How One Great Pitch Idea Can Sell Your Book
Dr Laura Schlessinger Catapults Book Sales
Dr Laura Loved My Book – The Pitch Has Landed
Book Marketing: Pitch for review, interview or mention of your book
When I was publishing It Gets Easier! And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers, I built a media contact list. I bought a copybook and starting writing down possible media contacts who I thought might like my book as I was writing and editing the manuscript.
To start the media contact list, I considered what I was already reading: magazines, books, tv shows and radio shows. Later, I went back to my copybook and entered the media contacts from the copybook into an excel spreadsheet. I listed the organization in one column, then a specific reporter, journalist, tv host’s producer, radio host’s producer in another column, then their email address, and finally their business address. I also added a column for type of media contact – magazine, newspaper, blog, podcast, radio, tv, etc. By adding this “type” column, I could simply add media contacts as I thought of them and sort by type later. By opening an excel spreadsheet you are creating a media contact list – YOUR media contact list. So exciting.
Back to my pitch example…Dr Laura Schlessinger, nationally syndicated radio host and author, was on my media contact list because I was a fan of her radio show and of her books. I felt that my book - honest and humorous practical advice for new moms - would be a good fit, a REALLY good fit.
I researched to identify The Dr Laura Radio Show producer’s name and address. I sent her the book, a cover letter with a pithy pitch, a press release, an interview q&a, and an author bio (pieces of my media kit).
The Dr Laura producer called my press contact (found on my press release) and said, “Dr. Laura loved the book. Would Claudine be interested in her book being Dr Laura’s Monday Book Pick.” “Well, heck yes, she would.” responded my publicist.
Quick Aside: I’ll never forget the call from my publicist - she was a book marketer who agreed to act as my publicist. She called me, asked if I was sitting down, told me the good news and then emphasized, “This is a really big deal. This is a really big deal!”
What is a Monday book pick, you ask? Every Monday, Dr Laura would highlight her book pick, live on the radio, and offer 40 call-in guests a free copy of the book. It would be my job to send a free copy of the book to the 40 people. (Note: Dr Laura has since moved on to a completely different radio program!)
Now, you may be thinking “free book…how is that a good deal.” Well, I’ll tell you. Dr Laura’s Radio program was nationally syndicated. That meant that her millions of listeners heard about my book. For those listeners who were interested in the book but did not call in to the show, they could go right to Amazon and purchase the book. For that day, my book shot to the #1 ranking in the non-fiction motherhood category on Amazon. I had book sales and huge exposure for my book.
Perhaps even more importantly, I proved to an agent that the book would sell and signed on as her client as a result. Later, my new agent secured a publishing contract for a new edition of the book with a traditional publisher. Everything that happened was because I took a few minutes to consider good media contacts to pitch! Further, I asked Dr. Laura if I could use her quote on the back cover of the new edition of the book - “This book is helpful and a hoot!” She did indeed give her permission and then I had:
a quote for the back cover of the book
an endorsements page blurb
a celebrity quote for my press release
Quite a fruitful outcome from one book marketing pitch!
You can come up with great media contacts and great pitches, too. When you take the time to create a thoughtful pitches and media contacts, your book will be seen and sold. YOU are the secret to a book
successful pitch.
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Hi, Bill. There are a few great resources out there that provide resources for aspiring authors: agents, book designers, book marketers, ghost writers and book marketers. My favorites are Poets & Writers: https://www.pw.org and PublishersMarketplace: https://www.publishersmarketplace.com. If you like to interact with other writers and ask questions in a forum setting, TheLitForum.com is super fun and helpful. Finally, there is always a google search! Make sure to add your genre and location to the search and be sure to get concrete references from the ghostwriter with examples of their work.
Hey Claudine I would love to ask you a book publishing question. How do you engage a ghost writer or co- author? If it is easier to talk let me know.