Do you want to know more about book publicity? Check out this slideshow I prepared for students in a book marketing course.
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Friday, December 20, 2019
How to Write a Press Release
How to Write a Press Release
Guidelines
by Susannah Greenberg,CEO,
Susannah Greenberg Public Relations
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.
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.
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Some news wire services which will help you write and distribute your press release are:
CONTACT: Susannah Greenberg Public Relations, (646) 801-7477, publicity@bookbuzz.com
Thursday, December 19, 2019
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.
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| 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.
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
(646) 801-7477
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
New Novel From Bestselling Author Julia Navarro (Publisher: Grupo Books; An Imprint of Penguin Random House)
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An Updated "Alcoholics Anonymous" in American Sign Language
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Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Susannah Greenberg Presents a Panel on Women and Books at BookExpo 2019
Susannah Greenberg Public Relations Presents:
The Year of the Woman in Books in 2018, 2019, and Beyond: The Success and Influence of Books For and By Women
A Panel At
05/31/2019, 1:30 PM - 2:10 PM 1E11, The Javits Center, New York, NY -- In 2018, we saw the amazing success of books for and by women, including books by Michelle Obama, Tayari Jones, Rebecca Traister, Soraya Chemaly, Jodi Picoult, Margaret Atwood, and more. This panel looks at the success of women in books in 2018, 2019, and beyond, and examines the proposition that this represents far more than just a year of the woman in books, but is in fact a radical shift in book publishing that is here to stay.
Moderator: SUSANNAH GREENBERG is
President of Susannah Greenberg Public Relations, (http://bookbuzz.com),
a book publicity firm. She is also the
Communications Chair and General Board Member of the, Women's Media Group; past
president and publicity chair of the Women's National Book Association - NYC;
and the U.S. Press Contact for the Jerusalem International Book Fair and
Jerusalem Prize. @suegreenbergpr 
HANNAH OLIVER DEPP is a career
bookseller who has managed WORD bookstores in Brooklyn, NY and Jersey City, NJ
and Politics & Prose in Washington, DC. She is currently opening Loyalty Bookstores, an intersectional feminist bookstore, cafe, and co-working space with
locations in Washington, DC and Silver Spring, MD. Oliver Depp is a founding
member of Indies Forward and the American Bookselling Association Committee on
Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity, as well as a NAIBA regional Board Member. @OliverDepp
GLORY
EDIM (photo credit: Jai Lennard) is the author of an anthology, 'Well-Read Black
Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves,' from
Penguin Random House, and founder of Well-Read Black Girl, a Brooklyn-based
book club and digital platform that celebrates the uniqueness of Black
literature and sisterhood. In fall
2017, she organized the first-ever Well-Read Black Girl Festival. She has
worked as a creative strategist for over ten years at startups and cultural
institutions. Most recently, she was the Publishing outreach Specialist at
Kickstarter. She serves on the board of New York City’s Housing Works
Bookstore. @wellreadblkgirl
Her work has appeared
in Longreads, The Washington Post, The Los
Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Refinery29, Slice, The Paris Review Daily,
Tin House, Gulf Coast, The Rumpus, Salon, Interview Magazine, Buzzfeed,
The Barnes & Noble Review, Poets & Writers, CNN.com, Fine Books & Collections Magazine, DAME Magazine, The Brooklyn
Quarterly, Time Out New York, People, The Daily Beast, O, The Oprah
Magazine, Men's Journal, Vulture, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Star
Tribune, The Quarterly Conversation,
The Brooklyn Rail, and other
publications.
She teaches creative nonfiction for The Sackett
Street Writers' Workshop, Catapult, and
Stanford Continuing Studies and is the founder of the Red Ink series. In 2016, Brooklyn Magazine named her one of "The 100 Most Influential
People in Brooklyn Culture." She’s a former board member of the National Book Critics Circle. @readandbreathe
HILLARY
KELLY is a critic and essayist. She's a contributor
to New York Magazine and Vulture, where she
writes about television, books, and the ways they intersect. She also covers
television for Vogue. She lives in Washington, D.C. @HillaryKelly
ERIKA SWYLER (photo credit: Nina Subin) is the author of ‘Light From Other Stars: A Novel’ from Bloomsbury, May 2019. Her first novel, ‘The Book of Speculation,’ was one of BuzzFeed's 24 Best Fiction Books
of 2015, one of Amazon's Best Novels of 2015, and a Barnes & Noble Discover
Great New Writers selection. Her writing has appeared in Catapult Story, VIDA,
The New York Times, and elsewhere. She lives on Long Island, NY, with her
husband and a mischievous rabbit. @erikaswyler
“It would be a thousand pities if women wrote like men, or lived like men, or looked like men, for if two sexes are quite inadequate, considering the vastness and variety of the world, how should we manage with one only? Ought not education to bring out and fortify the differences rather than the similarities?” ― Virginia Woolf
"I write my rage into paper and into bits and bytes. I write anger out of my head and my body and put it out in the world where, frankly, it belongs." – Soraya Chemaly, Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger
"Power is a story told by women. For centuries, men have colonized storytelling. That era is over." - Elena Ferrante
Related Pages:
Elena Ferrante: A Power of Our Own
Power is a story told by women. For centuries, men have colonized storytelling. That era is over.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/opinion/elena-ferrante-on-women-power.html?smid=tw-nytopinion&smtyp=cur
Elena Ferrante: A Power of Our Own
Power is a story told by women. For centuries, men have colonized storytelling. That era is over.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/opinion/elena-ferrante-on-women-power.html?smid=tw-nytopinion&smtyp=cur
Balance the books: one woman’s fight to keep
great female writers on shelves
The Second Shelf: On the Rules of Literary
Fiction for Men and Women. By MEG WOLITZER MARCH 30, 2012
In Fiction, It Was the Year of the Woman. Hillary Kelly,
Vulture.
https://www.vulture.com/2018/12/women-wrote-the-best-most-inventive-fiction-of-2018.html
https://www.vulture.com/2018/12/women-wrote-the-best-most-inventive-fiction-of-2018.html
What Do We Really Mean By ‘Women’s Fiction’?
https://lithub.com/what-do-we-really-mean-by-womens-fiction/
https://lithub.com/what-do-we-really-mean-by-womens-fiction/
On Playing the Nice Woman by Erika Swyler
http://www.vidaweb.org/on-playing-the-nice-woman/
Women Who Fight Back With Poetry
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2019/04/30/women-who-fight-back-poetry
Women Who Fight Back With Poetry
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2019/04/30/women-who-fight-back-poetry
-- Susannah Greenberg, President,
A Public Relations Agency Serving
Publishers, Authors, and the Book Industry
(646) 801-7477
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