Get Informed About the Media

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

If you have a book or a message or a product that needs to get into the world, where do you learn about how the news media works? There are many different ways and resources but in this article I want to highlight some insights from a new book from journalist Alison Maloni

 

Just like as writers we need to keep the needs of our reader in mind as we write, it's the same with the media. When you pitch a journalist, you have to know where they are coming from and a book like Maloni's book helps you gain this insider perspective. Every business or person selling a product (like a book) needs to reach the media. The media has the ability to reach a broad audience.  Journalist Alison Maloni has been working with the media for decades and pours her experience into the pages of BREAKING IN THE NEWS.

 

In the opening pages, Maloni explains a key fact, “I have put all of my tips and knowledge from being a journalist, publicist, and business owner into this short, simple book—something you can read quickly and apply immediately to your business. While there is a ton of information here, it is only good if you do the work. It is all up to you, and if you put in the work, I guarantee you will see an increase in your media exposure.” (Page 5)

 

Each chapter is packed with valuable insights and ends with a “Chapter Roundup” which highlights the action points. Scattered throughout the book are “Pro Tips” from other journalists and media experts. Whether you want to understand the difference between publicity and advertising or why local publicity can prepare you for the national stage or how to write the perfect pitch, you will find valuable insights in these pages.

 

Here's some more nuggets in this book: “You can and should have goals to be in the big media outlets, but I want you to think about starting small and having realistic goals in the beginning. PR takes time.” (Page 24) or “As a former local news reporter and now contributor and ahchor for a national news outlet, I have had the chance to sit in on editorial and producer meetings. Unless you are in the newsroom, it's hard to understand how the crazy world of news works. It is not like any other industry, and it's very important to know how the industry works before you pitch them. If yuou have that first-hand knowledge, the local reporter and assignment editors will recognize it, and that's bit bonus points for you.” (Page 27)

 

When you get the interview or program, Maloni writes, “If you say yes and do a good job, they will look to call you for the next time they need an expert in your industry to speak to. The reporter will even share you rcontact infcormation with other reporters in the newsroom if they are looking to do a story related to your industry.” (Page 33)  If you get this book, I encourage you to mark pages and highlight, then go back and do what Maloni says in her opening pages: “do the work.”

 

Understanding the perspective of the media is a terrific first step and this sort of valuable insights fills the pages of BREAKING IN THE NEWS: BUILD BUZZ FOR YOUR BRAND. I found the information approachable, easy to understand and apply and well-written. Every writer can profit from a careful reading and application of this book. Also I encourage you to follow Alison Maloni on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn. Her short video series that she calls “The Tip of the Day” is also filled with ready to apply insights.

The first step when you approach journalists or anyone in the media is understanding what they need then delivering it to them. How are you developing your relationships with journalists and others in the media? Let me know in the comments below.

Last week, a podcast launched that I recorded with bestselling author Christine Kloser about why every author needs a book proposal (even if you self-publish). I encourage you to follow this link and listen to it.

 

Tweetable:

To give the media what they need, the first step is to get informed about their needs so you can meet them. This prolific editor and author tells about a new book, Breaking in the News. Get the details here. (ClickToTweet)

Are You Missing A Key Element to Publish Your Book? Get the details here. 

Deadline Jolt

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

As a writer and editor in publishing, I have many different deadlines. Some of these deadlines are self-imposed and others come outside of my control. One of the keys to professional writing is meeting these various deadlines with quality and on-target submission (what the receiver is expecting and needing).  I use the reminders portion of my cell phone to make sure I meet a number of those deadlines.

 

Last week I checked my email late one night and got a short reminder about a deadline. I'm not going to tell you the specific deadline but talk about it in general terms. It was something that I've been doing faithfully each year for at least six years. My part is one aspect of a complex system with many different pieces in the process. Normally I'm aware of this annual deadline and process the information during several hours on a weekend. This year I knew about it on some level but totally forgot getting it done. This experience was my deadline jolt.

 

My first inclination was to apologize and say I would do it in the morning since there was only a few hours until their deadline. After sending that brief apologizing email, I reconsidered, decided to go ahead and meet the deadline. I sent a second brief email saying I would turn in my paperwork in a few hours. The task is complex with lots of pieces and parts to accomplish. While intense for a couple of hours, I completed it and sent in my assigned work—and was about ten minutes after midnight when I hit the send button.

 

This sort of sheer panic is not something I face often these days in my writing life. Yet I have certainly felt this sort of pressure many times in the past. As a young journalist, I worked at a daily newspaper in the pre-computer days. Yes we used a standard old-fashion typewriter to create our stories. Our story and assignment meetings would happen early in the morning and my deadline would be 11 am for my story. Sometimes I would have to interview a number of people, gather my thoughts and crank out my story before the deadline. Then my writing would be published in the afternoon newspaper—normally around 3 pm. These experiences called for a fast turnaround and provided excellent training about the importance of completing deadlines.

 

Now it was in the evening and normally a time when I curl up with a good book and relax. Instead I faced another jolt deadline—something that was due in a few hours and I had not handled it. I made a decision to not delay until tomorrow but to dig in and do the assignment. I knew my delay would cause likely cause problems for my colleagues. In the process of meeting the deadline, I tapped into my experience of meeting deadlines in the past and pure determination to get it done.

 

If I get the opportunity to do this task next year (it's something that we recommit to doing annually), this deadline will definitely be on the reminders in my phone. If I handle it with greater deliberation and planning, I will not have another deadline jolt.

 

Like most of us, I'm only using a small portion of the tools and power in my cell phone.  Every phone comes with reminders. Are you using reminders in your writing life? I do but sometimes I have missed something and have a jolt in the process. Have you had a deadline jolt? Tell me about it and how you handled it in the comments below.

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The Challenge for Every Learner

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

 

Several weeks ago, a reader contacted me about my book, Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. He had read the book and marked different pages in the book for additional study and action. Sometimes a picture is worth 1,000 words and this reader sent an image.

 

I smiled at his use of post-its in books because when I read books, I often use the same system. I mark different passages with a highlighter and post-its. Then I return to these places and apply the material to my writing life and work. It is a system that I've been using successfully in my own life for years to keep growing as a writer.

 

While I've been in publishing many years, have a college degree in journalism from a top university, and have been attending writers conferences and classes for years, here's the key: I still have much more to learn as a writer.

 

Are you continuing to grow as a writer or have you arrived? I've interviewed more than 150 bestselling authors. In this process, I've met a few authors who have acted like they have “arrived” at the pinnacle of their profession. It is not an attractive attitude to witness and in fact a turn off for me. As I have watched what happened to people with this arrival attitude, I've noticed they have faded from the bestseller lists and are now in relative obscurity. Yes still around the community but not currently producing bestselling books. If you have that “arrival” attitude, I would challenge you to change it. Make sure you have others in your life who will give you honest feedback. With this honest feedback, you can continue to grow and learn as a writer.

 

As writers we need to keep learning and growing. In this process of growing, there is a tricky balance between continuing to learn and taking action. To move forward as a learner, you have to be doing more than learning, , you need to apply that learning to your work. Recently I was speaking with a writer colleague about this issue: many people take courses—but don't take action (implemention—where the rubber meets the road).

 

There is an old saying, “Knowledge is Power.” This statement is true—but only if you act on the information in your head. For example, I know about Goodreads and how every author can select quotes from their book and add them into Goodreads quotes. You give other people automatic permission to use your quotes—and promote your book. It's good to know that fact—but worthless if you don't take action, choose the quotes and them put them on Goodreads. Several weeks ago I wrote about the details of this process (follow this link to see this article.) This is just one example of dozens of things authors need to do to take action.

Recently I learned about the free online courses from the Muck Rack Academy. One course is on social media and the other is on pitching to journalists. I've completed the course on social media and learned a number of valuable insights which I implemented into my social media. The second course on pitching to journalists, I'm about to finish but have yet to implement it into my own writing life. I am a learner but have the same challenges of every writer—finding balance between learning and implementation (taking action).

 

How do you find the balance between learning and taking action in your writing life? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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Use Your Resources To Meet Needs

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Last week my cassette tape recorder quit. I know many of you don't use cassette tape recorders any longer but I had developed my own technique for recording and gathering information. Now I needed to chart a new path.

1. I have ordered a replacement on ebay because I still have information on tapes that I need to be able to access. I easily found a used tape recorder. Whenever I purchase something on ebay, I always look at the reviews and feedback. I always make sure to buy from someone who has a good reputation and ratings. While it was good to get another tape recorder, I knew I needed to make additional changes.

2. I needed a new method of recording interviews on the phone and conducting interviews. 

To find my new method, I could have used Google and searched through a bunch of articles and pages.  Instead, I wrote a short email to several online groups to see what I would learn. I have a number of journalist and author friends. I wrote some straightforward simple questions and posted it in a couple of places.

In a short amount of time, I got some answers from experienced authors. These people also needed to record interviews and write from a transcription. Several people listed the same resource--TapeACall. I downloaded this app on my iPhone. It had a seven day free trial. I experimented with the program and recorded a couple of calls with friends.    

Last week I recorded an hour session with my author and my current writing project. We recorded for an hour (and the tape worked great). Then I tried the transcription feature.  It took about 20 minutes for the program to convert the tape into text. While the transcription is not perfect, I have the recording as the back up for clarification. The program has an annual fee of $59.95 or $5 a month which is well worth it in the time and energy it will save me. I am still perfecting my use of this program. 

In this article, I wanted to give a practical example of how I used my resources to find a new tool for my writing work. It's the same path you can take if you need something. Asking others who have already gained the experience and done the research is one of the quickest and best ways that I have found.

When you need a resource, what do you use? Let me know in the comments below and I look forward to learning from your experiences.

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Why Authors Need An Online Press Room

Every author has to be proactive when it comes to telling others about your book. This stance doesn't use messages like “buy my book” which do not work. Instead your actions need to stress and highlight the benefits of your book and what readers will gain from it. One area which I have not discussed before is an online press room.

Increasingly the media are using tools like Google to find sources for interviews. One of the best tools to increase your visibility with the media is to create an online press room for your book. For some time, I've had this tool in my plans and finally built it for my book, Billy Graham, A Biography of America's Greatest Evangelist. On November 7th, Mr. Graham will turn 98 years old. I encourage you to follow this link and check out my online press room which is full of information.

What does an online press room include?

Journalists (print or broadcast) are looking for easy ways to reach an author. Your first step is to understand what they need:

• Author contact information — provide several easy methods to reach you via phone and email
• Author biography or information about the author
• A Book Press Release
• Suggested questions for the author about the book
• Media samples of when the author is interviewed
• Samples of the book
• Visuals for the book—cover photos and author photos

I hope you will check out my online press room and notice each of these resources in my press room. I expect to add to these resources in the days ahead. Because I've launched my press room, I hope different people in the media will begin to use this resource.

As the author, you have to be doing interviews to have media samples for your book. Often authors forget to ask for a copy of the interview or download it from the journalist after the interview. You need this material for your online press room and to show the media that you are regularly being interviewed about your book.

Proactive authors have built an online press room and gathered the essential documents where a journalist can connect with the author and write a story or schedule their own broadcast interview. According to PR and marketing expert Rusty Shelton increasingly media are using these online press rooms to reach out to authors and schedule interviews. Your first step as an author is awareness that you need one. Next gather the materials for such an effort or create them such as writing your own press release or a list of suggested questions. Finally build your site and begin promoting it through social media to others.

Do you have an online press room? Has it helped you gain increased opportunities to promote your book or schedule interviews with the media? If so, let me know in the comments below. Proactive authors are always looking for the next opportunity. Literary agents and editors are attracted to these types of active authors.

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Once again, I made the list of the Top 100 Marketing Experts to follow on Twitter from Evan Carmichael. He creates this list from different variables such as retweets and more. I'm honored to be #61 on this list. Hope you will check it out.

Social Media Can Make or Break You

Editor's note: Yesterday and today, I'm honored to introduce you to Brad Phillips, the president of Phillips Media Relations, a media and presentation training firm with offices in New York City and Washington, D.C. I was fascinated with the insights in these two excerpts from his new book, The Media Training Bible.

By Brad Phillips
 

Imagine you’re the communications director for Hartown Manufacturing, a midsize company based in California. You’re responsible for all communications in the western United States.

One morning, you arrive at work and log in to your Twitter account. You’re scrolling through the rather dull tweets when you suddenly see one that takes your breath away: “Breaking News: Major Explosion at Salt Lake City Hartown Plant.”

Within minutes, dozens of people are tweeting about it, spreading rumors along the way. Some eyewitnesses claim they’ve seen ambulances pulling away with dozens of victims. One claims a plant supervisor has been killed. You call a colleague who works at the plant who tells you that no one knows whether anybody was badly hurt—and that no ambulances have arrived yet.

You immediately post that accurate information to Hartown’s social media pages. Journalists who follow your feeds see your posts and decide against reporting any of the rumors they’ve read about possible injuries or deaths until you confirm them.

That type of scenario is commonplace in the age of social media, and it underscores three important truths:

1. The public and the press may learn of a crisis affecting your company through their social media networks before you even know there’s a problem.
2. People will begin discussing (and speculating about) your crisis before you’ve had time to obtain the facts.
3. You need to use your social media channels to immediately correct misinformation and establish yourself as a primary source of accurate information.

Most reporters now use social media as an essential tool of crisis reporting. As Jane Jordan-Meier reported in The Four Stages of Highly Effective Crisis Management, “Two journalists I spoke with saw Twitter as the new police scanner.” You can no longer afford to relegate social media to being of secondary importance.

Communicate through your social media networks as quickly as possible, ideally within half an hour of learning about an incident. You can include links to lengthier statements and additional resources in your posts.

There’s one additional way to help manage a crisis using social media: be engaged with your social networks before a crisis strikes. You’ll need fans to defend your integrity when something goes wrong, and few people are more credible than the unaffiliated third parties who voluntarily vouch for you.

Case Study: Domino’s Pizza & a Disgusting Video (V)

In 2009, an employee of a North Carolina Domino’s franchise filmed a coworker sticking cheese up his nose before appearing to send the food out for delivery. The two workers uploaded the video to YouTube, where it quickly racked up a million views. Television anchors showed the disgusting clip on their newscasts and customers stopped ordering pizza.

Company president Patrick Doyle waited two days before finally responding. He issued a two-minute YouTube apology, in which he appeared genuinely pained by the incident. He was deservedly given credit by many crisis management professionals for releasing the heartfelt video— but most suggested that he waited too long and incurred unnecessary financial and reputational damage by waiting 48 hours.

Mr. Doyle’s response was noteworthy for one additional reason: it was the first time a major company president used YouTube as the primary method of responding to a crisis.

Brad Phillips is the author of the new book TheMedia Training Bible: 101 Things You Absolutely, Positively Need to Know BeforeYour Next Interview. He blogs at www.MrMediaTraining.com. 

Become a Prolific Writer

How do you step up your productivity as a writer and become prolific?

It's a question that many consider but few know the answer. I'd love to help you become a prolific writer with my insights and answers to this question and many others on March 8^th.

I'm holding a FREE 70–minute teleseminar answering your questions about to repurpose your content.

For many years, I've been creating only original content—new articles, new blog posts, new books and any other type of new writing. As a journalist, it's how I've been trained to crank out new words.

In recent years, I've learned that I was missing out on more exposure and income from not taking steps to repurpose my writing. When I use repurpose, I'm taking about reusing my writing from one type of writing into another medium.

While I am still learning more information about this important concept, I'm going to share with you my insights through a free teleseminar on March 8^th at 8 p.m. EST or 5 p.m. Pacific for 70–minutes. I will be answering your questions about how to repurpose your content. Whether you know about this concept or not, I encourage you to sign up and attend this unique event.

If you have a conflict and can't attend the LIVE event, the event will be recorded and everyone who registers will receive the replay information.

Also to help you know more about repurposing, I've created a new Ebook, Get More Mileage From Your Content. You will have immediate access to this 27–page Ebook.

I look forward to speaking with you soon and answering your questions to help you become a more prolific writer.