A question about publicity materials

[WritingChick]

Hi everyone,

When publicity materials are requested...what do you send... interviews, newspaper clippings, a flyer about your book? And how many of the items do you send each, one or many? Thanks!

[Hiddenhelper]

When you say "publicity materials" do you mean a press/media kit? If so, they probably want a press release, mock book review, author bio, an article etc. If you need help creating this stuff, I'd recommend the book Putting It On Paper: The Ground Rules for Creating Promotional Materials that Sell Books by Dawn Josephson. She explains how to create a good press kit and you should be able to do it all yourself.

I guess I should give the disclaimer that Dawn is a friend of mine and I do some contract work for Cameo Publications. That said, check out the reviews on Amazon...it's a great book.

Good luck,
Lauren Hidden
The Hidden Helper
www.hiddenhelper.com (http://www.hiddenhelper.com)

[WritingChick]

Okay...thanks for the advice :)

[maestrowork]

A recently published study.

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/news/story.jsp?story=616312 (http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/news/story.jsp?story=616312)

25% of readers buy books based on friend's recommendations (that
figure rose to one-third in the under-35 demographic).

26% bought books based on author familiarity

6% bought a book because they saw it advertised

7% cited cover design (confirming my long-held assertion that a book
cover can UNsell a book, but not necessarily sell one.)

Cathi

If you combine all of them, you have 73% -- not bad.

[Richard]

Don't knock - if they're innumerate, PA might have a chance...