Julie Broad explains why traditional press releases rarely get media coverage anymore, except for SEO. She recommends authors skip paid distribution services and instead spend time on targeted email pitches to specialized outlets and book bloggers who will actually use the material.
One of the things a lot of book marketing packages includes is a press release for the book launch. You know, those lovely little one or two pagers that give a headline, a quote, and a few details about the book. It sounds good. In theory, you probably want media attention for your book launch. But is a press release actually useful for you as an author? If you've been wondering about press releases for your book launch and book marketing, this video is for you. Hey there, I'm Julie, the book broad from Book Launchers. We're your professional self publishing team helping you write, publish and promote a nonfiction book that will help you have a huge impact on your readers. And done right will help you grow your brand, build your business, and make you money. The best part, you keep all rights and royalties, baby. Yeah, press releases were all the rage in the 1990s. You needed a press release to get the attention of media. And as a business, you issued a press release for pretty much everything. A product release, a major change in leadership, and so much more. You know what else was all the rage in the 1990s? Britney Spears. Baby, One More Time. Nirvana, smells like Teen Spirit, Doc Martens, and that grunge look. Oh, and Friends was still on the air. Actually, I got my first email address in the mid-1990s when I got to college. And the BlackBerry, it came out in 1999. Times have changed and so has media. Press releases aren't totally obsolete, but neither is Britney, Nirvana, or Friends. Sorry, BlackBerry, you didn't make the cut. But things have changed. Press release services. You know those like PRWeb, where you pay $99 to $400 to have them distribute your press release to media outlets? They have inundated media with press releases at some outlets. Someone probably does flip through the press releases that come in during the day, but it's barely getting a glance at best. So your release would have to be absolutely outstanding to get any attention that way. Or it has to fit with something that they are specific specifically searching for on that day. In other words, you got lucky. These distribution services have value in that it can lead to you getting some links back to your site. So for example, if you pay $350 through Newswire, you can get a link back from Yahoo News, which is a high authority site, back to your website. And that's a good thing. But here's what you need to realize. A press release doesn't do much for you as an author unless you use it well. You can pay for distribution through these services, but other than links back to Your site, which as I mentioned, have high value for search optimization, but they don't sell books. It is really unusual for a press release like this to lead to actually getting media attention. If press releases are mostly obsolete, should you bother using them for your book launch? My answer is maybe. For most of our clients, we don't write a press release. We don't worry about creating one of those for their book launches. What we do focus on is creating very short and pointed pitches via email that are targeted to specific media with an angle that is relevant for what is going on in the world right now. It's really not about your book, it's about what you as the author can talk about that their audience is going to care about. So we have a short pitch and then we attach the media kit and the media kit gives them details on the author and the book and really what they need to make a decision if they like the pitch and took the time to open the media kit. And I've covered media kits right here, a press release can be part of that media kit. It's not right or wrong to include it or not include it. It. It's really a choice and it's up to you. Generally, if an author has written a more general book that can be targeted at a more mass media market, a press release can be useful. Again, we're still doing a short pointed pitch via email to get the initial look. In that case, the press release can serve an important purpose for book bloggers or print media like local magazines, because what they'll do often is they just take the press release, tweak it a little bit, and then just use that to publish. In other words, the press release does the work of producing content for them, so they just use that for their article. And that's where there is value in a press release. But for most authors, it's really not worth paying a lot of money to get a press release written or distributed. You're better off to take that money and research specific media who will be interested in your pitch and your angle and create a short, very personalized pitch for that outlet or that media personality. For example, if you're a Monty Roberts author of DJs Mean Business, you'd be better off pitching all the DJ podcasts and DJ news and other specialized media first with short pointed pitches versus writing a press release and distributing it to mass media. While his book could potentially be picked up as something cool for the general media to talk about because you get to learn cool business lessons while going through the night in the life of a dj. The reality is that mainstream media is unlikely to be interested in a DJ specific topic versus a DJ specific media outlet or podcast. Whether you write one or you're pitching your book via email without one, the most important thing you need to know is that you publishing a book is not news. It's not a big deal to anyone other than you and your family and your close friends. What you need to figure out is what is relevant for that news media podcast right now. And that might be in your book or relevant to your personal story, but that's the hook of any pitch. It's not. There's a new must read book out right now. That's not the hook. If you're wondering what a great press release should look like, we're going to cover that in an upcoming video. So make sure you've subscribed to the channel and turn the notifications on so you catch that one when it comes out like this tip and go ahead and smash that thumbs up button. Try it. I promise it feels pretty darn good to spread a little cheer. And while you're here spreading that cheer, go ahead and share in the comments below your favorite PR tip. And when you comment the day a video is released, you'll be entered to win some sweet noboringbookswag or our oh so soft journal. Now, I really enjoyed our time together today, and I'm thinking you'll probably be keen to watch this video right here on our author media kits. But if you've seen that before, well, YouTube thinks you're gonna like this video right here. So go ahead, choose one and then we can keep on hanging out together today, okay?
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