Book Spotlight: PR for Poets by Jeannine Hall Gailey

Didn't quite finish this one, so posting a spotlight. Look for my review coming soon.

PR For Poets provides the information you need in order to get your book into the right hands and into the worlds of social media and old media, librarians and booksellers, and readers. PR For Poets will empower you to do what you can to connect your poetry book with its audience!

EXCERPT

CHAPTER 7: PR KITS AND PITCH LETTERS

Do It Yourself or Hire Someone?

In this chapter, I'll answer the questions: “What is a PR Kit? What is a pitch letter? Do I have to do these myself? What's my publisher's role? Can I hire someone to do it?"

If you haven’t worked as a journalist, reviewer, or in publishing before, you may not be familiar with a PR kit. A PR kit, also known as a media kit, is a collection of physical or digital marketing materials designed to get the attention of the media. PR kits are sent to traditional media outlets, such as newspapers, radio and TV stations, journalists, and prominent bloggers. A pitch letter usually accompanies the kit and is the hook that piques the recipient's interest. Pitch letters are critical when you don’t have a relationship with the person or organization receiving your kit. Your kit can be in a digital format (often a PDF file), which is usually sent by email or made available for download from a website. Some outlets still require that a hardcopy be mailed.

Your Basic PR Kit And “Sell Sheet”

The basic PR kit includes a "sell sheet," which is usually a single sheet, sometimes printed on both sides (often in color). Your sell sheet can be both digital and in hardcopy. It should include the following information:

Key data for your book—this includes the publisher, distributor, release date, number of pages, format, ISBN number, website, and the PR contact. This provides important information about the book and facilitates the ordering process for libraries, bookstores, and universities/schools.

A summary of the book—this is usually 200 words describing the breadth of the work. It's important to be broadly descriptive because many of the blurbs will hone in on specific aspects.

A graphic of the book’s cover—because color images have more impact, you may want to spend extra on color copies or borrow the color laser printer at work for your hardcopy version.

One or two blurbs—these blurbs are short and only consist of a sentence or two. They present different facets of the work not covered in the summary. Pick the most famous of your blurbers to feature. Sometimes this choice is up to your publisher, not you.
Your author photo—hopefully you already have this, so it's time to use it.

A short author bio—really, keep this short. Include only your key accomplishments or items that might hook the specific reader (for example, if you are from his/her home town).

PURCHASE FROM:

Amazon

Two Sylvias Press Bookstore​

Jeannine Hall Gailey served as the second Poet Laureate of Redmond, Washington, and she has been a featured contributor in Poet’s Market for many years. Gailey is the author of five books of poetry: Becoming the Villainess, She Returns to the Floating World, Unexplained Fevers, The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, and Field Guide to the End of the World, winner of the Moon City Press Book Prize and the SFPA’s Elgin Award. Her work has been featured on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac, Verse Daily, and in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. She spent four years teaching in the MFA program for National University, worked fifteen years as a corporate writing manager, and worked in publishing as an Acquisition Editor for Microsoft Press.


Jeannine’s twitter handle is @webbish6.
For more information, visit www.webbish6.com.

Guest Post: How to Tell if Your Book is Ready to be Published by Jessica Jimenez

You’ve spent a long time pouring over your book making sure that every part is flawless. Your book has been sent to friends, old English teachers, and even a few editors. However, you haven’t taken the plunge and had it reviewed. This is the most crucial step because publishing houses will determine if they want your book based on these reviews. You need the review to be successful if you want your book to be printed and sold in stores. The following list will help you know if your book is ready to be officially reviewed.

1) Make It Typo-Free
Your book needs to perfect – grammatically speaking. If not, then you run the risk of an editor closing the cover at the first typo or misspelled word. Ensure that everything is correct before you send it off. It always helps to have another person read your work because s/he can help you identify any redundant passages or phrases that are confusing for the reader. Your overall goal is to present the publisher with a hard copy ready to be sold. Even if s/he wants to make some edits, your book needs to be as close to perfect as you can get before you send it his/her way.

2) No Second Guessing
If you’re second guessing a character’s development or any plot holes, then don’t send it to be reviewed. You need to work through these problems before the book is reviewed. If people have questions, then you need to be able to answer them confidently and knowledgeably. Someone who is unsure about his/her work won’t be able to sell it. Thus, any doubts over plot devices need to be quelled now if you’re going to proudly stand by your book’s content, no matter what.

3) Give it to Friends
You should give your book to friends to read and review. If it resonates with peers, then you know you’ll have a good chance of selling it. However, you need to pick truthful friends who like to read that are in your target demographic. Don't send it to an under-critical relative because you want positive reinforcement!

4) Create a Substantial First Sentence
Many publishers will give your book the first line test, and if it doesn’t pass, then it goes in the trash. In short, your book needs to capture the reader’s attention from the very start. If a publisher cannot sit through your material because s/he finds it dull, then there’s no chance that it’ll get put onto store shelves. Make your first sentence interesting and dynamic enough to get people wanting to read more.

This is just the beginning of knowing if your book is ready or not to be reviewed. Ultimately, you’re the only person who knows the answer. As the author, you’re the one who knows the soul and essence of the book. If it’s ready, then you’ll be ready to promote and sell it to the highest bidder.

Jessica Jimenez writes all about social media, networking and the business of communications. Her recent work is on the Top 10 Best Online Masters in Marketing Degree Programs.