How to Write a Press Release

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Press coverage is one of the most effective means available to generate buzz about your book. When you contact newspapers and other print media, you should always include a press release, an essential component of any media campaign.  Here are some tips for writing a press release, including a template that you can cut and paste onto your own letterhead.

 

  1. MAKE IT ONE PAGE IF POSSIBLE:  Editors are busy people who can’t take the time to read a lengthy press release. Make it short and professional!

 

  1. CONTACT INFORMATION:  All press releases follow the same format. The release starts with your contact information so editors can reach you for more information.

 

  1. HEADLINE:  The headline grabs the reader; so make it short, simple, and effective! Think about effective newspaper headlines and write in a similar style.

 

  1. PRESS RELEASE:  Start the first line of your news story with the dateline [date of the release and your city, for example:  January 1, 2002, San Jose, California).  Then write the release, focusing on why your book is news. This is what convinces an editor to run a story.  Describe your book only briefly. This should read just like a newspaper article

 

Draw the editor in with information they can use.  Talk statistic, which work, even for fiction.  The American Booksellers Association offers a listing of statistics on their web page (www.bookweb.org).  Take a look and use something that applies to your title (be sure to credit any study you quote!). With local newspapers, call attention to the local angle.

 

Make sure you have covered the “5 W’s” of journalism:  Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Include some benefit statements about the book:  Who endorses the book? [Be sure to] include quotes or blurbs. What makes your book new, different, and notable? When is your next book signing? Where is the book available? Why should someone read it?

 

Be direct and simple. Use the present tense and don’t speak in first person. Write in a reporterly manner, using friendly, catchy language but not jargon. You want to make sure anyone can understand what you’re saying.

 

Feel free to use bullets or numbering as they make the release more inviting and easier to read. REMEMBER – show the benefits of your book and make it news!

 

5.      AUTHOR BIO:  Again, the key here is to be short and concise. Talk about your accomplishments, other boos or stories you’ve had published. Be sure you include some human-interest features or professional associations or club memberships. These can often be used as a basis for media coverage. 

 

So there you have it – the basics of a press release.  Use the template below or create your own.  Remember:  Make it news! Make it concise!                              

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

CONTACT:     Name

                        Phone Number

                        Email Address or Web Site Address

 

 

Headline: (Make it short, simple, and effective!)

 

 

Dateline (June 1, 2002, San Jose, CA) -  Write the release, focusing on why your book is news.

For more information about (topic/book) or to schedule an interview, please contact (your name and contact number).

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Sample Press Release on next page.
SAMPLE PRESS RELEASE

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

CONTACT:     Janette Owens

                        Oneswan Productions

                        Memphis, TN 

                        (901) 378-3056

                        janetteowens@earthlink.net

 

 

“Buyer Beware” Syndrome on Modern Day Romance

 

June 2000 -  MEMPHIS, TN - Just when you thought you’d heard your last chord of a “somebody’s done somebody wrong song” comes a fresh, new book that explores the joys and pitfalls of contemporary love and relationships—A Swan Song (0-9677312-0-8, Trade paperback, 103 pp, 5½ x 8½, $12.00).

Through a blend of poetry and prose, Janette Owens offers a social commentary on the “buyer beware” syndrome of relationships while challenging our obsession with finding Mr. or Ms. Right.  In an intimate collection of poems and short stories, she explores how to love a black man and woman, why our faith inhibits our personal growth, how social customs affect our interactions, and the unhealthy lessons we’re teaching our children and how we can stop it.

 What makes this book different from any other is the approach taken from an African-American poet’s writer’s point of view.  Love and relationships are not culturally specific, but there is a lost audience of African-American readers looking for literature that speaks directly to them. 

According to the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), data from Target Market News, a Chicago-based research firm specializing in African-American consumer research, shows that book purchases by black consumers reached an all-time of $320 million in 1998.  The main areas of interests were self-help and self-enlightening, including topics on love and relationships.

"The African-American book buyer is an increasingly important segment of our industry," says Anita Diggs, Acquiring Editor/Senior Publicist at Time-Warner Trade Publishing. "By understanding more about the expanding interests of these readers, we can start to publish titles that address those needs."

For more information about A Swan Song, or to schedule an interview, please contact Janette Owens at (901) 219-3056 or see www.janetteowens.com.

 

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