Bernice and Andy Tate are the publishers of Storybooks-4-Kids, featuring titles with themes of multiculturalism, acceptance, bullying, and the power of diversity. In the last year, the pair has utilized AuthorHouse’s Newswire Plus service to help create a professionally written press release about their book and distribute it to a wide media audience across the U.S. The Tates share their experience with Newswire Plus and discuss the strategy they developed to create an international PR campaign.
How did you utilize the Newswire Plus service?
While we understood the Newswire Plus press release is sent to a wide audience of subscribers, it was not clear that interested parties of Storybooks-4-Kids were actually seeing our message. The challenge was to exploit market opportunities to subscribers of Newswire Plus and potential high-value targets that were not subscribers.
The solution was to simply forward selected links of high-profile Newswire Plus subscribers who had picked up our press release. The idea was that the visible presence of our news release on high-profile Web sites would tacitly convey an implied endorsement and support of our storybooks. The press release suddenly began popping up in unexpected places that had no apparent connection with storybooks for children, causing a “Hey look at this!” curiosity.
At first, our presence appeared to be an anomaly. We established a presence via Newswire Plus in a few important financial news and entertainment industry magazines and organization Web sites, such as Forbes.com, Market Watch, CNBC.com, The Hollywood Reporter, and Publicity Insider. With the content of PR Newswire banner headlines, Authors Tell Story of Diversity in New Children’s Book, the story simply seemed to pop out.
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We pushed the Newswire Plus service links as a part of our promotional material to our real target market: i.e. moms, teachers, grandparents, educational groups, children’s organizations, institutions, cultural groups of every description that did not subscribe to the Newswire Plus service. We asked them to get the word out. They spread the word, and we waited. At first nothing happened, then little by little and then more each day, the buzz began. |
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Almost like magic, we got invitations from local cable TV outlets for on-air guest spots, a two-book review (our only two at that time) in an important regional magazine (November 2007) and a follow-up invitation to appear on the cover of two regional magazines, The Hilton Head and Lowcountry magazine, for a cover story in the January 2008 issues. Most recently, we were interviewed for an Indianapolis Star Sunday April 10 business feature article.
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Regional South Carolina schools and cultural groups around our home state invited us to come and speak on a variety of child-related issues, relevant to our book themes of diversity, acceptance, bullying, and multiculturalism. Newswire Plus had obviously helped get the attention of somebody, somewhere. Our first two books are pending nomination approval decisions by the Parents Choice organization. The effects continue to this day, as we are doing an Atlanta, Ga.-based Christian radio interview talk show on Monday about “following your passion.” |
The Newswire Plus service product was the solution that made it possible for us to move forward and understand that we had a tool and inspired us to be our own advocate.
How did the Newswire Plus service help market your book?
There is no question that Newswire Plus service put us on the global media map. We were picked up on multiple international book-selling Web sites for Amazon, in Japanese, German, French, Spanish; we are carried on Australian bookseller sites, and we are popping up on educational, social service, and children’s specialty sites as well.
The Newswire Plus service is a formidable tool that supports powerful search engine spidering sites, making it possible to appear on Google and Yahoo top 10 hit slots. Try it yourself, and key in: Storybooks4kids or Bernice and Andy Tate.
Newswire Plus got us noticed by serious players who are beginning to network us into other market opportunities. For example, our third children’s book, How the Dalmatian Got its Spots, now in final stage, and due out by April 30—comes with a significant endorsement from Marva Collins, international educator and founder of the Westside Preparatory School in Garfield Park, Chicago, Illinois.
What tips would you give to other authors for promoting their book?
Be imaginative and creative
Rule #1. (There are no rules!)Be your own advocate
Nothing is free! You need spend a few dollars on a professional promotional service product of some kind: TV spots, radio, or Newswire Plus, for example. And you absolutely need an e-commerce type Web site or page of some type.Have a sense of humor
Accidentally” forget and leave a few brochures/flyers in the seat pocket of airlines. (Somebody will read it.)Stuff those annoying, junk mail return postage-paid envelopes with your brochures and cards, etc. and send them back to the credit card companies (somebody will see it) we actually got sales from a major bank credit card mailroom clerk.
Make a deal with a local newsstand or newspaper to have flyer inserted in the Sunday paper or ask the delivery person to do you a favor (for a fee).
