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The information that follows on this page is from the 2013 edition of the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide, which will remain here for historical purposes only.
Book Marketing Tip #10: How to Write a Press Release
As some of my readers know, prior to starting Smashwords I worked for about 20 years in technology marketing and public relations. In 1993, I founded a PR agency called Dovetail Public Relations. At Dovetail, I represented dozens of technology companies, ranging from hot garage startups to large multi-billion dollar companies. During my time at Dovetail, I learned to respect press releases as one of the most powerful marketing tools you have, and here’s why:
1. The press release is a proven form of communication. Recipients of well written press releases, such as reporters and bloggers, know that it will contain all the information they need to evaluate the news value of your story and cover it. A good press release tells the reader what you’re announcing, why they should care, and where they can learn more information if interested.
2. Press releases aren’t just for the press any more. With the advent of Google and other online search engines, press releases are commonly read not just by traditional media (newspapers, magazines) and new media (bloggers), but by your target readers too.
3. Press releases help you build roads (hyperlinks) back to your profile page and your book pages. This means you’re building paths to help Internet users discover you and your book. The more paths you build to your book pages and profile page, the more likely you are to rank highly in the search engines, which means your prospective readers are more likely to find you.
There are several free press release wire services you can use to get good exposure for your press release. One I’ve experimented with is PRlog.com. For an industrial strength wire service, you might consider PRNewswire at http://www.prnewswire.com/. Try the free services first, because it can be difficult to sell enough books to justify the expense of something like PR Newswire, which will run you $300 or more. If you decide to experiment with one of the paid services, run your press release only on your “local” circuit. Many of the paid services offer so-called “national” or “international” circuits to give your press release broader distribution, but my experience over the last 20 years has shown that these broader circuits are a waste of money. The local circuit gets you 80 percent of the benefit by posting your release into all the online databases.
Many authors mistakenly believe that simply by running a press release, they’ll get press coverage. This is not the case. Your best press coverage will come from your proactive promotion of your news.
Let’s say you just published a book titled, “How to Protect Your Garden from Squirrels without Killing the Little Buggers.” There are probably hundreds of gardening reporters at major newspapers across the country who would like to learn from your wisdom. Research who they are on Google, or pay the $650 or so for the print version of the Bacon’s Media Directories where you can find the gardening reporters at major daily newspapers and magazines. Better yet, call your local library and ask if they have the directory (you’d have to sell a lot of books to cover that $650!).
What should you write your press release about? How about announcing you’ve published your book on Smashwords? That’s news worth sharing. Or announce a limited time promotion (and include the coupon code). Or, for the fictional book example above, you could publish a press release that shares the top five tips for ridding your garden of pesky squirrels. Does the topic of your book tie in to a major news story? For example, let’s say you wrote a book about flood repair. Let’s say a hurricane hits the East coast of the US, and causes major flooding. Consider writing a press release to share useful remediation tips. It might have a headline such as “Flood Repair Expert Shares 10 Tips for Home Flood Recovery.” A press release must include information of value to receive press coverage.
How do you write a press release? Press releases have a fairly strict format, which you should follow as closely as you can.
Headline: The headline words are typically either ALL CAPS or Initial Caps. Summarizes the high level message of what you’re announcing. If your headline isn’t compelling, no one will read your press release.
Subhead: The words are typically Initial Caps. Provides additional context about your announcement, and helps convey why the story is important. In my flood recovery example above, the subhead might read, “Helps Home Owners Save Money on Repairs, Prevent Permanent Damage, and Access Federal Disaster Recovery Assistance.”
Dateline: Typically follows the format of City, State -- Date. The dateline precedes the body of your first paragraph of the press release:
First paragraph: Usually follows common phraseology, such as “XYZ today announced....” A good first paragraph should tell the reader what the announcement is about, why it’s important, and who should care.
Second paragraph: More detail, or maybe a quote from you. Quotes should follow a strict format, such as “First sentence,” said [your firstname lastname], author of [booktitle]. “Second sentence. Third sentence.”
Third paragraph: Possibly more detail, if needed. If you’re writing non-fiction, this is a good place to summarize or share valuable knowledge, or tell the reader what they’ll learn from your book. If you’re writing fiction, this is a good place to provide some juicy details about your story, and the challenges faced by your characters.
Boilerplate: This is where you put the author bio, and summarize where readers can purchase the book. Add hyperlinks to your Smashwords Author Profile Page, your book pages, your personal website , your blog, and which retailers are carrying your ebook. Include contact information such as your email address, but obfuscate it (see below).
Contact information: Even if you put your contact information in the boilerplate (and you should), the press release should also contain a separate section for contact information. Typically an email address is fine. But don’t just put your address in there in plain text, because otherwise it’ll get picked up by the spam spiders (these are automated robots that scan the Internet for email addresses, and then add those addresses to spam lists). Instead, obfuscate it, similar to how I do with my email address across the smashwords site, where I list the address as: “first initial second initial at smashwords dot com.”
Here’s an actual sample from a Smashwords author, including some fresh new edits I added for this Smashwords Book Marketing Guide to make it serve as an even better example. I also added parenthetical notes IN ALL CAPS to correspond with the sections above.
Free ebook Memoir, That Day in September, Commemorates Anniversary of 9/11 (HEADLINE)
Author Artie Van Why Witnessed Tragic Event from His Office Across the Street from Twin Towers (SUBHEAD)
(DATELINE) Lancaster, Pa. September 11, 2008 -- (YOUR FIRST PARAGRAPH FOLLOWS)Lancaster (NOTE IT’S SMART TO ASSOCIATE YOURSELF WITH YOUR HOME TOWN SO YOUR HOME TOWN MEDIA ARE MORE LIKELY TO COVER YOUR NEWS) author and resident, Artie Van Why, has published That Day in September, a book that chronicles Van Why's firsthand experiences on 9/11 and in the weeks and months that followed. On the morning the first plane struck the tower, Van Why was sitting in his office directly across the street from the twin towers.
For a limited time (Thursday, September 11 through Sunday, September 14) an electronic book version of That Day In September, normally priced at $9.95, will be available to the public as a free download at Smashwords at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/154. (NOTE DIRECT HYPERLINK TO HIS BOOK PAGE. WHILE IT’S NOT NECESSARY TO DO A LIMITED TIME PROMOTION LIKE THIS, IT’S NOT A BAD IDEA EITHER. LIMITED TIME PROMOTIONS BUILD URGENCY. WITH SMASHWORDS’ COUPON GENERATOR (find it in your Dashboard), YOU CAN INSERT YOUR COUPON CODE DIRECTLY IN THE PRESS RELEASE)
While many stories have been told about September 11th in the past seven years, Van Why's effort to keep the memory of that day alive and to honor those who died offers a truly unique perspective and a moving commentary that begs to be read in one sitting. (THIS PARAGRAPH DID A GREAT OF TELLING THE READER WHY HIS BOOK IS A WORTHWHILE READ)
About Smashwords (THIS IS THE SMASHWORDS BOILERPLATE, WHICH YOU CAN INCLUDE)
Founded in 2008, Smashwords is the leading distributor of self-published ebooks. More than 60,000 authors, small presses and literary agents around the world publish over 200,000 ebooks through Smashwords. Smashwords makes ebook publishing fast, free and easy. Smashwords distributes to major online retailers such as the Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Baker & Taylor Blio, Page Foundry and the Diesel eBook Store. Smashwords is based in Los Gatos, California, and can be reached on the web at http://www.smashwords.com. Visit the official Smashwords blog at http://blog.smashwords.com/
About Artie Van Why (THIS IS HIS PERSONAL BOILERPLATE. TYPICALLY, THE PARTY ISSUING THE PRESS RELEASE LISTS THEIR BOILERPLATE LAST)
Originally from Maryland, Artie Van Why lived in New York City for more than 25 years. After 9/11 he left his job of 13 years and began writing about his experience of that day, and the weeks and months following. His writings became the basis for the one man play of That Day In September which Artie performed in L.A. and Off Broadway in New York. It is on that play that his memoir That Day In September is based. Artie now lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Contact:
Artie Van Why
firstname at emailprovider.com
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(this is the symbol for “end of release,” and it should be centered)
Where to Find More Press Release Samples
For more samples, you can visit the Smashwords press room at http://www.smashwords.com/press.
Learn More about the Practice of Public Relations
I wrote a short ebook, The 10-Minute PR Checklist - Earn the Publicity You Deserve, available at Smashwords and all major ebook retailers. I wrote it for marketing professionals and entrepreneurs to help them understand how to obtain press coverage to achieve any business objective. Although it’s not specifically written for authors, some authors have found it worthwhile. Unlike my free ebooks about ebook publishing, this ebook is priced at $5.99.
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