By Sharon Bially
Recently I browsed over to the website of one of my dear author friends, curious to see what sort of press she’d been doing. To my surprise, the site had a page for her bio, one for her books and another giving information about her freelance work, but absolutely nothing showing where she’d been quoted by or mentioned in the media.
When I asked her about this, her answer was, “Should it?”
Yikes!
Because my friend had diligently hired a publicist to help build her media platform, I found it baffling that not only was there no place for her to showcase all the wonderful results of this investment, but also, that her publicist had not suggested that she create one.
A website News page is the pillar of your media platform. The glue that holds it together. Whether it contains links to interviews you’ve done on the Today Show or to guest posts you’ve written for small-ish blogs (which by the way, are all referred to in the lingo as “press clips,”) it is a vital piece of information for two reasons:
First, it’s a marketing piece. By showing that you’ve been actively out and about talking to the media — and that the media is interested in what you have to say — it helps compel readers to buy your book(s), talk about you, tweet about you or otherwise help spread the word.
Second, and perhaps most importantly, reporters considering whether to call you will want to see it first. Your News page is literally your press portfolio, your “resume” as a public voice. Just like with a professional resume, your experience counts. The more press you do, the more attractive you become as a news source. So curate it all online where reporters can easily find it.
Without griping about the fact that a publicist would not have made this suggestion in the first place (okay, that was a gripe….), this fact also brings to light once a again a point I feel very strongly about and have already stated here on the Grub Daily in various forms:
In this ever-evolving world where the very definition of “media” blurs more every day, PR can no longer be simply about securing reviews and media coverage then moving on. It has to have just as strong of a focus on how to tie together the various strands of publicity and marketing so that they’ll work for you. For real.
Aaaaahhhh! This is me! I’m not a woman, but everything else resonates completely, Sharon — working with my web designers right now to install the proper blog type software on a TOUR page which will have press & reviews as well as upcoming appearances, because where else are people supposed to get this stuff? by piecing it together from the disjointedness of my company’s Facebook page? from the ether?!? Thank you!!
Also guilty. Must fix. This week. Thanks for the nudge.
I came over here via Writer Unboxed. Great post(s)!
Do you have any examples of good author press pages? I have this one (http://ironicmom.com/media-coverage/) but wonder if it needs visuals or suffices. (And I’m not expecting a review … or even you to visit … just wondering if you have any suggestions of really good ones to look at).
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