Issue #754 Sept. 28, 2013
Publisher: Joan Stewart
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
In This Issue
- The 7 Deadly Sins of Authors
- 82 Ideas for Publicity
- Rules for Press Release Links
- Hound Video of the Week
This Week in the Hound House:
I’ll be at the grand opening ceremonies today for a beautiful park in my town that was developed from an ugly old coal dock on Lake Michigan. Tonight, after dark, they’re releasing 300 Chinese lanterns to celebrate. And I’ll be there with my iPad, trying to capture it all on a Vine video. If I can pull it off, I’ll share it with you next week.
1. The 7 Deadly Sins of Authors
If I had to choose the worst sin that authors commit, I’d choose this one.
Many of them fail to identify their target audiences BEFORE writing their books. When their books aren’t selling, they call me and complain.
“Who’s your target market?” I ask.
“Everyone,” the author says. “My Aunt Sally agrees. She thinks everyone should read my book.”
By then, it’s too late. The author has devoted two years and many thousands of dollars writing and publishing a book that is targeted to no one in particular.
After working with hundreds of authors privately for many years, book shepherd Judith Briles has her own list of pet peeves. She calls them “The 7 Deadly Sins.” Failing to identify a target market is also on her list. But some of the six other sins might surprise you.
Join us for a free webinar from 7 to 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, Oct. 1, and learn “The 7 Deadly Sins Authors Commit in Book Publishing Today.”
Judith and I are among the five “Chicks at Sea” who will be hosting a cruise Jan. 18-23 on the Royal Caribbean ship “Brilliance of the Seas.” Our working vacation will teach you about book publishing, marketing, distribution and sales. Book marketing expert Penny Sansevieri, book distribution expert Amy Collins and branding expert Georgia McCabe are the other three chicks.
We’ll whet your appetite for the cruise at the end of Tuesday’s webinar.
All the details of the cruise here. Call Judith at 303-885-2207 if you have questions.
If you can’t cruise with us in January, please join us on Tuesday night and save yourself thousands of dollars and months of misery when you write your next book.
If you’re considering the cruise, register early because the five “Chicks at Sea” will be promoting it to our fans, and it will sell out fast.
Grab your webinar seat here.
For a sneak peek….here’s the ship we’ll be sailing on, Brilliance of the Seas.
2. 82 Ideas for Publicity
You CAN teach an old Hound new tricks.
My Publicity Hounds sure taught me a thing or two during Thursday’s webinar on “The Secrets to Getting Free Publicity 12 Months a Year.”
I came with 82 ideas they could pitch, several for each month of the year. And they joined in with dozens of their own!
Example: October is National Snack Month, a perfect time for nutritionists to share tips on healthy snacks. Stephanie Slater suggested pitching a story on the latest trends in kale snacks, such as kale chips. Someone else mentioned pitching a story on dog snacks, which of course The Publicity Hound loved.
If you watch the replay, you’ll see more than 100 ideas in all–perfect for pitching, blogging, sharing and commenting.
And you’ll learn about the four secrets that will help you be a smart self-promoter.
I’m presenting the replay seven times during the next week, starting at 1 p.m. Eastern today, Saturday. Watch it at the time most convenient for you by registering, for free.
3. Rules for Press Release Links
Back in the old days, we used online press releases to build inbound links to our websites.
We’d load up the releases with keywords that linked back to our homepage, or to sales pages, or anywhere else where we wanted people to land.
It was so clever, and it worked so well, that pretty soon everybody was doing it. Which meant that it wasn’t clever anymore.
Along comes Google and raps our knuckles with a wooden ruler, just like that mean teacher we had in fourth grade.
Google’s new webmaster rules specifically prohibit some of the things we loved to do with press releases to draw traffic. Publicity Hounds tell me they’re confused about the new rules, and they’re afraid they’ll get penalized if they use press release links incorrectly.
I’m hosting a webinar on Thursday, Oct. 2, on what you must know about using links in press releases. It will be from 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. You’ll be able to sign up starting next week, but I’m hoping you’ll save the date right now.
Every Publicity Hound should be aware of these important changes.
4. Hound Video of the Week
There’s nothing funny about piles of leaves this time of year, unless you’re watching this video of a Husky enjoying himself frolicking in them.
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