“You’ve just published or are about to publish a book and you want the world to know about it, right? A press release is an effective way to capture the attention of the media and other organization…” Lois Hoffman

“An effective way to capture media attention”? I’m not so sure. I’ve written and sent out many press releases and have garnered little media attention, and I know I’ve done a decent job with the release.

Are they still a good idea? Yes, mostly because it’s not that hard to do and it is something you want on hand, in case an opportunity comes up for you to use it – like if you have a book launch at a local bookstore or library; and it is another marketing tool that media are used to seeing, so it doesn’t hurt to send it out – especially to smaller, local papers, radio and TV stations. You might get on the morning news program, who knows. I have had to create one at the last minute for one of my books because I didn’t do it initially and I needed it for a book contest I was entering or some such thing.

And the shorter the better. Everyone is busy so keep it simple and concise. Also know that the media may even use parts of the release verbatim (to save them time), so keep that in mind when writing it, along with the idea that the more “news worthy” it is, the more likely the media will pay attention, so change it depending on who you’re sending it to. You might want to say something different to your local paper than to a larger organization you have no particular ties to.

The link below is to Lois’ full article on press release specifics. Check it out!

Source: How to Write a Press Release for a Book – The Happy Self-Publisher

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