How To Pitch Short-Term Media - Special eBook Deal Today at Special Price
A Media Contact How-To Find, Organize and Pitch to Media
It’s 2 weeks from the pub date of my latest book, co-authored with Julie Murkette, titled Get Your Book Seen and Sold: The Essential Book Marketing and Publishing Guide and I am hustling! The book publishes on September 25th. Woohoo! In this post, I share what I have been doing to promote the book lately - specifically short-lead media pitching.
By the way, the book is available for pre-sale today in print and the eBook is available for download right now - WAT??? Yup, right now, at a reduced price for a limited time via smashwords. SMASHWORDS links for Get Your Book Seen and Sold Ebook, just $4.99! Plus! A book signing date to put on your calendar if you would like a book and a meet and greet. If you are local to the Bucks County, PA area, the owners at The Frenchtown Bookshop are hosting me for a book signing, on October 5th, Thursday evening, at 6:30 pm in Frenchtown, NJ - the most adorable little town you could ever want to visit. There will be cookies and Prosecco and a Q&A with me. C’mon out, authors, I would love to meet you. Here is a link with more information and my enormous head!
I’m Pitching To Short-Lead Media, Baby!
For the last two weeks (a full month pre-pub date), I have been pitching to my short-lead media contacts for interview or mention on their outlets. Plus, because Get Your Book Seen and Sold is a book for authors, a reference book and a guidebook, Julie and I have also been researching publishers, publicists, and agents to pitch the book for special sale. This special sale pitch outreach is ongoing and will continue well after the book publishes. In this Substack, though, I focus on our short-term media lead outreach as part of our book marketing plan. At the bottom of the post, I include, for my subscribers, my favorite tricks to identifying media contacts.
What Is A Short-Lead Media Contact List?
“Short-lead media contact list” is simply a scary phrase for a list of people, their organizations, their emails, and their addresses specifically for media that you would pitch within a month or two of publication. Why would you pitch so close to publication date? Because you want your book to be available for sale when you appear on their show or when their article about your book publishes!
Let’s say you get on a radio show and the interviewer says “Gee whiz, your book sounds fabulous, I can’t wait to read it.” You want to be able to reply, “That is fantastic news, Johnny, your listeners can get the book today, right now, wherever they buy books.” Cha Ching! Your book sale is complete. What you don’t want to have to reply? “That is fantastic news, Johnny if your audience can just wait a week or two, and if they remember to do it, they can purchase my book when it becomes available. In that scenario, there is no cha-ching, no sale. We want cha-ching!
What Types Of Media Are Short-Lead Media ?
Radio, TV, podcasts, newspapers are all generally short-lead media, to name a few. You want to pitch these media contacts in enough time to introduce yourself, your story idea and your book and then book an interview that will air after, or super close, to your pub date. The timing is a balance. Use your common sense. My co-author, Julie and I, started pitching short-lead media contacts about a month ago or a month and a half before pub date. The research to create a list of possible short lead media has been ongoing since we decided to publish the book. We pitched to short-term media contacts through email - a short, pithy story/interview idea - no attachments. As of two weeks until the pub date, I am still pitching and following up on the pitches that I have already sent. See my post on pitching here.
NOTE: We are not blindly pitching to short-term media. We determined early in our publishing process that our audience, our book buyers, could be reached through particular short-lead media contacts. In other words, we believe through the research of our potential audience that they frequent the media outlets we have chosen to pitch. We feel that once they are introduced to us and our book they will become book buyers.
How Do You Find Specific Media Contacts?
Researching and creating a short-lead media contact list is as easy as opening an excel spreadsheet or pulling out a sheet of paper. There is no need to stress about creating the list - it will be unique to you and your book and it can be flexible. First, you need to go back to the work that you did in identifying your message, audience and hook. (see my posts, here and here). Our new book also provides fun exercises to help you define your message and audience - remember, you can purchase the eBook format of the book on Smashwords TODAY - pre-sale!
When you know your message and your audience for your book, regardless if it is a non-fiction or fiction book, you can then research where to find your audience, where your audience hangs out and where you need to be so that they can hear about your book and buy it.
Specifically, for short-lead media, you want to consider the sections of the newspaper that your audience reads (lifestyle, business, opinion), the radio shows where they tune in (NPR, local talk, local news), the TV shows they watch (Kelly & Mark, Good Morning Philadelphia, The Food Network), and the podcasts they download (Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books, Real Crime Profile, My Favorite Murder, Sarah’s Bookshelves).
How To Get Started To Find and Pitch to Short-Lead Media Contacts
Start with your own podcast list. Go ahead, open your podcast app and look at the podcasts you listen to. Are your book buyers there? Open an excel spreadsheet and put the name of the podcast in one column, next column “contact name,” next column, “email,” next column, “date pitched,” next column, “Notes.”
Do a little online research and find the podcast’s website. Is there a producer name for the podcast? Is there a contact form? Is the podcast host’s email address on the page? Fill this information in on your excel form. When the timing is right, email a pitch to the person with your story idea. Include a pithy description in the email’s signature line. Get to your point fast in the email. Ask for what you want - an interview, for example. Why is an interview with you something the podcaster would be interested in?
Record the date you sent the email pitch on your excel spreadsheet. If the media contact has not gotten back to you in 2 weeks, send another email with the same subject line but begin the email with: In case you missed this email… as a gentle reminder to the recipient that you already sent an email pitch and this is a second notice. If the contact does not reply the second time, leave it alone. If you have a brand new pitch down the road - a new slant, a new angle - go ahead and re-pitch but otherwise, let it go. Record on your excel sheet the date that you sent a second notice. You now have a nice record of who you pitched and the dates when you did it. It will be the perfect resource for you when that next idea or that next book comes along.
Claudine’s Favorite Tricks to Find Media Contacts
Amazon Research: Find comparative book titles (books like yours) on Amazon. Look on the websites of the comparative titles, especially the ones that are selling well - you can tell by the ranking. Have a look at the endorsements on the comparative title’s book page. What media endorsed the book? Perhaps they would like to endorse your book with an interview, story, or mention.
BTW, Publisher Rocket software is a great way for you to research competitive titles, as well as categories and keywords related to your book. Here is a link where Mr Dave Chesson, The KindlePreneur, explains how to use it. I own the software and love it - very affordable.
Library or Bookstore Bookshelves
Imagine your perfect book buyer, the person you think will go to the bookstore or library to find your book. On what shelf would your book reside? Go to that shelf and look at what is on it. Jot down the names of the books on the shelf where you picture your book being placed. Open the book and take at look at the interior pages to see the book’s endorsements. What media endorsed the book? Perhaps they would want to endorse your book or interview you for their audiences.
Local Newspaper / Local Radio
Local media is a great way to get started to find media contacts to cover you, your book or your message. The reason is two-fold: One: you are local, so you are an instant “hook” for their story. Two: Ease. You are providing great content to a local editor who needs it.
Buy your local paper and locate the editors of the sections where you feel your story or your message would be a good fit. Send (or drop off) your pitch and/or galley to the local editor. Make their job easy… Pitch a couple of possible stories related to you or your book.
Comparative Title Author Wesbites
Once you find comparative book titles that are selling well, find the author’s website. Many authors have a media page where they post the podcasts they have been featured on, the interviews they have done, and the endorsements that they have earned. See if any of the media contacts are a good fit for you, your message and your book.
Library or Grocery Store Magazine Shelf (Note: Magazines are Long-Lead Media)
Take a look at the magazines on the shelf in your library or grocery store. Are there any magazines that you feel are the perfect fit to cover your message? Has your research shown that your target reading audience loves a particular magazine and reads it. Open to the masthead page to find the editors on the magazine and send them a pitch. Although magazines are long-lead media, there is no reason that you can not continue to pitch to them for a story idea in order to promote your book after it publishes.
Finally, there is an online resource that lists media by trade that might also be useful. It only includes the name of the outlet and you would have to do a bit of research but it may be worthwhile. Here is the link.
Whew! That was a lot of information on media contacts. Hope that it is useful to you in your quest to get your book seen and sold.
Please feel free to ask any question here or email me at wjcwolk@gmail.com.
I offer book marketing consulting by the hour as well whenever you are ready to chat. With a founder’s yearly subscription to this Substack, you get a 30 minute Zoom with me and a fill-in-the blank book marketing plan. Don’t forget that the paperback of Get Your Book Seen and Sold with examples, exercises, and easy to understand explanations is available on Monday, September 25th!
Thanks for reading.