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Book Publicist Scott Lorenz offers Authors Book Marketing Tips and Techniques on his Blog “The Book Publicist”

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How the New York Times Selects Books for Review for 2024

How the New York Times Selects Books for Review

New Behind-the-Scenes Story by FOX-5 NY Sheds Light on the Meticulous Process

by Scott Lorenz
Westwind Communications

As a book publicist, I talk to authors and clients on a daily basis. Many have one goal in common: To become a New York Times bestselling author. One way to do it is to get reviewed by the New York Times Book Review. This is no surprise as the New York Times Book Review is one of the most prominent book review publications out there. It’s a weekly paper magazine that comes with the Sunday New York Times, which has a circulation of 1.5 million. A one-fifth page ad in the Book Review will cost a whopping $8,830 for small presses. You can expect to dish out even more if you’re a major publisher. For more information click here.

If your book gets reviewed by the New York Times Book Review, you’re almost guaranteed an increase in sales and publicity. So, how does the New York Times Book Review select books to review? Good question! Pamela Paul, who’s been the New York Times Book Review editor since 2013 sat down with FOX 5 NY to shed some light on this very common question. Check out the terrific story here.

“We love the publishing industry, and we support what they do, but really we are here for readers.” Pamela Paul, Editor, NY Times Book Review

She explained that the New York Times receives hundreds of books that would like to get reviewed each day. Believe it or not, all the books, except for self-published books, receive some kind of look by a staff of critics and freelance reviewers. The type of look each book gets, however, varies. While one book’s look lasts a few seconds, another book gets read cover to cover.

“Only 1% of all the books we receive make the cut. We’re always on the lookout for new and interesting voices. Since we view books as a form of art, we strive to recognize innovation and diversity,” Paul explains.

Paul was asked whether critics ever get tired of looking at books. “The kind of people that work at the Book Review are always excited to check out a book. They really love books and are doing exactly what they want to be doing,” she says.

All NY Times book reviews are fact-checked for accuracy. Paul states that fact-checking is very important for them because while you can disagree with a book review, you shouldn’t distrust it. Once the reviews are fact-checked, copy editors write headlines, credits, and more before the review goes to press.

You can see that the New York Times Book Review is run by people who love books and why they take extra care to make sure what they recommend is worthy of their audience’s time. That’s why a mention in the NY Times Book Review is so powerful.

From the NY Times Website:

During the Covid-19 pandemic, The New York Times Book Review is operating remotely and will accept physical submissions by request only. If you wish to submit a book for review consideration, please email a PDF of the galley at least three months prior to scheduled publication to [email protected]. Include the publication date and any related press materials, along with links to NetGalley or Edelweiss if applicable. Due to the volume of books we receive, we cannot respond to individual requests about our plans for coverage. Thank you.

When things return to normal, if you would like to have your book considered for review, please send it to:
Editor
The New York Times Book Review
620 Eighth Avenue,
New York, NY 10018
[email protected]

If you are sending a children’s book, please send it to the attention of the Children’s Book Editor.

The Bottom Line: While earning a spot on the New York Times Book Review is no easy feat, it’s not impossible. As long as your book has a unique twist, is well crafted, has an important message, or a new voice that must be heard, it stands a chance and is certainly worth sending in.

Final Recommendation: Watch the FOX-5 NY piece a few more times so you can really understand what the NY Times wants. https://www.fox5ny.com/news/a-day-in-the-life-inside-the-ny-times-book-review-process

You can also watch an hour-long interview with C-SPAN’s Book TV and New York Times Book Review editor Pamela Paul from 2015. https://www.c-span.org/video/?326362-1/tour-new-york-times-book-review

About Book Publicist Scott Lorenz

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.

Learn more about Westwind Communications’ book marketing approach at https://www.WestwindBookMarketing.com or contact Lorenz at [email protected] or 734-667-2090 or fill out the form below. Follow Lorenz on Twitter @aBookPublicist. Want help titling a book? Check out Scott Lorenz’s new award winning, bestselling book: Book Title Generator- A Proven System in Naming Your Book www.BookTitleGenerator.net.

Would you like help promoting your book?

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!


Authors: Use Alliteration for Illumination of Your Book Title

Authors: Use Alliteration for Illumination of Your Book Title

By Scott Lorenz
Westwind Communications

Alliteration is a very useful literary tool. Alliteration is simply defined as the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words and also the repetition of an initial consonant sound, as in “a peck of pickled peppers.”

Alliteration is one of many tips and techniques covered in my new book designed to help authors title their books called BOOK TITLE GENERATOR.

Incorporating alliteration into your book title can help people remember your work and it will stick out in people’s minds.

Here are a few examples of books with alliteration in their titles:

  • The Teeny Tiny Teacher by Stephanie Calmenson
  • The Magical, Mystical, Marvelous Coat by Catherine Ann Cullen
  • Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  • A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  • Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
  • Love’s Labor’s Lost by William Shakespeare
  • The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
  • The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen
  • Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
  • Caesar and Cleopatra by George Bernard Shaw
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
  • Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré
  • The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Roger Parker of Personal Branding says, “Sometimes the most important lessons in personal branding are the simplest ones, like using alliteration, or repeated “hard” sounds, to make the title of your brand-building book stand out and be easy to remember.” You want readers, fans, and your potential audience to enjoy your book’s title. Alliteration can help that title roll off the tongue nicely. If your book’s title is memorable and fun or easy to say, people will talk about it. The alliteration will stand out in conversation or in the review section of a website.

According to Mike Ball, author of ‘Banjos, Boats and Butt Dialing’, alliteration can be a very effective tool for a humorist. Ball explains, “I rarely use it for serious subjects but judiciously used, alliteration is an author’s best friend. Since humor is all about timing, alliteration forces the reader to participate in the timing you are trying to set up. That’s why my book title ‘Banjos, Boats and Butt Dialing’ gets people to laugh before they crack the cover.”

As J.R.R. Tolkien observed, alliteration “depends not on letters but on sounds.” Thus, the phrase know-nothing is alliterative, but climate change is not.”

Domey Malasarn from the website “The Literary Lab” feels that alliteration can belong in titles as well as within your book. “I have used it on occasion myself in places where I thought it was helpful. For example, if I had a sentence like ‘Alfred was furious.’ I might revise it to “Alfred was angry.” because to me it pairs the subject of the sentence with his emotion a little more powerfully.”

Puja Lalwani of Buzzle explains, “The importance of alliteration should not be undermined as just another literary device that is beyond comprehension. It is highly useful and most invaluable, whether just to drive a point home, make for a fun read, or as a marketing tool that will leave your product etched in the mind of the consumer.”

On the website, helium.com, Stella McIntyre perfectly outlines the benefits of using alliteration across various mediums. “Although most commonly used in literature, most particularly poetry, alliteration can also be found in non-fiction writing: leaflets, newspaper headlines, advertising and merchandising. Its effect is twofold. Firstly, it draws attention to and emphasizes a phrase and secondly, it can create connotations that significantly add to the understanding and enjoyment of a writer’s meaning.”

The Bottom Line: Alliteration in book titles will help people remember your book title because it will help your work stand out and engage your reader.

About Book Publicist Scott Lorenz

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.

Learn more about Westwind Communications’ book marketing approach at https://www.WestwindBookMarketing.com or contact Lorenz at [email protected] or 734-667-2090 or fill out the form below. Follow Lorenz on Twitter @aBookPublicist. Want help titling a book? Check out Scott Lorenz’s new award winning, bestselling book: Book Title Generator- A Proven System in Naming Your Book www.BookTitleGenerator.net.

Would you like help promoting your book?

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!


33 Radio & Podcast Interview Tips For Authors From Scott Lorenz

33 Radio & Podcast Interview Tips For Authors From Scott Lorenz

By Scott Lorenz
Westwind Communications

You’ve landed the radio interview and it’s time to get ready to actually do it. Now what? As a book marketing expert and book publicist, I have booked my clients on thousands of radio and podcast interviews. Here’s a list of tips I give to my clients prior to their interviews. Keep this helpful list of interview tips nearby and you’ll be glad you did!

1. Go to a quiet room in your home or office; be sure staff and/or family know you are on a radio interview and cannot be interrupted.

2. Since many interviews are on ZOOM, SKYPE as well as the phone, turn off other phones, cell phones and anything else that could create background noise including air conditioners, the radio… and the kids!

3. Have a glass of water nearby; there’s nothing worse than dry mouth on a radio interview.

4. Be on time. Call the station exactly at the time they tell you or be at your phone waiting if the station is going to call you.

5. Use a landline phone for best quality. If it is not possible to reach a landline, then use a cell phone in a stationary location and not while you are rolling down the road! Do not use Bluetooth over the speaker system in your car.

6. Disable call waiting: dial *70 and then call the studio number. This disables call waiting for the duration of the phone call. As soon as you hang up, it will be reactivated.

7. Do not use a speakerphone! It’s ALL about good sound quality.

8. Be self-assured. Remember, you know your topic inside and out. Be confident in your ability.

9. Smile, smile, smile, whether on radio or TV – SMILE. You’ll feel better, and for TV you’ll look better too.

10. Put some pizzazz and energy into your voice. Try standing while you speak to liven things up a little.

11. Research the show and tailor your message accordingly. Just Google the host’s name and station and check out their web site. Is it a national audience or a small town in Ohio? What is their format? Is it News/Talk, NPR or Classic Rock or something else? You need to know.

12. KNOW exactly how much time you will have on the air as a guest, three minutes or 30 minutes…so you can tailor your answers to the time allotted.

13. Practice your sound bites—out loud before the interview. Communicate your main points succinctly. Practice this out loud.

14. Be informative and entertaining without directly pushing your book, product or service. Make the audience “want more.”

15. A kind word about the host can go a long way. It’s good manners and good business.

16. A person’s name is sweet music to them so commit to memory or jot down the name of the host and use it throughout the interview. When taking calls, use the names of callers too.

17. CALL TO ACTION. Have ONLY ONE such as “Buy my book at BookTitleGenerator.net” That’s it. Don’t mention your Twitter handle, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram people will barely remember your name or book title. Don’t make it impossible.

18. Be careful not to slide into technobabble, jargon or acronyms that few know about.

19. Never talk down to your audience.

20. Be respectful of the host because everybody starts someplace. Today they’re interviewing you from a college radio station; in a few years they could be a nationally syndicated host.

21. Don’t Oversell. Remember you are on the air to provide useful information to the listening audience. If you are an author or selling something, limit yourself to TWO mentions of the book, product or service. You must make it interesting without the commercialism. It takes finesse but you can do it. Often times the host will do this for you and you won’t need to mention it.

22. Think of a radio interview as an intimate conversation with a friend and not a conversation with thousands.

23. Radio interviews require verbal answers, not head nodding or uh-huhs. Hand gestures don’t count in radio either.

24. Radio will often use interviews live and later cut them up for use throughout the day giving you more airplay. So, keep your answer to a 10 to 20 second sound bite. You can say a lot in that amount of time and then you don’t sound like you are babbling on. Don’t go on more than a minute without taking a break.

25. Don’t just answer questions. Tell listeners something you want them to know, something they wouldn’t know unless they were tuned in, with the promise of more of the same when they buy your book.

26. Have three key messages. Short, not sermons. Sometimes the host opens the door, other times you have to answer a question and segue to a key message. A compelling message will have the host asking for more. Usually, people can get in two key messages; the pros can get three.

27. Lazy hosts open with a lame: “Thanks for being here.” Boom! Give a :15-:20 sec summary message. If the host introduces you with a question, be polite, deliver your summary message, then answer the question. “Thanks, (use name), for the opportunity to talk about…. Now, to your question (name)…”

28. Maintain a Positive Attitude. BE GENUINE OR TRANSPARENT. Don’t fake enthusiasm or sincerity. If you’re in a bad mood cancel the interview. Don’t pretend to know stuff you don’t.

29. Re-read the press release or pitch that got the booking since the host is going to be using that as a starting point. Often a book publicist such as I, will tie into a breaking news event that relates to your expertise. Be aware of that tie-in.

30. After the interview write a thank-you note. Since so few people do this, you’ll really stand out from the crowd. And most importantly, you may get invited back.

31. Whether the interview is live or taped-live, if you stumble, or flub up just keep going. Often what you perceived as a mistake, the listeners won’t even notice.

32. Ask for an MP3 of the recording before the interview. Often if you ask ahead of time the producer will record the interview and then you can use it on your web site. If that’s not available, get the link to the station’s recording and Tweet about to your followers and promote it on your Facebook page. Be sure to listen to it later and critique your performance.

33. Listen for the testimonial. Sometimes the host will say something complimentary, “You have a fascinating story Mr. Jones.”  Use it in your marketing.  Or you can actually ask for a testimonial.  Often that MP3 will arrive with a note from the host saying how much they enjoyed the interview, or that “Scott Lorenz was a great interview, he really kept our audience engaged,” or “the phones rang off the hook when Scott Lorenz was being interviewed.” You can use those testimonials in future pitches and on your web site, blog etc.

As a book marketing firm, we’ll prepare our clients with media coaching or if need be, training with a media trainer. We’ll also submit questions to the radio host ahead of time and include those in our press kits emailed to the stations. Often the radio host will read those questions right in order. Other times they refer to our questions and include some of them. We do this to help the host in case they’ve not had a chance to read the book, and to help direct the questioning.

Make sure you know your own material inside and out and are comfortable with everything in it. You are the author of the book, or the press release and they’ll ask you, “What did you mean about this or that?” You need to have the answer. You don’t want any surprises.

The Bottom Line:  RELAX, you’ll do fine. The butterflies you’re feeling are what will drive you to do your best! Just follow these helpful tips and you’ll be a radio interview star!

About Book Publicist Scott Lorenz

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.

Learn more about Westwind Communications’ book marketing approach at https://www.WestwindBookMarketing.com or contact Lorenz at [email protected] or 734-667-2090 or fill out the form below. Follow Lorenz on Twitter @aBookPublicist. Want help titling a book? Check out Scott Lorenz’s new award winning, bestselling book: Book Title Generator- A Proven System in Naming Your Book www.BookTitleGenerator.net.

Would you like help promoting your book?

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!


Here’s How to Get Your Book on BookTV on C-Span

Here’s How to Get Your Book on BookTV on C-Span

By Scott Lorenz, Book Publicist
Westwind Communications

Want to get your book in front of millions of book lovers? BookTV can help. BookTV is a program that airs on C-Span every weekend from 8:00 a.m. EST Sat to 8:00 a.m.  Monday. It’s been around since 1998 and dedicates 48-hours to non-fiction books and authors. In addition, it offers live coverage of book events across the nation.

Here are a few examples of authors who have been featured on BookTV:

  • Tara Westover: Author of Educated: A Memoir, a memoir about family, loss, and struggle that was honored by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Boston Globe Bestseller.
  • Jodi Picoult: Author of 24 novels, eight of which have earned a #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list. Her books include My Sister’s Keeper, Small Great Things, and A Spark of Light.
  • James Comey: Former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Author of A Higher Loyalty: Truth Lies and Leadership, a book about his career in the previous two decades of American government.

BookTV grants readers the opportunity to listen to non-fiction authors speak from the comfort of their own homes. If you’re a non-fiction author, you may be asking yourself, “How do I get my book on BookTV?” After all, this is a great opportunity to promote your book(s) and put yourself in front of the ideal audience.

To start, you can email BookTV at [email protected] or leave a phone message at 202-737-3220. When you email or call, make sure you state the following:

  • Your name.
  • The non-fiction book(s) you’ve written.
  • Why you believe you’re a good fit for BookTV.
  • Anything that makes you and/or your book(s) unique.

C-SPAN has an editorial board that meets on a daily basis to determine which authors and books to cover. If they have an interest in covering you, they’ll get back to you.

Before you pitch BookTV, it’s a good idea to check out its archive of programs and schedule for upcoming programming. This way, you can get a feel for what piques their interest and what they typically cover.

“My advice for authors and publicists who want to be carried by BookTV:  Know our mission of promoting nonfiction, public policy, history, biography, and science books and authors. And keep pitching us!  Also, join the over 100,000 book lovers who follow us on twitter, @booktv,” says Peter Slen, BookTV’s Executive Producer.

Remember that since BookTV delivers 48 hours of programming every weekend, there’s plenty of room for authors like you. If you don’t get a response right off the bat, keep trying as there is a good chance you’ll hear back eventually.

The Bottom Line: BookTV is an excellent way for non-fiction authors to gain exposure. While getting on BookTV may take some time and persistence, it will certainly pay off.

About Book Publicist Scott Lorenz

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.

Learn more about Westwind Communications’ book marketing approach at https://www.WestwindBookMarketing.com or contact Lorenz at [email protected] or 734-667-2090 or fill out the form below. Follow Lorenz on Twitter @aBookPublicist. Want help titling a book? Check out Scott Lorenz’s new award winning, bestselling book: Book Title Generator- A Proven System in Naming Your Book www.BookTitleGenerator.net.

Would you like help promoting your book?

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!


Should Authors Pay For PR Placement or Pay a Monthly Retainer?

Should Authors Pay For PR Placement or Pay a Monthly Retainer?

By Scott Lorenz
Westwind Book Marketing

Authors will on occasion request an alternative payment arrangement other than the typical retainer fee arrangement most PR firms including Westwind Communications require.

I could discuss all day the various payment options offered for PR services such as ‘pay for placement,’ ‘hourly fee’ or ‘retainer fee’. In a nutshell, the retainer fee allows the client to have a fixed budget amount for PR each month and it allows my firm to rely on a steady cash flow. The work goes up and down depending upon opportunities and implementation of the marketing plan. Clients will also appreciate the logic of this concept as the billing process is simplified for both parties.

For example, let’s say we get a placement or review in the Chicago Tribune – what’s that worth? What about a photo? You would think that should demand more money right? How much more? What about a one-line quote in the Wall Street Journal? What’s that worth? What happens if a newspaper in Singapore or Australia runs that quote right out of the journal? What’s that worth?  What happens if a meeting planner sees it and calls the client for a speaking gig? Does the PR firm get a piece of that speaking fee? Why not?

What’s the value of a TV interview in the hometown of a self-published author on WBZ in Boston that includes her book cover, photo and link to her web site and the book trailer on YouTube? What happens if that leads to a movie deal? Would my firm be entitled to a piece of that? Or does the fee for pay-for-placement relate to the ad rate for the airtime and space for the web site?  For example, an ad a little larger than a business card is $10,000 in the NY Times Sunday Book Review!

Do you want to share profits with the publicist?

I’ve promoted new medical techniques which resulted in hundreds of procedures at $5,000 apiece. In that case the worth or value of the TV story is dramatically higher. I wish I would have had a piece of that!

Several of my legal related PR placements resulted in multimillion-dollar settlements for my lawyer clients and plaintiffs when the opposing party saw the story on the local TV news. Once they knew we were prepared to continue to do battle in ‘the court of public opinion’ they settled.  Should I have gotten a piece of the lawsuit settlement? Why not? Do you see the dilemma?

What happens if we hit our stride and all the big shows want the author? Can you afford the $3-6,000 fee per show? I personally have met authors who’ve turned down major national morning shows because they could not afford the ‘pay for placement’ fee. That would never happen on a fixed fee retainer basis because you’d get all the shows for one flat fee.

Do you like reviewing complicated bills? How about fighting over ‘value’ of a PR hit?

The way I see it, ‘pay-for-placement’ is a bad deal for authors. Furthermore, there is no way authors would want to review that detail every month and frankly it would cost us hundreds or thousands of dollars per month to prepare a bill with such a breakdown. The very thought of doing it that way is rather terrifying!

There are other reasons we believe it’s in our mutual interest to use retainer fees over other billing methods. Usually, people who want such a deal have had a bad experience with a PR firm that did nothing, or they don’t have enough money in the first place and they’re trying to generate sales from the PR to pay for the PR. Finding out the reason for asking for a non-retainer deal is essential to formulating an equitable arrangement.

The real issue is the futile attempt to place a ‘value’ on PR placement on a monthly basis. Nobody knows the value with certainty because the benefit may come down the road in the form of new business, speaking gigs, consulting deals, TV shows, book deals or even more publicity. Trying to measure its value every month is like trying to place a future value on a baby in a bassinet… it cannot be done.

Another issue is about trust. Can the PR firm deliver the PR that is proposed? Can they be trusted to deliver media placements? I believe that past results are a predictor of future results, especially when it comes to PR. There need be no leap of faith if a PR firm has a track record of success with placements.

Will your book publicity result in book sales, a speaking gig or will it change somebody’s life?

Furthermore, with some PR projects there is just no way to assess how the media and public is going to respond. We could go through a lot of expense to create a PR strategy, press materials and pitch it to an audience that is just not interested. I once had a reporter at Bloomberg News say, “Scott your guy’s book on INDIA looks great, but it’s the 7th book on India I’ve had this month so sorry we can’t run another one!”  Or there’s a problem with the credentials of the author, founder, CEO etc. that were not disclosed to the PR firm in advance. These revelations could tank a PR effort and cost the PR firm money instead of making money.

Sometimes even with PR, people may not buy the book. In fact, there have been authors on CNBC and Good Morning America who have not sold any books!

Are you available willing and able to do almost any interview almost any time?

Finally, another reason the pay for placement deal won’t work is if the author doesn’t hold up his or her end of the bargain, such as being available for interviews, preparing for interviews, book signings, traveling, etc. Little things like these will result in little or no book sales and the publicist gets stuck with little or no compensation. Sorry, that’s a deal killer.

The Bottom Line: We’ll stick to a retainer fee basis, and my clients get to keep profits from their sales, movie deals and speaking gigs. Fair enough?

About Book Publicist Scott Lorenz

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.

Learn more about Westwind Communications’ book marketing approach at https://www.WestwindBookMarketing.com or contact Lorenz at [email protected] or 734-667-2090 or fill out the form below. Follow Lorenz on Twitter @aBookPublicist. Want help titling a book? Check out Scott Lorenz’s new award winning, bestselling book: Book Title Generator- A Proven System in Naming Your Book www.BookTitleGenerator.net.

Would you like help promoting your book?

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!