Most newspapers and magazines have columns. A newspaper might have a book review column, a business column, a pet column, a senior column—even columns related to automotive, local activities, foods and cooking, parenting, gardening and health.
Magazines have columns related to the theme of the periodical. A parenting magazine might have columns in the areas of family activities, family budgeting, children’s books, relationships and child behavior. A women’s magazine may have columns focusing on fashion, beauty, shopping, foods, fitness, home decorating, family issues, career and so forth.
What do these columns mean to you? They could provide book promotion opportunities.
An author friend of mine sold a lot of her specialty cookbooks by tapping into newspaper columns. This was before everyone was using the computer. She collected newspapers from all over the U.S. through friends, relatives and the library system. And she studied each of them to find out if they had a foods column, contacted the editors of those columns and told them about her book. Most of them responded by requesting a copy of the book to review or asking for an interview with the author.
What is the theme of your book? Does it deal with an illness? Locate newspapers and magazines with medical and health columns and ask the editors if they would either review your book, publish excerpts from it, allow you to be guest columnist or interview you for their columns. It would help if you could link your request to one of their recent columns or a current national health concern.
Maybe your book features your family’s mission in a third world country. You might interest the editors of family, travel, religious, spiritual or volunteering columns in writing about your book.
For a book on using basic kitchen ingredients in your beauty rituals, contact the editors of health, environmental/natural health, beauty, senior and maybe even foods/cooking or budgeting columns.
And remember, the easier you make it for the columnist to say yes, the better your chances of getting space in the column. How?
• Study each column so you are familiar with the style, subject matter, etc. of each column. Use an approach and a column idea that fits within this formula.
• Point out two or three strong themes in your book that would make for interesting columns.
• Have some material prepared so the columnist can simply slip it in.
• When it seems appropriate, offer to send the editor a copy of your book.
• Keep researching your topic so you can speak to fresh, new trends.
If you aren’t sure what sort of column to seek out for your particular book, contact us here through the “comments” function and we’ll help you work it out.
Don’t get so busy this season that you forget to take care of your needs as a hopeful or budding author. You won’t get very far in this highly competitive publishing field unless you are armed with knowledge—an understanding of the publishing industry, your options, the possible ramifications of your choices and your responsibility as a published author.
If you have a book in mind or in the works and you don’t know all of your publishing options, you don’t know how to locate and approach a publisher or agent, you are unfamiliar with the process of getting your book noticed by your particular audience, you know nothing or little about the HUGE process of book promotion, you really MUST read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. Order your copy now:
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html