The last time you read about, heard or saw one of your fellow authors on the local news, did you say to yourself, “Hey, I should be the one being interviewed. My story is a lot more interesting! How did that author get so lucky?”

Luck probably had nothing to do with it. The news media is always on the lookout for a good story and the author whose story got coverage either did a good job of pitching the media, or hired a publicist to do it for them.

The benefit of doing the latter is that a good publicist will have established relationships with the decision makers, thus increasing your chances of getting coverage astronomically. If you want to give it a try on your own first, however, the most important thing to keep in mind when pitching the media is the hook for your story. In journalism the hook is what makes the story relevant right now.

In the case of the author mentioned earlier in RMA Publicity’s June newsletter, the hook was not that Gordon Fredrickson’s 7th children’s book about growing up on a family farm in rural Minnesota is coming out this summer, but that he’s on a mission to preserve Minnesota’s farm heritage for future generations.

That pitch got the attention of  a reporter from the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Jessica Fleming’s story was picked up by the Associated Press wire service, then catapulted across the country.  The story ran on the USA Today website, as well as television station websites in New York, Connecticut, North Dakota and Wisconsin to name a few.

How did it get such great pick up? Because the story the reporter wrote has general appeal and is a great human-interest piece about a man trying to make a difference. Think about that statement for a moment – trying to make a difference. Isn’t that exactly what you were trying to do when you decided to publish your own book?

Perhaps that should be your hook! To get more of your book publicity questions answered, log on to www.RMAPublicity.com or contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it