Episode 75: How to write and send press release like a pro
K
Hello, my beautiful cinnabar moths or any kind of moth you’d like to be welcome to the Writers Triangle, a podcast about publishing and all things books. And today I’m going to be talking about press releases. And I think that every author should do press releases, I think they’re so important. And they get your workout before the masses and to a section of the industry, that I think a lot of people assume that only the big five now the big four have access to. And that is a giftie to like, all of the news channels like ABC, NBC, these are news channels in the US. Like, I think MTV is like a international news thing that everyone’s probably heard of. And like The New Yorker, and the New York Times, and all of all of the newspapers, every newspaper, every literary magazine, every TV channel, and whatever country you live in, there are services that distribute press releases for new book releases to all of these. And the reason that I think every author should do it is because reporters are on their grind and hustle, just like all of us are right. And they’re looking for content. And today, in today’s day and age, with social media being what it is, a lot of a lot of authors, not author, sorry, a lot of column writers and a lot of TV channels have now like I think P clocks, a really famous one that associated in the United States, they now have just online content. So when you’re looking at the industry, and how much content that has to be generated and created, they’re thirsty, they’re thirsty for good stories, and they’re thirsty for peace ideas, and looking for content. What are we going to write about? What are we going to talk about? Who would be a good interviewer? What would be a good book that I might be interested in reading, and then go on from there. And the same with book clubs. A lot of people who get into book clubs, like the Oprah book club is, does they do look at what what’s the best seller, that’s out right now. But they also look at smaller outlets and local newspapers and smaller venues to get ideas, because the machine has to be fed. And I think the amount of content that has to be consumed, everybody has a shot at being the thing that catches someone’s interest. Because when we’re looking at someone, somebody at Oprah’s book club is reading the blurbs of books and deciding whether or not it would be a good book to read. For every industry, when you’re looking at the, you know, the Paris Review of Books, somebody is reading it, if you’re looking at the New York Times, there’s one person, it always comes down to one person who has the job of looking through what’s called the slush pile. So the slush pile is basically just free range, and requested bits of news. And we put all of our books out on the wire, and send it out to all of the television stations. And we do it and five different regions of the world, every region of the world basically. And except for Antarctica, because they don’t, they don’t have media in the way that we do. And the reason that we do it, we send out our press release to bloggers or television station to radio station to podcast, to print magazines, to ezines. To just everyone who writes and talks about books to book associations, you can send this press release out, and it just gives you a nice press package. And having that press release out there from our press release, our authors have gotten requests for reviews. Our authors have had their books showcased on blogs, our authors have had podcast appearances, and also a different social media outlet to communicate it. And we had interviewed our authors and talked about our authors books, and we’ve gotten our books into a couple of book clubs. And that came from doing press releases and people hearing about it. And it also streamlines your pitch when you’re putting together your promotions list and I’ll be talking about compiling a promotions list next week, or in a couple of weeks. I know it’s the next thing I’m recording. I record a couple of these in a day. And it’s the next thing I’m recording because they’re so closely connected. Having that press package and having a sell sheet for your book is something that you need for a lot of industry reviewers, if you have a press release that lets them know whether or not they would be interested in requesting your book for a review. And we do sell sheets and press releases, but we find that our press releases get requested far more often than our sell sheet do. And having both ready is, is really a wonderful thing. And a sell sheet is basically your back, blow your book cover, and then all of the information necessary to purchase the book, a press release is a little bit different. And not it’s not the back blurb of your book. And it’s, why would your book be interesting.
K
So I’m going to talk a little bit about how to write the press release. And I’m going to talk about how best to distribute them, how we go about distributing them because it can be quite expensive, and setting a budget for how you’re going to send out that press release, whether you’re only doing free choices, or whether you’re doing some paid services, I’m going to talk about a couple of services that we have experiences with but it’s in no way an exhaustive list. And I’ll be sure to put links down in the description if you want to check out their services. And this is not sponsored. I wish it was I am so down for a sponsored. I’m like yes, please, I I love money, give me money. And I think everyone should be like down for for sponsorship and, and promoting other people’s stuff. I think, you know, we all have to make a living, right. But anyways, back to the the press release. Sorry for that digression. So the our press release, of course, is going to be a little bit different, but I think it can be the same. I think that every author should have some sort of letterhead for themselves. And I think letterhead just looks so polished, and gives everybody a sense of okay, your professional and a letterhead could be your your avatar, it could be your your logo for your books, or it could be an image if you’re writing a book series or an image from your book, and then the title of your book, or your name. And then of course, your name, your phone number, your email and your website. And if you don’t have a website, go ahead. And after listening to this, check out our episode on author’s websites, I think every author should have a website. And that will just give your they will create having a website will create your ability to have a letterhead, but will also create the ability of anyone who gets this press release to immediately know a little bit more about you. And it just gives a sense that you’re polished and and a professional author, because that’s a big deal. And the letterhead is your first impression. So when they see it, they’ll see okay, this is professionally formatted. And this is not slap bashing, and not bizarre. And I’ll talk about some do’s and don’ts when it comes to, to doing it. So do you have letterhead. And then you need to have a headline for your press release that sells the book without selling the book. And they stay we’re gonna thumb is about 12 words for any title. And that’s just sort of standard, you can have a title and a subtitle. And using my best friend Athena is a middle grade book that was our February 2023 release. And the title for the press release that we used was middle grade book teaches self acceptance and tolerance. And the cover of the book there is a character in the story that is a wheelchair user, and she is on the on the cover. And we think that that’s important because it shows that the book has a diverse array of characters.
K
It has diverse ethnicity, diverse levels of disability and ability. And it has diverse culture in the book, and it draws on Greek mythology. But then below that it has the city that you’re based in, and then the date that the book would be released. And then that you’re announcing the publication of your book, and then a blurb about the book. And you really have about three to five sentences to condense your back blurb into about three to five sentences, but woven in that it has to have. Why would it be interesting? So we summarize the book in about two sentences. And then we write about 10 sentences of what it is that allows the book to be of interest. Why would somebody want to write a story about this? Why would somebody want to talk to the author of this book? What is is the social interest? What is the that it would that it would make good story about right? Why does your book something that someone would want to write about. And when we look at things like this, when we do press releases, we had relatively normal secrets featured in a spread on my fantasies important why it’s important for middle graders to read fantasy. And that was based off of our press release that the book got featured because our press release did talk about the importance of fantasy for young minds. And with my best friend Athena, it’s important because it covers topics of like bullying and self acceptance and friendship and how to know the difference between right and wrong. Putting that in and weaving it through while talking about the story and how the story conveys that without pitching without saying, avoid like this story, you should read the story if instead, how we did it is for example, we have When Zeus discovers that Athena has blown their cover he orders the girls to stop looking for the boy turned cockroach and takes away family’s ability to sing. And Athena’s ability to paint the girls must decide what is more important, their talents are saving the boy. That is an example of decision making. And the story follows them while they decide to make the story. So you do that little blurb of the action in the story and then a blurb afterwards. The story follows fannying Athena and Gemma as they struggle with what the right thing to do is, so that showcases how the grocers are struggling between do they care about themselves? Or do they go find this this boy term cockroach thena is the reincarnated goddess Athena and she loses her temper when the school bully is teasing Gemma and turns him into a cockroach. And Zeus punishes them for blowing the cover and for turning point into a cockroach. So looking at how, what is it that somebody would want to write a story about and I think somebody would want to write a story about, you know, introducing Greek mythology to kids, and self acceptance and choosing right from wrong in the middle grade space. We have had some interest and some different blogs and websites that are going to be including my best friend, my best friend Athena, and books for moral judgment and how middle grade books can be fun, but also teach morality. And that’s from this press release. So when you’re writing the press release, think about where do you want the book to show up, don’t sell, keep it factual. And it’s basically your writing about 225 to 500 words about your book, and doing a little author’s blurb at the end to talk about yourself, which is three to five sentences at the end, and having your book cover. Once you have all of those together, then you basically have your press release. Also, you can add for some of the some of the places that I’m going to mention you can add video, I suggest that the video not be a mood board. Those don’t go over well. And I know they sound like a great idea, but they’re not. And I’m sorry for that. I am lucky enough that I can talk to people who are some of the people involved in setting up the sites and what works and what doesn’t work. And they say that the mood board and story of how they got into it always feels a little bit messy to them. And what they would prefer is like a book trailer, or the author sitting down and and just doing a quick video about their thought process, why they wrote the book, what it is they hope that the book conveys. So their inspiration, what they hope the book conveys and their release and or a little bit about awards they received, but just not an author showing their mood board or just scenes from a mood board. So you don’t have to include a video that can and this specific one that allows you to include a video as press wire. If you’re going to use press wire and I’ll include a link down in the description for all the places that I’m talking about. If you’re going to use press wire, know that you’re going to need to have you’re going to have the option to have a video to have by links to have a link to your author bio your way website, a lot of out links. So make sure you have all of your links together. And also the short video. And in addition to the short video, the cover the press release itself. You can also you can also include tags. So think about the tags that you want to have for your story. So that way, when reporters or people who are who are using press wire to get story leads, can just search those links, then your thing will then your press release will pop up. And it cost I think, I want to say $100 for five press releases, but I’m not sure. So please make sure you check it out and you set the budget, I would say if you have more than one book that you’re releasing in the year that a package is really great to buy. And another cool thing about press wire and why I like them is that they review your press release and will tell you whether or not it is professional sounding or if it’s too pitchy. So I think paying for them in the long run is worth it, at least for your first press release, I think it would be worth it to just try and get the hang of it. I’m sorry, I don’t have any examples of press releases.
K
On Google, I found so many different when I was researching it for this podcast specifically, there were just so many bad ones out there identifying any good ones, I’m sorry, I don’t have an example. And that’s why I think press wire would be very helpful. Even if you just buy it, I think for one is $35 I want to say to do one. And it’s worth it to just get a polished press release template for yourself to know what they should sound like and what they should look like. And I really enjoy that service. Another service is online, PR news, open PR and pr.com. These are all paid, I think there are paid and free options for for all of them except for press wire. And I would say if you get the press release, haven’t looked over by press wire, then you can also distribute it through these free websites. And there are several other when looking at are you going to to upload your press release to a specific service, I want to say look at the regions that the service covers, because I think press wire only does the US may also did the UK, it switches off and on. Sometimes they offer press releases in the UK as well as the US. So each place that distributes has a different geographical location for the outlets that they will be sending it to. Another great thing about using these services is that they cover broadcast television, cable television, you know, print and online distribution. And I think knowing what your response is going to be if you get invitations from this would be really good to have already ready in your mind. Ask yourself what are you doing this form right is the press release because you’re hoping that a news outlet will will pick it up is the press release because you’re hoping that a news stand will pick it up a magazine or newspaper or trade publication will pick it up knowing what your goal is, will help you write a solid press release. And then after you know what your what your goal is, know what your standard response will be. And your response time needs to be pretty quick on the uptake. If people are reaching out for interviews, we’re very fortunate and that we can respond same day or within 24 hours to most requests. I say if you can get it down to within 72 hours that that would be good. And any press release should go out the week that your book is being released. If you look online, a lot of places will say give you know three weeks for people to write a story. And that’s three weeks after the launch of your book. If you release it three weeks before the launch of your book. There’s really nothing for them to write about. It feels unfinished for them in my lived experience. And when I was talking to some of the people who are involved with these different outlets and releasing the press, they say do it that we go now I know that the Big Five does a lot of press beforehand, but they do that if they have a celebrity or if they have an S Topic author. They don’t do that for new authors or debut books. And if you’re an established author, and you have other books that you want to talk about, I still would say, release it the same week, just so that you’re maximizing your reach and maximizing your impact, there’s much more excitement around a newly launched book than around the pre launch of the book, we’re very fortunate and that we’re able to do multiple press releases for books, and we write multiple iterations of the press release. And so we have a staged and staggered press release that we do in leading up to the release of the book and after that lead time of leading up to the book is because we have dedicated staff that that’s what they do, if you’re doing it the lead up to be aware of why you’re doing it and have realistic expectations.
K
It’s more difficult if you’re an independent author, and I’m sorry for that if you’re an than if you’re a press, if you’re an individual author, that’s why I strongly suggest the week of the release of your book. For a press, there’s a little bit more understanding of why a press would do it three weeks before, and why they would have the multiple press releases. So I advise authors to do one press release if, if that makes sense. In addition to doing press, press wire and pr.com. And, and open PR you can also research list of different magazines, and you can just search. I don’t have a favorite list for this. Because I don’t actually do this. Because the price we have a system that we put it into that’s only available for prizes, and I apologize for that. But for individual authors, you can Google literary magazines, and lists, they’ll just be so many different lists that come up. And you can send your press release to the individual magazines and pitch your book to them for getting a review. And that requires a press release and a sell sheet. And I think the different like the Library Association, the New York Time Paris Review books, all of those have. And like forward book review, all of those have lead time when you’re doing the when you’re doing it for reviewers, that’s a little bit different in that you don’t want to do it three weeks in advance, you want to do it for months in advance for reviewers. So that’s why when you’re doing it, I say half of mine what you want. So for us, we send our books out between six to five months before the books released to reviewers. And we also do that for our peer lists. So I’ll be talking more in depth about that for the peer list is our promotions list. So a PR stands for two different things. A stands for press release, and also stands for promotion. And this is for press about the book, not so much reviews, I put reviews more in the promotions list than I do in the press release list. Although having the press release is important. And having the sell sheet is important. This is also helpful if you want to pitch so that you can speak in any sort of writing event, if you have a press release. And if you have a sell sheet, often pitching those whenever they’re in the process of deciding who’s going to speak, I would say that that’s the great time to pitch to different book fairs to allow you to be on a panel or allow you to showcase your book or maybe get some interest in some buzz about your book around those if that makes sense. And that for me. I view press releases to be for outlets to write stories about the book and outlets. to interview the author, I don’t really look at press releases for reviews of books, because it is such a different lane. Although I do use the press release for it. And to get reviews. And I think that having creating the press release, you know, five or six months before your book comes out gives you a chance to write the press release. Live with the press release. Let it breathe, and then go back and look at it again through fresh eyes and see D still love it. And do you still feel like it represents your book. And my hope is that as scary as it may sound to write a press release to know that you’re not marking yourself for life or tagging or holding your book that press release forever. You can rewrite and resubmit a press release as many times as you want. And I would say don’t get in the habit of doing that. And I would say more than three times is probably too much And if you’re doing it the, if you’re doing it for a build up, I would say twice, we do ours, two or three times depending on the book and how much buzz it’s getting. We do it three weeks before the week of and one or two weeks after the release. Because the reason that we do it one or two weeks after the release is that we then insert, reviews, if you have reviews, include those like a snippet, you can put them in as, as quotes, if you have reviews, the thing is with reviews to include them in a press released, they need to be trade reviews, they need to be either a magazine or a book blog, or a book tuber, it shouldn’t be a name of a person, it should be like, for example, how did the book and is a really popular book blog, you can use that forward book review is, of course, also great to have. And all of the different lists that yours that you’re sending the book out to when you get the the press when you get the review, putting that in. And that’s why having the lead time of you know, five to six months ahead. And they caught off I think is four months, you have to have your book ready for reviewers at the four month mark, to get those trade reviews. And to get those literary reviews. I think that that’s really helpful. Once you have those reviews, then putting that review in with the press release just adds a little oomph. And how you put them into the into the press releases after you do the blurb. And between the blurb and the author bio, you put the ad in quotes, a snippet from the review, and then a dash mark, an in dash and then who reviewed it. And that will just create extra buzz extra attention for your press release. Because there are some people who go off of what forward says or go off of what the New York Times says or specific outlet or a specific blog.
K
There’s like ya chat and various chat that you can grab those review from and put them in. So I hope that this made sense. And I hope that that y’all will give it a try. I do think that there’s no danger and putting it out there and having a budget and doing a press release. Because all it does is it It spans how many people know about your book. And I think that’s always a good thing. The more people that know about your book, the More option it is for a reader to discover you and discover your work. So I would say do do the press release, put it into one of the sites that will give a review. I think there are some sites out there that will do it for free. Press water is the one that I’m most familiar with. And once you get that feedback, just kind of hone and refine, refine it. And then use that as your your template for all of your future works. So yeah, I hope that this was helpful and and you can now return the favor and be helpful to me and hit the like button and go ahead and subscribe if you haven’t and hit the turn on the bell so that you’re notified every time we upload and I upload the videos for me are about every other week. Sometimes I do back to back videos are back to back weeks. And just depends on what we have in terms of interviews and such. And if you’re an author and you’d like to be interviewed and beyond the writers triangle, go ahead and and send us an email media at cinnabar moth.com And we would love to interview you and hear all about your book and your experience as an author and yeah, that’s it for today. I want to thank all my beautiful cinnabar moss for listening or any kind of moth you want to be you can even be a butterfly but I’m not Mariah Carey and I’m trying to bite her rhyme bye.