Pam Perry Media Relations PR Boot Camp Transcript

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Ministry Marketing Solutions Inc.
Pam Perry
Booking Reference: 6532697-207845 Duration: 0:00:00

12th December 2008

Pam Perry: Speaker: Pam Perry: Speaker:

Hello this is Pam Hi Pam. Hey, how are you? Good how are you?

Pam Perry: Ok, we’re going to started today with the media coaching class. This is how to get booked and get placed in media. So do we have everyone here or, can I get a roll call of how many people we have here. Alright I think I just un-muted you guys. Well we’ll get started on how to get booked and placed in media. If you would like to un-mute yourself I think all you have to do is hit star 6 and that will un-mute you, so that you can ask a question as we go along. Because this one is probably the most critical part but is also the most fun part of promoting a book. But let me kind of quickly go over what we went over so far so that we can kind of put all the pieces together of this puzzle in terms of promoting a book. The first thing that we talked about is when we have a book that we are laying the ground work and I want to say that the earlier you start the better and the earlier you start the better is such a key of planning. Now this PR Boot Camp, I am Pam Perry, I'm your PR coach and if you have your book already and it’s already out, not a problem but just to know if there’s anyone else listening to this and say I don’t have to start promoting my book until I get it in my hands, no. The moment you have the idea in your brain and put pen to paper or keyboard up on the computer and you start typing that book that’s when the PR begins because you always are in the mould of being a promoter. Because it doesn’t make any sense to write something and no-one knows about it or even if you are in the process to get the buzz going. So one of the main things is to get an early start that is also identifying your target

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market, who you are writing for. Your target market is the person that is going to buy the book so the more narrow you make that target market the more you know and really crystallise who that target market is the better you can translate that into how your going to go after the media and then even how your are going to translate the message to them. So knowing your target audience is very, very key. I cannot stress that enough. Because for one thing you can’t target everybody that will be very expensive; if you say my book is targeting everybody and you want to get everybody in the world, how expensive will that be to target everybody in the world? So in a sense a shotgun approach, you want to be more like a laser and I will say that over and over again. You want to be like a laser because you are getting people to buy book one at a time, not millions at a time. You are convincing one person at a time, so the more messages you give them over a series of time that is when they go buy and so really we’re going into this mould. But I want to start out with a letter that I got and this is something that I got a long time ago from Mark Victor Hansen and if anybody doesn’t know Mark Victor Hansen, he is a Christian and he is also the creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul. So one of the things that Mark Victor Hansen and his buddy Jack Canfield did, they both created it together is that they had a little philosophy about book promotion. And what I really like about them is they were very good about doing their homework, which I hope you all did your fieldwork and some of you have sent me back your bios and have sent me your media worksheets. I’ve got a few of those but that is so important but one of the things I am going to read to you. It says, I am going to say this verbatim it says “I once asked M Scott Pecks, the author of the Road Less Travelled how he was able to keep his book on the New York Times best selling list for so many years”, and he says “I never forget what he told me. He said he attributed his success to the large part to the fact that long ago he made a commitment to average at least one media interview a day and never stop. So when my friend Jack Canfield and I began promoting Chicken Soup for the Soul we made a firm commitment to average at least one interview a day on radio, TV or print”, and that was a long time ago before internet thus one of the reasons why back in 1993, long before anyone had heard about Chicken Soup for the Soul they began advertising in Radio-TV Interview Report, that’s the magazine, really it’s like a newsletter

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producers read to find guests, boy did it pay off. During the first year of advertising in Radio TV Interview Report, or they call it RTIR, basically you all can go to www.rtir.com, and if you mention Ministry Marketing Solutions Pam Perry they should give you a 20% discount. We did hundreds of telephone interviews with radio stations across the country, and sales went through the roof. We hit the New York Times bestseller list and we have had more than 90 million books sold. And then basically he’s going on, he says, “That’s why I encourage you to advertise continually in Radio TV Interview Report. There is simply no better way to get much publicity so inexpensively.” Now, that’s relative terms because I don’t know what he means, “inexpensively”. I can kind of give you all, if you all email me, I can tell you the prices on that. He goes on and says, “They are not paying us to say nice things about them, and we are doing it because we are truly grateful of how much RTIR has done to make “Chicken Soup for the Soul” a bestseller. In fact we advertise it on a regular basis.” Now they are already bestsellers but they are continually doing regular advertising in that, and basically the whole information thing goes on talking about Radio TV Interview Report. And that’s one of the things that, before we kind of get started, is that if you have a vehicle, and I’ll talk about some of those vehicles, that will get you out initially to as many people as you can to kind of build a groundswell it’s good to do. And Radio TV Interview Report is one of those, PR web is one of those, Black Gospel Promo is another one, where they will get it out en masse to as many people as you can, primarily the media. So that’s one of the things you could look at. So, after you know your audience, you have decided who this audience is going to be, you then have to get down to the nuts and bolts of translating all of this on paper and on the web, but basically we’re going to look at the paper right now, because everything that you have written should also be on your website as well. So we’re going to go over the press kit. What are some of the things in the press kit and in the press release per se, and what are hooks and what are some of the things that we put in the press kit? Now, one of the first things, I’m going to read some examples of some press kits and then give you a little bit of stories about them, is that each person’s book is different, and so you’ve got to really analyse yourself what is unique about your book, what is unique about yourself,

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what is it that is the obvious factor that someone will say that is your brand? Remember we talked about building a brand, positioning yourself and building a platform over the last few sessions. So building a brand, platform, knowing your uniqueness about yourself, what is it that is unique? In all the combinations of things, if you’re a woman, African American, you’re a mother, even so much as if you have a disability that is just part of what makes you unique. Whatever it is that you have that is about you, make it, you know, work it. You know how people say you need to work it, but you work whatever you have that makes you unique. And that is you could say that for so many things. Myles Monroe, he’s from the Bahamas. Who would have thought that someone like Dr Myles Monroe from the Bahamas would be as popular as he is in the States, but one of the first things that he says when he comes up to speak, if you’ve ever heard him in person, he says, “I come from the sunshine, the sunniest place in the world,” or something like that, you know, heaven’s best place or whatever. He says the spot that’s next to heaven. You know, but he kind of lets people know that, yes, that’s unique. I am from a little island in the Bahamas. So whatever it is that is unique about you, you need to play on that because that is unique to you. You can only say that. It’s almost like when you’re growing up and you were one of the few African Americans in the class, well you can’t hide the fact that you’re one of the few African Americans in the class, but that is an advantage of you because you do stand out, because you’re a different colour, and so I always tell people when they’re putting together books or whatever it is, “Should I put my picture on the book? I’m African American, I want to reach everybody.” I say, “Well when you show up, honey, they’re going to know that you are African American,” so you need to work it because if you are African American those who are African American are going to have an affinity towards you because people like to buy books that resonate with them. So if you are African American that’s part of the audience that you will be speaking to because primarily other African Americans can identify with you. So there’s one particular press release that I’ll read and then we’ll kind of go through what that is all about. Basically, everyone kind of knows what the basics of a press release is and I’ll send you this as well, and I think it was also in your PR handbook. Basically, the headline has to be so

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gripping that it stops you and it’s almost like a no brainer, that you know exactly what it’s about. It’s a trick to writing headlines, it’s almost like writing subject lines in e-blasts. You know how quickly we read those, whether we’re going to decide whether we’re going to read that email or we’re going to delete it. Same thing with press releases, you’ve got to have something that grabs someone and then also gives you the hook but also tells you a little bit more about it so that you know what it’s about. It’s not going to catch you off guard and you won’t have to guess, because if someone has to guess, they’re going to move on, ok. Don’t make it so boring like “author has a new book”. Well, you know, yawn, it goes right in the trash. So the first thing is making a headline, so I’ll give you an example of one. This is Bonnie St John. She wrote a book called “How Strong Women Pray”. This book came out last year, and she’s had hits in “Essence” and “Ebony” and she’s been on different radio stations, syndicated radio stations nationwide and she’s probably accumulated maybe 3.1 million in with her book in media. So her headline read, “Some of the most inspiring women in America speak out about strength through prayer.” Now automatically it’s like, “Hmmm, ok.” We know it’s about prayer and it’s some of the most inspiring women. So who are these women, and what is this book about? So then that’s the major headline. Then you can use a sub-headline and basically the sub-headline can be more descriptive. It’s almost like when we use our headline for the title of our book, it’s really catchy, but then the sub-head of the book is the description. It’s the same thing with the press release. The sub-head reads, “Bonnie St John, Olympic skier,” ok, that’s her unique advantage, “and silver medallist,” another advantage, it gives her prestige, “talks about the struggles of being an amputee.” Ok, she’s using that as an advantage because she is. No one else really can say that. And how she, along with women like Maya Angelou, who is a brand by herself, Kathie Lee Gifford, which reaches a different audience, overcame incredible obstacles through prayer. So automatically we can see, Bonnie is African American, you can see that on her book cover. She mentioned Maya, so that reaches and resonates with that audience, and Kathie Lee Gifford resonates with another, ok, so it still gives it that whole different kind of feel.

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And then there’s a quote, there’s an endorsement that was a lead endorsement about that, and I had one of our classmates email me and say, “Do I need an endorsement? Do I need to have that? Because I read books and I don’t necessarily find them ...” he said, “I don’t necessarily buy books based on endorsements.” And I said that’s true, he probably doesn’t, but then probably the books that he buys are brands that he already knows. So if you are not known and you’re going to try to get someone who doesn’t know you to buy a book, they need an endorsement, not that they are just looking for a book for information, but they are looking to know, why you, why are you qualified, what are your credentials, and who do you know that I may know, in order to buy this book. Well what are they saying about you? Because it’s something different when you have a book and you’re saying it’s great and it’s wonderful, and then there’s something different when someone else says that, and that’s why we go through the process of getting endorsements for our work, because that speaks louder than if we were speaking for ourselves, and I hope everybody gets that. It is a pain, a lot of times, getting endorsements from people, because they may not jump when we say jump, we need it by Friday and they don’t give it to us until two weeks later, but you wait for them, you wait for the endorsements. That’s one of the main keys that we talked about, what makes a bestseller is endorsements. So her press release here, Bonnie St John’s, starts with an endorsement, and it goes, “This book made me feel like I was surrounded by a cosy blanket and kept me warm and supported. The extraordinary courage she mustered to face challenge after challenge was profoundly inspiring. Bonnie has done a great service to humanity with this book,” and then this particular endorsement is Donna Le Blanc, an author of “The Passion Principle” and psychotherapist. So that gives people a little bit of how they can locate Bonnie in terms of what this book is about. The book cover itself looks like a quilt. For her to say then that you’re surrounded by a cosy blanket, there’s a bit of what people then can expect, because we have then read a quote from someone who has experienced Bonnie’s book, and so that makes someone who is making a decision whether to buy, what they may experience. This is all before we even get to the first paragraph of the press release, ok? Every press release is different but this is before the first paragraph.

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After the first paragraph then summarises the main point of the release. This particular one says, “Growing up in California far from the snow was one of a list of difficulties Bonnie St John would have to surmount to fulfil her dream of becoming an Olympic skier. Another was the fact that she only had one leg. So automatically you put that out there, ok? In 1984 through determination and a lot of prayer, her dream came true and she became the Paralympics silver medallist in downhill skiing.” Then it goes on, the second paragraph elaborates a little bit more about what is going on, why this press release, what is the whole impact of this press release. “In Bonnie’s new book, ‘How Strong Women Pray’ she mentions the day she realised the day that most people knew her as “a strong woman, an inspirational speaker, a one-legged Olympic champion and a Rhodes scholar and former White House official”, ok? Now that’s a really good, easy way where she puts in her credentials without actually having to say, “Bonnie is such and such,” that she is a Rhodes scholar, but it’s the way that people knew her as. Now maybe you didn’t, but then after reading that sentence you did. “But hardly anyone knew the importance of prayer in her life or that she even prayed at all. That day she set out to interview other strong women that she admired who also had privately powered by prayer and was shaken and inspired by [Owan Alkam] “. So basically this book is almost like interviews that Bonnie did with other women of faith, and how prayer supported them. Then the third paragraph basically summarises a little bit more of the book. It may give you a quote or it may give you some kind of more information but it gives you something that a person can hold onto of what this is exactly. So the third paragraph says, “Women from their twenties to their nineties ranging from athletes to politicians to poets and mothers poured out their hearts to Bonnie about the importance of prayer in their world. And despite their differences, their prayer lives were very similar”. It says “They prayed anywhere and everywhere, in cars, bathrooms, beds, gyms, planes and offices,” and then it says again, “In How Strong Women Pray, incredible women like Maya, Barbara Bush, [Izzy Falco] open up and talk candidly about their prayers. Bonnie says the experience of interviewing more than 25 fascinating women about prayer has changed her entire life ...” Now the last paragraph, which is paragraph four, includes another piece of information that the audience will find useful, and whoever is reading this, whether it’s another great quote or it’s something that just is like the

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clincher. So this particular paragraph goes on, “What makes this book a unique and incredibly nurturing experience is hearing real people share their personal and intimate thoughts about prayer. Bonnie’s life wasn’t the same after hearing these inspiring stories about prayer. She promises yours won’t either.” If you are interviewing and that’s kind of like the last close, basically, “If you are interested in interviewing Bonnie St John or reviewing a copy of her book, “How Strong Women Pray” please contact .... or call 2484 262300,” and then you end always with the title again, the ISBN number, the pub date, the price and all of the details, and one of the things with a press release, it should be full of details so that it is what I call idiot proof, meaning that there’s no question that this is a hard cover, this is a soft cover, what is the book about, is it novel, is it fiction, you know, because you’re so familiar with it, you’ve got to make it so idiot proof so that someone picking it up who knows nothing about it knows exactly that this book is $16.99, it’s a hard cover, this is the size, it came out this particular date, the end of November, whatever. So those are some of the things in the press release that you need to have. Now, you can sometimes have different press releases. I use a shorter version, what I call a snapshot or broadcast release, where it really would have the same type of information but it will have interview questions with that. It will have a bio on there. It would have a shorter version of a press release of what the book is about. It will have in a little box the ISBN number, the website and all of that kind of stuff. So are there any questions like that? Anyone have any questions? Speaker: No, I think you’ve summed it up beautifully.

Pam Perry: Ok, alright, well that was just one piece, and every press release is different. I’ll give you an example of another press release. This is one that the headline reads “Life transitions can be painful but productive.” Again, that’s just a press release, big bold headline. The sub-head reads, “In an attempt to measure life changes researchers Holmes and Ray developed the Life Events Scale. Various life events are ranked in order from the most stressful, such as the death of a spouse or a child, divorce or major illness, to the least stressful, such as getting a traffic ticket, making changes in eating or sleeping habits or holiday celebrations.” So that kind of gives you a little bit about how life transitions can be painful but productive. Then it goes into the paragraph. The first paragraph is always the one that will grab the main point and it says, “Have you ever

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asked yourself, “If God loves me, why would he allow this to happen to me?”. Ok, then it says, “If so, you have probably experienced what author T Lindsay calls God Transitions,” which is the name of the book. Then it goes on and gives some quotes and it gives you the credentials. Now obviously this book is geared towards those that are looking for experts that have PhDs or psychologists but they’re also Christian. It ends with the saying, “This is a must read for anyone looking for a more intimate walk with the father,” and gives the whole at the bottom with the website and the imprint goes on as well. There’s a book that is a headline that reads, “New book challenges victory theology and the health and wealth gospel.” So that particular book we automatically know talks about the health and wealth gospel. It’s like, what is that? So the first paragraph reads, “Who is Christianity about anyway?” And so sometimes starting with a question is a good thing. And then it goes straight into ... and each press release can be different. It goes straight into information from the introduction, and basically it says, “It seems that many of us have gone after Christianity based on the model, what can God do for you in your situation? We have become more American in our consumeristic obsession that we are less like Jesus ...” and it goes on and talks about the prosperity theology. This is directly from the book. Then it goes on, “In the new book,” which is paragraph number two. Paragraph number three talks about what it can offer in terms of benefits and then it gives a little bit about how to contact the author and all of that. So really the whole point of this press release thing, it depends on your book. It depends on how many unique things you can say about the book, and so that’s why it’s really important to just really look and see what is it that I want to get across in this release. The one thing that you really kind of want to stay away from in a release is what reporters call fluff, you know, using superlatives like fantastic, amazing, wonderful ... you don’t say that about yourself. You don’t say you’re wonderful, amazing and, you know, whatever, but if it’s a quote from someone that’s fine, if it’s an endorsement that’s fine, but words like using that make your release sound like you’re bragging. It’s like, ok, this is enough fluff. If I prick someone’s ear here it’s like it’s going to float away.

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So you really want to make sure you stick to the facts, be as descriptive, and I want to say to you always try. The ones that I just read were only one page. They were just one page. So it’s an art to actually putting releases into one page. You have to do that if you can. If you can’t, it’s something that you need to do in order to make it. Don’t make it too small a font, that’s a turnoff as well, but for the most part you don’t want to make it any more than, I would say, 750 words, if you can. No more. 500 would be ideal, but no more than 750 words if you can. That’s not a rule, but just knowing that people are very, very busy. The media is very impatient, very impatient, and they just need to be cut right to the chase, so you want to make sure that you use things that give you the key things and it frames you so that people actually know what it is that you’re talking about. The other thing besides having the release is when you’re writing the release you may have different hooks for different things and depending on the timing of it. So if you have a book that’s coming out around the holiday, obviously you have that kind of hook to it, or whatever is in the news. If something is very news worthy, it’s in the news, right now what’s in the news is the economy, if there’s a way to really put that in your hook so that people can really grab a hold of that, that would be a good thing. If the timing is around Valentine’s Day, you know, so you try to find that hook, something that makes it news, because the main thing that reporter’s want is news. They’re not looking to promote your book; they are looking for news, so as much as you can, to provide that. The press kit is really the key part of what is going to make whether you’re going to get call backs from the media. So I do not suggest you rush it, you take the time to do the right bio, you take the time to get the right interview questions that they can ask. And the whole point of giving them interview questions is because they probably won’t have time to read your book. 99% of the time they probably will not read your book and that will be a surprise to some of the authors they’ll go “why am I sending these books out, everybody wants a book”. Yes they want a book, they do want a book, they want to see if you’re legit, they want to see if it’s going to sell crazy, no one will do an interview if they do not see an actual book. So you still have to send them, even though they don’t read them, they may scan them, and so because they scan them and they don’t have the full depth knowledge of what the book is about, if they’re going to do a half an hour, 15 minute or an hour interview with you, you need to provide them with questions that

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they can ask you so that they have either a good show or a good program or if it’s a blogger that they have … you give them some questions and then you answer them yourself so that the blog can actually be interesting. So you try to think of as many interesting questions as you can, not things like “why did you write the book?” That’s a no brainer, everybody asks that, “so why did you write the book?” You can say it in a more creative way, but you do need a list of at least 10 to 12 questions that someone can ask you so that you can give out a sound bite in depth of what your book is about. And it’s always good too, when you are doing especially broadcast interviews, just start with the anecdote, just start with the anecdote so that people can actually visualise and see. If you realise that, that Jesus really did start that way too, he talked in stories and so that was a way where people could actually decipher a lot of information and visually see it in their mind by telling a story. So if you can tell a few stories, that would be really, really good because that way you know that people are actually getting the picture of your words as well as you speaking the words, so by doing an anecdote. The other part of your press kit that is really key is how it looks. How it looks, how you actually put it together on paper which is how much white space. I could send you copies, you can send me an email, so [email protected], say Pam send me some copies of press releases of how they look. Just as important as someone judges your book cover, they also judge the way your press release is written. They look to see that it’s in the right style, there’s protocol in terms of how press releases are written. If they see that it’s not written in the format that the media is used to they’re going to see you as an amateur and then they will not respond to you. So it has to be written in a way … you can write your own press releases and someone sent me an email question earlier which said “is it ok for me to pitch my self or do I always need a publicist to pitch myself?” You can pitch yourself, the only reason why people do hire publicists is because they are professional in the field, but that’s why you’re going through the PR boot camp, so that you can learn the protocol of it, so you can be professional when you’re approaching the media. The media most times, they don’t like to deal with a lot of I guess you would say the people who aren’t professionals or people who aren’t necessarily in the media relations field because they find that they don’t

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know what they are talking about, they don’t know what they’re doing. So for the most part it’s so much to deal with them, it’s like saying “you know what honey, don’t call me, why don’t you have, whoever is doing your publicity call me because you obviously don’t know what you’re doing”. That’s really like what in their mind they’re thinking, so they don’t want a lot of calls from people who are just authors who have no schooling and really aren’t professional in terms of approaching them, because one of the things that you have to know about the media, they’re very impatient, the press release has to be on point, on queue, you have to know what the media wants. So everybody puts together their own media list and that media list comprises of what they think their audiences are reading, listening, watching, ok? You then have to study that media; you have to become a student of that media so that you know what that media wants. Don’t blanket the media and send out a blind copy email to everybody, every media contact on there, but actually know what it is that media person wants, and so part of your press kit is that pitch letter. Now the press releases general … I read you a couple of copies of some general press releases. The pitch letter is then a bullet that is directly directed at them. It is telling them why this particular story or why this … or why you are the expert on whatever they’re looking for. And so the pitch letter is something that gives them the comfort level to really call once they actually have your press release. And it could be something very, very simple as if we were writing, I’ll give you an example, maybe a Marilynn Griffith’s press release and she actually has a press release for some different novels and that sort of thing, so we did Rhythms of Grace which is a novel. And so then we put together a pitch letter, ok you could send the novel to someone, you kind of want them to do a review but we really were looking for her to have some other stories as well, not just necessarily “ok this is about the book and please do a release,” so we actually wanted to do a pitch letter. So people say “what does a pitch letter sound like?” And basically it’s like hello media friend, or what … obviously you’re going to personalise it, and then right away the first paragraph is “Rhythms of Grace is a gritty new book from the popular author Marilynn Griffith who has the fastest growing African American reading audience. There are several things in the novel

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that are compelling that I would like to share with you and I think would be of particular interest to your readership,” or if it was television or to your viewership or whatever. Then it gives a little bit about what the book is about, obviously it’s a faith based book. Third paragraph then talks about the author, you know, “Griffith keeps readers interested by filling in about with the character” etc and then the last paragraph as you’ll see these are really short. The last paragraph then talks about “I hope you will consider a review or feature story in this uplifting new book, please don’t hesitate to contact me for further information about the author or Rhythms of Grace which will be released in September”. You know, you give the ISBN number, tell them it’s paperback, give them the cost, give them the page count. You know like I said, we want to make things as idiot proof as possible so they won’t have to keep calling you back on “how much is it? What is it…?” You know, because sometimes if they’re just writing a review you can send them enough information where they don’t have to call you which really is probably the preferable thing that that they can take this stuff and not have to call you, that makes them just keep on trucking to the next thing. Like give the website, see marilynngriffith.com for a digital press kit too, and then at the very end, as like a PS about the author, and her bio basically reads “as a prolific author, columnist and sought after conference speaker, Marilynn Griffith's bold and daring literary landscapes ascend the heights of wedding bliss, plunge the depths of a broken heart and restore the wounds of hope deferred. From climbing the corporate ladder to the trails of teenage pregnancy, her books sculpt a thought provoking canvas of the deeply textured landscapes of life. Like the luminous covenant of a rainbow, she paints literary works that blend humour, love, heartache, and ultimate victory crafting a colourful patchwork of a faith-filled walk with God”. And then she goes on to say like you know, “she’s a freelance writer, conference speaker, online columns and her other books that she’s written. She’s also been a part of Chicken Soup for the Christian Woman’s Soul, Proverbs for the People. And then she lives in Tallahassee with her husband and seven children,” which I always told Marilynn “you need to put that first”. Yes seven children, it’s like how to do that. So that needs to be the first thing we need to know about. So anyway, that’s really like what a pitch letter is. Now with that pitch letter she’s had, she’s been in Upscale Magazine, she was reviewed in there and then also too she was actually in Publisher

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Weekly, which is a pretty big coup because Publisher Weekly is the literary trade magazine. I mean there’s hundreds and hundreds and thousands of books that are trying to get in Publisher Weekly but they did a particular issue on the African American Christian market and she was featured in a review and also in the story as well. So those are some of the things when you have like a really good pitch letter that goes along with the release. So release was basically to talk more about the book in detail and then it also had her bio and all that sort of thing. So releases then, I’m going to go over this real quick. With the press kit you can have a lot of different features in it depending on what it is, but some of the things that you always want to have obviously is, in the press kit is you want to have the release, you want to have an endorsement sheet if you have that, that is separate and that is pulled out, you may want to have a fact sheet. If your book is a nonfiction book and it has to do with domestic violence say, you may want to have statistics on that. If your book is some kind of book that would entail you maybe a top ten list – the top ten ways to save money, the top ten ways to, you know, cook dinner or whatever. Some kind of top ten ways or you may sometimes part of the press kit we will do an excerpt so that people have an excerpt. Sometimes a table of contents could be part of the press kit. Anything that gives more information and we don’t want it to be so thick and bulky that it is like it is going to break someone’s back carrying it but you do want to have information in there so that people can realize that it is a good book. And so by each book when you look at it you say ok, why is this book good? What is it that people really have read it, what do they like the most? So you really want to shine and put that stuff first and forward. If it’s your endorsements that are glowing, if it’s your cover, if it’s the fact sheet, if it’s your bio and you can make it interesting – you see how I read Marilyn’s bio even though it is just basically she is an author and she is a wife and mother but you can hear from her bio it is not just like I am a wife and mother and I write books ok. That’s not her bio. We use some more flowery words in the bio and it’s ok because we want to try to pull in some interest for her book. So those are some of the things that you want to put in the press release and press kit and also too, if you have any articles. You see that’s something that you definitely want to put in your press kit, if you have any articles that you have written that

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have been published. If you have any clips from anything, you know, reviews, you want to put those in there. You can actually put some Amazon reviews and I have had authors they say “Well I don’t really have any reviews other than Amazon”. We took those reviews off Amazon, cut and paste and put them in our kit. Because you are not going to tell the producer or the reporter “Oh we’ve got reviews on Amazon” and they are going to go and look them up. No, you put them in the kit; put it on the sheet for them so they can read what other people have said if they are good reviews. If they are bad reviews don’t give them from Amazon. If the are good reviews you want them. If you get a bad review just take it in stride but don’t try to highlight it obviously you know if you get bad reviews. So there are just different creative things that you put in a press kit; obviously the photo and the cover and that sort of thing. The most creative press kits that I see sometimes they put in a little bit of extra stuff if he book has to do with hot peppers or whatever they may actually put like Tabasco sauce in it so you can be really creative so don’t just stop at ok I’ve got my five pieces that’s it but think about what your book is about. If there is something that is tangible that you can add to the book then that’s fine and maybe for Rhythms of Grace if she is really trying to get really this may be put in a ballet slipper, you know when you mail the press kit. So you can be creative as you want. I wouldn’t suggest though you know how sometimes they have that confetti and stuff, I would say don’t put that in the press kit though, that just makes people mad because when they open it up it is all on the floor. So then that would make the media mad. But just something that is creative. A lot of the times when I send my materials out and I will put all the chocolate pages of this together. What I send with it is obviously chocolate. So it is not during the summer so its not going to melt or it is, I would make sure that it doesn’t get melted but I would make sure that it is something that is cute that they remember, oh chocolate pages, these are all those authors that were the Christian authors whatever, whatever. So those are some of the things that you want to put in a press kit. Again I want to emphasize that the more time you spend on making that press kit shine, sparkle and stand out the more likely you will have good success with the media. So don’t rush, scrutinize every single word from the bio to the back cover copy to every single thing because that is all that

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you have that is going to give you that one shot. Make sure there are no typos. I don’t even have to say that because if there is a type they will think you are unprofessional. So you can put yourself and a lot of times all it takes is the basics of putting it together in the right amount of time, sending it out the media that you have researched. Ok? You have researched them and you know who they are, you send the letter, the pitch letter and maybe just the press release at that point and the book. Ok? And you fold the press release, you put it in the book and you put it in an envelope and you send it to them. Two or three days later, four days later you call them. They were sending it to CTN because someone nuked themselves and hit star six because I hear a little sound there or is it just, we are being recorded so not picked up or anything but if you Christian Television Network so we are sending to Christian Television Network and they have received it so you call the producer and say hello, I am author Deborah and wanted to know and I sent you a packet the other day about my new book that is about whatever it is, ok. Don’t say did you get my book. So basically kind of like you know they probably didn’t need it because then you are going to make them feel bad because they are going to say no they didn’t get it. More times than not they are going to say no because you are going to feel bad but say my name is Deborah and my book has to do with God’s big idea, it’s a kingdom book and it talks about reclaiming God or whatever it is you are trying to say the 30 second sound bite that you already heard and that’s why I have you rehearse those 30 second sound bites, 20 seconds if you can really get it and then that way in your 20 second sound bite it is interesting enough for them to say go to the desk and say yes I got it and they are opening it because more than likely they didn’t open it the first time. And the 20 second sound bite follow up, one, told them that you didn’t in mass mail out 400 books ok and there is no way you can even follow up on 400 media contacts in a week so it shows that you did deliberately look up that producer, send it to them with a pitch letter, follow it up with them directly. Talking to them and telling them why you would be good for their show and they are now looking at the book and listening to you. So you’re on air. Basically right now you are on the air, you are now having a few more minutes to convince them that you are good for their show and you don’t talk about you but you talk about why their program would be watched more if they have you on. You see what I am saying,

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you are not going so much into you, you, you, this is me, this is me but basically you are trying to say why they would have more viewer ship if they have you on. Whatever reasons it is why you think that particular media is a good one, you need to really then put on the dog and pony show and really tell them you selected them as a show that would be good for your particular book, because that is really what they want to know. They want content, they want sources, they want people that know and understand them, they hate authors that just want to come on their show and basically just pimping them in terms of like ok, I just want to sell some books. They really, really don’t like that. That is not what they are in business for. So you want to make sure that you are not doing that so if you do have them on you want to make sure that you are telling that so you have the media on and you want to give them one, either tell them the reason why they should have you on because this is a very good topic, a hot topic right now. It has to do with economy, it has to do with Barack Obama, whatever it has to do with, you know, you are giving them a reason why, you are giving them news ok and they are in business to either fill a news hole or to put on a program of a talk show. You want to be really sure, obviously. You can follow up once you have sent the package, you can follow up with an email or a voicemail or both but the rule of thumb is you really don’t want to pester them. I mean there is a certain point where you become a pest and it is usually after three or four times when you don’t get a response, when you send an email or you call and you know you have done that a couple of times and you get no response. Move on. There are other media people that you can go to. Maybe it’s another time, maybe there is another place where you can reach back out to them again and it’s just not a fit for them right now. But who’s to say maybe in a month or two months or maybe a couple of weeks it will be and then you can give them a call again based on a different hook, a different timing. But don’t be a pest; don’t just call them over and over and over again. I have one author who says well I am going to send a book every day to Oprah and I say they’ll think you are a nutcase, don’t do that, don’t do that, don’t send a book every day to Oprah. First of all she doesn’t even accept books. They go out and request. They don’t even accept books. So I would suggest that you save your money in the postage or whatever. Somebody there, the mailman or whoever is just taking those books and throwing them in the trash so don’t do that.

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So that’s why it is so important to know your target. Know your target. Know that every story isn’t going to be for every media outlet. Just face the fact. Not every media outlet is going to take to your story. That is why it is so important to actually put in the homework to study the media. Each one of you all, I sent you all packages this week, I sent you, some of you I sent you Christian Writer’s Market Guide, some of you I sent you magazines, some of you I sent you other things for you to say this is a perfect fit for your book, this is a perfect fit for your book. For Jackie’s book Heart & Soul Magazine is a perfect fit for her because they do a lot of health issues about her book in Heart & Soul. They have a particular issue she needs to tell them a certain month they are about organ tissue transplants or diabetes. I mean Heart & Soul that is one of the things they talk about a lot is a total wellness, you know and it’s African American and its women. Just for Jackie, if she is African American, she is woman she, you know, and health is a very important issue in her book and so that that is one of the things. So I sent each one of you, some of you I sent magazines like the Christian Communicator and I said that maybe you all can interview each other as authors where you can interview. The Christian Communicator is always looking for either author interviews as a cover story so maybe you know if Denise can interview Deborah for the Christian Communicator. Both of you are Christians, Denise may need a by-line because they always give you the author resource box at the end where people can go to your website but then also too at the same time she will be doing an interview on Deborah and Deborah will be the cover story and then maybe Deborah can do one on Denise, you know, later down the road. But I sent each one of you all different things that you all can do about your books. The number one thing too that media is looking for is relationships. They are looking for people that they know people that they are building a rapport with. They want to know that they are dealing with people who are not just really out to sell some books. Ok, so really a lot of times if you read a story and its really good drop the reporter a note and say that was good. Give him kudos and say hey you know, that was a really good story, you did a lot of investigative work on that and that was really good. Or if something wasn’t, you know, say probably forgot about this, you know, this is something that maybe next time you do a story on that did you know. Then this shows that you are paying attention because you have to realize that they are expending their time, energy and effort to put

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out a newspaper or to do a program and people are taking the time to either watch and listen and then respond. You can blog. Like I tell people a lot of times you could build a friendship with the reporter, the daily newspaper reporter by just going on their blog. They blog all the time, the columnists have blogs as well as the columnists in the paper they also do a person blog. Kimberley Hayes-Taylor does a person blog and she did the last boot camp and maybe I will have her on as a guest next year in January but basically she talked about how she responds to people personally on the blog. Not in email but on her blog and it just shows that they are going a little bit extra effort. The other thing that media likes is if you are prepared. They like that you are doing your homework, they want to know that you know your subject inside and out and that was kind of the first thing that we talked about, that you know your stuff. The other thing they really, really like is they like something where the book has a broad appeal, where you can find a hook in the book where it is going to relate to a lot of their audience. So you are going to search for a broad thing because you want someone to hear you and say, you know, I know someone who is going through that, you know, where you are going to touch enough people where they understand that purpose is a good example that everybody is going to want to know their purpose or know more about their destiny or that sort of thing so you want to make sure that you reach as many people as you can and have a broad appeal to the audience. They also like people that tie in events. You know, with large events, you know, that are going on in your community and the world and that is very, very good because that then shows that you are on the, you are not living in your own bubble, your own bubble promoting a book, that you are tying it into some other news. Reporters also like to see that you have bee in other media outlets. So if you have been featured in a newspaper or you have been featured in a magazine or someone has written a review, send that to them because media begets media. You know, send them articles about them because producers want to know how do you sound if you have a radio interview. They want to hear how you sound, you know, if you have done a blog talk radio actually send them that video and also too in your press releases you can ask to put in a link on there, you know, listen to this or watch this and that’s one of the cool things about now. If you have a YouTube video of your book trailer

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you can say put that in your, besides your website you can actually put down there, you know, go to this video where they can actually see maybe an interview of you or they can see a book trailer of you. So that is something you can do in your press releases. It shows them some kind of experience. So basically you want to make sure that you are putting your best foot forward. If there is kind of celebrity tie in like I read you Bonnie St Johns it just kind of talked about how she has some celebrities in her book, that’s always hot obviously. If you can get a celebrity to endorse it or some kind of tie in to your book that is always hot. The main thing when the media do contact you that you get back to them right away hook or crook, prompt response. Don’t try to be coy, you know, I called the two weeks ago … No you call them right away. That is so important because they will pass on you in a heartbeat and the main thing too is given them as much visual aides as you can, like I said, give them something they can listen to, something they can look at, something they can watch, any kind of thing. A picture is worth 10,000 words so you want to give them the best photo that you can. And so the whole part is they want to know if you are professional when you are pitching yourself. Don’t, treat them just like regular people but the main thing is that you do have that professionalism about yourself that you are very focused when you are contacting them. I had you all put together your media list or begin building your media list. I didn’t make it too long but put in the names, the title of the media outlet, the phone and the email and the address and start with this list. This is the list that you work. If you work this list, if there is only 40 on here or 20 things you work those 20 and out of those 20 you get 10 but those 10, once you get them they will beget another 10. And then you will have 20 and those 20 will beget another 40 so you have got to start building one by one. And I am running out of time, ok. I didn’t even get to my examples here but in terms of press services one of the first ones I talked about was regular TV Interview Report, that’s ITRIR and those are ads that basically you can buy where they go to about 4,000 radio and TV producers across the country. Now more than likely because we are a minority primarily everyone on here is an African American and we are an African American market, I will have to warn you that a lot of African American, these aren’t going to a lot of African American producers and radio stations. It is just

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we are a minority and we live in a world where the majority is white and so that is just how it goes. So there is something called blackpr.com which goes to all African American radio and TV and newspapers across the country and you can write your release, send it out on a wire, send it to them and it will go out in a blast in a e blast to every radio TV producer and newspaper, African American as well as consumers as well but primarily it is for news releases. There is also because we are Christian religion news service you can actually Google that as well. There is PR Web and nprweb.com. You can actually write a press release and then send it out and then designate what your release is about and then depending on what it is about that is how it is worded or the key words because it has a lot or web 2.0 actions in it. Depending on the key words that you put in the press release those are the reporters that will pick it up. So depending on what your release is about but PR Web is one that you can use. It is not free, it used to be free years ago but it is roughly about $100, $200. You can send out a press release and it goes en masse to media. Christianprgroup.com, I love them, it goes to all Christian media, African American and white and then of course too it you want to just do a blast, not necessarily a press release but just a blast there is Black Gospel Promo. And like we went over before there is a whole lot of other eblast services. But Press Service as I have just named, PR Web, Religion News Services, blackpr.com, Christian PR, those are the ones that we really use for press releases. Media relations again, that kind of talks about what the medias are looking for but I will give you some examples real quick of just that media people that I have worked with in Ministry Marketing Solutions. One in particular, Kim Brookes: Kim Brookes started out very small, she was unknown but she got a hit, her first hit after she did a big lavish book signing and she spent a lot of money on this so a lot of it had to do with how much money you put in up front, how far you will get. But we landed a quote in the Detroit News when her book launched and it was really a by the grace of God that they said that she was Terry McMilllan like novel with a Christian hit. Now that came out, it was above the fold and that was her release party. I think her release party she sold 200 books. It was a party, it was actually a party with food and everything, you know macaroni

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cheese, greens, chicken. So people were actually coming out from the party and then they felt, ok, you know, we will buy the book. Well anyway, that particular quote the Detroit News said the Terry MacMillan like novel with a Christian twist, we used that to the hilt so then we leveraged to as much media as we could. To other radio stations, to other magazines whatever because then it says the Detroit News said... So that was just one example. Ty Adams, she did a book, “Single, Saved and Having Sex”, she did an eblast, this was years ago, probably five or six years ago I guess, and she did an eblast. And basically it was just kind of like really talking about how she overcame this issue with you know fornication. And anyway it was picked up by 700 Club, the 700 Club saw this, called her in and did a whole big feature on her, and from there media begot media and she then went on and got other stuff as well. Ken Brown – you know his endorsements came from George Frasier, they had the smiley. He has done Urban, so many different magazines. I mean if you Google Ken Brown international or just go to Ken Brown International you will see all the media hits that he’s gotten where he’s been written about over and over again, in like a lot of regional business magazines that was his main thing. Dr Pat Bailey, I did a story on her, on her Angola Girl project, she wrote the book “Women Risk Takers”. And basically with her particular story because she was a missionary, it’s not really, you can't really make that really hot. If you're not really into missions you can't really make it hot. But what she did is the “Women Risk Takers” we brainstormed an idea and what she did was said ok I'm going to donate proceeds from my book to help a project in my missions. And the project in her missions had to do with Angola Girls and girls in Angola were actually being enslaved, they were sex slaves over in Angola – as you know girls as young as five, six, seven years old. And basically she was trying to help bring them out of that. And so she put proceeds of the book will go to that. So anyway I wrote along story, press release, it was a feature story press release whatever. Some places picked it up and ran it as it, as a feature story. And one of the places that it ran was in Fair Prices magazine, LA; you can send stories to different magazines like that. And I would suggest

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you do that, if you have a story that may be a testimony or something like that that you send that to like the Joyce Meyer Magazine or a Word of Faith Magazine because they're looking for stories. Your choice may have a magazine – anyway so we sent it there. And then of course that has a big circulation and then eventually we were pitching it to different places and she had a lot of TV interviews and things. But just recently she’s on the cover of Charisma. So that kind of happened. But we’re talking like the book came out in 2007, this is 2009. So eventually now she makes the cover. So I want to let you know that it does take time, lay the ground work early, start small and build big. There's another person that I want to say Dr Lindsay Marsh, she wrote the book “The Best Sex of My Life”. And so basically when she started she didn’t have, she had a website but she didn’t do any social media at all. Eventually she started doing social media, doing a little bit more press releases, she got her constant contact going and she started doing her own seminar. And she started doing her own seminars, invited media to her seminars, and basically she was bringing in other people that were really celebrating this basically to be celibate until you're married. And she’s a virgin, she’s a 31 year old virgin, so that was her thing is to remain a virgin until I get married, that is, then that's when I will have the best sex of my life was basically the whole thing of her story. Anyway she ended up on CNN a couple of times, again talking the same thing about her platform. So that was something that Dr Lindsay Marsh did in terms of her, the social media, people start hearing the buzz about it and really asking her to come and speak that sort of thing. Barbara Smith is another person, she had a book “From Ashes to Glory” I believe it is, and then she was written up a couple of times for a lot of online magazines so people were buying the book. And then she was actually in another magazine called Extraordinary Living, she was actually the centrefold, they just excerpted a portion of her book. Again she just followed up on one particular media that was Christian that said we want, that was looking for content and she provided for them. So how do you reach the media, how do you reach them? Any way you can, like I had you all do your media lists, and actually build it. But you want to make sure that you know when you're contacting the media what

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is your key message – you want to know what is your key message so I can send a 30 second sound bite. You're only going to have so long to really grab their attention. You're going to do it in the headline fashion, in a bullet form, something that says really hot things that will appeal to the media. Who's your target audience and then what kind of things are you going to actually do in order to promote your book? So I gave you a lot of things of what you should write in your press releases and things that really will help you work through your media list, but you reach the Media 1 once you have figured out 'this is who I want to reach, these are the media people', then how do you find them? You can find them on Google, obviously that's one – you can find them on LinkedIn. A lot of media have software media websites you can find them on Facebook. I know someone for a fact that actually got on Al Sharpton's by going into their LinkedIn in their Facebook and actually contacting through there and I just e-mailed them but actually did some homework and just really tracked them down and said 'hey I sent you some information, did you get it' and I really do think I'll be great in your show whatever. Conferences are another great way to meet media. There's Christian Women in Media, there's an organisation where they have an event every year and then they have different regional conferences. I would suggest you Google that Christian Women in Media. The International Christian Retail Show – that's every summer I would suggest you go to that if you want to meet major media. From James Robinson's Producers to Summer Hundred Club to Our Power – they are there because that's when all the major books, that's the major Christian book show, so all of the major authors are there, from Joyce Meyer to Joel Osteen, they're there introducing their new books for the fall in July, so a lot of the media are there, all the TV and Radio Stations, film communications all of that. NRB is another one, National Religious Broadcasters, if broadcasting is your main thing then go NRB, you need to go that's it. Every year I think this year’s a national I'm not sure but National Religious Broadcasters, you need to Google that and go to that. I've been saying things that are really in the Evangelical Christian market but then the same thing with African America. You will have more affinity for – they will have more affinity for you, you can go to NABJ the National Association of Black Journalists that's a great place to meet media. When you meet them you're

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networking you're developing relationships so that's really - don't go there like you're going to cover me on a story, no you go to meet them. The Urban League is a great place to meet the media, meeting when they have their national conferences a lot of media come to events like that. Power Networking is a great one George Fraser has that every year where you can go and actually meet a lot of media because they go to events like that. So those are places where you go to meet the media, follow up with them when you send them something there's nothing worse than not following up because they're not going to follow up with you, so you have to make sure that I gave you that form that you keep organised, you keep organised – I'm going to stress that because the key to any PR plan, one that there is a strategy then there is a plan and then you keep organised to follow the plan. Please do not get scattered; if you feel yourself getting scattered, stop and organise. Because I'm telling you I know people that do not really have good books but because they're organised they get a lot of media hits because they are following up. So you don't want to have a good book and not be able to follow up, so you want to make sure that you're doing that. And then the main thing too is if you have relationships with people, if you have friends that have relationships with the media, ask them. Ask them and say do you know such and such on Channel 2 can you give them this book. The more you have a connection with the media, a personal connection, the more they will cover you. I just got an e-mail today from a reporter that says we're looking for families that are doing something different New Year's Eve so she contacted me and wanted to know what is it? Do I have anybody who will be a source for her? She didn't e-mail me and say 'ok do you have any authors that you want to promote?' She e-mailed me and wanted to know she's writing a story on what are people doing New Year's Eve she needs to know what our family's doing New Year's Eve that was her thing. Now by the way you can tell her that you have a book if you're being interviewed by her but the main thing is that, no she's not going to just look for ways to just promote you. And the last thing too is that all of you are on the class together and I think I sent you all e-mails so you know each other's e-mail is that you all can interview each other whether it's in a podcast or a blog and that creates synergy. And I would say that don't be a lone ranger, you cannot do your book promotion by yourself. One of the biggest examples I can give you

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is I've read it was “Chicken Soup for the Soul”. The reason why that worked so well is because one it’s Mark and Jack, ok so they're partners but then also too it’s the combination of other people that are in that book. So you can see that it's not all about you, and that we want to work with other people that have similar books. Now if people are competitive then stay away from them but for the most part if you can complement each other and not compete, if you can cooperate with each other and not compete you will have more synergy, you will be able to go farther and faster than if you're trying to do it all by yourself. And that's why I say, if you can reach out and say 'how can I help you' to someone guess what, other people will help you, because there's no way that people are going to just reach out by helping you if you've never helped anyone else, so that's really the main thing and the media is looking for your help. They're looking for you to help a reporter out you know how they say 'help a sister out'. Help a reporter out. And I'm going to end with that because that is a website it’s called helpareporter.com. My friend Karen Beth sent me this particular website and basically they are looking for people that can help them and if you sign up to get their e-mail what they're looking for are people that will give them leads or sources, if a reporter is looking for some kind of – they're on a story deadline, they may send out an eblast to this list and say hey help me I'm looking for someone who. And then the more you help a reporter out the more they can say 'what can I do to help you' and that's really how it works. So the main thing is to realise that this is a campaign, it takes time, no one's going to be an overnight success, no one's going to get on Oprah right away, it does take work, it does take homework, it does take staying organised. It takes a campaign, think about how Barack Obama branded himself over a time, how long was his campaign, was it 24 months or something like that? It was a campaign, he built audience, he built loyalty, he built trust, he built an audience that really understood his messages he was always with his key messages. Take a look at how he did his campaign because really he came out of obscurity, not completely out of obscurity he did have a New York Times best seller but he did have Oprah's money, but he really came out of obscurity for most people that have never heard of him to really then being the elected President.

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So define your audience as narrowly as you can and then link it to the most effective media outlet. PR pros know which media fits each particular client. You were going to be a pro by the time you've finished this boot camp. You're going to be a pro you're going to approach the media like a pro as professional as you can. You're going to know the media you're going to do your homework, you're not going to be jacklegged, you're not going to be jacklegged, you're going to do things correctly because if you do that in a way it will build. Don't be so much in a hurry to try and do everything so fast, if it doesn't fit, if that media doesn't fit don't force it. There's so much media out there and then next week what we'll talk about is this is a media, they are giving you their endorsement; you are trying to get them to really talk to you. Next week we're going to talk about 'be the media' and I want everyone to go to www.bethemedia.com and we're going to talk about if you can't get the media then be the media, we're going to talk about podcasting, blogging, ezines and all of that, the social networking theme. And we're going to talk about how you can create the media, how you can really get the media to notice you, through YouTube, through podcasts, through Blog Talk Rradio, all of that, so that's what we're going to talk about next week. In the meantime I want you all to think about what's your book, what are you going to do what are your three points that summarise your topic, gives you an anecdote or your points, your stat. Explain why people should care about your book and then also to just instead of saying things like, 'in my book, in my book' think of another way to say it because you don't want to sound like a commercial – that's a quick way to not get asked back. So with that we’re a little bit over, we basically went over the media so I want to end with one of my favourite things that we always end with, and then also too I’ll send you a recommending reading list of some of the books and I would suggest everyone gets this particular book, especially before next week if you can if not but it's called “The Author's Guide to Building an Online Platform”. It's by Stephanie Chandler and basically it's leveraging the internet to sell more books. I love this book, it's a thin little book, it just came out probably about a month or so ago, I'm going to have her on the [Chocolate Page's] Show soon. This Thursday also to the [Chocolate Page's] Show you can listen on Block Talk Radio I'll have Warren Whitlock on, he's going to be talking about The Power of Twitter in his particular book. And then and in the following week I going

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to have Penny [Sanvario] on and she’s going to be talking about virtual book tours as well. So kind of listen to, click on the links, go to ministrymarketingsolution.com, we’re updating the website, we’ve got a lot of information on the blog minstrymarketsolution.blogspot.com. Click every link, read every link, go to every YouTube I’m trying to give you as much information as I can. I’m going to download it you so that you can actually be on top of it. I sent all of you personal packages so you should get them this week. Go through each piece, each piece was hand picked just for you by God through me to you and so when you see it it’s like of yes this is what I need. Actually I sent one to Kim Brooks today and she said the same thing, she said how did you know I needed this or whatever? It was a shot in the arm. So you know so promotion for your books is unending. It is unending. It begins the minute you decide your want to put pen to paper and it is relentless. Like I told you with Jack Hanfield you do something every single day. Don’t get overwhelmed though, the main thing is don’t get overwhelmed, stay organised. But if you have the list that I told you, the worksheet to start out with to go with those media and try to get those, if you exhaust those and they all say no well go back to Google and get some more but there is going to be someone I guarantee that will give you a story that will put you on their show. I’ll send everyone that now that you all have a little bit idea about what media are expecting I’ll send you a whole PDF and when I get off the call here of the Blog Talk Show so you can actually get interviews on it. And those work really good because I would say that’s practice for your debut on like larger radio. Just so that you know [Tom Joiner] and Steve Harvey I pitch them a lot and I get clients on but primarily they looking for profiles of high profiled people. They’re looking for personalities. And a lot of times I’ll tell them Dr Pat Bailey you know she’s on the cover of Charisma, they don’t care. They say we’re looking for like Queen Latifah or you know Alicia or Beyonce, that’s really what they want. So you have to know that a lot of the times they will not interview just people that don’t have that brand, actually they’re looking for a celebrity. Unless they’re asking for something else and you’ve got to really be paying attention to the show unless they’re looking for something else don’t pitch them because it’s just a waste of time. There’s too many other media for you to get out to, to be wasting it with some other media that’s not just

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their fit. It’s not their format, it’s not their show, it’s not their beat. If it’s not their beat it’s just nothing against you it’s just not what they do. And there’s other media that if you get the Christian Writers Market Guide or things like they are your beat, those are the ones that you have to get to. So this is a quote I'm going to leave with you on then we are going to wrap up. It says “whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to past”. So with that I’m going to say thank you for joining us in teleclass PR boot camp number two and so next week we’ll go over the whole be the media social media stuff. And I’ll be sending you your field work and I would say the field work I want you all to make sure that you have at least one interview by next class. And that’s why I’ll send you the Blog Talk listing of all the Blog Talk shows – read through what each show is about and then basically send them an email, tell them a little bit about yourself and why you will be good for their show. They are looking content just like everybody else they’ve got to fill their show up so tell them why and then you can kind of hear your success in you know that wasn’t so bad, I can do that, I can do it every day. So that’s really what I want you all to do and it’s not that hard, it’s really not. Just being consistent with it and then having really good materials that you're sending them and doing your homework so that you know which media and why you contacting that particularly so that would really good. Alright with that thank you all so much, if you have any questions just send me and email [email protected] and I will talk with you later. Thank you.

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