The Power Of The Press Release

Last week I had an experience with press releases that totally blew me away. My husband, a middle school teacher who also happens to be a musician premiering in an Off-Broadway show (http://www.aGRIMMproduction.com) at the end of the month, asked for my help with a press release. The show's organizers had hired a publicist to handle New York City press, but he wanted to get some stories in some of the Connecticut papers as well. I said no problem! I wrote a press release telling the story of a teacher setting a great example for his kids and how he's going to have a great "What I Did Last Summer" report to give in the fall.

I gave my husband the release and told him how to send it out and follow up with emails and phone calls. Actually, he didn't really get to the follow up part. By the end of the week he had three stories being written about him--one has already been published, along with a big photo! I have to admit, I was stunned. Even though I write about them and talk about them, I had forgotten how powerful a press release can be. If you can write a good one, you too can harness this power to market your book. Here's how to do it.

Contact Information

Let's start here because while contact info is the easiest part of the release, it's also the one most forgotten! It just happens: you get so caught up in the press release that you forget the most important information: how to get in touch with you! The reporter can't do a story if he or she can't find you. So in the upper top right of the release you want to put name, address, phone number and email address. Add a fax number too, just in case. You want to give as many options as possible because you want them to find you with ease.

Headline

Spend a lot of time crafting a strong headline for your press release. These might be the only lines reporters read before the sheet gets tossed in the trash, so you want to grab their attention right away. You want the headline to tell your story, upfront and crystal clear. When I wrote the headline for my husband's press release, I knew I wanted "local teacher" and "New York City Stage" in the headline because I knew that would tell a small-town-guy-makes-it-in-the-big-city kind of story.

The headline doesn't have to be the traditional set up, either. The headline that St. Martin's used on the press release for my novel didn't have a traditional headline--they used a celebrity blurb as the headline because the person, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., had invoked the name of the author Toni Morrison (she and I are from the same hometown) and that was attention-getting on it's own!

Tell a Good Story

Once you have your headline, follow it up with a strong story to match. Think about your basics: who, what, where, when and why. Highlight important dates (for appearances, book signings, shows, etc.) and details. Pretend that this is the story that will appear in the newspaper and you are writing it for them (in fact, one newspaper did take one of my press releases and run it almost verbatum!). It helps if you can make your book a part of a bigger picture and not just "oh, here's another book someone wrote". A headline from another St. Martin's press release (for Jeff Chang's "Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation") reads "A Dynamic Breakdown of the Single Most Important Cultural Movement of the Past Fifty Years". Wow. That's big. It makes you want to read on just to find out exactly what cultural movement they're talking about.

If it's appropriate, mention recognizable names (as in the headline example above.) My husband's show is sponsored in part with a grant from the Princess Grace Foundation. There was no way I was going to not mention Princess Grace! I also got choreographers Mark Morris and Julie Taymor in there as well (as part of the dancers's credits).

Make it Look Good--And Send It Out!

Print your press release on letterhead, if you have it. And double check the whole document for spelling mistakes and errors. You want it to look clean and professional. Then fax, email and mail your press release out to your target media. Follow up after a few days. Don't be disappointed if you don't hear back. Reporters have a lot of mail to go through (take it from someone who's had to confront piles of the stuff in my journalism career). You're also competing with whatever else is happening in the news. A story that you might get into print easily in August may not stand a chance in October. That's just the news cycle. All you can do is your job: write the release, tell a good story and see what happens. With any luck, you'll won't have to pick up the phone. The reporters will call you!

© 2006 Sophfronia Scott