In our last post, we took another look at the sniper approach to book promotion. Remember the sniper and shotgun approaches? As I mentioned, you need both. Here we look again at the shotgun approach, which is less targeted than the sniper one.
The shotgun approach to your book’s public relations plan can be effective in reaching a lot of media outlets in a short period of time. But this approach is also one that takes consistency. You need to blast your emails or press releases or whatever publicity you choose to disseminate two to three times per week for the first few weeks before and after the publication or release of your book, to the same consumers or markets.
And for five to six months before your book is published, you need to send out 16 press releases simultaneously to at least two wire services (wire services distribute to a broad selection of media outlets), so they can send one post three times a week to their lists over that 16-week period.
It’s a lot of work to get these releases done, and journalists (and wire services) look for a certain format or consistency in approach to press releases. You may need to hire a professional to write the press releases for you, especially considering all the other tasks you will have in the months leading up to publication (you don’t still think your job is finished when you’ve done writing the book, do you?).
If you strike a target well, you’re likely to begin to receive publicity for your book. And that can even translate into more publicity, in the form of interviews.
We’ll look at the interview process for your book promotion in our next post.