Who are the “interested parties” for your book? They are the people, companies or entire industries that want to see your book publicized because it shines a favorable light on them or their product(s).
One of the major interested parties for my wife’s book Green Tea was Jamba Juice, a nationwide chain of juice beverage shops. When they began selling a green tea shake in 2005, they purchased copies of the book to sell in their stores as part of their marketing campaign. That amounted to plentiful PR for us, for free.
How can this translate to free PR for your book? Suppose your unpublished book is about cancer. Ask yourself, who are the interested parties? You might try approaching the American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen For the Cure and other cancer support groups. One or more of these groups may have a publishing arm that will want to publish your book, allowing you to bypass the New York publishers altogether in favor of one that really cares about your topic and will value your book highly. Or one of the cancer groups may help support your book with a grant, a promise to purchase X number of copies from the eventual publisher, PR on their websites, including a flyer for your book in their mailings, or handing your book out at their events.
Another example: Suppose your book is written for or about senior citizens: who are the interested parties? AARP comes to mind right away and Googling “senior citizen support groups” produces a whopping 690,000 hits. If only a few hundred of these are relevant and interested, you’ve got yourself quite a bit of potential free publicity and support.
In the same vein, Googling “arthritis support groups” produces 426,000 hits; “Diabetes support groups,” 557,000. “Asthma support groups,” 918,000 and “Pain support groups,” 4,790,000. Of course, most of these hits are worthless. But even if only 1% are relevant and slightly helpful, you’re in great PR shape!
From the moment you get your book idea, start thinking – and keep thinking – about who wants to see your book published and promoted because it benefits them. Then tell them about your book, because if they promote it to help themselves, they’ll also be helping you.
