Two to three months after the typical book hits bookstores, sales usually start to diminish, sometimes for as long as eight or nine months. Many authors go into panic mode, frightened that their sales can’t possibly regain momentum. Book publicist Lissa Warren knows the feeling. And she tells her clients that the slump is to… Read More
Interview reporters before they interview you
Nothing can be more exciting for a Publicity Hound than getting a call from a reporter who asks for an interview. But when the reporter starts asking questions, the worst thing you can do is immediately start answering them. If you do, without knowing what the story is about, you’re putting yourself at risk. Let’s… Read More
How to protect your good name on the Internet
These days, your good name can be damaged within a matter of minutes. It can happen if a blogger posts an entry about you, your company or non-profit, on the Internet. Minutes later, it’s picked up and either repeated or referred to on four other blogs. The next day, you start getting email messages from… Read More
How to promote an ezine for Boomers, seniors
Several Publicity Hounds have lots of ideas for Sharon Sultan Cutler of Boynton Beach, Florida who wants to know how to promote her website, a fairly new Baby-Boomer-to-senior monthly ezine and national business resource directory. Each issue features news on financial planning, health and wellness, home and leisure, with a senior focus. From Willetta Heising… Read More
Publishers launching 5 new magazines
Meg Weaver of Wooden Horse Publishing wants Publicity Hounds to know about these five new magazines, or those planning to launch soon: —My House in the Mountain States is the first in a series of “My House in…” shelter magazines by McGraw-Hill, consisting of regional magazines serving high-end homeowners and the design and building professionals.… Read More
Wanted: Your 7 tips
If you’ve wanted to submit how-to articles to various websites, but you haven’t had the time, here’s a shortcut that’s so easy, you’ll be ashamed to make excuses. The website is called Top7Business, a business-focused article site that only accepts articles in what I call a “tip sheet” format. The formula is simple: –A title… Read More
How quickly could you set up an emergency hotline?
The story about the woman who claims she found a finger in Wendy’s chili begs the questions, if a crisis hit your company or organization tomorrow–like a product recall, for example–and you needed a way for customers to quickly contact you for help, how long would it take to get a toll-free hotline installed? How… Read More
Don’t use letterhead for press releases
Publicity expert Paul Hartunian says there’s no reason you can’t write a succinct one-page news release. His advice makes sense. Scientific studies inside newsrooms have shown that reporters and editors spend an average 5 seconds reading a news release before deciding whether to use it or trash it. Why, then, do so many Publicity Hounds… Read More
Use daybooks to publicize Washington, D.C. special events
If you’re publicizing an event in Washington, D.C., be sure to submit your news to the Washington daybooks, the media’s source of events. By doing so, you can reach hundreds of major media outlets at no charge. While this is one method of driving the news cycle with a timely and newsworthy event, editors stress… Read More
Celebrity endorsements
OK, so it isn’t exactly free publicity. But I think its intriguing that an entire industry is being built around getting people’s product in front of celebrities like Oprah and Paris Hilton. In an article titled “Oprah’s Golden Gut,” Fortune Small Business explains how you, too, can get your products, fromfabric belts to robotic vacuum… Read More