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The Tip Sheet
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issue of : December 2005
- Quotation of the Month
- PTA - Best-Seller Program
- PTA's Upcoming TeleSeminars
- Ask the Expert - An interview with Pat Brogan, from WMAL-AM in Washington, DC
- Surfin' - A source for websites: Jack The Ripper, Cool Fonts, and Raymond Scott
- What Have You Done For Me Lately? - Our latest media bookings
- Tips From the Top - Our monthly advice column: Building the Best Network
- Look What's Coming Up - A calendar of upcoming events
- Upcoming Publishing Seminars
Quotation of the Month
"The cure for writer's cramp is writer's block."
—Indigo De Leon
If you've got a great quote you want to share, send it to us at kohand@plannedtvarts.com. Thanks!
PTA
With 195,000 new books published in just the past 12 months, how can an author rise above the sea of titles fighting for consumer and media attention? With PTA's intensive online marketing campaign. One of the first companies to launch a book onto the best-seller list, PTA has been arming authors with the competitive edge they need to sell books, raise their brand awareness and get their message heard for over two years. (One of our campaigns was also featured in Publishers Weekly.)
How does it work? Through the technologies of online ordering, ezines, blogs and mailing lists, we have successfully set up promotions that compel thousands of readers to buy your book in a short period of time. The resulting boost to sales acts as a catalyst to attract more attention from booksellers, reviewers and the book buying public. As many as one million online consumers, will receive information about the book.
Our best-seller campaign usually works best for business books, how-to books, health books, and news-making books. If your title does not fit into these categories, do not despair. Please call us and tell us what your book is about and we'll tell you if it can work. We prefer a lead-time of at least two to three months to insure that we can create the best campaign possible for you.
For more information, please contact: Brian Feinblum at feinblumb@plannedtvarts.com.
PTA's Upcoming TeleSeminars
Did you miss our teleseminar with Susan Driscoll, the CEO of IUniverse? If so, you can call our replay line at 507-726-3837 or visit our website at www.plannedtvarts.com to download any past teleseminars.
Upcoming Seminars
- Wednesday, December 14th from 2:00-3:00pm ET
Mark Steisel, master ghostwriter, will speak about the ins and out of ghostwriting. - Wednesday, January 18th from 2:00-3:00pm ET
Ted Demopoulos, an expert on the intersection of technology and business, will discuss "Blogging for Authors, Solo Entrepreneurs, Consultants and other Small Businesses."
Here's how to participate:
Please call 580-474-3600
Then press in the code: 222089#.
Remember, our TeleSminars are free, costing you only the price of the phone call. If you missed our last Teleseminar, you can dial the replay line at 580-431-2837 (Press the # after you dial in) or go to our website www.plannedtvarts.com.
Ask the Expert
PTA asks Pat Brogan, news editor at WMAL-AM in Washington, DC what catches his attention what he feels about the publicist who calls constantly.
Q: What do you like best about your job?
A: Meeting new people in all different aspects of jobs, and of life. You meet people who live on the streets, like the homeless, up to the President. My job is different every day.
Q: What's the most obnoxious thing a publicist can do?
A: Hands down, calling constantly. When a publicist calls and alerts you to fax or email, that's fine. But if they then ask you if they can call you back the morning of the event to recheck your interest, we always just say it won't make a difference (and it usually doesn't.) Also, when a publicist calls, gets a no, and says, "Why not?" It's usually because the topic doesn't fit the demographics of the station's listeners, and just leave it at that.
Q: What's the best thing a publicist can do?
A: Know whom my station is targeted to, and pitch topics that fit. Simply send a "who, what, when, where, and how" with contact information. Know whom you are calling and what they go for. Make the press release simple, and always keep it local for non-national media. Always be reachable by phone, blackberry, etc.
Q: What gets your attention in an email, looking at email?
A: Local author/businessman strikes it rich. Make it local, with an expert source on a newsy topic. Traffic news/experts are always welcome in the DC area.
Q: How long have you been in the business?
A: 12 years.
Q: How has the media changed?
A: Consolidation, hands down. There are fewer newsrooms, fewer people, ease of getting sound and pictures.
Q: Aside from celebrities, what type of guests are you looking for?
A: All types. Business owners, if there's a heavy storm, then roofing tree-trimming companies. Whoever I need to get a hold of, politicians especially, being in DC. People dealing with transportation, and MOS (man on the street) stories.
Surfin'
Many people may remember Patricia Cornwell's best-selling book Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed (Putnam 2002) where she claimed to have definitively solved the Jack the Ripper murders. But did she? (See link at the end of this entry for a more detailed explanation.) There are those who disagree and throughout the last 117 years there have been countless theories and possible suspects as to the identity of the "Whitechapel Murderer." They are all arranged on a website devoted to Ripper lore at http://www.casebook.org/ The website has documents, lists of victims, suspects, background on the police officials and even learned dissertations on the crimes that shocked Victorian society and still hold the public's imagination today. Cornwell dispute - http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/dst-pamandsickert.html
Are you sick of Times New Roman, Courier or Garamond for your emails or word processing programs? http://www.fontasy.de/ is a German-based repository of thousands of fonts that are downloadable in zipped format for free. Our favorites? The cool band fonts from such musical greats as: Def Leppard, KISS, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC.
Continuing with the musical theme, you may not recognize the song Powerhouse by name - (Click here to listen: http://www.raymondscott.com/powerhs.mp3) Now.. you probably recognize that song from many classic Warner Brothers cartoons and know nothing about the man behind the music - Raymond Scott. Luckily friends, there is a website to rectify that. Besides being one of the most innovative musical figures of the 20th century, Scott was a Julliard trained pianist, composer, bandleader, engineer, inventor and electronic music pioneer who never wrote a note of music for a cartoon in his life! The recordings that ended being called the "cartoon soundtracks" were recorded between 1936 & 1939 as an improvement upon swing music that Scott found stagnant. Warner Brothers cartoon musical director, Carl Stalling, used a lot of material from Raymond Scott. Raymond Scott's intriguing story can be found at http://www.raymondscott.com.
What Have You Done For Me Lately?
Here's a sampling of our latest bookings. They do not include all of the bookings for each campaign just the highlights.
Mr. Finnegan's Giving Chest By Dick Van Dyke (Shadow Mountain)
Some of the bookings from our Satellite Television Tour:
- Chicago, IL - WLS (ABC) and WBBM (CBS)
- Dallas, TX - WFAA (ABC)
- Altanta - WAGA (FOX)
- Minneapolis, MN - KARE (NBC)
- Denver, CO - KUSA (NBC)
- Detroit, MI - WJBK (FOX)
- Sacramento, CA - KMAX (UPN)
Attorney Richard Essen, Drunk Driving Campaign
- Your World with Neil Cavuto, FOX News Channel
China's Generation Y By Michael Stanat (Homa & Sekey Books)
- The Associated Press
- Knight Ridder News Wire / Fort Worth Star-Telegram
- Houston Chronicle
Total Body Lift By Dr. Dennis J. Hurwitz (MDPublish)
- Inside Edition
- Philadelphia Inquirer
Tips From the Top
Building the Best Network
Part 5: Getting Organized
Create a detailed network database on your Rolodex, Palm Pilot, or address book or simply start a separate card or computer file. Also, investigate the numerous computer programs that provide contact-organizing services. They include ACT!, TeleMagic, Goldmine, and tons more.
Collect as many names as possible because you never know when a contact could lead you to the perfect fit. Successful networkers collect business cards and contact information as if it was money. A contact whom you have barely met may have heard about you, been impressed by you, or think that you or your product/service are fabulous and want to hook you up with his or her network.
Divide your contact database into three groups.
- A Group- Top, most important network members. The people whom you feel could help the most.
- B Group- Other, less important contacts whom you actually met.
- C Group- People you do not know but have heard of, seen, read articles by, and would like to meet.
Get into the habit of collecting business cards and making notes. Carry a small notebook or a personal digital assistant, such as a Palm Pilot, at all times to record names and pertinent information. Keep notebooks and writing implements in your car, briefcase, purse, boat, and near all computers and phones.
Review and update your network database on a regular basis. Update all changes as soon as they occur. At the least, scan your database once a month and go over it from tip to bottom every three months. The more familiar you are with you list, the more easily and quickly you will be able to link network contacts when the need arises.
Look What's Coming Up
These are dates that just might relate to a Morning Drive or Satellite TV Tour topic:
March 2006
| 1st | Ash Wednesday |
| 2nd | Jon Bon Jovi's Birthday |
| 3rd | Graham Alexander Bell Birthday |
| 3rd | Time Magazine First Issue (1923) |
| 4th-15th | Miami Carnival |
| 13th | "The Larry King Show" TV Premiere (1983) |
| 17th | St. Patrick's Day |
| 21st | American Diabetes Alert Day |
| 25th | John Lennon's Bed-in-For Peace: 37th Anniversary (1969) |
| 26th | Sandra Day O'Conner's Birthday |
| 30th | Jeopardy "TV Premiere" 42nd Anniversary (1964) |
April 2006
| Alcohol Awareness Month | |
| Cancer Control Month | |
| 1st | April Fools' |
| 2nd | Daylight Saving |
| 1st&3rd | NCAA Final Men's Four |
| 4th | Maya Angelou Birthday |
| 6th | Kentucky Derby |
| 6th-9th | Masters Augusta National, Augusta, GA |
| 13th | Passover |
| 14th | Good Friday |
| 26th | Easter Sunday |
| 26th | Administrative Professionals Day |
| 27th | Take Our Daughter and Son to Work Day |
Upcoming Publishing Seminars
A STANDING OVATION, A BIG CHECK & AN EXCITING CAREER
There's only one business I can think of that can give you all three - the speaking business.
But the speaking business has to be run like - a business! That's why the vast majority of people who want to be in the prestigious, profitable speaking business don't make it. They fail because they didn't learn the business. One of the most exciting things about the speaking business is that it doesn't take years to learn. Not even months. In fact, you can learn it in just 4 days.
Bill Glazer and Paul Hartunian are going to show you, step-by-step, how to get into and succeed in the speaking business. And they'll do it all in just four days. Bill and Paul are two of the highest paid, most in-demand speakers out There today. You couldn't ask for better people to train you.
You can get full information about the Professional Speaker Training Program at www.speakerstraining.com/training.
To get the full details, sign up and get started on the right path to success in the speaking business.