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hey hugh taylor here and today i'm going to talk about how to write a book press release this is a type of work i've done many many times and i get asked about a lot and it's an important part of the the publishing process announcing a book it's also one that can be challenging especially if you're the author and you have to write a press release for your own book um because you've just spent you know however many long months or years writing a book and then you have to write a summary of it which is often painful and then you have to have press release which is even more painful because you have to talk about your book objectively in the third person so here are some tips on how to write a book press release my standard disclaimer applies this is just a suggestion a set of suggestions there are different ways to do it the many different approaches this is one that has worked for authors that i've worked with there is a template that you can download for free in the link below that if you want to have something to start from working on yourself in the meantime let's get started with the book press release ground rules that i like to discuss uh in advance a book press release needs to clearly announce the book's title author and subject you have to have in your mind the what i would call the three second rule like if you're just glancing at a website uh that's announcing new books that someone could very quickly know your book's title and who wrote it and what it's about this is then followed up with a lead paragraph the l-e-d-e lead as we say in public relations this odd spelling the lead paragraph has an easy to understand message about your book just it fleshes out the title again i would call this the 30 second rule if someone just reads that first paragraph they'll come away knowing what the book is about um and hopefully have some interest in it maybe you want to buy it or at least read it um then the press release as always should be in the third person objective writing it's although this might be your book or something that you've published as a publisher you have to write about it in an objective third person voice that means he it they not i me our and you okay you got to avoid overt selling and hyperbole this is challenging because obviously people buy books when they're excited about them and you want people to be excited about the book but there's a balance you have to strike and that means being a positive or trying to convey excitement without without overdoing it and i will give some examples of that you got to answer the question why should i read this book um implicitly answer that question include reader reactions if you have them and this is something people struggle with because like well the book doesn't come out yet so how can i agree to reactions well there are ways to get book uh book reviews pre-public publication reviews and you can include those that's a helpful thing to have of course have how and where to buy the book information the press release should link to a bookstore like barnes noble or amazon okay and don't try to be a book review someone else the purpose will do that the purpose of the press release is to get someone to write a book review okay now this leads to this structure of the book press release there's a lot of components to a effective book press release and i've chosen a book press release i did earlier in the year for this unusual book called judenrein or i think it's pronounced eudenrein which is a kind of a slightly paranoid dystopian thriller about how white supremacists are going to take over the united states and and harm all the jews so it's uh this may not be for everybody but it's a book that that we wrote a press release for um really sort of it's in the thriller uh category but in the sort of sub-genre of jewish fiction anyway it's a good example because it has in it all the components that you need in a book press release starting with a headline the headline identifies the title right away okay and then it identifies the genre so it says judenrein a jewish dystopian thriller say that's a sub genre and then a little bit about what the book is issues a stark warning of rising american anti-semitism so in a hand in a you know half a dozen words you know one or two seconds you quickly know what this book is about then the subhead fleshes it out has the author's name new book by harold benjamin envisions the fate of america's jews as white supremacists sees the reigns of power so with the head and the subhead you pretty much understand what you're getting you know who wrote it now in this case this author is unknown so it doesn't really matter but people are often looking for certain authors you know so that's an important thing to emphasize or if you're trying to build an author brand you want to you want to emphasize who wrote the book like all press releases we have a dateline which is city and st and in case of new york you don't see what state is in according to ap rules just say new york you have to say new york new york the date april 29th and then the way this is framed is this is published by a small publishing company called entrance publishing so we're framing the announcement as the publisher is announcing the publication of the book if it's a self-published book you would probably say that the author has published the book or the author has released the book if you don't want to say that you publish it yourself you can say the author has released this book and again it's it it repeats this very quickly you know the title the genre the author okay quick quick get all that out then it gets into a a little bit of a description of what the book is about in terms of um the book's theme uh and how the book works using suspense to convey a stark warning based on rising anti-semitism then we go directly to an author quote i mean i'd rather a publisher spokesperson quote and this the quote is an opportunity to be more subjective and more personal and maybe a little more hypey without because you're quoting someone the press release the if this press release is objective the quote it can be more subjective this talks about um you know how the book is kind of a suspenseful adventure and a compelling with a compelling a flawed hero who fights to save the day and now from there the rest of the press release is uh the next three paragraphs are background and summary of the book it talks about what this word what the title means uh it talks then we have here these two paragraphs are a plot summary um and like you know this is obviously up to up to your individual taste but you know if you're trying to sell the book you know this is kind of like the back jacket copy maybe not exactly but similar it's you're trying to get people intrigued by the idea of the book you know what's it about you have to turn give enough information to get people interested without spoiling it right uh and in this case what we tried to do is create some interest around this main character of the book who's this kind of unusual guy a guy with a checkered past uh who has has to go on this uh reluctantly go on this mission where you know he could get killed or whatever so it's just trying to pull people in and give them a little flavor of what the book is about then we have here readers reactions and um this was done i think the publisher used netgalley which is a service where you can get people to review a book before it's officially out there is a number of such places um if nothing else ask friends and family so it has some quotes you know couldn't put it down this is fast-paced quick thriller complicated hero you know just trying to validate that this is a um this is a worth a worthwhile book to read and then the second last thing we have is this about the publisher and or about the author this is where you can have some just factual information you know who published this book who wrote this book and just depending on this is we just had very briefly but here you might want to have more detail and then how and where to buy okay that's important because you want people to buy the book right in this case we would click to ebook link and paperback books and um the and then a form more information click on the book website so these are some thoughts on how to write a on how to write a book press release uh there's a free template for press release at the link below we'd love to work with you on author press releases we do it all the time and i wish you the best of luck in all your publishing publicity endeavors thank you