5 Ways to Make

Your Story Newsworthy

You had a great book launch, packed with presales, a book launch party, and an integrated marketing campaign. But eventually, your brand awareness started to dwindle along with sales. Is your book dead in the water? Unfortunately, many authors give up at this point. They figure that by writing a book, they checked an item off their bucket list.

But we’re here to tell you that your book can remain newsworthy well beyond the hype of its initial launch.

1. Think hyperlocal One mistake many authors make is going straight to national media outlets. This is an easy way to get lost in the shuffle. Did you know the most likely places to cover an author are in their own hometown?. Think about it – a new children’s book by an author in Columbus, Ohio might not be interesting to an outlet like The New York Times, but to the community newspaper, the angle could be about a school alumni achieving a dream, a hometown hero writing a book to help children or an exclusive story on the local author who created a storybook walk for the community library. Hyperlocal news coverage is also a good stepping stone to regional – and eventually national – publicity.

2. Tie into important dates National Squirrel Day. National Lost Sock Day. World Pet Memorial Day. You name the topic, and there’s likely a day, week or month dedicated to it! Go through your book cover to cover to identify potential themes to see what important dates you can latch on to. In addition to unique, specialized dates, there are also a wealth of literary holidays frequently covered by media outlets. Some frequently covered bookish dates include Library Lovers Month (February), Read Across America Week (March) and National Literacy Month (September).

3. Watch the news cycle for pitching opportunities Follow the conversations in the media to see what’s being talked about. For example, if bullying is on the rise in your local school district and you have a story with messages of kindness and empathy, pitch your book as a resource for parents. Offer a quote or list of tips to the media as an expert source. Be proactive by creating Google Alerts related to your expertise. The goal in these tactics is to insert yourself into the conversation in a value added way.

4. Partner with a nonprofit or align yourself with a charitable cause Journalists receive hundreds of pitches every day. Differentiate yourself by creating a feel-good, human interest story. By partnering with a nonprofit or aligning yourself with a charitable cause, journalists go from thinking of you as an author to thinking of you as someone who used their unique position to help the community. Whether it’s through a proceeds donation or a book donation, partnerships can result in digital, print and on-air press coverage. At Expound Publicity, we have worked with a wealth of organizations on behalf of our clients, ranging from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to Chicago White Sox Charities.

5. Hire a publicity firm Publicity firms have well-established relationships with journalists and know what stories they like and tend to cover. Additionally, many firms have a paid subscription to industry newsletters where journalists are actively looking for specific sources, and these emails are sent out multiple times a day! Your publicity team will be able to respond to these queries quickly.

Don’t let your publicity go stale. Book a consultation with Expound Publicity to start getting your book on the media radar.