It’s good to have one of these prepared as soon as you are
ready to start marketing your book. These step by step instructions are for
promoting a book written by school children, but it is easily adaptable.
1.
Start with a headline. Include something about the
book and where it is created e.g. Willmonston
High Create Book about Animals in Support of RSPCA
2. N.B.
If sending your press release by email, include your headline in the subject
line. If sending by snailmail, remember to double space.
3. Create
a “grabber”. You might type this in a slightly bigger font than normal. What is
the most exciting aspect about this project? An example might be: “Best-selling
author K L Towling assists Willmonston High students with their
story-telling”.
4. Do
you want you press release to go out straight away? In which case, type
IMMEDIATE RELEASE above the headline.
5. Make
sure to keep the school name in the headline and any sub-heading. Repeat it
again as you start writing the text.
6. Now
on to the body of the press release.
Keep the information concise. Make sure you include and make clear:
a. What
the actual news is
b. Why
this is news
c. Who
is involved
d. What
they are doing
e. Why
you are making this news available.
- Include a call to action. What do you want the public to do? Buy the book? Attend the launch?
8. Next
write something about who you are:
a. Give
this section the title About Willmonston High School.
b. Write
five to six sentences.
- Try to identify what is special about your school.
d. Give
your web-site address.
9. Now
mention one more fact about why what you are doing is important.
10. Finally,
give contact information:
- The name of the school
- Contact person (you may have a PR person who liaises with the media)
- Full address of your school
- Full telephone and fax numbers
- Contact person’s mobile number
- Time of availability
- Web address
- Signal the end of the press release with three # symbols, centred directly underneath the last line of the release. This is a journalistic standard.
Here is a sample press release.
Immediate release
Spooking by Gill James
Paranormal Romance for young adults by university lecturer
Spooking tells the
story of a premature death and an unfinished love affair. Yes, this is a
paranormal romance but there are definitely no vampires.
It isn’t too scary and there is certainly some humour in it.
Spooking appears
in paperback on 28 September 2012. It has already been out as an e-book since
April 2012.
Gill will do a tour of Greater Manchester secondary schools
to promote the book.
About Gill James
Gill lectures in English and Creative Writing at the
University of Salford. The first draft of
Spooking was written whilst on a writer’s retreat on Tenerife. Gill also
writes short stories and flash fiction for adults. Her main area of expertise
however is the young adult novel.
Contact Gill for interviews at g.james1@salford.ac.uk or on 0161 295 6792.
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