spoke to the journalist, and it was about an action-adventure component. And when you read the press release, you were excited and wanted to read the book.

Mickie Kennedy [00:19:39]:

That's the job of the press release. Get The reader to want to learn more and to seek out the book. And I think that that's why it did so well. There are also instances where trade publications could pick it up within certain industries, newspapers, and magazines. I've had, authors get on Good Morning America with their book, but they were published through a traditional publisher. The ones who are self-published, it's a little bit harder to get some of that national attention. But the person who got the USA Today is proof that, you know, you can Regardless of your backing. And that has been an interesting journey because the press releases that I've always handled Up until about 6 or 7 years ago were from self-published authors.

Mickie Kennedy [00:20:29]:

Because if they were published through a traditional publisher, They usually handle the marketing themselves through the publisher. And now the publishers are like even the traditional publishers are saying, We're only gonna do marketing for our most important authors. And the rest of our authors will publish your book, but it's up to you to market them. And so we're seeing a lot more of, traditional authors through traditional publishers using a service like E releases to get out there. And it is very competitive. And I think that, you know, a a PR campaign of 6 to 8 press releases is what I I tell people to strive for. You wanna try different hooks, different angles, different approaches. You can actually sometimes even try different markets.

Mickie Kennedy [00:21:17]:

I had 1 client who wrote a book, and he has some anecdotes in the book about being an avid golfer, but He never intended the book to be for the golfing market. And so we tuned the press release for the golfers. It. And it's very clearly a business book, but, you know, most golfers are a lot of them are business people, and it did very well. He got a couple ex golf magazines to pick up and mention it. So there are different ways to get there, but, unfortunately, it's often not just 1 press release That does it. You just sort of have to learn from the experience and try different approaches and see. That being said, there are different ways to sort of tone your angle for each press release.

Mickie Kennedy [00:22:02]:

And, I do encourage people to take an audit of all the different possible hooks that exist Within their book and within them and their personal experience and sort of build a list of what they think the most interesting ones are And maybe get other people's perspective on it as well, then, you know, go from what you feel is the most important to the least important, and then work on a series of press releases.

Susan Friedmann [00:22:28]:

One of the things that you said, which I thought was really important, is this whole idea of trade magazines. Especially, you know, one of the things that is near and dear to my heart is the whole concept of niche marketing. And then when you're in a niche, you have it's often, you know, a certain industry or a topic within an industry. And then going into that industry and being in those different trade publications that cover that industry can get you a lot further. Ex Getting recognized as an expert in that field rather than, as you say, going after the big boys and hoping That you're going to get featured there, they're not as hungry from my experience as often the trade publications are. What's your thought on that?

Mickie Kennedy [00:23:15]:

I agree. I think that trade publications are a natural fit. They are generally your audience, ex Kiddo the key audience. So I find that they can really be a powerful resource as far as, like, reaching them and getting success with them. It is a changing landscape because people consume their media in many different ways. So it. It used to be that there was just trade publications, consumer magazines, newspapers, but blogs came in, you know, 15, 20 years ago. And now we have influencers who are using social media.

Mickie Kennedy [00:23:52]:

And, believe it or not, the Newswire has opened itself up to Give Instagramers a journalist access if they can prove that they have a large following and cover the fashion industry, for example, Or whatever industry that they're in, but the fashion's the big one with Instagram. So I think that niches are An area that makes sense because, you know, you're drilling down to a very specific audience. And the people that read a specific trade publication are easily identifiable that they are within a specific industry. They have certain interests that are aligned. And I think that the ex Same person who reads a trade publication is a reader and is probably going to be more receptive to learning about a book And perhaps buying the book as well. And so I think that that's a really good alignment as well because if you're on social media and a niche, They may not translate to them being a reader or even though they may be of interest in your industry. Excellent.

Susan Friedmann [00:24:56]:

It's an opportunity for you to tell us more about ereleases and how our listeners can learn more about you and your services.

Mickie Kennedy [00:25:07]:

Sure. So ereleases have been around for 24 plus years. We specialize ex And getting press releases out, nationally through PR Newswire and some email distribution as well. Ex Our staff is made up of only editors. There's no salespeople. There's no commissions. So feel free to visit our website and chat, call, or email. We walk a lot of people through their 1st press release, and their 1st PR campaign.

We are based on a la carte pricing, so we make it very easy to work with. No monthly obligations like a PR firm, And we're a lot more affordable than a PR firm, and we're considerably cheaper than going directly to the newswire as well ex Because we represent small businesses, and I am positioned to the mid the newswire that, you know, entrepreneurs and small business owners and authors can't afford ex $1500 for a press release to go out nationally. So they did not run away but found pricing that works for all of us. And It's a great value that we give people by allowing them to reach the wire and the media. I do have a free masterclass that sort of Walks you through an audit that you can do and build strategic press release ideas for you, your book, and ex also applies to businesses as well, and it's completely free. And it's at ereleases. com/plan. I think that's a really great place for anybody who's considering press releases or they've done it and it hasn't worked because if you start with these strategic types of press releases, Your likelihood of getting media pickup is gonna be considerably

Susan Friedmann [00:26:49]:

stronger. Excellent. And I'll put that into the show notes, Nikki, because Listeners, that's really a real gift. So thank you, Mickey, for sharing that. Just quickly, Do you actually help write the release as well as distribute it, or is it just a distribution?

Mickie Kennedy [00:27:09]:

We do offer writing as well, ex But I do challenge people to try to write the press release themselves, and send it to my editors. We'll review anything free of charge, And we'll get back to you within 1 or 2 business days with our thoughts on a press release. Whether you use us or not, whether you're a customer or not, My goal with the releases is to be a helping hand for small businesses, entrepreneurs, authors, and speakers. And so We're very accessible. We want you to succeed. And I do think that the average person can write a press release. But that being said, either if you're up against the wall or you've tried and it's not working, we do offer the writing service as well.

Susan Friedmann [00:27:49]:

Excellent. So that's an additional fee for that?

Mickie Kennedy [00:27:52]:

Yes, it is

Susan Friedmann [00:27:53]:

Okay. Excellent. Good. This is fabulous. I'm a firm believer ex NPR versus advertising, that's a whole other conversation. I know.

Susan Friedmann [00:28:06]:

We're sort of running out of time here. I know we could, keep talking about this because there are lots of different avenues. So, Mickey, we always Have all guests leave our listeners with a golden nugget, words of wisdom. What are yours?

Mickie Kennedy [00:28:22]:

I think that ex Looking at yourself as an author, you establish yourself as an expert or authority, often within a specific industry. And I think that as a result, the types of press releases that you may not think of are things like yearly predictions at the end of the year, Getting out a press release where you make predictions in your industry, or a top-ten list of certain trends within your industry can go a long way, and having that book gives you credibility in the eyes of the media as well.

Susan Friedmann [00:28:56]:

Beautiful. Thank you. This has been eye-opening listeners! I hope you were able to write lots of things down. If not, guess what? Listen to this again because Mickey shared some real nuggets of information. So thank you so much. Ex And listeners, if your book isn't selling the way you want to do or expected it to, Let's you and I jump on a quick call together to brainstorm ways you can ramp up those sales because you've invested a whole lot of time, money, and energy, And it's time you got the return you were hoping for. So go to brainstorm with susan.com to schedule your free call.

In the meantime, I hope this powerful interview sparks some ideas you can use to sell more books. So until next week, here's wishing you much book and author marketing success.