Kim Weiss has worked with a steady line of bestselling books and first time authors for almost 16 years.
The Director of Communications at HCI Books, Kim was part of the phenomenon of the original Chicken Soup for the Soul series from its very beginning. She works with a wide array of titles monthly including the award-winning parenting series Stop Second Guessing Yourself by Jen Singer.
With so many rapid changes in both the publishing world and the media world in just the past year, what does today's authors need to know to help promote his or her own books in 2010?
Kim offer these five tips:
1) KNOW the media that you are pitching. Trying to impose an inappropriate story or content to a producer, editor or reporter can make a bad impression and a lasting one.
2) Build your platform i.e. your presence/visibility/recognition in the marketplace. This includes social networking vehicles (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) as well any other ever-growing form of outreach. Bottom line: perpetually grow your potential readership
3) If you're able to hire a personal publicist, do so. Make sure they have a specialty in book publishing and get references. If you can't hire one, read up on both basics of book publicity and the latest bells and whistles.
4) Remember to map out your promotions ahead of time. You need to have plenty of lead time to keep up with media that often works very far in advance.
5) Consider making appearances on behalf of your book. Think about appearances in both the traditional sense (book signing events and lectures) as well as online via webinars, webcasts, etc.
Kim also consults with seasoned and aspiring authors privately providing assistance to them on their publishing journeys. You can follow Kim on Twitter.
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