Today it simple and easy to contact the media and make a pitch. More and more authors are doing this as part of their publicity campaign. You can reach producers and reporters by going on a shows website or even engaging them in social media.
One of the biggest complaints we hear from producers and reporters when authors pitch to them is that they are pitching their book rather than a news story. Many authors forget the reason that they are appearing on a show isn’t because they wrote a book but rather they are appearing as an expert. For example, an author recently did a book on retirement planning. When approaching CNBC, the author made the pitch a commercial about their book rather than the expertise on the subject they would bring as a guest. They forgot the news that they have a book published is not news to CNBC. The author completely missed mentioning his expertise and the book’s media hooks in his pitch and rather made his pitch an advertisement to buy his book. That is the surest way not to be a guest on a show.
2170
08/30/2012
