The BelieversPress blog features Q & A sessions with the experts we work with, answering questions that you’ve asked. Have a question? Click the link in the sidebar to submit it! You asked:

“I really feel like my book could benefit from some local media coverage — what can I do to get on my local paper’s editor’s good side?”

Susan Brill, writing and marketing expert, replied: Great question! Editors are always in a crunch, on a deadline, and looking for something fresh. They’re often also short on funds to pay freelancers to cover local news. Instead of asking for their help – offer yours! Avail yourself as a resource, and be easy to work with. This will put your name and the name of your book in the public eye, and establish relationship and credibility with the editors. Here are a few ways to avail yourself:

1. Offer to write an article. Let the editor know the topic of your book and your area of expertise. Be sure to include the title of your book in your byline or in a short biographical sentence at the end of the article.
2. Offer to run an excerpt from your book in the paper – for free. (Don’t worry about giving your book away. If people have a taste and like what they read, they’ll want to buy the book for themselves!) Send the editor a copy of your book with an inscription from you on the inside front page, thanking the editor by name for his or her contribution to the community or for his or her work at the paper. Flag a few areas of the book you would offer as an excerpt for the paper.
3. Send in a press release that highlights you as a local author. A book launch press release focuses on the content and relevance of your book. But in your own community – you’re bigger news than the book is! Again, the size of your community makes a difference, but, even in a big city, if you can find an angle that makes your authoring a book newsworthy, many papers would be happy to print it for the local color and human interest value. It’s easier for someone else to write this kind of release for you rather than trying to paint yourself as a local celebrity. (Believer’s Press can help you with that.)

Other ideas to use your local paper for publicity: Send in community event notices when you have speaking engagements in the area; set up a book discussion at the local library and issue a short press release in advance; or write an editorial for the Op/Ed section of the paper on a current issue in the news that ties in to the topic of your book. Finally, be easy to work with by sending in clean, proofread copy. Be easy to reach by including your name and contact information on every correspondence or submission, and be quick to pick up your phone or respond to messages from the editor. (An hour can make or break whether your story runs!) Be informed – read the paper! Make sure you know the tone, news style, and content of the paper so your offers or requests to the editor are in proper context.