And How It Can Get Your Story in Print
By all accounts, traditional print publications such as newspapers and magazines are on their way out.
You could have fooled me! As the recent story about Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o illustrates, they’re powerful!
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Why You Should be Following Newsweek’s Example
I was floored last week when I learned Newsweek magazine, that 79-year-old American icon, would stop publishing its glossy print version at the end of the year and move entirely online.
My print-specialist colleagues here at EMSI – who’ve experienced firsthand the long, slow decline of newspapers – said I shouldn’t be surprised. They reminded me that just this year, another venerable publication, Encyclopedia Britannica, announced it was abandoning print and joining the digital crowd.
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I’m a good do-bee when it comes to subscribing to magazines and newsletters designed to keep me abreast of public relations industry trends. I have a nice stack on the corner of my desk to prove it!
But the stack only grows taller – never shorter – until I finally sweep it into the trash can.
I would never cancel the subscriptions to my trade magazines; just like those size 4 jeans in the closet, I’m sure I’ll get into them one of these days! But that doesn’t mean I don’t find time to read. Without fail, I start every day with my newspaper and mug of coffee.
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It’s understandable, really. People who have the passion necessary to write a book usually have just one thing on their minds: writing their book. Some may think ahead to getting it published, but, tragically, that’s where the planning often ends.
I’m not exaggerating when I say “tragically”! I talk to many people who’ve poured years of effort, money and sacrifice into their books, which wind up sitting in boxes in their garage. They never thought about how they might market their books themselves or budgeted for book promotion services.
When’s the best time to start thinking about marketing a book? Ideally, before you even sit down to begin writing. Because — and I speak from experience here — the first step will help in your writing.
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Have you sent emails to journalists over and over again, trying to get print coverage about your product or book, or offering to submit a great article they can run for free?
If you’ve gotten no response, it may be that you lost them even before they scrolled to the bottom of your email.
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All the manpower shortages today at newspapers and magazines have made it much easier – in some ways — to break into print and for getting print coverage. In other ways, it has gotten harder.
If you send an email with your credentials and a brief sample of a free, original article, tips list or other content you can provide, editors may just leap at the opportunity. That is, if they believe it will appeal to their audience and if the quality is very good. (They don’t want to spend as much time editing your piece as it would take for them to write it themselves!)
Print publications with online outlets present even riper opportunities: They need new content throughout the day to satisfy the continuous demands of their audience.
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I was shocked to read last week that Newsweek magazine is planning to end its life in print and become an online-only publication.
In retrospect, I should not have been so surprised. After all, I’ve been telling clients for years, “Don’t underestimate the value of online media!”
While Newsweek as we know it isn’t going away any time soon, it’s joining a long slow march that includes publications like The Christian Science Monitor and others that have adopted a half-and-half approach, including the Detroit Free Press, which cut home delivery to three days a week and ramped up its digital efforts.
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Article at a glance:
I’ve been saying it for 22 years: Getting mentioned in news stories and being interviewed on radio and TV is the best, most cost-effective marketing strategy.
By positioning yourself as an expert on topics relevant to your product or book, you also gain credibility. This is what I call “Celebritize Yourself.” It’s the boost you need to rise above the competition. Read more →
Article at a glance:
It’s beyond frustrating to discover that one of the first steps in your media campaign is a doozy.
Connecting with the print, radio or TV person who can get you in the paper or on the air can be like hitting the target at a carnival shooting gallery. You miss so many times, eventually you figure the game’s rigged.
Really, you just need to know how to play.
Getting media exposure means putting yourself out there. It might be chatting live on the air with a radio talk show host, taping an appearance for TV, coming up with posts for social media, or being interviewed by a print journalist.
The first couple times can make you apprehensive, but trust me, that disappears quickly. You realize the interviewers tend to ask the same questions, so there are few surprises. You figure out your best sound bites and the responses that get a nice chuckle, and you polish those up.
