Tim Bete's award-winning parenting humor column, previously featured in the Christian Science Monitor
and more than a dozen parenting magazines
Paying for book publicity
by Tim Bete
I've been very happy with the publicity and marketing support provided by my publisher, Sorin Books. They've gone above and beyond what I expected. But I've also invested a significant amount of time promoting my book on my own.
I've been contacted by many PR firms and services offering to help me promote my book. While I'd love the help, the numbers never worked out. Based on my royalty rate, I didn't think the publicity they could provide would generate enough sales for me to break even on their fees. If a firm charges you $2,500 and you're making $1 per book, their PR services have to generate sales of 2,500 copies. That's a lot of copies. While it might pay off in the long-term career of an author, most PR services aren't going to pay for themselves through royalties.
But I finally plunked down $500 for a PR service that gets bloggers to write book reviews. The result was 29 reviews of my book -- less than $20 per blog. I think that's a bargain.
Why target blogs?
A recent article on the AdAge Web site said, "U.S. workers in 2005 will waste the equivalent of 551,000 years reading blogs." Author and marketing guru, M.J. Rose, knows what to do with all that wasted time: sell books.
In her blog, Buzz, Balls & Hype, Rose says, "If people are reading blogs, publishers and authors need to figure out effective ways of utilizing blogs. And that doesn’t mean sending them ARCs they may never look at. It means connecting to the right bloggers. Offering them excerpts. Taking out ads (yes there’s that dirty word again) on blog sites that accept them."
Stacy Harp at Mind & Media makes targeting bloggers easy. Harp founded Mind & Media in March 2005 to help authors and publishers get noticed by bloggers. Here's how it works:
Harp and the client select a specific number of bloggers to review the book. Bloggers receive free review copies of the book and write complete, honest reviews in their blogs -- so , there is a risk of negative reviews. Out of the 29 reviews of my book, two were negative.
Bloggers are required to to post a graphic advertising the book, with a link to a means of purchasing the book (e.g., Amazon.com).
The client provides all review copies and pays for mailing expenses as well as $20 per blog. (Rates vary depending on the number of blogs selected -- the more blogs, the lower the cost.) Mind & Media does not guarantee book sales. But for $20 per blog, there's little risk.
For each client, Harp also conducts an audio interview with the author and posts the interview on the Mind & Media Web site. She makes the interview available to selected Bloggers to accompany reviews on their own Web sites.
Several of the blog reviews of my book were picked up by other sites. For example, a review on the View from the Pew blog (the Christian views of a Southern Baptist seminarian) was also posted on BlogCritics.org. It was a geat review: "Fans of Dave Barry will definitely see similarities in comedic style and sense of humor." This review was also picked up by nine other large sites, inlcuding PennLive.com and NJ.com.
In addition to the 29 reviews of my book, I now have relationships with many bloggers. I recently sent a book excerpt to them and asked if they wanted to post it on their blog. The response has been very positive. Christian Parenting Source has already posted the excerpt, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas (No Batteries Included)," on their site.
The bottom line: While most PR services aren't cost effective for authors, Mind & Media can provide dozens of reviews at a reasonable price. If the topic of your book fits with the bloggers Mind & Media targets, I highly recommend their service
For more information about Mind & Media, contact Stacy Harp by e-mail or phone (714-244-6890).
* BlogCritics.org 