To help authors get more Media Interviews (TV, print, radio and podcasts), here are 3 tips from the Goody Business Book Awards.
You want earned media versus paid media because it has more credibility than an advertisement. Along with Nominating Your Book and winning book awards, being interviewed or quoted in a story can give you more credibility as a thought leader, raise awareness, and increase your book sales.
The challenge is that you are competing with the 46+ million authors on Amazon, experts and CEOs, who want to be on the same national or local TV stations, featured in USA TODAY or Fast Company, interviewed on NPR and/or be on a Top Podcast.
Goody Business Book Awards is presented by Goody PR who has booked thousands of media interviews for clients over the past 15 years. To help you get free publicity, here are our top 3 public relations tips:
1. Write a Timely Hooks for Media Interviews
Reporters literally get thousands of email pitches every day from authors, thought leaders and publicists who are all competing for their precious time and airtime. To gain their interest and content space, you must stand out by answering the question WHY NOW – with a timely media hook in your email subject line and body.
You want to find ways to connect your book or brand to a specific day, month, current event or charity event to fast-track your requests for media interviews to the top of their inbox.
For example, Goody PR recently pitched a moving father-son tribute story for Father’s Day with the media hook “How Son/Editor honors Father’s Legacy by Posthumously Publishing His Book” that resulted in timely media interviews. A feature story aired on NBC Boston’s 7 News and ran 11 times on Father’s Day, and included many photos of the father, son and book.
For the same author, we pitched a different media hook connected to Mental Health Awareness Month (May) about “How New Book encourages Prioritizing Human Connections” (and addresses the U.S. Surgeon General Loneliness Crisis Advisory). We explained that the author was a Sociology Professor, making him more of an expert on this tip. This media hook resulted in a feature story in WebMD.
Keep in mind that this pitch was sent to hundreds of media contacts, and we were beyond fortunate that the WebMD editor approved this national media story. So even if you have a great media hook, your competition is off-the-charts. The key to your media success is not to give up, and keep pitching with new angles!
2. Offer to share Helpful Tips specifically for Their Audience
When you send a media pitch to a reporter, you also need to include how your topic and/or “spokesperson” can provide timely tips to their audience. It’s very important that you make the topic really clear, concise and compelling. They don’t want a story to sound like an ad, so it’s not about you – it’s about “entertaining and/or educating” their audience.
We highly recommend including 3-5 tips that you can share in a story (example, “3 Ways to Retire Early”, “5 Tips to Live Over 100 Years Old”, and/or “3 Ways to Prioritize Self-Care” to increase your chances of media interviews.
You also want to include 3-5 questions related to these tips that the reporter can ask. Your job is to make it really easy for reporter to produce your story. Don’t even think for a minute that they are going to read your book (ok, reporters do sometimes read the book, but it is more rare in our lightning-speed world). Instead, you need to hand them potential questions and answers (and be prepared if they go off-script).
And for a TV audience, your tips need a broad appeal for a mass audience with visuals (TV is all about visuals). For example, we pitched a client who hosted a Make-A-Wish type birthday party for a young woman with a chronic illness to honor her and support her long-term care program. Fortunately, the fire department offered to come out and sing happy birthday to her next to their fire truck (very moving). The young woman and the facility were really grateful, and the local ABC news covered it.
To reach a Top Podcast audience, you want to pitch based on your niche for this longer form content. For example, someone who is a mom is much more interested in listening to a 1-hour parenting podcast such as the “Mindful Mama – Parenting with Mindfulness” Podcast by Hunter Clarke-Fields (Bestselling Author of “Raising Good Humans” and “Raising Good Humans Every Day”). And someone who likes to invest in real estate is more interested in the “Best Real Estate Investing Advice Ever” Show with Joe Fairless.
3. Build a Strong Author Brand with a Social Media Following
The last thing you need as an author when pitching your story to reporters is a strong brand for your book, business and/or influencer story with a significant social media following. Yes, brands matter to the media. They will often check out your website and social media channels before considering you for an interview.
If you have 0 followers, they may choose someone else. If you haven’t posted on social for a few years, that may be another red flag. We speak to authors all the time who do not prioritize social media, and try to explain the importance of digital marketing for getting interviews.
For TV, producers will often ask for videos of you doing previous media interviews. If you don’t have one, they will ask to see any video posted on YouTube or your social media channels. They want to make sure you are clear, concise and speak with conviction.
For Radio and Podcasts, the hosts often ask for links to your previous podcast interviews. They may listen to determine if you are a good match. These shows are all about audio. To be a Great Guest who gets invited back, try to vary your voice tone, regularly pause so the host can ask questions, don’t ramble, tell entertaining stories or helpful tips – and don’t take yourself too seriously. It’s a conversation, and you want to emotionally connect with the audience!
BONUS TIP – Book Awards can increase Media Interviews
And P.S., winning a book award will help you stand out in the sea of 46+ million books on Amazon as an Award-Winning Author (which you should include in your title and short bio in a pitch).
To gain more earned media interviews and build your brand, don’t forget to Nominate Your Book for awards, including the Annual Goody Business Book Awards by the September 30th deadline.
And to learn more about how to get free publicity, read Goody Business Book Awards and Goody PR Founder Liz H. Kelly’s book called “8-Second PR: New Public Relations Crash Course” (2nd edition, 2022). It’s filled with case study examples and proven publicity tips. Lastly, remember that PR is a marathon, not a sprint.
So keep brainstorming your media hooks, nominate your book for awards and don’t give up. You can get hundreds of media interviews with patience, persistence and a timely media hook!