{"id":22947,"date":"2020-04-10T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=22947"},"modified":"2020-04-08T06:20:57","modified_gmt":"2020-04-08T13:20:57","slug":"pr-for-authors-how-a-pr-experiment-made-me-a-better-salesperson-by-keri-kruspe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/10\/pr-for-authors-how-a-pr-experiment-made-me-a-better-salesperson-by-keri-kruspe\/","title":{"rendered":"PR for Authors: How a PR Experiment Made Me a Better (Sales)Person by Keri Kruspe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PR<\/a>Let\u2019s welcome back monthly columnist Keri Kruspe<\/a> as she shares with us \u201cPR for Authors: How a PR Experiment Made Me a Better (Sales)Person.\u201d Enjoy!<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Late last year I was approached by one of my fellow students at Barany School of Fiction who was working on her Masters in Professional Communication.<\/strong> She asked if I\u2019d be willing to do an experiment with her. If she came up with a marketing plan to increase my visibility as an author for a month, would I be willing to be her guinea pig?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hmm<\/span><\/i>\u2026let me see. Work with someone getting their PR degree for free? Being the bright entrepreneur that I am… I, of course, said yes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

PR for Authors: What Does a PR Firm Do?<\/span><\/h2>\n

According to <\/span>Everything PR<\/span><\/a> website, <\/span>first-time authors as well as traditional <\/span>New York Times<\/span><\/i> bestselling authors, may hire a PR firm to help build their business. They can be hired directly by an author or by their publishers. However, they caution, PR firms for authors are hard to find since it\u2019s a small niche, and are usually expensive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But, according to various PR ads<\/strong>, working with one can gain the author huge traction and buzz. Before hiring one, they should walk you through the process and communicate what\u2019s expected from you as well as what they\u2019d deliver.<\/span><\/p>\n

PR for Authors: The Game Plan Used to Boost my Authorship\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Within the executive summary my friend provided (I\u2019m withholding her name to protect the innocent\u2026), my genre was identified (Romance \u2013 a subgenre of SciFi Romance), as well as my target audience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The niche of Romance commands a huge portion of the market with 29 million readers and $1 billion in sales each year. The audience for my specific audience is typically women (84%) who read for entertainment, escape, and enjoyment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She also specified that my competition is other authors as well as other media outlets<\/strong> (i.e. movie, TV, video games).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the \u201cbusiness\u201d side of publishing, book piracy and policy changes from all publishers and online book sellers can also create undue stress for an author reaching their target audience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This campaign was to focus on increasing engagement with my established readers as well as generate new readers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Goal\"<\/p>\n

What were the Overall Goals for the Campaign?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

While the overall campaign encompassed more than I can outline here, for expediency sake I\u2019m going to cover the measurable goals that were agreed upon. The timeframe for this campaign was for the month of February, 2020.<\/p>\n

Objectives\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n