Earlier this week over on the #TeamAndMore Facebook group (you are a member of the Facebook group, right?), I posted a link to an article from Scribe Media with their step-by-step instructions on How To Write A Book Press Release.
Some of you may know that I was much more politically active in a previous life. Which included helping run a presidential campaign here in PA. So I've written up press releases for political activities before. Book press releases are a bit different, but the advice I see in the article is in line with what I know.
Take the time to skim through it and bookmark it for later use. Even if you are an indie or small-press author, you might want to consider a local press release if you have a new book come out. Some reasons to consider it:
It's advertising!
It's a way to let local libraries, book stores, groups, etc. know about your book.
If there's a regional bent to it (ex: your novel is set in your hometown, etc.) then it's more likely to be picked up as a possible "human interest" story.
There's also something you might not have thought about: Wikipedia. Yeah, yeah, some people don't care. However, if a Wikipedia page is something that interests you, having print references to you and your work will make justifying it as notable much easier.
If you are going to do a local press release, search for "$CITY_OR_REGION press release services". I've got one in Western PA that I've used before. $50 gets professional review & editing for the release, plus distribution to over 100+ local news outlets (newspaper, magazine, radio, TV, and web).
What was interesting to me was that about the same time, a discussion stared on an author’s Discord server about the difficulty of writing blurbs for your novel. A couple of people said they had hard times doing it, because it felt like bragging. Or that it felt awkward, trying to distill a book down to a paragraph or two.
There’s a lot in common with writing a press release - I mean, after all, one of the things you have to include in a press release is a description of your book! You’re just going to have to face facts: sooner or later, you are going to have to write a blurb for your book. Possibly several blurbs.
And that’s a good thing.
Communicating succinctly is a skill, and it’s one that you can develop. You’re going to need to write a blurb to pitch your novel to an editor. When you’re published, you’re going to need to create some back-cover copy. Oh, and a blurb for Amazon or other online retailers. Then of course you’re going to want to write up your press release. And put together you social media promotions! And…
Yeah, you’re going to need to be able to come up with quite a few of these descriptions, in different lengths for different purposes. Here’s a couple of bits of advice to help you with the process:
Start with a verbal description. Use text-to-speech if that helps, but talk about your book. Think about actually doing so to a friend or a relative while you record it.
Be enthusiastic! You’re not marketing, you’re sharing. Have you ever had a friend tell you you had to read this book, because it’s all about… ? Yep. You’ve been there. That is the kind of blurb you want to write. Stop thinking of this as marketing, and think of it as getting to share with someone who is a fan already geeked to hear about your latest project.
Go listen to the Writer Dojo episode where Dave Butler talks about Pitching and Acquisition. Take notes. He lays out a solid starting point for describing your story that’s simple, direct, and useful. I’ve got a ton of notes on this from a session he did at the Writer’s Cantina earlier this month; I will write those up and share them with you sometime soon.
Learn to write concisely. You know what helps tremendously in this regard? Home your skill by writing some flash fiction. The seriously short stuff - 150 words or less. If you can tell a story in 50, 100, 150 words, you can write your blurb. I’ve done short stories for Raconteur Press’ 50-word Postcards series of books, and let me tell you - you learn really quickly how to condense, consolidate, and get right to the point!
Whether you are working on your pitch, putting together back-cover copy, or writing a press release - you are going to have to write a blurb at some point. Don’t look at it as a chore, look at it as an opportunity to share and hone another aspect of your craft. You can get pretty good at it in a very short amount of time with just a little bit of effort, so long as you start with the right attitude.