Why You Should Launch Your Book with a Press Release
/The moment has arrived: after months (maybe years) of meticulous writing and refining, your book is ready to meet the world. You’ve been published! And, like a firstborn child, you want to launch it with an appropriate birth announcement!
Enter: the press release.
A press release is a brief document outlining your book’s most important points and message(s). The job of a press release is to convince journalists/media outlets/podcasters/bloggers, etc. that your book (or you or your message) is worth writing/talking about on their platform. If they do write about your book, or bring you in to speak personally to their audience, they often use the release as the basis for article, blog, or interview.
That means you want your press release to be intriguing and informative—and concise. Writers, producers, or interviewers don’t want to have to read your whole book to get to the point.
With a good press release, the person sharing your story (or aspects of your story or message) can simply copy and paste the relevant points into their article or interview questions, make a few adjustments, and—voila!—they are done.
Generally, these platforms are not looking to promote your book; that’s not the point for them. They have an audience they are trying to engage, and they are looking for something from or about you that their audience might be interested in. Your press release will provide that relevant content for them, and sets you up as a subject matter expert their audience will want to hear from.
Should you try to write your own press release? Perhaps. However, writing a powerful press release is a unique skill set, and media experts can easily spot a “DIY” one. The result: your release may not attract the attention it should.
So, what to do? We are excited to announce that Inspira can help authors with this critical marketing tool. Our press releases are written in-house, starting with a personal interview to gather from you your information and any relevant resources, such as your newsletter, website, personal notes, and, of course, your book!
Next, we will write your release, submit it to you for your review and corrections, and finalize it for distribution after integrating your feedback.
Here’s what you’ll receive:
A concise, well-written press release suitable for multiple media outlets and personal networking
Quick, professional service
A follow-up meeting to provide insight about where to send your Press Release, and a take-away resource for you: “10 Ways to Get the Most out of Your Press Release.”
With your press release in hand, we recommend starting with a list of three to six potential media contacts and doing your research well on each. When you send your press release to a media contact, blogger, or podcaster, remember this: Don’t pitch the book; pitch the message that will impact that influencer’s audience. After all, this is what these media personalities care about: their audience—what they want to listen to, what will compel them to like/comment/share/subscribe (and build up the influencer’s platform), what will grow the audience and drive more advertising to the influencer’s site or podcast.
It's a good practice to do your research in advance, and then tailor your pitch to each contact individually in your introduction email or letter. When starting out, the smaller, more niche outlets are best; you are more likely to get some early “wins” under your belt, which will give you a platform and momentum to approach larger outlets/contacts.
If you’ve found this helpful and would like to hear more about an Inspira press release for your book, you can reach us at info@inspiralit.com, or through our website.