by Jane Wesman, President, and Andrea J. Stein, Publicity Manager of Jane Wesman Public Relations, Inc.
Your book is written and published, and you’ve taken to heart the truism that it won’t sell without publicity. So you’re about to embark on a series of media interviews. The question is: how can you make the most of these opportunities?
It simply isn’t possible to share everything about your book – your research, your ideas, your conclusions – in a three-minute television interview, 15-minute radio interview, or even an hour-long podcast. Nor, in fact, should you want to.
What you do need to do is to stir potential book buyers’ interest, and entice them to want to know more. The secret is to create message points – key ideas that you will come back to time and time again in your interviews.
Here are four tips for creating message points that will promote your book and generate sales:
1. Ask yourself: Why did I write this book? What is different about it? How can it help people? As you answer these questions, you will begin to develop your message points. For example, if your investment book demystifies the inner workings of the stock market, one of your message points might be: “The stories I tell will help people who have struggled with investing to finally understand how the markets work.”
2. Look at your book’s major themes. What big concepts must people understand in order to implement the advice you’re offering? Perhaps you’ve written a book about stress management. A key message might be that stress is a physical event, not a mental one. People need to understand that basic fact in order to put your step-by-step method in place.
3. What makes your book one-of-a-kind? Did you have access to information that others don’t have? Do you have a unique back story that affords you a special perspective? Maybe you draw heavily on insights you’ve gained as a consultant to major companies, or perhaps you conducted a large-scale survey of business leaders. You’ll want to make this one of your points.
4. Put your book into the context of a current, or much talked-about, issue. For example, if your novel focuses on a married, professional woman, you could craft a message about whether it’s possible to “have it all.” Or if you’ve written about leadership, you might construct a message about why developing great leaders is key to building a strong economy.
You are the key promoter of your book. By creating and using message points effectively, you’ll be able to get the most selling power out of every interview you do.
