Get Your Book into Costco

Issue #800 March 15, 2014
Publisher: Joan Stewart

“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”

In This Issue

Get Your Book Into Costco
Don’t Pitch Your Website
Mind-Body-Spirit Radio Shows
Hound Video of the Week

This Weekend in the Hound House:

I’m wondering, why are school kids wearing shorts to school in the middle of March in Wisconsin, where we still have snow on the ground and the temperature barely reaches 35? Don’t these kids have mothers?

1. Get Your Book into Costco

Have you been inside your local Costco, Walmart or Target on a Saturday morning?

If you’re like me, you don’t go unless you have to. It’s a madhouse!

But it’s a different story if you’re trying to sell a book and Costco lets you set up a table, talk to shoppers and do a book signing.

If you have a big publishing company behind you, your publisher can make all the arrangements. All you have to do is show up, smile and sell books.

Ka-ching. Ka-ching. Ka-ching.

Did you know that if you’re an indie author, you can also do book signings at Costco? Did you know that you, too, might be able to convince Target, Walmart, big supermarket chains and even airport bookstores to give you shelf space?

But only if you follow the rules.

Amy Collins of New Shelves Distribution knows the playbook because that’s what she does five days a week. She sells books to the big chains.

Amy says you can do what she does if you know who to contact, what kinds of books they want, what your book package must look like, and what to do if the merchandisers aren’t wild about your title because they’re already stocking other books similar to it.

She’ll be my guest on a webinar at noon Eastern Time on Thursday, March 20 on “How to Convince Costco, Walmart, Target & Other Huge Chains to Sell Your Books.” Everyone who registers will get a peek at Amy’s Rolodex, and access to her contact information for the big chains.

2. Don’t Pitch Your Website

When Tom Graber of Milwaukee wanted publicity for his website, Friday Fish Fry Guide, he came to me for help a few weeks ago.

We both live in Wisconsin, where the Friday fish fry is tradition 52 weeks a year.

It was about a week before the start of Lent, and his timing was perfect. But he wanted to pitch just his website, and it sounded like he was angling for a free ad.

I worked with him to find the perfect hook, and he reeled in publicity on a local TV news show with an in-studio interview, and an interview that same week on the media company’s radio station.

The hook? The trend he’s seeing toward gluten-fish fries.

Read about how he did it, how he pitched it himself, and what he used to help him understand the sometimes confusing and intimidating world of busy TV newsrooms. It’s at my blog.

3. Mind-Body-Spirit Radio Shows

arget=”_blank”>Mind-Body-Spirit radio shows in the lst decade.

Familiar topics include spirituality in the workplace, the law of attraction, positive thinking, walking your life journey, and guided meditation. Not-so-obvious topics include soulgasms, twin flames, platonic solids, and mystic visualization.

If you speak that language, or something similar to it, and you’re passionate about your topic, you have a darn good chance of getting onto some of the more than 800 Mind-Body-Spirit radio shows and building an audience of loyal fans.

If you’re a coach, life coach, mentor, healer, health instructor, counselor, doctor, psychotherapist, author, speaker or spiritual teacher, read my three tips on how to get on those shows. And register for the free call on Thursday, March 27, with Alex Carroll and Dr. Cha~Zay who will explain how to pitch the shows and why it’s VERY different than pitching traditional radio.

It’s all at my blog.

4. Hound Video of the Week

Thanks to Publicity Hound Susie Galvez of Richmond, VA, for this one. It’s a video of a baby watching a dog eat popcorn. Save this for when you’ve had a bad day.