HARO

Two Weeks! Two weeks until the official release of Rite of Rejection. I keep vacillating between feeling like I have everything under control and feeling like I am so far behind there aren't enough hours left to catch up. This switch happens every couple of hours so I never know where I'm going to be when the panic sets in. Truly, it's a thing of beauty.

In the interest of honesty, last week one of my CPs had to talk me down off the ledge. Like, I was ready to pull the book back (as if it would be possible to pull the book back from hundreds of Netgalley members I don't know). Why, you ask?

Because I got a so-so review. Nothing scathing or even harsh. Instead of the "How could they be so wrong?" reaction I was expecting, I launched into a "They are so right. How could I have ever thought this book was ready for public consumption?" string of thoughts. It wasn't pretty, people.

Luckily, I have a wonderful support network that keeps me grounded and gives me the emotional espresso shot that authors need from time to time. So before I talk about today's marketing effort, let me add some bonus advice. Surround yourself with people who support what you are doing before you even think about publishing. This goes for indie and traditional. Whether it's your spouse, your family, your friends, your agent, or your next door neighbor. Find the people who will let you vent and then hand you coffee and/or alcohol and tell you it's all going to be okay.

Now, on to what I've been up to on the marketing front...

I recently signed up for a HARO account and so far so good.

If you aren't familiar, HARO stands for Help A Reporter Out and the concept is kinda genius. The account is free and by signing up I get three emails a day (morning, noon, and evening) with a list that usually has around 35 requests. The requests come mostly from reporters, but sometimes from people writing books, radio stations and TV Shows.

These folks are all looking for one thing: the knowledge you already have.

Each request specifies what the reporter is looking for and who qualifies. If that matches you, you just reply to the email and send along your information. Pretty simple.

The emails are organized in a really clear way so that it takes me less than 2 minutes to read them and see if anything applies to me. So far, I've responded to three requests and passed one along to one of my clients who I thought would be a good resource. That's in just a little over a week.

Now, there's no guarantee that any of these reporters will use my quotes or the answers I sent. I'm not even sure if they'll let me know if they do. What I do know is that the whole process takes less than ten minutes of my day and with that, I have the chance to get real, national media exposure for me and my book. And it's free.

I'm all about opportunities that are free and have a low impact to my time schedule. Plus, if I have a day that is really just crazy I can wait to read those requests the next day or just skip and delete. No one will ever know. To me, it's the worth the few minutes for the possibility of something big.

I'll let you know if I ever get any responses on this, but in the meantime, you might want to check it out.