Building a recognizable brand is an important part of any author’s overall book marketing strategy. One of the ways you can do this is to offer your knowledge through a well-known resource. What if you could connect with a reporter and be sourced in an article publishing in a nationwide magazine or newspaper? Wouldn’t you agree that’s a great form of publicity?
That’s what you find on HARO (Help A Reporter Out) – opportunities to make media industry contacts. When you subscribe to HARO, you are sent several email digests throughout the day. In each digest, you can find several media leads in a wide variety of categories. An email address is also listed so that you can follow up with any lead in your field of expertise. Once you email the reporter, it’s up to them to follow up with you if interested.
Self-publishing authors stand a lot to gain from subscribing to HARO’s email digests. A few ways this can help you build your brand (and ultimately sell more books) are:
- You can establish yourself as an industry expert. People like experts. People learn from experts. People believe what experts say. Imagine the credibility that stems from being sourced in an article read by others who closely follow your field and would be interested in your book.
- You can widen your “reach”. Your reach is the number of people that actually know about or have seen you or your book. The more people that are familiar with you and your work, the greater the likelihood of higher sales performance.
- You can mention your book in the article (if allowed). Some writers allow you to mention your book in their article. This sweetens the deal and can really help drive more readers to your books because they know exactly what they’re looking for.
The above list is not exhaustive. Self-publishing authors have seen a great deal of success from such efforts – especially if they enlist the help of a book marketing coach.
What do you think? Have you ever landed an interview or any other publicity using HARO? Has it been an effective tool to aid in selling more books?
Are you ready to take advantage of other opportunities available for self-publishing authors?
