A Day in the Life of Troubador Marketing – Part 2
Jasmin Elliott creates a targeted PR list
1-2 months pre-publication: Media Marketing. This involves us pitching a book to media outlets and journalists for media coverage, like interviews and reviews.
PR marketing is the aspect of marketing that our authors tend to find the most daunting – pitching their book to local and national media outlets – but it can also be the most exciting! Whether you’re an aspiring or established author, you’ve probably imagined being interviewed live on air, or opening a magazine to see your book reviewed, and a solid PR marketing plan can help you achieve just that.
We start work on the media marketing of a title once the cover has been approved to give us plenty of time to hone our list of contacts, think about creative marketing opportunities and also work with the author – as this stage of the process is one of the most collaborative. Authors know their books inside out, so we work with them closely in order to create a campaign that is as comprehensive yet targeted as possible.
This part of the process sees us take a two-pronged approach. First, we identify contacts using Vuelio – industry-standard PR software that allows us to send press releases instantly to hundreds of opt-in journalists. The software contains the most up-to-date information about the different media outlets, and different topic lists can contain up to and over 3,000 journalists.
Secondly, we conduct traditional mailings – sending out review copies of books, plus press releases – using our extensive databases of media contacts that we have built up over the years. We can identify which journalists and bloggers should be sent review copies upfront by what sort of book they usually feature and books we’ve worked on with them in the past – even in today’s digital age, who you know counts!
Our media campaigns are always closely targeted, in order to maximise the chance of coverage – if, for example, we are marketing a historical romance novel, it would be no good sending the press release to a scientific publication. We also like to look for as many connections as we can. If an author is from Oxford, we will pitch their book to Oxfordshire-relevant outlets, as we find that regional media tends to be supportive of local authors. If their book is also set in Newcastle, we will also contact Newcastle-based publications as there is a link to the area.
From an author’s point of view, it’s easy to think that sending out a few copies out to the daily papers will suffice – but these outlets get hundreds of submissions a week. It’s thus vital not to underestimate the importance of contacting local publications, bloggers and subject-specific outlets – which will often be much more interested in featuring a title. Whilst getting a review in The Guardian is undoubtedly effective, unfortunately it’s very rare – especially for debut authors. What can and does happen, however, is that an author may get great coverage in local newspapers and radio stations, and as a result is picked up by national outlets – journalists do talk and won’t let a good story go to waste!
Finally, if you do get coverage, but it isn’t quite the type that you hoped for, try not to be disheartened. The saying ‘all publicity is good publicity’ is overused, but it is really is true. Sometimes all it takes is a mention in a few of the right publications – especially in local outlets, which can be key to good local sales – is all it takes to generate movement.
Media marketing can seem daunting, but it can also be a very rewarding process. The more comprehensive and targeted our campaigns are, the more effective they will be.
Next week – part 3
www.troubador.co.uk
About us…
Matador offers a bespoke, comprehensive and high-quality self-publishing service. (www.troubador.co.uk/matador). We also offer standalone marketing and distribution services for authors who publish elsewhere (http://www.troubador.co.uk/distribution.asp) and standalone design and editorial services via our sister company, Indie-Go (http://www.indie-go.co.uk).
Our annual Self-Publishing Conference, held on 22nd April 2017, offers sessions on all aspects of the publishing process and can be tailored to each delegate’s requirements – registration is open now for £65 per person: (http://www.selfpublishingconference.org.uk).