Taking Your Campaign on the Road: Five ‘Author Tour’ Tips Serious Writers Need to Know

In the ‘old days,’ there was a specific formula to book promotion. A no-holds barred author tour was the answer where the author would go for a winning mixture of television, radio, print and book signings. It was a hold-nothing-back author tour where the writer would ‘appear’ in a given city and get some combination of heavyweight radio, TV, book-signing and newspaper coverage. When the author left that city, residents knew his or her name and the name of their newly-released title. Is this still a plausible outcome nowadays? The answer is, ‘it depends.’ Depends? Yes!it depends entirely on who’s arranging the tour and whether or not they follow the right guidelines. Marsha Friedman, CEO of EMSI, a national pr firm says ” Like most important things, there are rules to this game!rules you can insist your PR firm follow.” Here Marsha shares her 5 author tour guidelines that will help you bring successes to your book’s promotion.

1. ‘Anchor’ each city with at least one interview on a major network TV affiliate. Marsha Friedman says, “This is where the PR ‘rubber meets the road’: If a major network affiliate show can’t be landed, there’s limited value in that market when you consider the time and money you have to invest in the trip. Just cancel that city and move onto the next.”

2. Obtain a minimum of two to three media appearances in each market within a day or two. This is yet another important part about whether or not to go into a city when you are on tour. Friedman says, “If you go out fighting for a day or two and things come together, you really have a good chance at “household name” status in that market.”

3. Schedule at least one book signing. Want to drive distribution of your book into a city. Then this is one of the best methods to do so. In addition to distribution, book signings really create public relations opportunity and excitement that can usually set you back a pretty penny. Marsha Friedman adds, “This is a great way to create a combined effort with your other media appearances.” 4. Use your down time and visit area bookstores. Unless your PR agency is an absolute wizard, you’re going to have some down time in a given city. Got an extra hour, then check out a local book store. Marsha Friedman adds, “Your books on the shelves? Offer to autograph them! Are you books not on the shelf? Then offer to do a book signing!”

5. Generate local word-of-mouth with speaking engagements. Here’s another way to take full advantage of those hours after you do that interview on the six am morning news: Arrange speaking engagements at the local library, Church, Chamber of Commerce or professional affiliations these groups are usually clamoring for interesting speakers - especially those with a hot new book that’s just been released! Gearing Yourself Up to Be a Promoter! Maybe, when you started writing, nobody told you that you’d have to be a promoter, too. To be honest, promoting is something that you really need to do as an author in order to ensure that your book doesn’t get lost amongst the 300,000 published every year! With an author tour, you really need to get promoting and make sure that you make every media appearance and book signing count!

So as you can see, author tours are a fabulous way to get the word out about your book and drive sales. Just make sure that whomever you use to schedule them follows the 5 tips above! If you would like to learn more about gaining national or local media attention for your company, product or service, without the financial burden of monthly retainers, Friedman is available to be of service . Feel free to contact her directly at mfriedman@emsincorporated.com or visit her firm online at http://www.emsincorporated.com. As a PR expert Marsha Friedman has the ability to get the media attention that you desire without budget busting monthly retainers.

Marsha Friedman has been a leading authority on public relations for nearly two decades as CEO of Event Management Services, Inc (EMSI). If you would like to receive her free Ebook “How to Be a Great Talk Radio Guest” visit http://www.emsincorporated.com.

- Marsha Friedman