Seeking out national media attention isn't really any different from your local media, but there are a few things you can do to boost your chances.
Doing your homework here can pay off big time, but it may take more digging than finding the book editor of your local paper. You may need to click through a series of pages to find the editorial staff. Another approach is to search for the contact information by a reviewers byline. The same thing is true of submission guidelines. A national newspaper might not make it easy to find their information, but submitting outside of the guidelines is an automatic "No".
Also, make sure you know who you are submitting to. With a lot of the national media, they have different staff for the print and online editions and they operate separately from each other. Make sure you keep them straight and find out if it's appropriate to submit to both of them.
This is also the time to haul out your media highlight reel. You can tuck a few of these at the bottom of your press release, but don't be afraid to work them into the body. If you've done several interviews or had feature stories, it's appropriate to provide an appendix to your release listing all your exposure with links where editors can find your interviews.
I know I've mentioned this before, but with this step it is especially important that you check with the publicist of your publisher before sending these out. Not only is sending duplicate requests a waste of your time, it can make you and your team look less professional to the decision makers.
Today's task is to research at least three national reviewers and three national media contacts and send out a fresh batch of press releases.
Bonus Content: There is a free Google+ webinar titled "Who Are Your Readers?" on Wednesday. There should be lots of excellent information.
Luckily my publicist just asked me for a list of these people to contact and she does it for me. *sigh of relief*
ReplyDeleteAh, the value of a good publicist is not to be underestimated. :)
DeleteGreat information, Sarah. Another thing to point out is depending on where you are in your career, it might not be a bad idea to take a free gig writing for ezines. It's experience working with an editor and I've lined up an interview with a large ezine I wouldn't have got otherwise. Or I may have, but it was much easier to approach the editor since I knew her, and she was happy to help.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great tip! Thanks for sharing, Beth. :)
DeleteEeek! I can't imagine anyone on a national level would be interested in anything of mine. I'd never dare approach them. 0.o
ReplyDeleteDon't sell yourself short. The big guys are just looking for a story, the same as the local guys. Show them you are news worthy and they'll make you news. :)
DeleteI'm on the opposite end of the spectrum from Lexa. I can totally see the today show wanting to interview me! Lol. My friends went from garage band to Leno! (Imagine dragons!)
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