The Secrets of Writing a Non-Fiction Book

People often ask me about my book. How long did it take to write? How did I find the time? What impact has it had on my business? Today I’ve decided to write about writing a non-fiction book as a way to boost your credibility, income and publicity.

Deciding What To Write

Almost all of the clients I see have a an idea for a book in there somewhere, often bubbling just beneath the surface. But, similarly, sometimes when they describe their great idea I’ve got a funny niggly feeling that I’ve heard it before ..and I probably have. So the first thing that you should do is check out the competition. What other titles are there on your chosen subject and how do they compare to the book you want to write? If there aren’t any then it’s either time to start rubbing your hands with glee or give up on the idea altogether as it may mean there’s little or no market. Investigate further!

Cheat A Little

I must admit that I was very lucky when it came to writing own book Get Noticed
http://www.doyourownpr.com/products/the_get_noticed_workbbok.asp

As I had about a year’s worth of newsletters that I could use to give structure and content to the book. What I had to do was turn my material into a realistic and practical course that worked as well as made sense. The good news is that if you’ve been writing newsletters for a while you probably have got a lot of ready-made material for your book already. Now, does that seem less scary?

You Don’t have To Do The Whole Thing At Once

Publishers often don’t want to wade through the whole book initially so if you’ve got a couple of chapters and a synopsis already then you can get things moving and get those out to publishers and carry on with the rest of the writing whilst you wait.

Get Inpsired

Although I’ve never tried this myself (I’ve never had to, I’m very lucky and I find writing itself very easy) many people swear by Julia Cameron’s idea of Morning pages as shown in The Artists Way.

Put it into Ebook Format

This is what www.bookshaker.com initially did with Get Noticed before publishing it as a paperback. It means that you can test the market, can gauge reactions and change the book a little if necessary and you can sell the book from your own website and keep all the profits. Who needs a publisher anyway!

Blog IT!

Blogs aren’t just for PR or writing about what you had for breakfast you know. Blogging is a great way to get your thoughts up there and out in the world and disciplining yourself to write regularly means that you’ll not only be boosting your business, helping search engine optimisation but also helping build up material for your book – and this works with fiction just as much as non-fiction.

Buy your own copy of Get Noticed at www.doyourownpr.com

Today i'm going to post a PR Success story.

Sue Donnelly of www.accentuate.me.uk initially came on a workshop that I did with media coach Joanne Mallon in 2004. She then went on to complete a Do Your Own PR 30 day ecourse and has regularly been in touch with updates on her PR successes which include:
Style writer for Health Plus with regular paid features and a monthly Gorgeous Clinic column (alongside Bharti Vyas, Jo Fairley and Daniel Galvin); regular contributor for Peterborough Evening Telegraph, Stamford Mercury, Norwich Evening News, ESP and Embrace magazines and articles in Psychologies, Essentials, My Weekly and Prima. I also was invited onto the Trisha show and have been quoted on BBC Radio Leeds and the Daily Mail.

Sue, how much time do you spend on PR?
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I'd like to say that I have a regular weekly slot to do PR but, in reality, I tend to have splurges when something captures my imagination or if I feel I have to something to contribute. This usually tends to occur every quarter rather than every week. I have 3 books published and they have provided me with great article ideas relevant to their subject matter and whatever might be happening in the media at the time. I am aware that I need to work in advance so I will plan Christmas and summer holiday articles at least 2 months before they actually occur.

What PR activities have you found that work for you?
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My first PR successes did not centre about what I do - Image Coaching - but what drove my decision to become one. I wrote articles about my change of career in my mid - 40's and the why, what and how this had come about. Magazines at the time were interested as '40 is the new 20' was in vogue and I was featured in 2 or 3 national women's magazines.
As a result, I was offered the column with Health Plus. I've kept this in mind when contacting the media. It's not what you do but how you can inspire their readers that counts. You need to think outside the box. I always look at different magazines and try to gauge their typical reader and the type of articles they would like to read. I also keep my eye on the news and make sure my article is relevant and topical. My knowledge as an image expert gives me credibility but it's not always the main focus of the story.

My exposure in the press gave me recognition within my own industry and I was invited to become an Executive Director for The Federation of Image Consultants. In turn, this has also lead to further PR opportunities as one of their spokespeople.

Where are you now with your relationships with the press?
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I have really good relationships with the local press and they often come to my home to interview me and take photographs. I'm also used for quotes on a frequent basis. Embrace magazine used my face as their cover (a nice surprise!) and as a result, I was recognised in the street on more than one occasion. It's strange when you're having a coffee in a local cafe or at your local gym and your face is staring back at you from the magazine rack!

What do you enjoy least?
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Making that initial call. I've always had a real dislike of any kind of cold calling and believe the recipient will think I'm a nuisance or unnecessary distraction. I've got over this a little but I still chicken out on occasion and send a letter or an email instead.
You can check out Sue's company at www.accentuate.me.uk.

Cold Calling Crash Course
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If like Sue you tend to put off cold calling journalists then this week's featured ecourse will help you get over this and build strong relationships with members of the press. The cold calling ecourse features 5 days of course work followed by a telephone one to one session with me where we work on your pitch so that you feel calm and comfortable when talking to the press. For more details see here:

http://www.doyourownpr.com/products/the_cold_calling_crash_course.asp

Today I received an invitation to appear in Channel 4's wife swap. It's not for me, but if you fancy the idea of revealing your life on screen here are the details:

Calling all busy mums!

Are you a busy working mum? Do you juggle a successful career with children, a partner, home life and friends? Do you sometimes wonder how you cope? Could you teach another woman how it’s done?

If this sounds like you and you are interested in appearing on a Channel 4 documentary series looking at family life then contact Melissa on melissa.waterson@rdfmedia.com or call 0207 013 4514

Do You Really Need a PR Company?

By Paula Gardner of www.doyourownpr.com

Facing facts

PR and marketing will help your business become more successful. But the obvious downside of a successful business is that you personally will no longer have as much time to devote to PR and marketing.

But handing it over to someone else is a risk - how can you be sure that they'll communicate the passion that fired you up to start the business in the first place?

Your choices

As you grow and find yourself in this position you really ultimately have four choices.

1. To grow but still retain control, personally, of all your PR and marketing. It may sound great but this is very stressful and if you're planning on doing your PR full time, then why aren't you running a PR company? It's not impossible, but to carry out this option successfully you'll need to be extremely disciplined.

2. To hand over PR and marketing responsibilities to another member or members of staff, and train them up to be responsible for this area.

3. To bring in a PR professional in-house.

4. To employ outside help from a PR company or practitioner.

Let's take a look at what doing your own PR long-term actually involves. Whether you are planning to outsource your PR or not, this will give you a breakdown of the different tasks involved. You may find that you feel you and your business will be able to handle them no problem, or it may send you into a cold panic where you realise that you'd better start looking around for a PR company pretty damn quick!

Research

This involves keeping up to date with newspapers, websites, trade and professional publications, magazines, radio shows and TV.

Planning your PR strategy

This includes market research into what image you need to project to your potential customers and devising a plan with a suitable timescale. To be honest, even if you have a PR company you'll need to be on top and driving this one.

Building relationships with journalists and editors

This could involve lunches, networking, and going to trade events where you know they will be covering stories. The beauty of doing your own PR is that these contacts are yours and won't be with-held by The PR company or leave with them when an account executive goes onto their next job.

Writing PR material

This could include web pages, press releases, articles for inclusion on your own and other websites (in exchange for links), articles for the press, newsletters and regular tips and hints for editors. Sometimes the clients still end up doing this even if they have a PR company.

Day to day PR

Chasing up press releases and phoning journalist with a story; giving interviews; following up past "bites" or interviews to see when article are being published; arranging for photos, links, photographs etc; placing competitions; buying publications and organising cuttings to most effectively impress potential clients.

And, of course, co-ordinating all the above so that they run smoothly!

Pros and Cons


Learning How to Do Your Own PR (either individually, or as a team)

Pros

* You retain control of the way things go.
* The contacts you make are your own and you can build relationships with the press.
* You can portray the passion behind the business much more effectively than someone who is being paid to do so.
* You and your team will learn skills and unleash abilities along the way that will benefit other parts of your business.
* This is often the cheapest option.

Cons

* Time consuming!
* If you suddenly thrust PR responsibilities on a member of staff who didn't sign up for this when they started it can cause bad feeling.

Bringing a PR Person In-house

Pros

* You'll get all their abilities, contacts and skills - just for you.
* They can immerse themselves in company culture and product much more easily and hopefully be able to communicate that better than someone on the outside.

Cons

* Cost plus all the other risks associated with taking on staff.

Hiring a PR Person or Agency

Pros

* You have access to their contacts
* It frees up your time.

Cons

* This can be a very expensive option and fees can run away unless you watch them carefully.
*You could competing for their time with higher paying clients.

My own opinion?

I firmly believe that small businesses, while they are small, are the best people to do their PR. It's easier for them to inspire the press with excitement and the skills you pick up can be phenomenal. And once a relationship with the press has been built it's more effective to bring in more people into the business to carry that on, and keep it yours, than hand it over to an outside party.

Do Your Own PR shows small businesses how to plan and run their own campaigns. Check out their 30 day PR ecourse here:
http://www.doyourownpr.com/products/do_your_own_pr_ecourse.asp