Promotion

5 Ways to Expand Your Platform for a Book Deal

March 21, 2017 by diannejacob 17 Comments

More than two years before signing a cookbook contract for Eat This Poem: A Literary Feast of Recipes Inspired by Poetry, an editor at my would-be publisher said something like this: “We want to publish your book…but.” Although I had a solid book concept, the size of my platform wasn’t where the publisher hoped it would be. I needed readership building strategies.

In lieu of giving me a firm number to reach, my publisher was more interested in overall growth. This was comforting news for a blogger with around 2,000 visitors per month. After my initial disappointment wore off, I set out to [Read more…] about 5 Ways to Expand Your Platform for a Book Deal

14 Million Deer Hunters: Hank Shaw Wants to Meet Them All

September 13, 2016 by diannejacob 4 Comments

Author Hank Shaw has already begun his self-financed, cross-country US book tour, which continues from now into 2017.

After traditionally publishing two cookbooks through Rodale and Ten Speed, Hank Shaw wanted a third. But when publishers passed on a cookbook based on “Deer, Elk, Moose, Antelope and Other Antlered Things,” Hank gambled on his readers. He decided to self publish.

He knew there was [Read more…] about 14 Million Deer Hunters: Hank Shaw Wants to Meet Them All

How to Get Interviewed on a Big Radio Show

May 3, 2016 by diannejacob 7 Comments

In Los Angeles, Gillian Ferguson is the executive producer of the KCRW Good Food show, hosted by Evan Kleiman. (Photo courtesy of Molly Cranna.)

What does it take to get on a big radio show like KCRW’s Good Food in Los Angeles? To find out, I arranged to meet Gillian Ferguson, the executive editor of this award-winning [Read more…] about How to Get Interviewed on a Big Radio Show

What I Learned in My Year of Cookbook Promotion

November 17, 2015 by diannejacob 28 Comments

Yes really, Cathy Barrow ran around the US for a year to promote her cookbook, taking every opportunity. (Photo courtesy Allrecipes.com)

By Cathy Barrow

It was a year of saying “Yes” to every cookbook promotion opportunity.

In November 2014, my cookbook, Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Practical Pantry, hit the shelves. My publicist planned nearly 50 events in the first four months after launch.

As enthusiastic as I was about those first crazy months, I wanted to give the book a full year of my attention. It took a year to write it, so shouldn’t it take a year to tell everyone about it?

After many long talks with my spouse about how to structure the year, I decided to limit travel to one week per month and appearances to two weekends a month. We committed resources and time (and airplane miles and hotel points) and leaned heavily on the kindness of friends.

Over the past year, there were more than 50 flights, not to mention so many hotel rooms, train trips, bus rides, and car trips. I criss-crossed the country twice, drove through a bit of the Midwest, appeared here and there in the South, dawdled in Seattle, dined and dished in the Bay Area, jammed in New England, and made pork barbecue with all the condiments across the state of Texas. I slept in guest rooms, on couches, in swanky [Read more…] about What I Learned in My Year of Cookbook Promotion

Cookbook Publicist Dishes on What Works and What to Expect

August 4, 2015 by diannejacob 22 Comments

Publicist Ron Longe works under contract with publishers and individuals.

Want to know more about cookbook launches and how to work with your publisher?

Chef Craig Priebe and I are working with our publicist Ron Longe on promotion for The United States of Pizza (due out Sept. 22, 2015), so I took the opportunity to interview him on your behalf. Even if you are already a published author, you’ll be interested in Ron’s insider perspective.

Ron is the founder and president of Ron Longe Public Relations, a boutique PR agency. With more than 25 years of experience (I know, he looks so young! ), he has worked in the publicity departments of many New York [Read more…] about Cookbook Publicist Dishes on What Works and What to Expect

How Bryant Terry Sells Cookbooks Through Appearances

March 3, 2015 by diannejacob 15 Comments

Cookbook author Bryant Terry’s book promotion plan includes singing, rapping, and tying into social activism.

(Photo by Paige Green)

Four-time cookbook author and food activist Bryant Terry loves to perform, whether addressing a conference crowd, singing, or demonstrating how to cook a dish. It’s all part of getting his message across that good food should be a right, not a privilege. At all of these events, he’s also selling cookbooks.

I’ve attended a few of my fellow Oaklander’s events and enjoyed the innovative ways he gets his message across while selling books:

Q. You seem to have more creative ways to sell books than the average cookbook author. You read from your book during a pop-up dinner by another chef, for example.

A. Philip has been a supporter of my work for a couple of years. We came up with the idea and co-planned the menu together. I did some speaking between courses, some rapping and some entertaining.

I have done events with chefs before. On a book tour, a restaurant hosted me for a book event. The kitchen made recipes from Afro Vegan and they did a [Read more…] about How Bryant Terry Sells Cookbooks Through Appearances