The media continually scrambles to fill the news, on and offline. You can get free and invaluable promotion for your book, blog or other writing with a great press release. To get published your press release must tell a compelling story and have a news angle or a hook that grabs the media’s attention.
A press release is a pseudo-news story that will convince an editor of the newsworthiness of an event, product or service.
If you can tie together a press release about your writing with some connection to a news story, you can generate immediate attention which can lead to increased sales for your book or traffic for your blog.
News tie-ins are great because a lot of the work is already done for you.
For example, when a portion of one of the major freeways in south Los Angeles, the 405, was closed for widening, the city, county and whole state were abuzz. In anticipation of this one weekend, July 16-18, 2011, some businesses closed, some lifestyles were altered and the media garnered tremendous attention by dubbing this event Carmageddeon, warning drivers to stay away from the area. 1,000’s of tweets, Facebook messages and many news stories were spun from this event.
Retailers, such as www.cafepress.com, were ready with Carmageddon t-shirts, mugs and iPhone cases and more. Some local bars and restaurants offered special deals to help ease the stress on local residents, and of course, get them to still shop during this period.
Clever authors, bloggers and writers could have tied into Carmageddon if they cover topics about stress relief, handling adversity, resilience, time management, happiness, child’s play, crime and so on.
During the same time frame, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony parted ways. Coaches and therapists could tie in to this news story with an article about what we can learn from celebrity breakups that can help our own relationships.
Back to school stories are popular in August. Can you write about how back to school is different for K-12 students enrolled in online programs?
With news stories, there is a very short window of opportunity. The good part, however, is that there are always news stories, though not equally dramatic, but always with possible tie-ins that can mean visibility for you.
What is happening in the news that you can tie in to promote your topic or niche?
