- Link to Historical Dates - gracey
Free publicity of media appearances grabs interest of the audience, especially if it is relevant to people’s lives and interests. Connecting a book topic to local or national interests makes the subject matter relevant and that helps authors land media guest spots.It also creates good ideas to blog or social network about that tie to a book.
Connect to Current News
Scan headlines to find ways to connect a book topic to events, features, and interesting happenings. Use search engines with a book’s topics or issues to find the latest related information. Subscribe to a google alert of the topic to receive email results daily. Also check current global headlines to make connections and expand internet marketing.
Subscribe to services that look for experts where reporters want to quote or interview experts for articles. This lets an author become an expert and gets the person's name and book title to other outlets.
Tie Promotion to Special Dates
There are various Internet sites that list celebrations for each month and days in a given month; these include holidays and also events and days to commemorate almost anything from chocolate cake day to breast cancer awareness month. Find special dates online for month, week, or day celebrations. Use a special date to plan a press release and media blitz for a release date or a month’s media campaign.
Or if you have a historical based book (historical fiction) link to historical dates or check out historical highlights of any month to find connections to a book topic. If you know an event but not the date, do a search to find dates associated with the event.
Examples of Successful Connections
For a book that promotes family relations, an author can link events of war in the Middle East and the activation of many soldiers to ways to stay connected while apart. The same author can set up interviews annually to coincide with National Family Day, held at the end of September.
Books on organization can connect to Clean up Your Desk Day (about Jan 10th) and other days for getting organized as well as seasonal times to organize, such as the start of school, Christmas decorations, and spring cleaning.
Keep the balance between a book’s topic and reaching the audience with ideas that entertain or offer help to the listeners. One author with linked a historical novel, set in Boston during the American Revolution, to the Boston Tea Party date they booked her. Not everyone enjoys history, so the author included today’s tea traditions, historical uses of tea, and trivia tea facts.
Taking time to be current and relevant is worth the effort as it's a great way to engage readers and connect to their interests and needs.
Karen Whiting - Professional freelance writer with ten published books and hundreds of published articles. My books are for women (time management and ...
