Kath here. This is the last in the series of posts by uber-wonderful book publicist Susan Schwartzman. We’ve been grateful for her insights into the often confusion world of book publicity, and we hope they’ve been useful for you. Keep in touch with Susan on Twitter @PRBookPro, and look for her occassional posts with us in the future.

This is my last blog posting for a while. I want to wrap up my thoughts by first saying how much I enjoyed discussing the different aspects of book publicity: how to recession-proof your campaign; what you should look for in a book publicist and when you should hire a book publicist and why; why you should consider a media tour and what an Internet campaign can do for you. (If you’ve missed any of my postings, they are all archived on this website, please click my name!)

One aspect of publicity I did not write about is the radio-phoner campaign. Radio-phoner campaigns are THE best way to maximize publicity. Not only is it the least expensive kind of publicity campaign, it is also highly effective—and you don’t even have to leave your home or office. Hire a pr firm such as mine which guarantees 10 or 20 radio interviews and you will reach out to listeners all across the country.

Do radio interviews really sell books? You bet. Especially if your book lends itself to an NPR campaign. Some authors have told me that radio campaigns did not increase book sales. But I’ve tracked Amazon rankings after live radio interviews and rankings have spiked dramatically. I recently booked an author on NPR’s All Things Considered “You Must Read This” segment and traffic to the author’s website surged as did her Amazon ranking.

Again, each media opportunity builds momentum and increases awareness about your book. So if you have a small budget, you should seriously consider a radio-phoner campaign.

Before I leave you today, I want to take a moment to tell you what NOT to do when you are shopping for a publicist and after you’ve hired one.

• When you query a book publicist, whether via e-mail or voice-mail, please provide essential information about your book: the title, publisher, pub date, genre, and very a brief summary (a paragraph or two should do it) about your book.

• Don’t leave a message merely stating where you live (how is that relevant?) or that you’ve written a book (that’s obvious). Most publicists receive hundreds of queries a week and can’t possibly respond to all. The author who provides relevant information will most likely be the first to get a call back.

• After you’ve hired a publicist and he or she is working on your campaign, try not to call them during business hours and don’t expect your e-mails to be answered during prime-time booking hours. Most publicists are booking tours across various time-zones, and are e-mailing and calling producers from as early as 7:00 AM for East Coast producers and as late as 8:00 PM EST for West coast media.

When authors call me during the day during prime-time booking time, they are losing media opportunities. During a 30-minute conversation with an author, I could have booked a complete media tour in one city! For every minute you are on the phone with your publicist, your publicist could be devoting that time to getting you media coverage. Publicity is a numbers game, and the more media outlets that are pitched, the more coverage you will most likely get. So allow your publicist to make as many media connections as possible on your behalf! Your publicist should provide you with a weekly update so you know what he or she has done on your behalf, and if there is any media activity regarding your book. Make sure before you hire a publicist that he or she will be sending you regular updates.

• Give your publicist credit when credit is due. She is only human and a little praise not only makes her day, but will motivate her to work that much harder for you. I once got an author a placement in Time magazine. He quipped back, “What about Newsweek?” Fortunately, I was able to reply that I had landed a placement in Newsweek as well. On the other hand, everytime I get a placement or book an interview for another author, no matter how small or large, he always replies, “Awesome!” Which author do you think I will work for again?

• My biggest pet peeve, however, are authors who hire me at the last minute—or even worse—months after their books are out on the shelves. When you hire a book publicist several weeks before your book is out, or months after your book has been out, you are seriously limiting your opportunities and the amount of coverage you can get. One author hired me several weeks before she toured Seattle. She had set up book events herself, and unfortunately, much of the media I pitched was already booked. The book reviewer for The Seattle Times was on vacation when I called her several days after I mailed her a review copy, and although I managed to get this author a fantastic review in The Seattle Times at the last minute when the book editor returned, she did not have enough time to write the review before this author’s events. If the author had hired me well in advance—at least 6 weeks before she was traveling to Seattle—I would have been able to talk to the book editor before she went on vacation and secured the review to tie-in with the booksigning events.

In closing, book publicity is a highly focused, time and labor-intensive job. If you follow all of the advice I’ve given you in previous postings, you should be well on your way to success. Building momentum is the name of the game because it leads to book sales. And if you increase awareness about who you are and what your book is about by hitting as many media markets as you can, you stand a much better chance to become a successful author. I’ve seen it happen time and again.

So good luck to you. And remember, even a small campaign that gets your name out there helps to increase visibility. Most bestselling authors once started out as unknown writers. Slowly and methodically they built up their fan bases through carefully strategized publicity campaigns, year after year. And they are the authors who you read, who you see on the bestseller lists, and who have become household names.

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Susan Schwartzman
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