Authorpreneur Magazine - Issue 2

Media Cents and Sensibility by Christina Hamlett
Twenty-Five Words Or Less
“What’s your book about?”
Whether it’s still a work-in-progress or has just
made its official debut, you probably get asked that
question a lot. Depending on who your listener is,
how much time you have, and what sort of call to
action you want to create, you probably also have a
short version and a long version of your answer.
How do you reply, though, if that question is asked
by someone in the media; specifically, someone
in a position to give your book some favorable
publicity?
Unfortunately, authors typically make the mistake
of rabbiting on ad nauseum about all of the wrong
things. Giddy to be in the spotlight, they treat the
question – and every interview - as a free commercial
to aggressively push sales rather than a chance to
calmly project credibility as an expert on the book’s
core themes. By focusing entirely on the book rather
than articulating why it will resonate with the media
outlet’s target demographic, they ultimately miss an
opportunity to become a recurring guest.
From a reporter’s perspective, a writer who can’t
distill the scope and purpose of his/her book in a
pitch that’s less than 25 words is likely to deliver
a meandering monologue without any takeaway
value.
I call this The Eugene Syndrome.
Throughout his adolescence, I used to take my
nephew, Eugene, to San Francisco every Christmas
break to go shopping, look at Alcatraz through the
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Christina Hamlett
Pier 39 telescopes, and experience fine dining. He’d
often use the occasion of the long car ride to tell me
about the latest movie he had seen. In his zeal not
to leave anything out, his summaries were generally
longer than any of the actual films and, by the time
we rolled back home, he had yet to reach the ending
and refused to exit the car until he had finished. His
recaps tended to flow like this:
“So it starts out with these horses and they’re wild
and running around in this canyon that’s Wyoming or
something and then there’s this girl who lives on a farm
and this guy named Ned likes her but then there’s this
other guy named Bob who likes her, too, and he and Ned
don’t get along and Ned thinks Bob let Julie’s horses loose
– Julie was the name of the girl – but meanwhile back
in town everybody’s all mad because the Depression’s
going on and nobody has any money and Julie goes to
buy food to fix dinner for her father since her mother died
when she was a little girl and…”
Whether you make your media pitch in an email,
by phone or in person, brevity is critical in selling
yourself as someone who not only respects the
reporter’s time but also understands the needs/
wants/interests of the readers, listeners and
viewers the reporter is courting.
Can you describe your book in 25 words or less?
Please post your book description in the comments
section on the website. The best three will be
showcased in my next column.
Former actress and theater director Christina Hamlett is a media relations expert
and award winning author whose credits to date include 30 books, 150 stage plays,
5 optioned feature films, and squillions of articles and interviews. In additional to
being a professional ghostwriter, she is a script consultant for the film industry
(which means that she stops a lot of really bad movies from coming to theaters
near you).
Christina’s latest book, Media Magnetism: How to Attract the Favorable Publicity You
Want and Deserve, is targeted to authors, artists, entrepreneurs, business owners
and nonprofits. www.authorhamlett.com
March 2013
AuthorpreneurMagazine
11