One of the first things I have started doing to promote my book is releasing press releases. I have registered at Prlog.org, which offer free press releases. It was relatively simple to register although you do need to have a business email (not a gmail or hotmail account) and you do need to verify your contact telephone number.
Other free press release sites are: Open PR, PR Fire, News Wire Today, PR Zoom, Idea Marketers
I have had between 30-90 views so far for each of my press releases on Prlog.org. Although this is a relatively small audience, I hope in the long-term I can build the profile of my book.
So how do you write a press release?
Here are some tips:
1) You have to write your press release in the third person.
2) Include quotes from you/your book.
3)Include links to your book but try to make your press release engaging and newsworthy.
4)Give your press release an attention grabbing headline.
Here is one of my press releases
Heading: Parents confused by conflicting advice in parenting books
Subheading: Parents are increasingly using parenting books to guide them in bringing up their children.
Body: In the past, mothers often lived near their own parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents who were readily available with parenting advice. Nowadays, people tend to live further away from where they grew up and may not have family around to help them make childcare decisions. Therefore, many parents turn to parenting books for guidance. However, as the number of parenting experts out there rises so does the amount of conflicting advice, which creates confusion. Parents may worry whether they should or should not sleep train their baby or whether they should be following a strict routine or not. At one extreme there is the rise of attachment parenting books, which suggest that parents should carry their baby around at all times and sleep with their child. At the other extreme, there are books telling parents to get their baby into a routine straight away.
One book ‘Psychology for Parent: Birth to teens (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychology-parents-Birth-teens-eb…)’ tries to cut through the conflicting advice offered by parenting experts. Carlisle says that her inspiration for writing the book was to provide evidence-based parenting techniques rather than opinion-based advice. She presents psychological research on parenting in an accessible way, so that parents can make decisions for themselves.
One controversy, Carlisle feels strongly about is whether breastfeeding affects the mother-baby bond. ‘I know that breastfeeding has important health benefits for babies but some mothers are made to feel awful if they can’t breastfeed and that is wrong. Many of my friends had problems breastfeeding their first child for various reasons, having a premature baby, having a baby with tongue-tie (a condition where the underside of the tongue is too tightly bound to the floor of the mouth for the baby to breastfeed easily), getting mastitis (inflammation of breast tissue) or not producing enough milk. I heard many comments when my son was a baby about breastfeeding leading to a better bond with your child but I was pretty sceptical about them. In my book I discuss evidence, which shows that breastfeeding does not affect the mother-baby bond.’
‘Psychology for parents: Birth to teens’ covers a wide range of topics including attachment, discipline, mindfulness, giftedness, language development and special needs. ‘It is not just a book for parents of new-borns’ Carlisle says ‘My book is a reference guide that will last parents until their children are teenagers.’
Have you asked yourself the questions: Is it better to be too strict or too lenient with my child? Is it okay to smack? How can I help my child to read? How can I get my teenager to talk to me? What should I do if my child has dyslexia? If you want answers to these questions grounded in psychological research, then ‘Psychology for parents: Birth to teens’ may be the book for you.
‘Psychology for parents: Birth to teens’ is for sale as an e-book on Amazon, smashwords.com, Barnes and Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/psychology-for-parents-fa…), Kobobooks (http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Psychology-for-Parents-Bir…) and Apple ibookstore.
Related articles
- The Press Release (lisajenfernandez.wordpress.com)
- Changing the Way You Think about Link Building with Press Releases (ereleases.com)
The self publishing journey 