Be Mindful of the Time Hook
Writers often think that book promotion starts once the book is published. In fact, the book is a dead duck in the water once it’s already come out – with the exception of made-for-media event news hooks, which I will discuss in another post. For effective publicity, you need to start pitching media four to six months before the release date, in the case of mainstream magazines, and four to six weeks before the release date, in the case of mainstream TV and radio.
Editors and producers are always planning ahead, and they want to profile authors or feature book reviews during the month or week of the book release. So plan out your marketing strategy with enough lead time to pitch and send review copies to editors and producers – to ensure you have the greatest chance of getting media attention.