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Re: [GWL]: Being your own PR agent

Carol, and anyone with a book, "How do you publicize a book?"

    I've had several newspaper garden editors ask me who was in charge of my
publicity. When told that I did it myself, they were amazed. I considered
that a pretty decent compliment.
    I used to think (talk about naive!) that you just wrote a book and the
publisher would see to it that it sold. Ha!
    I used to be astonished when newspaper editors would compliment me
because I was actually promoting my own book. Didn't everyone? Who better
than the author to promote a book?

    Okay, now, considering my totally absurd fiasco with the Michigan birch
numbers, I do have some good input here on this: "Tom's Twenty Tips for
being a PR hog."

    1. Free publicity is where it's at. Forget about buying any sort of
advertisement for your book(s).
    2. You need to have something about your book that stands out, that is
grabby, catchy, your "hook." Use your hook over and over to catch reviewers.
    3. E-mail is your friend. Write (emails) to garden writers at
newspapers, write to editors at magazines. There are many good newspaper
websites. Go to a state, look up their daily newspapers, look for staff
emails, find your best person there, and then write to him/her. We need
them, but hey, they need us too.
    4. Don't limit yourself to the US. I write to editors all over the
world.
    5. Don't be snobby: I am just as happy to correspond with editors of
tiny garden newsletters, as with them from the big circulation publications.
    6. Be available. Lots of writers seem to hide from the public. I do the
exact opposite. You get swamped with emails, but hey, that's half the fun,
right?
    7. Always have some good photos to share, and be sure to offer them
yourself. Almost all editors are good at returning these. I prefer to send a
package of photos to an editor, rather than email them as attachments--but
be able to do that too.
    8. Give lots of talks, and sell and sign books after each one. Be more
interested in how many books you can sell after a talk, than how much
they'll pay you to talk. Publishers love it when you buy thousands of your
own books (at half price, of course). Send out email queries to garden clubs
and let them know you're available to talk. The talks sort of take on a life
of their own. You give a good talk and someone there invites you to give
another.
    9. Be available to talk on the phone with any and all editors and with
other writers.
    10. Ignore your rejections, and send out new queries each year, even if
they ignored you last year. Often I get great offers, out of the blue, from
editors I e-mailed a year or two or even longer ago. They'll save you until
they want you.
    11. Keep changing your e-mail queries. Make each one as personal & zippy
as possible.
    12. Remember that gardening is very localized, very zone specific. Be
able to be able to offer good advice to readers from different climates.
    13. Send queries to radio station producers too (again email is cheap,
fast, and often effective).
    14. Send emails to TV producers too (look for me on HGTV this spring,
several times).
    15. Read books like Marcia Yudkins' "6 Steps to Free Publicity."
Excellent advice! Heck, send her an email too. Tell her I said "Hi!"
    16. If you can, combine topics: Roses & history, trees and design, birds
and flowers, whatever. I am able to go to health editors as well as garden
editors, and this in effect doubles my chances for PR.
    17. "Google" yourself. Go to Google.com and enter in your own name, and
see just how much web presence you actually have. If you're a book writer
and are doing a good job of your own PR, you ought to get dozens and dozens
of URLs that come up with your name. Websites are always looking for
submissions. Send them some, and be sure to always include your own URL for
your website.
    18. Try to remember to spell check your emails, especially your queries
to editors. First impressions.
    19. Get excited about your own book, stay excited! Be a real expert on
something. Your love of your subject and your excitement will be contagious.
    20. Go out of your way to be kind to other garden writers, go to sites
like amazon or BN.com and write some friendly reviews of books you read and
liked. We're all in this together. And while you're at it, think of the
publicity as a game. It can be quite a bit of fun really. I'm just tickled
to be a published writer. Lots of folks would gladly trade places with us.

Tom
www.allergyfree-gardening.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Carol Wallace" <gardenwriter@mindspring.com>
To: <Gardenwriters@topica.com>
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2002 3:01 PM
Subject: Re: [GWL]: Agent or no agent?


>
>
> Tom Ogren wrote:
>
> >  As to a publicist, my feeling is that you will be your own best
publicist.
> > Tom
>
> Now you raise a question that has always interested me. How does one go
about publicizing a book?
> My own is still in outline form so I'm not overly panicked just yet - but
it will be a good thing
> to know when the time comes.
> Carol
> --
> Virtually Gardening
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