Book festivals and fairs are held year-round all over the world. As a book marketing specialist, I am the first to impress on authors the new and powerful marketing avenues open to all authors on the Internet – from websites and book trailers to social networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. While these are excellent tools when used properly, authors should never overlook opportunities to meet the reading public face-to-face.
If you are a Jewish author or specialize in writing about Jewish issues, you should consider visiting some of these Jewish book fairs in the Jewish community.
1. Jewish Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor. Contact Karen Freedland, Cultural Arts and Education Director, at 734-971-0990. You can also visit jccannarbor.org.
2. Jewish Book Council’s Jewish Book Month. Jewish Book Month is an annual event on the American Jewish calendar dedicated to the celebration of Jewish books. It is observed during the month proceeding Hanukkah, thus the exact date changes from year to year. Click here to learn more.
Jewish Book Fairs and Festivals for Jewish Authors
3. Valley of the Sun JCC in Scottsdale, AZ will be hosting the Arizona Authors Speaker Series monthly from October to April. The event will take place on the 3rd Monday of each month from 1:30pm. Arizona contributes much to the literary world with authors and as a story setting. The Valley of the Sun JCC will be treated to appearances by authors who are either from, reside, or use Arizona as a locale for their books. The authors will speak about their life and writings. You need to be a Brandies member to join this group. Guests and JCC Members are welcome for a $5 fee. RSVPs are required to Merrill Kalman: [email protected] or 480.296.3355. https://valleyofthesunj.org/
4. Valley of the Sun JCC in Scottsdale, AZ will also be hosting “Exceptional” Characters in Books & Film, which is co-sponsored by CJSN. The event will take place the 2nd Wednesday of each month from 1:00-2:30pm and will be featuring books with protagonists with disabling conditions; our discussions will focus on the way the disability impacts the characters and the plot. Click here to learn more.
5. JCC of Metro Detroit’s 61st Annual Jewish Book Fair. At this event, fabulous authors from all over the world will present their books. For further information, contact Dalia Keen at 248.432.5467 or email [email protected] or visit jccdet.org.
6. Shalom Austin’s Austin Jewish Book Fair. The schedule features lectures and discussions with acclaimed writers, the annual Book Lover’s Luncheon, and an onsite bookstore in partnership with Barnes & Noble. The total cost for the Book Fair Package is: $25 JCC Member /$30 Non-member. Each individual event is: $10 JCC Member /$15 Non-member. https://shalomaustin.org/2022/11/30/jewish-book-club/
7. St. Louis JCC’s 34th Annual St. Louis Jewish Book Festival presented by Maryville University – St. Louis. All author events take place at the Staenberg Family Complex unless otherwise noted. For more information, please call the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival Hotline: 314.442.3299 or visit their website.
8. Marcus JCC Atlanta’s 21st Edition of the Book Festival of the MJCCA. For 20 successful years, the Book Festival of the MJCCA has provided our community with a literary extravaganza featuring an exciting lineup of the year’s most exceptional authors, speakers, and celebrities. Please join thousands of your fellow book lovers to listen, meet, and interact with your favorite authors in a variety of forums, including author meet-and-greets, book signings, a community read, and panel discussions. Click here for more details.
9. Mandell JCC of Greater Hartford will host the 20th Annual Mandell JCC Jewish Book Festival – Celebrating Israel, Debuts, Dads & Dudes.Click here for complete details.
10. Columbus JCC is finalizing the fantastic line up for JCC Bookfair! For more information about sponsorship contact Bookfair Director Debbie Vinocur at [email protected] or 614.559.6214. Click here for updates as they become available.
11. Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center in Houston, TX will be holding their 40th Annual Jewish Book & Arts Fair. For a calendar of events and complete brochure, click here.
12. JCC of Greater Washington will host the 43rd Annual Book Festival. The festival will present an exciting line-up of best-selling authors as well as up and coming writers new to the literary scene. The nine-day Festival will be packed with engaging author events, children’s programs, book signings, and a bookstore brimming with Jewish must-reads. For details, to request a Book Festival brochure, or to join the Book Festival Committee, contact the Book Festival Director Lynn Gittleson at 301.348.3840 or [email protected] or click here.
13. San Diego Center for Jewish Culture will host the San Diego Jewish Book Fair. The San Diego Jewish Book Fair is the largest and most respected Jewish Book Fair in the nation and the largest literature-related event in San Diego County. For tickets and further information, click here.
14. Mandel JCC in Beachwood, Ohio will be celebrating the 13th Annual Festival of Jewish Books & Authors. Stay tuned for details and a full listing of authors, which will be announced this month! For information, please contact Julie Frayman at [email protected] or 216.831.0700 ext. 1316. Please check here for announcements.
15. The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee in Florida will host the Jewish Book Festival, with a lecture and Q&A with author Lloyd Constantine. For questions, contact Len Steinberg at 941.371.4546 ext. 106 or click here.
16. JCC Dallas will host the J Book Fair. For more information, please contact Rachelle Weiss Crane at [email protected] or 214.239.7128 or click here.
Book fairs typically seek out guest speakers. By volunteering to speak at a Jewish book fair, you will pique the interest of new readers and potentially gain a few new fans. Additionally, you can add the speaking appearance to your resume. Be sure to plan ahead because book fairs, speaking engagements and readings are all planned months in advance. For a complete list of book fairs and festivals visit book-marketing-expert.com
The Bottom Line: Reach out to the Jewish community and attend a book fair! You will be happy you did.
Book publicist Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether it’s their first book or their 15th book. He’s handled publicity for books by CEOs, CIA Officers, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC News, New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, LA Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Woman’s World, & Howard Stern to name a few.
If so, tell us a little about your book. What is the title? Do you have a publisher? What is the publish date? How many pages is your book? What is the cost? Do you have web site? What is your specific goal I.E., to make money, raise awareness, get the attention of an agent or publisher, sell the story to a movie or TV studio or something else?
Submit the form below with this information and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you!
As a doctor, it is important to gain speaking engagements to promote yourself and your practice to both your peers and to gain new patients. Here are the top ten things you can do to get more speaking dates.
1. You need a terrific website that is informative and grabs the viewer’s attention as soon as they click to your page. A website is one of the first things someone who is interested in you will check out.
If they like it, they’ll contact you, if not they won’t. Your website is the perfect place to post a video of you at a speaking engagement or feature an article you’ve written. One way to ensure your website is as good or better than others is to benchmark it against websites of your competitors or practitioners in your same field.
It is also important for your website to look professional. In order to achieve a clean, professional look hire a web designer who is familiar with medical marketing to design your website. The days of doing it yourself are over.
2. Patient testimonials are a useful marketing tool and can be easily added to your website. Testimonials can be acquired by asking your patients. Simply ask them questions and videotape their responses. Once you have a few testimonials, edit and compile the videos and upload them to your website and YouTube.
3. Doctors who publish articles get asked to speak. My clients are invited to speak on a regular basis because their articles are discovered online. How? A conference organizer who is looking for a speaker on a particular topic will search the Internet for someone demonstrating that expertise. If you have an article on that topic, they can find you. It’s that simple. When writing articles, it is important to understand that you have two main audiences.
First, you have patients. Second, you have your peers. Your patients are not going to understand the serious medical lingo that your peers might. One solution to this issue is to develop two different websites: one for patients and one for your fellow doctors. With a peer-friendly website, you can add the more technical articles and information. On your patient-friendly website, you can put things in layman’s terms which patients will understand and appreciate.
4. Position yourself as an expert in your particular medical field. One option is to add the word “expert” after the topic you are expert in. For example, one of my doctor clients is a “propofol expert.” If someone were to search a topic of interest online and add the word “expert” to their search, the experts in that area would show up in the search results. Go ahead try – it.
Search on “propofol expert.” You’ll find Dr. Barry Friedberg. By finding your specific expertise and promoting it via articles and press releases, when people need an expert in your field, you will be sure to pop up in their Internet search. You can also get yourself listed as an expert by visiting expertclick.com or authorbookings.com.
5. Writing a book is an excellent way to publicly demonstrate your expertise. The most common approach is to write a book proposal and then find an agent who will present your proposal to a publisher who will publish your work.
A different approach is to compile past articles you’ve written and then self-publish your book. Visit www.Book-Marketing-Expert.com for ideas on publishing and promoting your book. Whichever route you choose, your book will show the media that you are serious about the work you do.
6. Now that you have your book written and published, what do you do with it? The answer? Promote it! You can either promote the book yourself or hire a PR firm to get the word out and promote the book for you.
The PR firm will create a press kit, which includes a press release, a bio of the author, sample media questions, as well as a fact sheet that covers some of the issues in your book along with excerpts and direct quotes from your book.
You can also sell your book at the end of a speech or require the people who schedule your speech to buy “X” number of books to give to the participants. For more strategies on book promotion check out www.WestwindCos.com
7. While searching for speaking engagements, be sure to visit these useful websites. First is www.ProfNet.PRnewsWire.com, which sends out media and speaking leads to PR executives and communications representatives at hospitals, associations and universities.
A second website to utilize is The National Speakers Association (www.NSASpeaker.org). Another website, www.DoctorsReview.com, has two thousand scheduled meetings readily available on their site. On the DoctorsReview.com page, you can narrow your results by searching for a specialty or travel destination. A final suggestion is to visit www.projectspropublica.org/docdollars to gain an idea of who is paying doctors to speak.
8. In order to be a successful speaker, I recommend presentation and media training. A good friend of mine, Jess Todtfeld, was Bill O’Reilly’s producer at Fox for many years, and also worked at NBC, ABC, and CBS. Jess’s website www.successinmedia.com offers media training in both New York and Los Angeles. On his site, you can also find advice on how to pitch to the media and how to create an effective speaking presentation. Media training will help you improve your speaking skills as you will learn to speak succinctly.
9. Another way to gain speaking arrangements is to reach out to the media directly. The Harrison Guide to Top National Media and Interview Shows is an effective way to gain access to the media. For example, each of the top shows from Good Morning America to Dateline list the dozens of producers’ contact information. Another resource is called Media Atlas; they offer an online database you can access.
It is easy to go online through these options and home in on a specific audience and get in touch with the media associated with them. Once you’ve identified a member of the media that covers your topic, send them a pitch letter and a press release.
10. Finally, there are free online services you can utilize to publicize yourself and your book. CraigsList www.craigslist.org is a great place to post a number of press releases and it does, in fact, work to your advantage. Depending upon your topic, people do search for all types of things on CraigsList.
Two other websites are www.PRAvenue.com and www.PR-Inside.com where you can also post releases along with photos and video at no charge. All three of these free websites are fine options for your press release to gain circulation online.
One more thing. Keep your Curriculum Vitae (CV) up to date with education, affiliations and articles as you may be asked to email it to a prospective customer on the spot. Furthermore, have new headshots taken so your photos look like you and not your high school yearbook.
If you follow these steps, you’ll be well on your way to obtaining more speaking engagements. For a more detailed strategy with tips and articles on these subjects visit WestWindCos.com.
Book publicist Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether it’s their first book or their 15th book. He’s handled publicity for books by CEOs, CIA Officers, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC News, New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, LA Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Woman’s World, & Howard Stern to name a few.
If so, tell us a little about your book. What is the title? Do you have a publisher? What is the publish date? How many pages is your book? What is the cost? Do you have web site? What is your specific goal I.E., to make money, raise awareness, get the attention of an agent or publisher, sell the story to a movie or TV studio or something else?
Submit the form below with this information and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you!
Throughout the ages books have been renamed, given a new copyright date as a result, and found new life and success.
There are several reasons to rename a book such as adding a subtitle to be friendlier to search engines. Another important reason is to get a new copyright date because many book critics will not review an old book and reviewers often define an “old” book as one with a copyright of more than a year old.
Margaret Mitchell first gave the title “Pansy,” the original name for Scarlett O’Hara, to her epic novel. That title was dropped as soon as MacMillan convinced Mitchell to rename her main character. She then considered the titles of “Tote the Weary Load” and “Tomorrow is Another Day,” the latter being taken from the last line in her novel. When MacMillan objected to these two titles, Mitchell reconsidered and suggested “Gone With The Wind.”
Sometimes just a minor tweak in the title will pay off big, such as “Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone” being renamed “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” “Philosopher’s Stone” was the first novel in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling when it was first published in London in 1997. The next year it was republished in America with the “Sorcerer’s Stone” change made in the title and it reached the New York Time’s best-selling fiction list in August 1999.
Other examples of books that were re-titled include:
“The Last Man in Europe” to “1984”
“The Dead Un-Dead” to “Dracula”
“Catch 18” and “Catch 11” to “Catch 22”
“Atticus” to “To Kill a Mockingbird”
“First Impressions” to “Pride and Prejudice”
“Fiesta” to “The Sun Also Rises”
“Strike” to “Atlas Shrugged”
“Mistress Mary” to “The Secret Garden”
I think you get the point. Tanya Hall of Greenleaf Book Group (www.greenleafbookgroup.com) tells of the renaming of a book that made a big difference for Greenleaf: “Gregg Crawford approached us seeking distribution services for his book, ‘Execute or Be Executed’, originally published in 2006,” says Tanya. “We saw potential in the book, but it definitely needed to be repackaged and re-titled to stand out in the crowded business genre. Gregg agreed to our suggestions, and the end result was ‘The Last Link: Closing the Gap That is Sabotaging Your Business’ which was published in March 2007 by Greenleaf Book Group Press and became our first New York Times bestseller.”
Many of the authors with whom I work do not subtitle their book which is a big mistake. A subtitle allows for a book title to contain more searchable terms which, in this day of search engine optimization, is a major consideration. Remember that people use Google, Bing and Yahoo! to search for information they need immediately – help that fills their needs, wants and desires. You want to be their Answer.
Authors should always be open to suggestions made by editors and publishers. You may love your title but the publishing company that makes millions of dollars each year selling books knows a lot more about titles that sell than you do.
So be ready to rename your book if that new title will attract more readers and sell more books. If in doubt, ask Margaret Mitchell, or J.K. Rowling, or Ernest Hemingway, or George Orwell or… Want to rename your book? Bounce an idea off me at: [email protected].
Book publicist Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether it’s their first book or their 15th book. He’s handled publicity for books by CEOs, CIA Officers, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC News, New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, LA Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Woman’s World, & Howard Stern to name a few.
If so, tell us a little about your book. What is the title? Do you have a publisher? What is the publish date? How many pages is your book? What is the cost? Do you have web site? What is your specific goal I.E., to make money, raise awareness, get the attention of an agent or publisher, sell the story to a movie or TV studio or something else?
Submit the form below with this information and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you!
Jess Todtfeld, former FOX News producer and President of Success in Media (www.SuccessInMedia.com) interviewed Scott Lorenz, President of Westwind Communications Public Relations about his thoughts on PR and the ever-changing landscape of promoting a book, product or service. The in-depth interview is one of 15 such interviews with leading experts that Todtfeld is making available in the new The Ultimate Insider’s Toolkit for PITCHING THE MEDIA. The “toolkit” offers insider’s tips and techniques for getting your story publicized and is available at his web site. successinmedia.com
Jess Todtfeld: All right. PR in the 21st century media is the topic today here on the Speaking Channel. My special guest is Scott Lorenz. He runs Westwind Communications, a PR and marketing firm in Plymouth, Michigan. Scott helps doctors and authors and lawyers, entrepreneurs to help them get all the publicity that they deserve and more.
Jess Todtfeld: Today we’re talking about the ‘and more” which is the 21st century media, meaning the old school ways are okay, but there’s so many more choices that PR professionals are not necessarily leveraging, in my opinion – which is why I invited Scott to be on here today. So, Scott, welcome. Let’s jump right in. You are not only sending the old-style press release out to radio and TV and print locations, but you are also doing more is that true?
Scott Lorenz: That’s correct. I honestly can’t remember the last time I mailed some press releases out, although we do that on occasion. When we ship a new book out, we’ll put press releases in with the book.
Jess Todtfeld: It’s funny that you say that – and I’m a former TV producer and boy, I would get stacks and stacks of mail. And I hate to say, because it’s very wasteful – most of it would get thrown out because it was confusing.
Scott Lorenz: Let’s talk about direct mail for a minute – you’ve got to be able to compel people receiving the mail to rip it open because there’s something fantastic inside. And you’ve got to convey that in the message on the outside of the envelope, for starters.
Jess Todtfeld: Right.
Scott Lorenz: The problem is that that old school is kinda going by the wayside. However, what is interesting, though, now I think, is because so many people use electronic media and they’ve gone away from faxes and direct mail, that you can actually get a little bit more attention with direct mail with the right piece because publicists are not using it as much anymore – funny as those sounds.
Jess Todtfeld: That’s interesting, and I know you said there’s a number of different directions. You don’t just see your firm as a PR firm but as a PR and marketing firm.
Scott Lorenz: Right.
Jess Todtfeld: You employ marketing methods?
Scott Lorenz: Yes. PR is really a sales job. You are actually selling something. We are selling a client to a member of the media, and we’re selling it on the phone, we’re selling it by e mail, whatever methodology we use, face to face, but it’s a sales job. So, I come from that marketing and sales side of things, and that’s probably why I’m so effective in the PR field, because of that background. I’m not a journalist, okay, and often times I find that journalists who enter this field exit it quickly because of the fact they’re really not salespeople, they are journalists, and they have a different skill set and mindset.
Jess Todtfeld: I’m glad to hear you say that, because as a media trainer when I work with clients I’ll always sit there and say, “What’s the reason why you’re doing these interviews and talking to the media?” They’ll usually say, “You know, to get my face out.” “Why?” “You know, so I should be out there.” “Why?” “You know, to build my brand.” “Why?” And I keep going until they realize, “Oh, yeah – sales; oh, yeah – because I want my business to do better.” It’s “Oh, yeah,” because they get lost along the way sometimes.
Scott Lorenz: Right, exactly. What’s really great is if somebody has a book that we’re promoting and besides the book they’re selling speaking engagements, or they have a consulting business. Now, that book becomes a calling card and a platform. You’ve got to sell a lot of books to make a few thousand dollars. But you can make several thousand with just one speaking engagement or considerably more if your book lands you a $25,000 consulting gig. Any PR we obtain helps with the overall building of credibility for the author and their brand and ultimately leads to new business.
Jess Todtfeld: So a book has really got to be part of a bigger strategy, right?
Scott Lorenz: Right. I like very much to work with people who have those other ancillary services that they could sell besides just trying to make money from book sales, there’s more upside potential for the author.
Jess Todtfeld: Let’s talk about Facebook – everybody’s all excited about Facebook, and this I’m sure has got to be one of the 21st century new media places to be for any of your clients. Is it?
Scott Lorenz: Well, I think it certainly has potential and some people have done quite well with it promoting their brand and business. One of the things that I like about it right now is from an advertiser’s perspective. I can go in and select people who’ll see the ad by several variables. For example, I can say I’d like an ad to be seen by females, between the age of 21-35 who work at IBM who like yoga and biking who live in New York.
This selection by demographics and interests electronically has not been available until now. So, it’s pretty exciting. I’ll give you an example. I have an artist in California who paints on glass using a special Persian technique. She’s one of the only artists in the US who does this. Golnaz Shobeiri is her name. I created a Facebook ad with a picture of one of her art pieces with 160 characters of ad copy. It targeted people in the USA and in certain counties in the Middle East and further targeted Americans who have Middle East interests, Persian interests, Iraq/Iranian interest, art culture interest and so forth. This allowed me to zero right in on the most likely buyers of her art.
I have another project that I’m working on that I can’t disclose but it has to do with advertising to people that are in the auto industry, So I discovered that in a certain geographic area there are 1,700 in Michigan working at General Motors that are on Facebook, and about 1,500 Ford employees. Then there’s another 1,200 Chrysler employees and a few hundred more with Penske and other auto-related companies. I can target an ad that will only show up on their Facebook home page or their Facebook when they sign on. This is important because I am not wasting money trying to reach people who would not be interested in the product being advertised.
And I can further target it to people that are college-educated, not college-educated, whatever. This is pretty good targeting as marketing goes. As a marketing guy, I’m very impressed with this. I like that kind of targeting; it has potential for authors as well. You just have to think about who it is that’s going to read your book, who is your target market, and zero in on them directly.
Jess Todtfeld: Right. And so anybody listening right now who’s still fuzzy on Facebook, it’s a place where not just young people hang out. In some ways, some circles, they’re saying it’s replacing e-mail as the place to go to communicate with other people. And Scott, you’ve taken a step further because you’re talking about now instead of just becoming a friend of somebody – that’s kind of the way that Facebook works where you go on there, you have your own page, your own area, and you try to become friends with people that’s there. You’re skipping over some of that because you’re figuring out how to use the advertisings and to target certain groups and to show up right on their page.
Jess Todtfeld: And I think for anybody that says, “Wait a second – this is not PR. Now, I’m buying advertisements.” The more what I keep thinking is what’s the end goal? If somebody says, “Wait, Scott, I just want you to get me in the newspaper article or get me on CNN tomorrow.” But what’s the goal? The goal is to be on there so people will be interested in you and buy whatever it is that you have to sell, whether it’s a service or a book or whatever. But meanwhile if you pop up in a place where they hang out and they click and they go and they buy what it is that you have to sell, you achieve the same goal. Am I right?
Scott Lorenz: Yes. People always ask me what is the most important thing we can do? Then let’s just do that. I could tell you time and time again it all works in concert just like a three-legged stool. Which leg does all the work? Well, you take away one leg you’ll find out – they all work together. If we can digress a second, I have clients, a doctor who performs a certain procedure that – and that procedure was kind of controversial. I’ll just tell you so you can get an idea what it is; it’s vagina tightening, okay?
Jess Todtfeld: Okay.
Scott Lorenz: Anyway, the point was that we published articles online about this topic. Then we placed Google ads as well. Then members of the media contacted us after discovering the ad and then the article and the doctor’s web site. One reporter in particular was researching this topic for a story. What do most people and reporters do when they research a topic? Of course, they go to Google or Yahoo or Bing and search. This reporter researched it and came across my ads and all my material out there that we were using to promote this doctor. And she ended up contacting me as a result – it was a major national publication and a very nice article resulted from that. I even had HBO call me on the same subject because they discovered our ad which led to the web site. So, I know it works.
So the point is that you can get press by having the right things online, with articles, releases that are electronically published along with a paid Google ad or Yahoo ad campaign and Facebook, for that matter, so it all works together.
Jess Todtfeld: I like that – I want to take another jump to another area that I know that you’ve been working in. You don’t have to give away any trade secrets here, but you’re doing something with Internet articles. What is that exactly?
Scott Lorenz: Articles – let’s say when people want to research something, they used to pick up an encyclopedia or they used to go to the library. If people wanted a product or service, they would pick up the Yellow Pages but not so much anymore.
Certain people, certain demographics mostly those over 60 years old will still use the Yellow Pages. But the advertising is very regional, very localized because they divide the area codes up into 20 different slices and markets. That’s a big deterrent to using the Yellow Pages as well. In order to be really successful in their market area you’d have a book that’s two feet thick.
That’s what’s good about the Internet, because you can go online, search for any product or service you want. You’re not limited to who’s in your back yard. The whole world is an open book for you, and as a result the internet and Google is where people go to find what it is that they’re looking for whether it’s a product or service or information about their special interest.
I use it to make sure we have material out there about our clients online that people can search for keywords and then get directed to those articles, and then those articles lead to a website, which leads to the client.
Jess Todtfeld: Right. I see. And you have your secret sauce, your special way of getting them out there so that Google and other big search engines find it. I know even being the former TV producer I used to go to Google, and I would type in some keywords and see where it took me.
Scott Lorenz: Of course.
Jess Todtfeld: If I’d see any important names, and before that we used to use Lexus Nexus, a very expensive service that lawyers and big universities use and pay a lot of money so that you could search old articles to get names of experts. But you don’t really need it anymore, or we would rarely use it after that because you go to Google, a bunch of things come up, and there you go, there’s some important names, so –
Scott Lorenz: It’s only going to get more important, because here’s what’s happening. Kids of all ages whether in grade school, high school or college are used to using all of this technology. It’s all second nature to them. I was contacted by a 25-year-old member of the media who was a producer for a radio show. He wanted one of my clients for an interview. I always try to track the origin of their interest in my client and ask “how did you hear about Dr. So, and So.?” He said he went online and searched it. He went inside Wikipedia. That was his starting point. Not Google. Not Yahoo! He started with Wikipedia.
Jess Todtfeld: It’s the online encyclopedia that regular people contribute to and creating a knowledge base.
Scott Lorenz: Right. So, he just typed in the search of the topic area, okay, that he was looking for combined with the word expert or consultant, whatever, and he ended up with my client. Because my client had a Wikipedia page he was there to be found. I thought that was pretty cool, and for that young producer this is what was normal for him. It’s only going to become more important that people have a presence in all of these online locations, whether it’s Wikipedia, Facebook, online article sites, and so forth.
Jess Todtfeld: That’s terrific. And then you brought up Facebook ads, you brought up Google. I have to ask you of course about Google ads. Do you use them? Have they helped you?
Scott Lorenz: Of course. Absolutely. I represent people who are experts in their field. One of the things that members of the media will do if they’re looking for an expert is to add the word expert or consultant to the end of it. Just type in “Book Marketing Expert” and you’ll find yours truly! You’ve got to be there with Google ads or with your online material ranked high enough so that people can find you. So that’s critical. So again, I used them in tandem when my clients can afford it. Not everybody can afford it, and some of these ads for some of my clients can run $3 to $20 and upper click. But for the vast majority of people the price range is $.50 to $3.00 per click.
If you’re trying to sell a book for $20, you sure as heck can’t be paying $12 a click. So, you’ve got to be very judicious and clever in how you attract people to your ads. However, there are plenty of places you can advertise. Use Yahoo too – don’t forget Yahoo because Yahoo still gets 20% of the search engine traffic. Google gets 50-60-70 percent depending upon who you believe. Just don’t forget Yahoo! and Bing. I buy ads on those sites as well and they are usually less expensive.
Jess Todtfeld: It really depends on the type of business you have to determine what the right price to bid might be. If you’re talking about top legal experts, I’m sure that’s expensive, but if it’s some of the key words included with the expertise of that doctor you mentioned, that would be much lower because it’s specialty area.
Scott Lorenz: That was very interesting, coming up with the search terms for that, and what actually produced the results versus, you know, what produced some other non-important result. But it’s a project. It’s a project and it takes somebody who can really think about it and you know go through all the possibilities and then work with the client and come up with the terms that make the most sense.
Jess Todtfeld: Right, right. Wow. Okay, that’s some good stuff.
Scott Lorenz: Now, let’s go back to that for a second because that’s an important element. Through Google ads you’ll see the search terms that drive traffic to your site and that actually produce business because you can track the conversions for people that search a term and then click on your ad then fill out a form on your web site. This is called “conversion” So you can actually see the words that are most important, but those words you need to integrate into your articles prominently and also work them into the headline for press releases etc.
That’s part of the research of the whole thing. So, it’s great to have an integrated campaign like this for PR and the pay per-click and all this stuff is working together.
Jess Todtfeld: And somebody that doesn’t really know what they’re doing with these Google ads could –
Scott Lorenz: Easily get killed by paying too much, bidding on the wrong words and not thinking like a customer thinks.
Jess Todtfeld: They could lose their behind, so to speak.
Scott Lorenz: You could get a large charge on your Visa bill, unless of course you limit your daily budget and place other parameters on the account. If you don’t watch Facebook ads you can get killed too. Frankly you can get killed on all this stuff if you’re not careful, okay.
Jess Todtfeld: How do you protect yourself?
Scott Lorenz: You set limits on the daily spend. You set limits on the clicks, the total daily spends, your monthly budget, and so forth. But hey, Google is out there trying to make as much money as possible.
Jess Todtfeld: Exactly. They want to make lots of money.
Scott Lorenz: They keep coming up with new ways to maximize you spend with them.
Jess Todtfeld: I want to ask you also about a Google-owned company but another way that PR professionals who really know how to tap into the new media, the 21st century using YouTube.
Scott Lorenz: Right.
Jess Todtfeld: Have you used YouTube ever to promote and help clients?
Scott Lorenz: Yes. There’s actually we’ve used a couple different methods. One client was a – used an item called TeacherTube. It’s just for schoolteachers and students.
Jess Todtfeld: Awesome. The other video sites – meaning they’re not the only game in town.
Scott Lorenz: Right. We – promoted my clients video using press releases which talked about how teachers could use music to help kids learn math, science, history, and so forth. The video was all set to hip hop rap music. And the actual singer is a schoolteacher. We marketed we used press releases and our phone calls and pitching to the media, and got placements and drove traffic to that site. That particular video became the most-watched video ever on TeacherTube with over 1.5 million views.
Jess Todtfeld: Really!
Scott Lorenz: Yes, and so – but just putting it up there alone it would’ve taken a lot longer to get to that kind of prominence. We pushed it along with the media exposure, and once it – then that’s actually taken off virally, which means people send it on to their friends, their neighbors, their, you know, mother, brother, sister, their schoolteacher, their superintendent, and, you know, next thing you know 50 teachers are watching it and then 500 teachers are watching it. So, you see what I’m saying? So that’s what PR helps start the whole viral campaign for that. Now, on another case for a client who is in the recruiting business, he created some terrific videos directly targeting Merrill Lynch brokers who were in the process of being absorbed by Bank of America.
And so, he targeted this very creative, very, very creative video, set to music, but it was very poignant, and it basically said to the Merrill Lynch brokers, “Hey, before you sign up for Bank of America here and be part of their, you know, machine, think about leaving, you know, leaving Merrill Lynch and going to another firm.” So, we put that out and sent it to our contacts – you know, the financial media contacts and so forth – and pitched it and, you know, it was picked up by the Wall Street Journal, CNBC and it pretty much went all over the country. That video’s gotten some thousands and thousands of views. And then that also took off virally because when one Merrill Lynch broker sees it, he’ll shoot if off to his buddy, because he’s at Merrill Lynch.
He’s deciding what he’s gonna do with his career, or she, and so that took off virally. But you gotta get the ball rolling, though, and PR is the way to do that, okay.
Jess Todtfeld: But it all sounds like you like set up a backdoor way into getting into the Wall Street Journal and CNBC. Instead of just knocking on their door and they say, “Yes,” you and the last 50,000 people that knocked on their door.
Scott Lorenz: They knock on the door with the same old dried up stupid poorly crafted press release, okay, and you know – this is creative stuff. Now, it’s my clients and I working together, okay? I didn’t create the video for the Mr. Duey or for the R.J. McKay. They created it, but then I leveraged it, okay, and that’s –
Jess Todtfeld: Right. That’s not bad! I just went to TeacherTube – Mr. Duey popped up as still one of the top videos on there.
Scott Lorenz: Another very successful application for YouTube videos is through video book trailers as part of a book marketing campaign. In an effort to obtain book publicity for my author clients we’ll create a book trailer about the book. A book trailer is like a movie trailer in that it allows someone to preview a book both visually and via audio. A video book trailer brings the book to life and gives the potential reader a sneak peek at the contents. We’ll then post that book trailer on YouTube and… here’s the best part… we add it to more than 41 additional video sites online for even greater exposure.
One of the big benefits of a book trailer is how it improves search engine ranking for an author’s main web site, providing you carefully select traffic driving key words and titles. Check out examples of book trailers we’ve created at Westwind Communications YouTube Channel at: https://www.youtube.com/user/thebookpublicist.
Jess Todtfeld: Are other PR people – not that I’m trying to knock any other people in your profession – but are they spinning their wheels in just the old ways of doing things and saying, “You know, I’m calling CNN every day. Don’t worry, I’m trying!” instead of trying some of these new methods? It’s almost like there’s other media out there that they’re just ignoring.
Scott Lorenz: That’s true. No question about it, no question about it. You’ve really got to keep on top of what’s going on, and technology is moving so rapidly that everything is changing. The methods that work today won’t work tomorrow. A technique mentioned in a book is 6-18 months old and may not work. You need to be on top of that dynamic and that’s what we attempt to do, and it’s a challenge. Google keeps changing how they rank their searches, and you need to react accordingly. I’m a student of this stuff and it’s a project keeping up with it. Thankfully I’ve got some 20-year-old kids who are really sharp and who keep me on top of what’s happening.
Look how the Obama campaign utilized all these online methods to stay in touch with their constituency: Texting, YouTube, Twitter, Pay Pal and all these things that were not in the mix during the previous campaigns.
Texting – what politician’s ever used text on a national level – nobody. Obama was the first one to text. And imagine you’re sitting there in line or you’re at the grocery store and you get a text from Obama saying, “Hey,” you know, blah, blah, blah. How cool is that?
Jess Todtfeld: It’s very cool, and it was – they seemed to use every new type of media opportunity to reach out and get the voters.
Scott Lorenz: They did. It was terrific. That was their secret sauce and it’s also one of the reasons they connected with the younger voter. Older voters went to McCain, younger voters went to Obama because he talked to them, okay. Now, can somebody does that again next time around? You bet. Will the Republicans have their act together next time? I would think so, but I don’t know; at least electronically, they might.
Jess Todtfeld: I think they just realized it’s a whole other arm for their campaign, right?
Scott Lorenz: They got killed; they got killed. The Republicans got killed on the online stuff totally, and Obama’s people employed the new technology to near perfection. So, I can’t wait for the book that describes the Obama campaign and what they did to come out, because I’m going to be the first guy to buy it. And in the meantime, there’ll be some magazine articles – I’ve already read a fair amount of stuff about it, and I’ve seen them on CSPAN, some of their talking – guys that have been talking about what they’re doing. But they’re going divulge some secret sauce, and that’ll be great – I want to see that. And that’s what you gotta do. You gotta stay on top of what’s happening. They are the ones that executed on this beautifully. They put it together.
It was the best marketing campaign of any kind probably in U.S. history, not just politics – anything.
Jess Todtfeld: Right. And you’re trying to employ some of those methods? The book is being written as we speak and we’re gonna find out all the ins and outs. And before we go I want to ask you one last thing, which I think Obama was definitely using, was Twitter, and a lot of the folks who are listening right now keep hearing about Twitter. It’s confusing. Some people don’t know what it is. Should they even be a part of it? One, do you know what the heck it is, and have you, you know, been doing anything –
Scott Lorenz: We’ve used it. In short, it’s a way to stay in touch with your constituency with short messages, 140 characters. It has a role, okay, where exactly it’s gonna be in the marketing side of things is still yet to be determined. I don’t wanna be twittered by like Coca Cola saying, “Hey, buy a Coke.” I don’t mind staying in touch with my friends, but I don’t want to hear about everything that they’re doing either, okay. So, I’m looking for a happy medium in that department. Certain people I think it might be cool to get a Twitter from – you know, Obama, or from some of those folks like that, or maybe some, celebrities might be Twittering people and get some bang out of that.
Jess Todtfeld: Right.
Scott Lorenz: And certain family members – I’d certainly like to stay in touch with certain family members and what they’re doing and what have you.
Jess Todtfeld: But it’s on your radar, it’s developing. It’s a location that’s developing; it could turn into something; it could be part of another service. I think Facebook has a feature just like that, so who knows, Twitter might go away.
Scott Lorenz: It’ll be interesting to see what happens. It’s one of these things like, “Okay.” It’s like when cameras were put on phones. When it first came out, we said “What were we going to do with that?” But now, it’s like, gee, my wives in a dress shop buying dresses for my daughter. She takes a picture of it; she sends it to her over the phone. My daughter says, “Oh, I love it!” or “Ay, keep shopping!” or whatever. So, there’s ways that you can use these technologies that you hadn’t thought about. Go back to this – way back – the steam engine. When the first steam engine came out, they said, “This’ll be a great thing to pump water out of mines with.” Then some genius said let’s put it on wheels and created the locomotive and that changed the world.
It wasn’t until they applied it in different ways that it really blossomed and that’s where we’re at with a lot of this technology. Where is it going to? Who knows?
Jess Todtfeld: Right. Wow, that’s pretty good. But it’s way on your radar. I know of on there, but I don’t really spend a whole lot of time on there, but just so that as it really hits and becomes the next big place, and some people say it already is, at least I’m already there, and at least I already have an idea of how it works and how it functions.
Scott Lorenz: Right. And it’s important to do that because things develop, and you see opportunities. For example, I’ll give you everybody has heard of TiVo, of course. Now, there’s the cable companies, ATT and everybody and their brother has DVRs so you can record any show and so forth. But when that first came out that was kind of astonishing, frankly, and it was pretty cool that you could record anything any time anywhere and forget about the VCR. But one of the neatest things, though, from a mining standpoint is now, you can order Domino’s Pizza on TiVo right from your screen.
Jess Todtfeld: Yeah?
Scott Lorenz: Yes. And now, and this came about because Dave Brandon, former CEO of Domino’s, said he wasn’t sure what the thing was all about because he’s noticed that people – he got less reaction from commercials because people were TiVoing past them, okay. And so, he just dove into it and figured out, “Hey, this is a marketing opportunity.” Now, people can buy pizza online from – not online, but through their TiVo with Domino’s because he just stayed on it and tried to figure out how to make this thing work, he and his people, okay. And that’s how you gotta be with all this new technology – how can you use it for yourself?
Jess Todtfeld: I love that he said it’s a marketing opportunity, and I love that that’s been your approach with everything that you do where you say, “Boy, it’s not just PR, it’s a marketing opportunity, it’s an opportunity for sales.” That’s really what this is all about and you need to employ all the new methods to be able to really do the right job.
Jess Todtfeld: So, Scott, great, great information, and I encourage people to find out about you. What’s your website, by the way?
Scott Lorenz: My website is WestWindCOS.com. WestWindCOS.com.
Jess Todtfeld: Very nice.
Scott Lorenz: And I’d love to talk to people about it some more. I mean I could talk about this stuff all day, but you’ve probably gotta wrap it up.
About Jess Todtfeld
President of Success In Media, is one of the leading speaking and media training authorities in the U.S. With more than 15 years of experience, Todtfeld helps CEOs, business executives, spokespeople, public relations representatives, experts, and authors to not just become better speakers, but become expert speakers. Todtfeld has trained clients from the United Nations, IBM, AIG Insurance, AARP, USA Today, The World Children’s Wellness Foundation, Land Rover, Edelman Public Relations, The American College of Emergency Room Physicians, The Fine Living Television Network, North Face apparel, and the ASPCA.
Todtfeld was a Television Producer on the National Level for networks including NBC, ABC, and FOX. During that time, he booked and produced over 4,000 segments. 10 of those years were spent at Cable TV’s #1 news channel, FOX NEWS CHANNEL. Todtfeld spent 2 years with cable’s #1 prime time show, “The O’Reilly Factor” with Bill O’Reilly, and 7 years with cable’s #1 morning show “FOX & Friends.” For more information visit www.SuccessInMedia.com or call (800) 369-3421
Book publicist Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether it’s their first book or their 15th book. He’s handled publicity for books by CEOs, CIA Officers, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC News, New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, LA Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Woman’s World, & Howard Stern to name a few.
If so, tell us a little about your book. What is the title? Do you have a publisher? What is the publish date? How many pages is your book? What is the cost? Do you have web site? What is your specific goal I.E., to make money, raise awareness, get the attention of an agent or publisher, sell the story to a movie or TV studio or something else?
Submit the form below with this information and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you!
Rachael Ray heads an empire that includes hit TV shows, bestselling books, a magazine and her own product lines. Things keep getting better and better for Rachael Ray. But you might be interested to know that it was a couple of radio interviews about her book that propelled her to fame and fortune.
As a book publicist I talk to authors and clients every day and every so often one says, “Oh I really don’t want to do radio” or I’ll have a client who’ll decline a radio or TV interview and then give me reasons like “There’s only 5,000 people tuning in to that station, or such and such is a small town, or nobody listens to radio at 2AM,” or whatever. I usually respond with “If the Rotary Club in your hometown called you today and invited you to speak to their club and 450 people would be in the audience, would you go?” The answer is always a resounding “YES! I’d love to do that…” What’s the difference? Perhaps it’s perception. If you can see them, 450 people are a lot of folks. If you can’t see them, it’s too small. How about 5,000 people? But it’s not always the quantity of listeners it’s the quality of that listening audience.
Let me tell you, radio makes stars, radio interviews get people on TV, radio gets people on Oprah.
That brings me to the story of Rachael Ray and her big break in 2001. She had already sold 10,000 of her cookbooks and she had her own TV segment on WRGB, the local CBS affiliate in Albany, New York. Jennifer Pullinger, the publicist at National Book Network assigned to work on two of her books, Comfort Foods and Veggie Meals, had booked her on various radio shows for phone interviews as part of the publicity campaign. After booking Ray on a handful of small-market radio shows, Pullinger utilized one of Ray’s contacts at WAMC in Albany, New York and scheduled her for a cooking demo on Northeast Public Radio’s “Vox Pop.” The host, Joe Donahue, had had Ray on his program before and happily booked her again. Ray did her demo, and of course, listeners loved it.
And guess who was listening to that station? Someone who knew the Food Network’s VP of Programming, Bob Tuschman. That “influential” person heard Ray’s segment and told Tuschman about her. Tuschman then called Pullinger to arrange a meeting with Ray and the rest is history. Oh, and who was listening to another of Rachael Ray’s radio interviews while on his vacation? Al Roker, the weatherman from the Today Show. Al told the show’s food producer to check her out. The producer called Pullinger and booked Ray for a live cooking segment with Al on the Today Show. She was a hit. Then after a couple of years on the Food Network she got THE BIG CALL from Oprah which led to her daily nationally syndicated TV show.
Her big break(s) can be traced back to radio interviews and the groundwork laid by her publicist Jennifer Pullinger, who had previously shipped tapes of Rachael on WRGB-TV to the Food Network and all the morning shows. Think about it. A major star’s career was born from a radio interview, and one that happened at the last minute, and one she nearly turned down. PR opened the door for Rachael Ray, and it can do that for you too. Putting a value on that is hard to do but, I’d have to say it’s priceless.
I am often called by producers who want a guest at the last minute. I always deliver them a guest and since I just helped them out of a jam, they remember it.
The Bottom Line: Radio works. Small market TV works too, both are a great medium to promote your book. If you get a broadcast opportunity, take it… even if you have to drive three hours across the desert to get there!
You never know who’ll be listening.
The Book Publicist | Book publicist Scott Lorenz and his thoughts on the book marketing industry.
Book publicist Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether it’s their first book or their 15th book. He’s handled publicity for books by CEOs, CIA Officers, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC News, New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, LA Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Woman’s World, & Howard Stern to name a few.
If so, tell us a little about your book. What is the title? Do you have a publisher? What is the publish date? How many pages is your book? What is the cost? Do you have web site? What is your specific goal I.E., to make money, raise awareness, get the attention of an agent or publisher, sell the story to a movie or TV studio or something else?
Submit the form below with this information and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you!