A Look Back at 2024 at Susannah Greenberg Public Relations - A Book Publicity and Marketing Company

 

CONTACT: Susannah Greenberg, Public Relations, 

publicity@bookbuzz.com

(646) 801-7477

bookbuzz.com

December 20, 2024

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Greetings! Below I share my 2024 news with you about my firm, Susannah Greenberg Public Relations, aka BookBuzz.

As the year draws to a close, I want to thank you for supporting me in my work at Susannah Greenberg Public Relations and for being a friend.

I wish you the best for happy holidays and a joyous new year! 

Sincerely,

Susannah Greenberg

Susannah Greenberg

Books Represented in 2024 Included: 

Children’s Books:

Beware the Dragon and the Nozzlewock: A Graphic Novel Poetry Collection by Vikram Madan, Wordsong/ Astra Books for Young Readers. Starred Reviews in Kirkus Reviews and Horn Book. Just announced!: Selected for one of the BEST BOOKS OF 2024 by the Boston Globe. 

Five Stories by Ellen Weinstein, Holiday House Books for Young Readers. A Junior Library Guild Selection. School Library Journal, Starred Review. Recommended by the Jewish Book Council.

Music:

Deep Inside the Blues: Photographs and Interviews by Margo Cooper, University Press of Mississippi. Starred review in Library Journal. Interviewed on Fox 17 Rock & Review (TV, Nashville) and KVNF Radio’s ‘Pen and the Sword' (an NPR affiliate, Paonia, CO).

Fiction: Fire Music by Connie H. Connally, Coffeetown Press; Number 12 Rue Sainte-Catherine: and Other Stories by Roberta H. Gates, Running Wild Press; The Waw by Gay Walley, Etruscan Press

History: Land of the Dead: How the West Changed Death in America by Terry Hamburg, Prometheus

Memoir: Under the Goddess of the Sky: A Journey Through Solitude, Bach and the Himalayas by Judith Glyde, Coffeetown Press; Counterfeit Mother by Deb Hirsch, Olympia Publishers; Where the Shadows Dance by Dana Killion, Amplify Publishing

Mystery: A Thirst for Murder: A Sheriff Ulysses Walker Series by Cedar Koons, Camel Press

Nonfiction: Answering Alaska’s Call: An Intimate Portrait of Alaska’s Legendary Surgeon, Bush Pilot, and Legislator, Milo ‘Doc’ Fritz by Linda Fritz, Epicenter Press

In 2024 Susannah Greenberg Presented Webinars and Was Interviewed on a Podcast: 

'Social Media for Authors,’ at the Write on the Sound Writers Conference, City of Edmonds, WA

 

'Social Media for Authors,’ at Professional & Continuing Education/ University of Washington 

‘Book Publicity for Authors,’ an interview on Writer, Memoir Teacher, and Podcaster Marion Roach Smith's Podcast, Let Me Introduce You

Books Susannah Greenberg Will Be Representing

in 2025 and 2026 Include:

Nonfiction:

Beyond Division: The Resilient Lives of Thirty Diverse Israeli Women Leaders by Bilha Chesner Fish, MD, Wicked Son/Post Hill/Dist. By Simon & Schuster, March 4,  2025; 

Abortion Rights as the Free Exercise of Religion: The Constitutional Case for Choice by Peter S. Wenz, McFarland & Company, November 7, 2025

Memoir:

Blue Skies, Troubled Waters: An American Twin’s WWII Odyssey in Minahasa, Indonesia by Martha Walandouw Lohn and Brian Kimmel, Together Mapalus Press, April 2025

Finding The Buddhist Communist’s Jewish Granddaughter by Hoangmai H. Pham, McFarland & Company, 2026

ABOUT SUSANNAH GREENBERG

SUSANNAH GREENBERG, President of Susannah Greenberg Public Relations, a book publicity and marketing firm, has over 20 years of experience in the book industry. Notable clients include the Bader Foundation, Book Industry Study Group, Bloomberg, Chronicle, Hazelden, and the Jerusalem International Book Forum.  

She is a past president of the Women’s National Book Association and board member of the Women’s Media Group and has also served on committees of the Publishers Publicity Association. She is currently a publicity consultant for KidLit.tv

She has lectured on book publishing topics at Hofstra University, Marymount, CCNY, the American Book Producers Association and the American Society of Journalists and Authors. She was the organizer and presenter of numerous panel discussions on book publishing topics at BookExpo and for the Women’s National Book Association. 

Among the most successful book campaigns Susannah has worked on in the past are Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, MD, (Penguin), an international business book bestseller and Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds by Les Beletsky (Chronicle), also a bestseller.

Subjects/Categories Represented Include: 

Addiction & Recovery, Asian American Interest, Biography, Children's Books, Fiction, Film, Graphic Novels, Historical Fiction, History, Immigrants/Emigration, Jewish Interest, Law, Literary Fiction, Memoir, Music, Mystery, Non-Fiction, Performing Arts, Philosophy, Poetry, Theater, Women’s, Women's Rights

How to Write a Press Release

How to Write a Press Release

Guidelines

by Susannah Greenberg,CEO,
Susannah Greenberg Public Relations

These are guidelines for how to write a press release. They are guidelines only, not rules.

The length of a press release should be approximately 600 words excluding headline, contact information, and bibliographic detail.

The text should answer the five basic questions of journalism: who, what, when, where and why?

The press release should have a newsworthy headline and sub-headline.

It should have a dateline. For example:

September 19,2019

NEW YORK (BOOKBUZZ) —

It should have contact information of contacts whom the media can reach out to for further information - name, phone number, and email. At the bottom or top, the address of the organization, its website address, and its logo should appear.

It should contain 3-4 bullet points highlighting features.

It should contain, on average, no more than 3-4 links and 1-2 images.

Images should be captioned and carry credit lines naming the photographer or source of photo if needed.

Copy should appeal to the broadest possible audience and assume no background knowledge on the part of the reader.

Remember, all emails need to be mobile friendly, which means consider that most or many will read the email on a cell phone or other mobile device.  So, type size should be 13.5 pt at a minimum and use white space liberally.

Also, there should be white space around all hyperlinks as well in order to make it easy to click on them on the small screen of a cell phone.

Finally, consider sending a VERY brief pitch letter INSTEAD of a press release, and in the pitch letter include a link to your press release which you can make available either online or via a service like Dropbox or Box.

Here are more tips on writing press releases from a journalism and public relations site called Muck Rack:

Come up with a creative, attention-grabbing headline and sub-headline. Make sure the headline you choose both engages readers and accurately explains the context of the press release.

[Very important! My emphasis]  Get right to the point in the intro using an inverted pyramid writing style. Make sure the first paragraph of your press release addresses all the important points to follow.

Include one or two key quotes when possible. Incorporating quotes from expert sources is a great way to get key elements across in your press release while humanizing the content.

Keep your press release relatively short. Journalists typically don’t have a lot of time to closely read lengthy releases. Stick to the most important information.

###

Some news wire services which will help you write and distribute your press release are:

ereleases.com

newswire.com

businesswire.com

CONTACT: Susannah Greenberg Public Relations, (646) 801-7477, publicity@bookbuzz.com

A Look Back at 2019 at Susannah Greenberg Public Relations - A Book Publicity Firm

Highlights of 2019 

Dear Book Friends,

As 2019 and the decade come to a close, I look back on and share with you the highlights of my year as CEO of Susannah Greenberg Public Relations.  I thank all of my colleagues, clients, and friends for all they have done to help me succeed. 

BookExpo 2019: I organized and moderated a panel on women and books ‘Year of the Woman in Books,’  with noted authors, critics and booksellers. Panelists: Hillary Kelly, Michele Filgate, Glory Edim, Hannah Oliver Depp, and Erika Swyler.

Joyce Carol Oates, Photo by Dustin Cohen

Jerusalem International Book Forum: I served as the U.S. Press Contact for the JIBF and public relations for the Jerusalem Prize to author Joyce Carol Oates; the keynote speaker Stephen Rubin (Henry Holt); and The Zev Birger Editorial Fellowship program.

Grupo Books, an Imprint of Penguin Random House: Public Relations for You Shall Not Kill, a novel, translated from Spanish, by internationally best selling author Julia Navarro.

Civility: George Washington’s 110 Rules for Today by Steven Michael Selzer (Andrews McMeel): Public Relations campaign for this gentle and wise book, inspired by our Founding Father, George Washington, including an author website: https://www.stevenselzerbooks.com/

The Demon Door Series: A successful campaign for this wildly entertaining epic fantasy series, including social media marketing, replete with a cover reveal on Instagram, for author and former Sirius XM book talk show host Kim Alexander, with interviews on Hour of the Wolf and Sci Fi Talk with Tony Tellado.

KidLit.TV: I'm part of the KidLit TV team. KidLit TV is a winner of the Parents’ Choice Gold Award, the Norton Juster Award for Devotion to Literacy, and one of the American Library Association’s Great Websites For Kids.

Women’s Media Group, Communications Chair. It was my honor to serve on the board of this group of women in book publishing which was founded in 1973.

Book Buzz with Susannah Greenberg, Podcast: I continued to produce and record my podcast, a showcase for authors, on blogtalkradio.

Introducing Author Website Services: In 2019, I introduced author website services launching with https://www.stevenselzerbooks.com/

And as 2019 turns into 2020, I’m at work on a public relations campaign for a new inspiring book called Dreams Never Dreamed: A Mother’s Promise that Transformed Life’s Challenges into a Beacon of Hope by Kalman Samuels, Founder and Chairman of Shalva, in Jerusalem, one of the world’s largest centers for disability care and inclusion, to be published in the spring of 2020 by the Toby Press, an imprint of Koren.  

I’m also working on another exciting book publishing panel for BookExpo 2020! More to come.

I wish all of you happy holidays and a happy new year! A new year brings new books!

Sincerely,

Susannah Greenberg

President & CEO, Susannah Greenberg Public Relations

publicity@bookbuzz.com

(646) 801-7477

Social Media Marketing For Authors - 5 Things You Can Do - Getting Started

Social Media Marketing for Authors

5 Things You Can Do

Getting Started

by Susannah Greenberg,CEO, Susannah Greenberg Public Relations, A Book Publicity Firm for Publishers, Authors, and Book Industry Organizations

August 9, 2018

So many authors I work with have questions about social media marketing and how to get started, that I have decided to write down some of the advice I give them as well as offer social media coaching services.  

If you have been reluctant to get started for any reason, the first bit of advice I can give you is to get started one step at a time. Try breaking it down into actionable steps you can take daily.

In that spirit, here are 5 Things You Can Do. Try exploring just one of the five things to begin with.

1. Sign Up for Amazon Author Central.  Create your Author Page. Complete your author profile. Make sure to upload a book jacket image, author photo, and a book description. You can also include video and a link to your blog. This simple step will increase your visibility on this leading book selling site. There is no fee. You may think of Amazon as a shopping site, but it is also a social media site and go-to site for discovering what to read. Learn more at: https://authorcentral.amazon.com/

2. Create an Author Page on Facebook. This is different than your profile page.  It is a business page. On a business page you can connect with an audience rather than socialize with friends.  You can buy low-cost targeted Facebook advertising to promote your books or page. You cannot advertise on a personal profile page. I recommend you create an author page rather than a book page in case you write more than one book.  Be ready with author photo and book jacket images to upload.  Be sure to fill out the ‘About’ informational sections. Learn more here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/creation/?ref_type=universal_creation_hub

3. Get a Twitter Account.  Go to https://twitter.com/signup  Sign up. Start tweeting, retweeting, following, and searching. Use # hashtags. A tip: For a better Twitter experience, be selective about following accounts and don’t follow too many accounts.  It’s better to organize accounts into Twitter Lists rather than follow them. A List is a curated group of Twitter accounts. You can create your own Lists or subscribe to Lists created by others. Viewing a List timeline will show you a stream of Tweets from only the accounts on that List. More on how to use Twitter lists here: https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/twitter-lists

4. Build an Author Website.  If you’ve been putting off getting yourself an author website, the good news is that it is easier and less expensive to build a website now than it has ever been.  Most DIY website services offer a free basic website with upgrades available for a fee. Your website will likely be the more static of your social media sites, a sort of home base which should provide basic information and link out to your other social media sites. Check out these services which can help you to build your website:

wix.com

weebly.com

wordpress.com

5. Start Blogging. Would you like to communicate with your audience at length, more than a tweet’s or a Facebook post’s length, and do so frequently? Then blogging might be for you. Blogging is another way to increase your visibility online, establish your expertise and promote your books. It’s free to set up a blog. Many blog sites are also website builders and allow you to incorporate your blog into your website. Top blogging sites include:

wordpress.org

blogger.com

weebly.com

There’s so much more to be said about all these social media sites and how to use them as well as more social media sites to explore; Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube, Google+, and more.  But this list of 5 Things You Can Do is a good place to start!

Now get started! You can do it! Use Social Media. Learn, Explore, Connect, and Share! Enhance your visibility and find your readers! Sell more books!