I recently took a poll on social media that asked people to rate their favorite things about fall. (We are connected on social media, right? If not, see my P.S. below.) Here are the results of the poll, with the most popular item first:
- Autumn Leaves
- Comfy Clothes
- Crisp Air
- The Weather
- Hot Chocolate
- Soups and Stews
- Watching the Squirrels
- New Fall Shows
- New Books
- Halloween
What would your list be? Personally, I would add boots to the list! There is nothing like wearing a great pair of boots!
As fall continues, we are headed straight into the month of October. If you’ve been a regular reader of the Savvy Sunday News, then you know it’s good to keep an eye on the special dates that are coming up , then look for ways to tie your book into them to make your book newsworthy. If the topic of your book is mentioned or can be related to an event on the list below, then you can answer that all important question the media is asking: “Why you, why now?”
A list of special dates in October in the US
Is there one that your book can tie into?
- Adopt A Shelter Dog Month
- Breast Cancer Awareness Month
- Financial Planning Month
- Global Diversity Awareness Month
- Halloween Safety Month
- National Bullying Prevention Month
- National Cyber Security Awareness Month
- National Depression Education & Awareness Month
- National Domestic Violence Awareness Month
- Positive Attitude Month
- Squirrel Awareness Month (Different than Squirrel Appreciation Day in January)
- Vegetarian Month
Tying your book into the calendar is one way to make your book newsworthy, particularly to trained media folks. However it’s often different with untrained media.
This is an important distinction: Many things you must keep in mind when reaching out to professionals trained in media may be different when working with those who are approaching their media work from other angles, who, for lack of a better word, I’ll call untrained media. These are people who have started their own blogs, podcasts, radio shows, newsletters, etc. without coming to it from a trained media background. Some have become very successful with huge audiences, and others are still in the early growing stages. Wherever they fall on that continuum, they are not usually tied into dates on a calendar or newsworthy items. They don’t have the sense of urgency that trained media does.
In other words, their topics are often evergreen and much more niche to their specific audiences. If that is the case, then if there is a match between your book’s topic and what they cover, it won’t be necessary to find a current event or a news item to tie into in order to get coverage. Of course, you’ll still need a hook to get their attention.
Media type differences matter
This detail about the difference between reaching out to trained and untrained media is often overlooked. There are many differences between the types of media. So much so that I have begun writing a book about it. I’ll let you know about it along the way, but look for it in a year or so. I’m not making a big announcement about this yet, but you heard it here first!
If you have any media questions you’re struggling with, please let me know about them. My plan is for this book to be extremely relevant, and while I always have my eye on trends and the changes I see regarding media, publicity, and marketing–knowing your personal challenges with publicity is very much top of mind for me. You can always email me by hitting reply to this email or by filling out the contact form on my website.
Fall is always a good time for starting new projects, and it looks like this book will be released in the fall of 2020. That’s the plan for now; we’ll see how things transpire.
I’m always curious what you’re working on, so feel free to tell me about it!
To your success!
Joanne
P.S. If we’re not already connected via social media, let’s change that! Connect with me here:
#Octoberdates | #trainedmedia | #untrainedmedia | #newbook | #bookpublicity | #bookmarketing | #fallpoll #nicheworthy |#newsworthy