Issue #1108 March 18, 2017
Publisher: Joan Stewart
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
In This Issue
- How to Handle Fake Reviews on Facebook
- 7 Tools to Create Headlines & Titles
- Replay: Sell Your Book to Hollywood
- Hound Video of the Week
This Weekend in the Hound House:
All work, all weekend. I’m shooting for a Sept. 1 launch for my new book “Book Hooks: 37 Fun, Creative, Timely Ideas to Publicize, Promote & Sell Your Books.” I’ll be sharing success stories from more than 50 fiction and nonfiction authors, many of them my Publicity Hounds and clients. I’ve outlined the book. But if you’re an author with a “hook” that I must know about, email me.
1. How to Handle Fake Reviews on Facebook
You work hard to gain followers to your Facebook page, communicate with customers and earn an impressive 4.8-star rating.
Then, within minutes, after more than 100 fake reviews are posted from fake accounts, your rating drops to two stars.
What would you do?
That’s what well-established Long’s Jewelers in Boston faced more than a year ago, heading into the busy Christmas shopping season. It got hit not once, but twice, with more than 100 fake reviews from fake Facebook accounts. Facebook was no help. Inbound.org, a well-respected online marketing community, heard about what happened and made two suggestions you should keep in mind if this ever happens to you:
- Pin a message to the top of your page that alerts visitors to the fake reviews. You can see that here.
- Appeal to your Facebook community and customers to post honest reviews. The outpouring of support from Long’s customers boosted the rating back up to 4.8, and Facebook has removed most but not all of the bad reviews.
To do: You can read about the ugly mess here. Then read more sage advice about what to do when real people leave negative reviews. See “What Should I Do with Negative Reviews on My Facebook Page?”
#FacebookReviews #NegativeReviews
2. 7 Tools to Create Headlines & Titles
From time to time, I share cool tools you can use to write enticing headlines for articles, blog posts and press releases, and eye-popping titles for books and other media.
Finally, you can find them all on one tidy list compiled by Dave Chesson, the editor at Kindlepreneur.com, a site devoted to teaching self-publishers advanced techniques to marketing their ebooks.
To do: See “7 Tools for Creating Superb Bestselling Book Titles.” Play with them all and decide which ones you like best. My favorite is Tweak Your Biz. What’s yours?
#HeadlineTools #BookTitles
3. Replay: Sell Your Book to Hollywood
The odds that a book will become a movie are slim because most pitches don’t include the critical elements that give the book staying power to make it onto the screen.
Ken Atchity says lucky authors whose books have turned into Hollywood movies have two things in common: Persistence and the belief that the odds don’t apply to them.
Even if your book wasn’t written according to Hollywood’s “formula,” Ken says you can do several things to increase the odds of hearing a production company say “yes.” He explained them and shared juicy behind-the-scenes tidbits about the fascinating world of movie making, during Thursday’s webinar with Daniel Hall.
To do: If you missed it, watch the replay of “How to Sell Your Book to Hollywood and Make Big Bucks” and learn how you can get access to Ken, a self-described “story merchant” who has produced more than 30 films and built best-selling careers for novelists and nonfiction writers.
#booktofiolm #bookmarketing
4. Hound Video of the Week
Truckee, a six-year-old American Black Labrador, took a long slide down Heavenly Mountain in California’s Lake Tahoe.
[Tweet “RT @PublicityHound #PublicityTips –How to Handle Fake Reviews on Facebook #FacebookReviews”]
Share Your Two Cents