I can’t overstate the importance of customizing your communications (including news releases)—whether you’re approaching a blog, a small community newspaper, or the Today show. So long as these media professionals feel like their wishes and needs are being met, you can and will generate publicity. There’s a good chance, too, that you will be able to book multiple events in the same town or city.

One phone call or news release may get you publicity, but to make the most of an event requires a well-orchestrated campaign. Here are actions you can take (before, during, and after an event) to maximize coverage:

1. Identify points of contact that will work in advance of an event and while at the event, so media can contact you beforehand and on short notice.
2. Localize, localize, localize. With your news release, show the media that the event has significant local and editorial interest.
3. Bear in mind that free events garner more publicity than those that charge admission.
4. Create a custom-targeted media list, covering the daily and weekly newspapers, news services and syndicates, radio stations, TV shows, and magazines in the event area.
5. Send out your first news release 3-6 weeks before the event. For daily and weekly newspapers, target the calendar editors, metro editors, and the feature editors. If appropriate, also target the specialty editors that cover your field.
6. Follow up by phone with the most important media on your list at each event location, to obtain coverage and invite the media to attend, or conduct an interview before, at, or even after the event. Offer tailored articles, interviews, and site visits if your schedule allows.
7. Send out a second news release 7-10 days before the event, and follow up once again by phone to get and confirm media attendance or interviews.
8. At the event, be sure to thank the media for attending. Give them review copies and media kits if you haven’t already done so. Ask if there’s anything you can do or provide that would make their jobs easier.
9. At the event, position yourself as a helpful champion of the locals, a facilitator of change.
10. Give the media photo opportunities to capture local people experiencing real emotions. One great picture of a child or a person exhibiting a dramatic and personal feeling will galvanize the reading public to action and result in more sales.
11. Send out a final news release at or immediately after the event. This release should be a short article which summarizes the high points of the event and provides ordering and contact information.
12. Call to thank media contacts for the coverage and to request tear sheets. Offer additional information, articles, or interviews by phone as appropriate.

Paul J. Krupin offers trash proof news releases, expert publicity advice, and custom targeted publicity services at http://www.DirectContactPR.com/. This article is excerpted from his Trash Proof News Releases ebook. Download your free copy at http://www.directcontactpr.com/files/files/TrashProof2010.pdf.

A recent survey reveals that authors and publishers are anxious to leverage the benefits of social media marketing as they promote their books in the coming months.

According to Dana Lynn Smith of The Savvy Book Marketer, nearly all – 94 percent of the respondents – said they plan to promote their books with social networking and other social media this year.

“Online book promotion through social media is clearly a popular strategy,” says Smith, a book marketing consultant. “But, it’s important that authors and publishers learn to use these new book promotion tools effectively.”

According to the survey, here are the top 10 book promotion methods that authors and publishers plan to use this year:

1. Social networking and social media: 94 percent

2. Blogging: 84 percent

3. Seeking book reviews: 75 percent

4. Seeking testimonials and endorsements: 73 percent

5. Press releases: 68 percent

6. Ezines or email marketing: 62 percent

7. Radio and television talk shows: 62 percent

8. Speaking or teleseminars: 60 percent

9. Article marketing: 57 percent

10. Book signings: 56 percent

“Despite the emphasis on online book promotion in 2010, more traditional activities like book reviews and radio interviews are still important,” notes Smith. “An effective book promotion plan should use a variety of online and offline tactics for the widest reach.”

Of the 136 people responding to the book promotion strategies survey, 42 percent are independently or self-published authors, 25 percent are authors published by a traditional publishing house, 12 percent are aspiring authors, and 21 percent are publishers or others in the industry.

Dana Smith, who develops marketing plans for nonfiction books, is the author of The Savvy Book Marketer’s Guide to Successful Social Marketing and several other book promotion guides.

For book promotion tips, visit The Savvy Book Marketer blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com. Subscribers to Smith’s complimentary newsletter, The Savvy Book Marketer, get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips e-book when they register for the newsletter at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com. For more book marketing tips, follow Smith on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BookMarketer.

Once you have scheduled a book signing at a local book store or other venue, the real work begins. You may think that as the author your only job is to show up, greet your adoring fans, and sign some books; however, the success of the book signing is on your shoulders, so you had better get busy.

Do not assume that the book store is in charge of promoting the event. They may do a few things, such as listing your signing in their event calendar or putting up a few signs, but the rest is up to you.

Start with the people you know and who know you. Send invitations to friends, acquaintances, family members, business colleagues, members of your writers group—anyone who knows you and would be interested in the fact that you published a book.

Announce the signing to your email list. You don’t have an email list? Get started on one today. Sign up for an account at Aweber, add an opt-in form to your website or blog (Aweber makes it easy to do) and start building your list. If you are just starting a list now, it may be too late for this book signing, but you plan to do others, don’t you?

Post information about the event to your website or blog. Let people know when and where the book signing will be, and encourage them to come out and meet you. Update your site after the event with photos and a description of how it went.

Send out press releases. Contact local media to let them know about your book signing. Make sure they know that you are a local author. When you do an event away from where you live, highlight your connection to the area, if any. For example, were you born there, did you go to school there, do you have family in the area, is your book set there, etc?

Distribute press releases online. There are several free and paid options for putting out press releases online. Even if you do not get the attention of the media with your online press releases, they will be seen by the public. Many of the people who see your press release online may not be local to the event, or they may see the notice weeks or months after the event takes place, so be sure to include links to your website as well as information about where people can buy the book online.

Promote your book signing well to bring out a big audience. You will sell more books and it will be easier to convince other book stores to host your future events.

Cathy Stucker is the owner of SellingBooks. She has written and published several books, including The Mystery Shopper’s Manual.

Your book is published, the boxes have been delivered and it looks great! Now what? Well if you are a self-published author, you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you. It’s up to you to market and sell your book. While you may have some supporters who go to bat for you by in large it’s up to you to get out there and slog, slog, slog.

New to the book industry I had no idea what I was in for. Yes I had done some research but like most people I talk to now, they wonder what I could possibly be doing to fill my day.

The book I published is called the Personal Healthcare Journal. While not your typical novel it is still in book format, so it is still classified as a book. Markets for this product are extremely broad and so I have many avenues to pursue.

My book launch was held at an independent bookstore called McNally Robinson. They do a fantastic job of helping local authors get their books into consumer’s hands. They helped me organize an event complete with sound, chairs, coffee and tea. Leading up to the event they also had my book showcased on a table and pillar at the front of the store making it very visible. I invited scores of people but still only 20 or so people came – mostly family. I sold some books and was buoyed by the kind words from those in attendance.

A week prior to the book launch I was busy sending emails to news reporters hoping to score some really great media coverage. I managed to get three written pieces including the whole front page of a complete section in our largest paper and a spot on TV; this definitely helped sales.

So how do you get your book into a bookstore? Definitely getting media attention helps. In fact three bookstores called to ask me for copies to stock in their stores. In Canada all bookstores sell self-published books on consignment. What I have learned though is that when there is great media attention they drop their consignment rate from 45% to 40%. I still have to push a little when I pick up a new store on the consignment rate but it does seem somewhat negotiable.

Back to identifying markets for your book. Having a background in marketing communications I learned that often there is more than one place you can go to sell your product – you may need to think outside the box. In my case the new markets that quickly emerged were hospital gift shops, healthcare product stores and even pharmacies. These stores are similar to bookstores in that unless you have a distributor it’s up to you to visit each store individually and sell your wares. The great thing about these markets is they actually tend to purchase your product outright so you don’t have to wait for the books to sell as on consignment.

It’s a tough world out there – but if you’re assertive or tenacious you can do it! It also helps to offer to do a book signing because it draws business into the bookstore and at the end of the day no matter how amazing your book is it all comes down to money.

Betsy Hiebert is the author of Personal Healthcare Journal. You can learn more at http://www.mycarenecessities.com/.