How a Nonfiction Author Can Get New Clients From Media

nonfiction author get new clientsFor authors, getting visibility helps put them in front of more potential readers. It also helps put them in front of more potential prospects. Nonfiction authors can get new clients from media coverage; especially if they know how to maximize the coverage that they get. The temptation to spend an interview talking about your book is great. With a bit of thought and planning, you can use your interviews to really connect with your audience, and make the case for why they need to work with you.

Here are my top 5 steps a nonfiction author get new clients using media coverage:

Speak in sound bites
“A sound bite is characterized by a short phrase or sentence that captures the essence of what the speaker was trying to say, and is used to summarize information and entice the reader or viewer,” according to Wikipedia. By speaking in sound bites you grab the reader or viewer’s attention and are able to connection quickly as people have short attention spans. A great sound bite is one that resonates with them and is memorable. It is the kind of content that may inspire them to share it on social media, and could easily fit on Twitter, whose limit is 140 characters.

Tell stories about the big problems you solve
Talk about the big problem that keeps your clients up at night. I don’t mean talk about your process. Tell a story about the big problem a client had, and how you were able to solve it. This lets your reader see themselves in your story, especially if this a problem they have. Your audience is going to think. I need that, I want that solution.

Use third party testimonials or descriptions
It can be hard to speak about yourself, especially in glowing terms without sounding boastful. If you have had a client describe you or your work in a very positive and concise way, then use it in your interviews as this can boost your trust and credibility with the audience. For example, “my clients call me the ‘Publicity Queen and Mentor’ and tell me that I make publicity very easy for them to understand and implement on their own.”  This serves as both an elegant way to state your expertise, while also building additional third party credibility with the testimonial.

Cite statistics
Statistics sound authoritative and are called ‘sticky content’; they are easily shared and journalists love them. It’s even more powerful if you can cite your own survey or statistics. It doesn’t have to be a huge survey of 1000 clients. If 10 out of 20 clients have the problem that you solve, you can state that ‘50% of the companies we speak to are struggling with this problem.’

Use language that talks about the benefits of your solution
Well chosen words can really reach the audience and help make them desire your solution and want to work with you. Again, this is not intended to be a sales pitch but part of your story. The client was happy because our solution was ____________ [fill in the blank]. Great benefits to cover are how you save time, money or stress. Words, like cheaper, easier, faster, better will grab the audience’s attention. Who doesn’t want more results like that in their business.

Don’t be afraid to be a bit mysterious and suggest that the audience will have to get the book to find out exactly how you achieved an outcome, but do tell great stories and give them enough information to intrigue them. Make a specific reference in your interview to your book. For example, ‘I cover this in chapter 3’. That draws your reader or listener back to the book and suggests they get it to read chapter 3 for themselves.

Finally, include an invitation, also known as a call to action. In print media, it’s up to the journalist or publication what they will include it in the article or profile, so it may not be possible;  you’ll want to ask if they can include your invitation. A good call to action can be ‘sign up for my newsletter’, ‘download a free report’ or ‘download a sample chapter of the book’ on my website. When you are being interviewed on radio, podcast or TV you can usually make a call to action. I recommend discussing it with the media outlet beforehand. They will often be happy to segue into your call to action by asking, “If the listener would like more information about your work, what is the best way for them to find out?” Here is where you invite the reader or listener to connect with you, download your content or engage with you on social media.

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Tips for Successful HARO Pitches

How to Become an Author When You Hate to Write

author hate to writeIt would seem to be an oxymoron that you can become an author if you hate to write, however it is in fact possible. You can do so in the 4 ways I outline below  without requiring a ghostwriter to create your content.

Maybe a book is on your bucket list, and is one of the things that just seems to be getting put off and off… Maybe the thought of writing a book is overwhelming… and maybe you aren’t even sure how to get started.

Remember, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, but your path to being an author doesn’t have to start with a blank page!

[clickToTweet tweet=”The road to publishing a book doesn’t have to start with a blank page” quote=”The road to publishing a book doesn’t have to start with a blank page”]

This simple idea about book creation may put your mind at ease, and make it easier to get into action and get your book started, and completed before the end of the year. There are ways to ‘write’ a book that you may not have considered, and may be less overwhelming or intimidating than starting with a blank page to write your business book.

Here are the top four types of books that will allow you to become an author even if you hate to write

1. Compilation of blog posts or articles can be bundled together to create a book. By turning your content into a book, and publishing it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and other online retailers, you are able to extend your reach and get in front of new audiences.

2. Radio or podcast interviews can create great content for your book. The audio file can be transcribed into text to form the basis for your book. Once published, the radio/podcast hosts will be helpful in promoting the book as they are mentioned i
n it.

How To Become an Author If You Hate to Write

 3. Speeches or presentations you have given can be turned into books. A speech is often developed on paper first, so already have your text draft you can use to create your book. If you have a recording of your presentation you can also have it transcribed and turned into text.

This J.K. Rowling Book is the transcript of a speech she gave at Harvard University in 2008. It is 81 pages long.

 

4. Curate other people’s content around a theme. The content can be articles or blog posts that other people have written. It’s easier to go with content that’s already written, than to invite people to write new content and then hope that they comply with your deadlines. This book is not only easy to put together, but has a built in marketing team as the contributors will gladly promote a book they are featured in.

Once you have collected your content, you will need to have it edited for typos and grammatical errors. You can leave an interview in its Q and A style. You just need to add an introduction and a summary to the content and you now have a book!

For eBooks, you don’t need to be too concerned about the length. Amazon has categories for shorter books, as does Barnes and Noble and Kobo. For print books, there are length requirements but they are a lot shorter than you would think at 24 pages [that is 24 individual sides or 12 leafs]

With our short attention spans today, a concise book that is easy to read, and on point with no fluff is often more appealing than a big fat book. It can also help you become a published author more easily, so you can begin to reap the benefits this year, next year and beyond!

The beauty of getting your book done this year is that you will end this year on a high note, and be poised to start 2017 off with a
bang, as you’ll be a published author and be able to leverage that status and receive all the credibility and benefits that are possible along with it.

Read Part 2- How to become an author when you hate to write 

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Related Post: 10 Ways to Use Interviews

Why Do-Overs Need to be Part of Your Marketing Strategy

How your publicity can benefit from a do-over

I started thinking about do-overs and second chances after attending my cousin’s second wedding [same groom – the first wedding took place in the groom’s native country]. How they can be both positive and critical to your business success. I was thinking of all the times I stopped myself when I was probably inches or millimeters away from success. Can you relate?

Even if the improvement is only a millimeter over the last run, do-overs can make all the difference. Watching the Olympics recently, I saw a few races where millimeters or milliseconds were what separated the gold medalist from the rest of the competitors.

Anthony Robbins talks about how the difference between success and failure is only a millimeter apart in this inspiring video.

doover definition

I am not talking about a Mulligan – the do-over in golf you request because you didn’t like your first shot. I am talking about an informed do-over.  There are a number of places where the do-over make sense in your business and I believe should be built into your business practice.  Part of the key to success, is to use available feedback or tools to help you improve on your previous attempts or initiatives.

Here Are a Few examples of How Using a Do-Over in Your Marketing Can Be The Key To Success

 

Headlines, Blog Post Titles, and even Book Titles or Sub Titles

A mentor of mine recently suggested that perhaps better blog post titles would help with readership and engagement. I decided to use an A/B split test tool to see if my original post title [‘A’], could be improved with an alternate [‘B’] . I used a free plugin called Title Experiments Free that randomly displays the 2 post titles and ranks them based on performance. I tested three titles: in two out of three cases, my original ‘A’ title was preferred, and in the third case, the alternative headline is proving to be a better option than my original headline.

AB Post test

Pitching the Press

If your story idea or pitch doesn’t land the first time, you can go back to a journalist or publication with a revised pitch or a new one altogether. Clearly, if you have gotten feedback from the journalist or media outlet on what improvement or changes your pitch needs to get them interested , that is ideal but that’s not always an option. You can do your own research by looking at some of their published stories and see if you can identify how they are different from your pitch, and use this insight to improve your stories before re-submitting.

[clickToTweet tweet=”‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’ – Wayne Gretksy. via Why You Get a Do-Over” quote=”‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’ – Wayne Gretksy”]

 

Your book launch or book marketing

Perhaps your book didn’t get the kind of reception that you had hoped for. Maybe you got rejected by publishing houses you submitted your book to. You are not alone.  Agatha Christie’s book pitches were continually rejected for 5 years, before she landed a publishing deal. Her book sales are now second to the best selling author of all time, William Shakespeare.

There is no reason you can’t go back to your book for a do-over and make some tweaks until you succeed.  This can include any aspect from the book pitch, the book title or subtitle, the book description, the cover, the book category it is listed under in Amazon and Barnes and Noble, to your book landing page design and content.

Coca Cola has done this numerous times, releasing ‘New’ versions of coke. Some have disappeared quickly and some have succeeded and stuck around.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Don’t Give Up Before the Magic Happens- F Flagg via Do-Overs Need to Be Part of Marketing” quote=”‘Don’t Give Up Before the Magic Happens’- Fanny Flagg”]

 

Where are there opportunities in your marketing for a do-over that can make all the difference in your success?

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Related Post: 7 Must Haves for a Successful Haro Media Pitch

 

How Thinking Big Can Be Bad for Building Authority

How THinking Big Can Hurt You

How Thinking Big Can Be Bad For Building Authority

Think big. Create a big hairy audacious goal BHAG. You have all been encouraged to do that. The truth is that thinking big can hurt you in the short term when it comes to everything from building authority, seeking publicity to book reviews and more.
It’s great to create that big hairy audacious goal and to think big, however if it’s not put in perspective it can actually hurt you when it comes to achieving some of your goals, especially when those goals involve third parties such as building authority, getting media coverage, being a radio show guest or getting book reviews.

Prospects sometimes come to me stating their desire to be featured in Entrepreneur magazine, The New York Times or in the ultimate outlet – Oprah magazine. Those are great goals, however, sometimes you have to start out in the minor league, before the majors take notice of you.

Let’s take a page from Oprah’s path to success

Oprah didn’t start out as a nationally recognized, incredibly popular talk show host. She started out part time at a local black radio station in Tennessee. From there she went to another local station as both the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville’s WLAC-TV. It wasn’t until 2 jobs later that she was discovered by a Chicago station that invited her to come work on a talk show, which soon lead to what we all know as The Oprah Winfrey show.

We might never have heard of Oprah if she only had her sights set on getting hired directly on a major network show, and wouldn’t consider anything less.  Instead she began part time, at a local station and kept stepping up into bigger and more visible roles.

It’s important to not to overlook local or smaller opportunities because they often lead to other opportunities. You may be missing out if you’re overlooking opportunities, and holding out exclusively to land the big one first.

Starting smaller offers multiple benefits

By starting smaller or with lesser known media outlets, you get to do a few positive things:

  • Have an easier time getting opportunities – local media likes local stories, and there is often less competition seeking them
  • You can practice and polish your skills – better to flub in your small town paper than in The New York Times….
  • Larger media outlets, producers and book reviewers often scan local media or smaller blogs for story ideas.
  • The media mentions or reviews you receive are great content to fill your media room or press kit with

For the big win that you’re looking for, it just may not be the first publicity or place you get quoted.

Oprah got her break as an anchor on the news, because she was willing to work at a small local station.

So when it comes to getting publicity, being a guest on a podcast, getting your book reviewed and many other desirable situations, having some experience, even if it’s not from the top network or leading company counts.

Describing what journalists look for in a source, Dawn Reiss, freelance journalist /writer for various national outlets said,

“A lot of the major outlets will do a Google search on people to see where else they’ve been published.”

So being published, somewhere, counts. If you steadily and consistently build your authority and showcase it properly online, those big opportunities will come.

What opportunities are you overlooking because you think they are too small or insignificant?

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This first appeared in Business2Community

How to Use Press Releases To Promote Your Book- Infographic

If you have ever wondered how press releases promote your book, I have you covered. Our handy infographic highlights the benefits of using press releases and shows a timeline of press-worthy events that call for issuing a release.

Suggested occasions to use press releases to promote your book:

Pre-publications events include when you come up with your book idea, signing a publishing deal, and getting invited to co-author a book.

Publishing milestones such as a new book release by an established or famous author, the release of the book in print, kindle or audio versions, or a new book series.

Book promotional story angles include local author, book tours -both virtual and live, author interviews, book signing, free chapter give-away, bestseller status, awards, or reprinting of  a book.

How to use press releases to promote your book

To get the most benefit from press releases to promote your book, start planning before you even finish writing your book. That way, you will be ready to start your publicity as soon as you have a newsworthy event, even if it’s pre-publication. To prepare, you can draft a basic press release that can serve as a template for all your press releases since key sections of the press release will remain the same. These sections include the ‘about us’ section, which is also known as the boilerplate, the book title, publisher and contact information.

The additional value of using releases is that they can and should be added to your online press room. That way, you let your site visitors know about your book news and milestones and start to build credibility with each additional item you add to the press room.

For more resources to help you use press releases to promote your book, download our Publicity Toolkit and  Free Downloadable Media Plan Template.  You can also contact us to find out about our press release writing and distribution services.

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Related Content: 8 Ways to Promote Your Book Online

6 Ways to Get Readers Lined Up Before You Even Publish

Get readers lined up before you publish your bookAs I was watching the Bourne Identity the other night, I saw 6 ways to get readers lined up. I was seeing it for the umpteenth time and enjoying the commercial breaks for a change, because Matt Damon came on to talk about the soon-to-be-released movie Jason Bourne, and how the movies were made. He gave us some insights and behind-the-scenes looks into all Bourne movies, including the newest one.

It got me thinking about what a great job Hollywood does promoting movies and how there are lessons that can be applied to other products or services and particularly to selling books.

Here are 6 Ways to Get Readers Lined Up Before You Publish

 

Give a Sneak Preview

Create a preview and ‘coming soon’ content. Movies do this really well with trailers for upcoming features; we’re accustomed to seeing these before the main picture is shown in the theater. This starts to build interest and buzz for the upcoming movie. It let’s us know that it exists, and whets our appetite, so we start thinking about going to see it, before it even gets released.

This is something that many authors don’t take advantage of, and the results can be downright depressing. You work so hard to write your book, if you don’t offer some kind of preview, pre-announcement or information about your book to build buzz before it’s finished, you may publish and hear crickets. Not the way to go. You can take a page from Hollywood by giving away a sample chapter, making a video about your book, or talking about the writing process.

Create an Online Destination

A movie gets its own website and hashtag even before it’s released, so anyone interested in finding out more about it, can go to the site and find all the information in one place, making it easy for the interested audience to stay up to date, and plan to go see it.

Authors benefit from doing the same. Build an online home for the book; this can be a landing page,­­ a free-standing website, or a page within your existing website where people can go to find out information about the book.  You’ll want to include some information, preview content,  when the book will be available for sale. You want to capture email addresses of the people who are interested in your book, so you can notify them of updates as well as when you actually publish­­­­­. This is really key to making book sales right away on this book and future books.

Get in Front of  Your Existing Audience

Hollywood knows where their existing audience is… in the movie houses! They show the coming attraction trailers  in theaters, as they know they have an audience in those moviegoers – people who clearly like movies.

As a first time author, you won’t have the same type of existing audience of people you know read your books, but you do have friends, family, and anyone in your personal and business networks who most likely will be excited about your book, want to support you, and will buy a copy.

Find New Audiences

Hollywood gets in front of new audiences by taking out ads in publications, and they are now using social media more and more, including promoting a hashtag for a movie before it’s released.

You can do the same for your books. If you don’t know where your new audience lives, what you can do is find a lookalike audience. If you write erotic books then you could see where people are talking about Fifty Shades of Grey or some other book in that genre. You can assert yourself in the conversation – don’t just promote your books and spam the audience, but join the conversation and find out how to become part of that community. By doing so, when your book is published, you can then engage those people, introduce your book, and turn them into raving fans for your book as well.

Share Social Proof

Social proof is really a key factor in building credibility. People don’t care what a Hollywood studio says about its own movie, but they care what the critics and public say. Movie trailers, posters and ads will feature positive one line accolades from the media such as “The must see movie of the year- David Denby, The New Yorker”. Trailers created pre-release, are updated to include these quotes and any award nominations the movie receives after it’s released, to reinforce the positive buzz about a movie and entice you to see it.

The same is true for your book; just like moviegoers don’t care what the studio says about their own movie, they won’t care what you say about your book. So as an author what you can do for social proof is you can get pre-publication reviews for your book. Before you publish you can ask people to review it and give you a review or testimonial. You can get endorsements from influencers or well-known people in their field, or experts on the book’s topic. You can include these on your book landing page, in your book, or in your book’s promotional materials, as well as on social media to add credibility and positive buzz.

It’s very important to take advantage of social proof, as well as all the ways to build buzz for your book and to get people excited about it, and get them over to your book landing page, where they can optin to your list. Once you publish, you can get readers by directing all promotions right to your Amazon book page to make it easy for them to buy a copy.

A Promotional Tour

Before a movie release, the lead actors will make appearances on television talk shows to raise awareness and build buzz for the movies. A carefully selected clip is shown as a teaser for the audience. The release date and locations will be covered, acting as the audience’s call to action.

As an author, you can create a promotional tour before you publish, and without even leaving your home. There are many podcasts that will welcome you as a guest, before your book is published.  Some blogs will also welcome you as a guest pre-publication. This is where your book landing page is key to capitalizing on the experience; when you create a call to action during your guest appearance, you’ll want to direct listeners or blog readers to your landing page, so they can sign up to be notified once you publish.

Do not make the mistake of waiting until your book is published before starting to put these initiatives in place.  It’s very depressing to finish the hard work of writing a book and not see any results when you publish. Set yourself up for success by creating a book landing page that captures the email addresses of interested potential readers, so you can notify them as soon as the book is available for sale. You will get lots of sales that way.

You may not be thinking of turning your book into a series like the Bourne books that the movies are based on, but the studio has done something really smart by building a franchise or a series of movies; they’ve built a ready audience for the next one in the series!

You don’t have to write a series of books to benefit from a franchise. By building an email list you have a ready audience for when your next book comes out, even if it’s on an another topic.

 Related Post:

Build a List of Book Buyers Before You Even Publish

Build Your List of Book Buyers Before You Even Publish

Your Opportunity to Make Book Sales with One Email

Build a list of book buyers before you even publish
You have probably heard that the money is in the list. It’s never been more true than for authors, who can build a list of book buyers before you even publish. Set yourself up right in advance, and you can make book sales with one email.

Having a list of interested readers, ready to buy your book as soon as it’s published or available for pre-order, is a major asset.

Many authors make the mistake of focusing on writing and publishing their book and not thinking at all about their marketing until their book is already completed. Building your author platform takes time; building a prospect list also takes time. It’s understandable to put off even thinking about marketing, considering how much concentrated effort goes into the writing and publishing of a book. There’s nothing worse than publishing your book after all your hard work, and hearing crickets – no sales, no reviews, nada. It’s actually pretty depressing; and it doesn’t have to be that way.

Smart authors spend some time building their author platform in advance of publishing their book so that even before they launch, they have generated some interest in their book. By building an email list of interested people, that interest can turn to buzz and sales the minute you publish.

Build a List of Book Buyers Before You Even Publish

The simplest way to build an email list, is to create a book landing page that allows potential readers to opt-in. That way while you’re busy completing, editing, and polishing your book, you can be gathering the email addresses of interested people so that the minute you publish you can let them know about it. Your book has a waiting and ready audience even before it’s published. Once it is, you know you can send one email and make book sales. This is great insurance that your book will make sales, get read, and your hard work will pay off.

Once you have built your list, you can use the time before you publish to build engagement with your audience. Here are a few topics for those emails:

  • Behind the scenes of a day in the life of you, the writer
  • Ask for input – on a cover, a subtitle…
  • Let them know about a major endorsement the book received
  • Update them – let them know where you are in the writing/publishing process

Building engagement helps create a sense of know, like and trust. This will have your list rooting for you, supporting you and even more committed to buying your book as soon as it’s released.  The great news is that if you build a list of book buyers and keep up the engagement, you’ll have a list of hungry readers and buyers for all your future books as well.

 

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6 Ways to Get Readers Lined Up Before You Even Publish

Inspiration From Successful Entrepreneurs

William on stage
I’m still inspired a week later……..and can’t wait to share with you some truly great things…  A week ago I was attending the Entrepreneur Magazine 360 Conference here in New York City, getting inspiration from successful entrepreneurs.

 

It was a very energizing day hearing from a variety of entrepreneurs ranging from:
Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas to Daniel Lubetsky founder of Kind Bars, Olympic Skier/NFL player/Philanthropist/Entrepreneur Jeremy Bloom, to Reddit founder Alexis Ohanion.

I was inspired, impressed, validated and educated-  I still am, here are some of the highlights and takeaways from the event:

 Are you a Visionary or an Operator?

 success_what it really looks like

Les McKeon gave a great presentation on the journey a business goes through. He demonstrated why:

“You are either a Visionary or an Operator – you can’t be both.”

Will.i.am was intelligent, innovative, inspired, visionary, awesome…. He hardly spoke about music, and spoke more about his company  i.am+  which is going to compete directly with Apple with its wearable tech.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Entrepreneurial ideas come frm fusion = Mixing + inspiration + needs + community.@iamwill ” quote=”Entrepreneurial ideas come from fusion = Mixing + melding inspiration + needs + community.”]

In 2015, everything is going to be wearable and functional. Maybe a jacket instead of a phone.

<<< >>>>

Sometimes you miss major success by 1 Inch

Jeremy Bloom- Olympic skier, NFL football player, philanthropist and entrepreneurs founder of a 100 million dollar company, had a 22 second shot at making Olympic Gold… yet missed by 1 inch. It’s what he did after missing that was so inspiring!

You may have heard the expression Fail Fast. Jeremy gave himself 48 hours to have a pity party. To replay in his mind all the things he could have/should have done differently and then he moved on with his life.

<<< >>>>

Daniel Lubetsky, founder of Kind bars, proves you can be successful and be kind [pun intended]

When you move from a skeptic to an evangelist, nobody can stop you. 

There were so many wonderful ideas, inspirations and insights! I hope these examples have inspired you as well.

One more thing… all these entrepreneurs have one major accomplishment in common. Can you guess what it is?  Please place your guess in the comments below. The first person to post the answer wins a special prize!

Whenever you have the opportunity to be around and get inspiration from successful entrepreneurs, grab it. As Daniel Lubetsky said, “Entrepreneurs are probably the most fun at a party.”

What all the entrepreneurs who spoke at the Entrepreneur 360 Conference  have in common is that they are all authors.

 To your publicity success!

Promote Your Book Online – 8 Expert Tips

8-Expert-Tips-newWriting a book is a lot like having a baby. You need to prepare for the big event; a process often described as painful, yet one that yields beautiful results.

Pre-planning for your book’s publication is something you should start months before your publication date to ensure your book gets the notice that it deserves. Let’s help readers discover your book by promoting it everywhere online.

Here are 8 ways to promote your book and bring your book some much-needed publicity. Read my guest which appeared on the WiseStamp blog

Related: For more ways to promote your book get our Media Plan Template and our 2015 Publicity Toolkit and Planner

Book Promotion Using Press Releases

You’re An Introvert – I’m An Ambivert. So What?

Introvert_Ambivert_Publicity for IntrovertsThere is a lot of talk in the news about introverts lately. It’s the topic of conversation regularly for my publicity shy prospects and clients, and me.

The stories and articles I am seeing sometimes make it sound like it’s a competition – the introverts vs. an extrovert, which always troubles me. Why not celebrate our uniqueness and each other’s?

Introversion or extroversion are not new concepts or ways of being. Carl Jung is credited with coining the term ‘introverted person’ in 1918. Susan Cain’s book “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking”, published in 2013, became a bestseller and has helped bring the conversation into the forefront.

The only reason that it matters if you’re an introvert or extrovert is that it can help you to know yourself better and help you leverage your strengths in your business, marketing and promotion, and in life. It can also help you in your interactions with other people by understanding their natural personality tendencies so you can communicate better with them.

Businesses have long recognized the value of personality and strength profiling and have adopted the use of tools like the Myers-Briggs or DISC assessments as part of an interview process or during on boarding of new hires. Entrepreneurs have used Strength Finders to help assess their natural strengths in an effort to better understand and improve the way they work.

There is no such thing as a pure introvert or extrovert. Such a person would be in the lunatic asylum. Carl G. Jung

Meet the “Ambiverts”

I just recently came to understand that I am an ambivert – a combination of introvert and extrovert. I didn’t even know there was such a personality type or a name for it before I started exploring introversion in my publicity mentoring work. As I sought to better understand some of the resistance my clients were experiencing and how I could help them get better results for themselves by harnessing their strengths, I observed publicity shy folks who were introverts, extroverts and ambiverts. This initial foray into understanding introverts formed the research for my book Publicity for Introverts™.

I never would have thought of myself as being an introvert, even if only partially, as I am outgoing in social situations and like to talk about my thoughts and feelings [just a few of my extrovert tendencies]. That said, I really enjoy and need to spend alone time working, reflecting and recharging my energy [my introvert traits]. I actually never gave this much thought to this until it became part of my client work, but if I had to choose one team, I would have leaned toward extrovert.

Turns out that according to Jung’s analytical psychology each of us has both – traits of extroversion and introversion. One set of traits may be more dominant in individuals, and to make it even more interesting, people do not always behave according to their behavior type all the time.

I’m not a big fan of labels, but I do find them empowering as a tool, and use their associated traits to understanding myself and my clients better. It makes sense that our personalities aren’t all black and white, and it’s clear to me now that I am an ambivert.

How do you identify yourself, and what impact does it have on your marketing and promotion?

The biggest challenge I see with my clients is the way they think and speak to themselves about doing publicity.  This includes a lot of ‘shoulds’, ‘ought tos’… and generally, unnecessary and self-defeating thinking.

What makes this self-talk abuse is the comparing yourself to someone else and how they are promoting themselves and their business. The only thing you should be doing is what is right for you, and then finding a way to do it that is empowering, and transforms it from a ‘supposed to’, to a ’want to’ and has you taking action, without the internal struggle.

I am a firm believer that life begins at the edge of your comfort zone.

The key is to figure out your own PR Persona™, which harnesses your own unique strengths and traits, as well as where you have decided you are willing to step out of your comfort zone [for a new action or strategy].

Writing this article made me think of a cartoon book I read years ago entitled, “I Am in Training To Be Tall and Blond”. You don’t need to be in training to be anyone but the best version of yourself!

If you’re interested in getting visibility whether you’re an introvert or someone who is spotlight shy, but the thought of it makes you uncomfortable, then let’s talk. I can show you ways to become more being visible and getting media attention without compromising who you are.

To your publicity success!

with love,

Jane

PS. After I drafted this article, I saw a copy of “I’m in Training To Be Tall and Blonde” sitting on the top of the free bookshelf in my apartment building! Synchronicity?