How to Pitch Media Like a Professional Publicist - Part 3: The Follow Up

You've planned your pitch, you've reached out to media, what next?  Jason Jones of Jones Literary walks you through how to follow-up on your pitch and get media attention for your book.

Transcript:
Hey, everybody. Thanks for being here. And welcome back if you were here for either of our first two sessions where we talked about all of the things that you need to do before you pitch media and then how to pitch media. We also talked in session 2 about the differences between marketing and publicity. And today, we're gonna talk about what to do after you pitch media.

So we're gonna get started in just a few minutes. While we're waiting, you guys can just pop in the chat and let me know a little bit about where you're watching from and a little bit about your book. Give everybody just a couple of minutes to get in here. Looking forward to talking to you guys today more about, how to serve as your own publicists. One of the more challenging aspects of being a self published author I have learned from talking to 100 and 100 of you guys over the years, So many people just, work so hard to get their book finished and then aren't quite what sure what to do with it afterwards.

So, hopefully, we can be of assistance today. I'm coming to you guys from Nashville, Tennessee. Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks so much if you've been here for the first two sessions. Give everybody just a couple more minutes to get connected.

Alright. Just another minute or 2, and we will dive in. So much information on sending email. I know it seems that way, but it's such a huge part of what we do as publicists. So it is worth talking about.

Excited to do that with you guys today. One more minute, and we'll get started. Alright, guys. Let's go ahead and get started. Thanks for being here again, and and welcome back if you were here for either of our first two sessions.

As I mentioned, we talked in those sessions about all the things that you need to do before you pitch media. And then in session 2, we talked about how to pitch media, how to write great pitch emails. We also talked about the difference between marketing and publicity, and there are many. So looking forward to getting back into this with you today. My goal is to stay as close to 30 minutes as I can with the actual presentation, but we do wanna take some questions.

So if you have any of those, just pop them in the chat, and we'll get to them as soon as we are done. So again, this is part 3 of our 3 part series on how to act as your own publicist. And, for those of you who didn't see parts 1 or 2, I'll reintroduce myself. My name is Jason Jones. I'm the founder of Jones Literary, a PR firm in Nashville, Tennessee, and I love getting to work with authors and experts and publishers, media all over the world.

We've worked with producers and editors at outlets like Fox News, NBC, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, ABC, you name it, and hundreds and hundreds of faith based outlets too, which is actually our specialty. I worked for 6 years with HarperCollins where I led the nonfiction PR group, and I was really blessed while I was there to lead campaigns for 11 New York Times bestselling books. My agency, Jones Literaries, coming up on its 8th anniversary. Still growing. We work with 10 to 15 clients a month.

Most of those are traditionally published or best selling authors, speakers, ministries, nonprofits. We book radio and TV podcast interviews for them. We help them write op ed pieces and get those placed. So all manner of PR execution, is is what we do at the agency. But we also love working with first time and self published authors.

And, unfortunately, because what we do tends to be a little bit expensive and and a lot of self published authors just aren't able to afford that or because some just aren't ready to do a big national media push. A few years ago, we created something that we're really proud of, and that is a way for us to still work together. And I'll tell you later about a great suite of publicity tools and resources that we've put together that will equip and train you guys to serve as your own publicists. We're talking custom built press kits, custom built media lists, pitch scripts, media training videos, 1 on 1 coaching and consultations, 365 day editorial calendar so you know what media we'll be covering and when. All really, really cool stuff that we're partnering with Dibbly on, and really helpful investment, for indie authors.

But like I said, we'll get to that later. In the meantime, I want to give you guys some real practical takeaways today about what to do after you pitch media. So you followed all the instructions that we provided in sessions 1 and 2. And before you pitched, you created all the flexibility in your calendar that we talked about. You updated your website, did all your media research.

You watched and listened to the shows that you wanted to pitch, all those great things. Then you wrote a great email pitch with a great subject line, all the right information, but you haven't heard from anybody. Well, don't take it personally, and don't quit. And don't worry. We're gonna talk today about how to not quit without being a nuisance.

What you guys have to understand is that journalists just don't have time to respond to the hundreds of emails that they get every day. And because it may take you 2 or 3 or 4 outreaches to get through to somebody and you do not want to email them every day, by the way, you have to give yourself ample lead time and not start pitching them 2 days before you'd ideally like to be on the air. So all that to say, following up is one of the most important skills that you're gonna develop as your own publicist. Okay? So let's talk about a few things to consider after sending your pitch emails.

What you should do, 1st, you have to consider the timing of sending your follow-up. Okay? I'd suggest waiting at least 2 business days. Journalists are gonna get really annoyed if you act too quickly before they've had a chance to review their inbox, but they might forget the message or you might just miss the news cycle opportunity if you wait too long. So I think 2 days is about right, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, for instance.

And whatever you do, do not email them 2 or 3 times a day. Okay? Secondly, you wanna send an email with a new subject line. And writing great email subject lines, by the way, is something that the AI tools on Dibbly can help you do. There was likely a reason that that first email didn't get a response, and the chances are really slim that sending an email with the exact same subject line is going to work the second time.

Okay? 3rd, you need to update your pitch. So don't just send the exact same email. Before you reach back out, learn something about them so you can personalize your pitch, and you should have done that, before the first pitch, by the way. But at a minimum, browse their recent coverage in their social media.

Reference a story or conversation that they had on the air today in your email, and rather just repeating, your initial pitch verbatim, recast it a little bit just to acknowledge that you've reached out previously and that you've been paying attention to what they're talking about. 4th, you wanna follow-up at the right time. So know the news cycle. Understand that the outlet's news cycle and deadlines, to avoid contacting them at the wrong times for example, if you're pitching a a weekly news outlet or talk show that, that publishes or broadcast every Wednesday, you don't wanna follow-up late on Tuesday afternoon. And think about when the reporters and producers might be preoccupied and on deadline during the workday.

You don't wanna interrupt them during those times. So the deadline times depend on the time of publication and, or the broadcast. Okay? Best time to get morning television production people is around midnight. Radio, early morning.

Online outlets, anytime, really. And if, for instance, if you wanna reach a faith editor or a weekend columnist, like, don't reach out on Friday expecting them to cover you this weekend. They've likely had the story for this weekend in the queue all week. So you always wanna give yourself plenty of lead time. Okay?

So and I know that you guys are just getting started, and that may seem impossible to know. We have a lot more details about those things as part of the toolkit. And and if you have questions about those things, we'll take those too at the at the end. Some things that you don't wanna do, you do not want to just send a check-in email. The just checking in message is really bothersome and lazy, in the eyes of media.

So use a compelling and different subject line like we talked about on that next email. You don't wanna break down and call them. I'm just gonna be brutally honest here. You don't wanna call them. They're gonna feel like you're wasting their time.

Of course, they got your email. Either they just weren't interested or they didn't see it. But if you you can't help yourself and you just have to call, you're gonna have about 30 seconds of their attention. So you have to be really succinct. Okay?

Know that they're busy. They're on deadline. They're likely annoyed, and just be ready for them to say to put it in an email. But you also have to know just again, they're gonna hate getting your call because and you're just starting out on the wrong foot with them because none of us like getting calls in the middle of the day, cold calls from someone we don't know trying to sell us something. They feel the same way.

They just can't fill phone calls all day. So email is the way to reach them, and that's why we're talking so much about it. Don't send numerous messages to if a reporter doesn't respond after 2 or 3 follow ups, then the next thing for you to do is move on to someone else. Usually, 3 is the limit for me. If I send a reporter 3 different emails and they don't respond, you know, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, the next week, I'm gonna try someone else.

Okay? Again, don't take it personally. They either just weren't interested, or they found somebody else maybe to talk with them about whatever it was you wanted to talk about, if what you wrote about was news cycle specific. Okay? So, you also wanna make sure to just review sessions too.

We talked there about keywords to never ever use in a subject line of an email. The same applies here. Okay? Just because you've sent them one email, that doesn't mean that your second and third email subject line should be the same, or they also shouldn't be, hey. Did you get my email?

And believe it or not, I have seen all these things happen. And I've heard so many of my radio and TV, friends laugh at the emails that they get, and we've heard all the stories, I'll tell you. So stay professional, and remember that these folks owe you nothing. And, just stay you know, you wanna stay professional with them and personable and and and polite. Some things that we'll we'll talk about here momentarily.

So besides pitching, here's the bottom line about following up, guys. It's it's really the most important thing that that we do because, it's very unlikely that just one email, that first email is gonna get the job done. So you're almost always gonna have to send follow ups, multiple follow ups. I think it's also probably the most challenging part of doing this, acting as your own publicist. But if you do it the right way, a lot of these journalists are really gonna appreciate your tenacity.

Now they have a lot on their plates too, and and a lot of times, they appreciate being reminded, having something put back in front of them because something that they could be interested in maybe just got swallowed up that day. So they might appreciate getting an email again, you know, 48 hours later, But you have to do it in the right way. So you have to remain I always say you have to be polite. You have to be persistent, professional, and and patient. Okay?

And remember, you're offering yourself as a service to them and their audience, and your job is to make their job easier. Okay. You have to make them the hero. If you can make them the hero and make that easy for them, then your chances of being on the air are much, much better. You wanna provide something of value to their audience.

Secondly, the most common mistake in follow-up is sending emails with the same subject line. We've talked about it just a few minutes ago. If the previous emails weren't opened, sending the same one is not gonna get you a different result in all likelihood. So maybe the first one ended up in their junk folder. You might also try resending the email without links or attachments, and and try a different time of day as well.

Try different subject lines. At the end of the day, after 3 strikes, though, like we talked about earlier, if you get nothing, just try a different contact. And then lastly, just remember, professional, personable, persistent, patient, polite, and then pertinent, which just be relevant. You know? They want timely emails about things that are in the news.

And, a lot of times, I it can be difficult to strike the balance between being professional and being personable. You wanna be memorable, I always say. You wanna be a real person. You want to, you want your email to have some personality. That does not mean, you know, smiley faces and lots of emojis and exclamation points.

But you wanna have you know, you wanna be a real person. You don't want your email to be so stuffy and so formal, you know, that it comes across, like a form, email. But you also don't want it to be too loose. So you gotta you gotta strike that balance, and, that can be a tough thing to do. But you get better with practice.

And one of the things that that we include in the toolkits, as I mentioned those earlier, we have email scripts. So we have a dozen different email scripts that that we use ourselves when we pitch media. So, you'll be able to see some of those in that toolkit, and I believe links to that kit. But, a lot of different ways to do it and and and to to include the right information in a way that is it is personable and memorable and relatable. So those are important pieces as well.

But so I know that gives you guys you probably have some questions, and we will get to those again. But, don't forget to if you're feeling overwhelmed by all of this stuff, there there's so many things that Dibbly can help you do here. Dibbly's got a lot of great writing tools, editing tools, like, you know, ghostwriters, narration, cover design for your book, all these things you can do. And and by the way, I mentioned this last week. Whatever you do, don't cut corners on your cover design.

The last thing you can afford to do as a self published author without that big legacy publishing logo on your book spine is for your book to look self published. So use Dibbly's cover design services. Don't neglect that. That is, one of the things that will just get you, your book passed passed over more quickly than anything. And as for the toolkits that I mentioned earlier, again, we've put together a fantastic package, custom whereby we custom build you a press kit.

We custom build you a media list based on your closest major media market, usually between 23 100 journalists in that proper field and market. That package includes hours of coaching and consults, 365 day editorial calendar to help you know what media, what they're gonna be talking about and when, so your pitch is gonna be timely. There's a 3 part media training course as part of it as well to help you conduct great interviews when those opportunities do come. So check out the link to the local PR toolkit. Dibbly has posted that.

And like I said, it's a great investment for you as an author because the press kit and the media list, not to mention the skills that you're gonna learn, are gonna be applicable no matter how many books you write going forward. So between Dibbly's amazing writing and editing and cover design and narration tools and our custom built press kits and media lists and consultations, you guys have got literally everything you need to put together a really fantastic PR campaign for your book all on your own. So let's check out some of the questions that you guys, have had from, from today's session. So what are the best practices for staying organized when managing multiple media follow ups? Well, there's a lot of different ways to do this, and it's really just a personal preference.

You know, we use a, you know, we've got a database where we have all of our media contacts, collected, and we'll go in and we, we will kinda tag those those contacts. Have we pitched them? You know? Did did they have us on the air? We wanna make sure if we've we've someone has us on that we don't reach out again, and ask them to have us on.

That could be awkward. So there's a lot of different ways to do it, but, everybody has their their own, their own preference. I think, you know, we also number I also number my follow ups so I know which emails I've used and when. The other part of it that's challenging for me that may not necessarily apply to you guys because we're working with multiple clients, you know, all at one time. I I try not to have every email that I send these guys for every author sound exactly the same.

Again, I'm trying to be, relatable and personable. I don't want things to sound like they're part of a form letter. You know, there's to a certain degree, you know, when you're working with as many clients as we do, you almost can't help there to be, you know, some familiarity to all those emails, and that's fine. That just shows consistency in the personality of of our agency and and our brand. But for you guys, you know, try to, to keep track of who which media you have pitched and which email they got, and and what their reply was.

Because a lot of times, you know, they're gonna say things like, hey. This sounds great. You know, sorry we missed it this year. Make sure you reach back out to us next year. Or, hey.

You're 2 weeks too early. Reach back out, you know, a week from tomorrow. Or, you know, and and just I tie all those things into our calendars. I set up reminders to, you know, remind us when to reach back out. When we're working with clients, we like to set up reminders to go out the day, before an interview to make sure everybody has what they need.

Do you have links to connect? Do you have all the the press kit information, the headshots, the book cover images, all those things? So, a lot of different ways today with automation, Zap, Zapier, and things like that that you can, you can set up reminders and and and automations to make sure that everybody is taken care of. So a lot of different ways to do that, and it's really, again, up to you for your own preference. See, next question was, how long should you wait before following up on a media pitch?

You know, standard practice for me again is is about 48 hours, and that is assuming that I'm working far enough in advance that I I have a week to do 3 follow ups. You know, there will be the occasion when you're working on something that's in the news today, you know, and and everybody's gonna be talking about it today. You know, you wanna send that email, and and give them, you know, a few hours, to respond. Keep those emails very, very short, and just present yourself as an expert or a resource on news that's breaking today, and let them know that you have more information on yourself and your credentials, available as part of a press kit. But, so depending on the news cycle, if it's breaking news and it's something that you you really need to get in touch with somebody today on, that's a little bit of an exception.

But generally speaking, give yourself a couple of weeks lead time so that you can send at least 2 or 3 pitches to that contact, and then pivot to that next contact maybe the following week. Always better to hear them say, hey. You're a little bit early, you know, than sorry you're you're too late. Getting to the front of the line is a great thing. You know?

You know, they may have you they may file that away. And remember that when it's time for them to get to that story, oh, that person emailed me, and they're an expert or, you know, resource on that topic. I'm gonna reach back out. So always be ahead of the game. Give yourself plenty of of lead time.

So, that answer can vary depending on the situation. But, you know, and if you're if you're looking for things like, you know, quarterly publications, you know, or long lead what we call long lead media outlets, some these folks that need 2 or 3 months, advanced time to work on a story. For them, you can wait a little bit longer. You know, maybe you you send them an email and give them a week. You know?

That would probably be appropriate when you're working with that much lead time. So, again, it just it kinda depends on the outlook and the situation. See. Next question was, what is the best way to follow-up without being annoying? Yeah.

That's that's email, guys. That's that's the whole, is the whole 3 part series has been on how how to pitch, and why email is the way to do it. You know? Sometimes, if you're working with a journalist who, you know, is particularly engaging on social media, you can jump into some of those streams and and maybe make a comment here or there or or DM them, just to give them some some familiarity with your name, and and maybe you can contact them there. But it's 95% of the time it's email.

These guys hate getting phone calls. You know, they're really, really busy. A lot of times, they're maybe on set. They've got their phone on silence. You know?

Lots of reasons not to call these guys and not to leave them voice mails because, other people will do that and fill their their voice mail, you know, box up. They'll probably never hear those voice mails, or they'll you know, these people that will bother them a lot with phone calls and things, they kinda blacklist those people, and they, you know, they you don't wanna be one of those. So send an email appropriately timed. Be polite. Be professional.

And, again, if you're somebody that they know is looking to help them, be the hero and help them present, you know, information that's beneficial for their audience, they're gonna wanna talk to you, if what you're sending them is is relevant and timely. And you seem like a reasonable person that, is is, you know, professional and credentialed and polite. So, you can really separate yourself from the pack by just not doing a few of those key things, you know, calling and then overdoing the email. So you can really set yourself apart, but email is absolutely the way to do that. So we have another question here.

How can Dibbly create AI tools assist in crafting better follow-up pitches? Well, Dibbly and AI is something you know, we use sometimes, AI to help us write pitches that, again, are about the same topic and pitching the same, you know, conversation in a little different way. It can be tough to write sometimes, you know, 3 or 4 different emails that are the same but not, you know, using different approaches, is something that that that Dibbly's tools can help you with in writing those subject lines. Subject lines are the most important piece of this whole thing, because if the subject line is not any good, your email is not gonna get open anyhow. So writing a really short you know, we're talking 10 to 12 word, you know, email subject line, something that's compelling, but it also doesn't use any of those keywords we talked about not using, in a subject line, it's really challenging.

So that's something that I, you know, have used, AI assistance for a pretty good deal. And, you know, you can plug in. You can ask, hey. Don't use these words, but write me a compelling subject line, an email subject line that I'm sending to media, you know, about this topic, and you can get help with those subject lines. That's that's that's the biggest piece, of this thing.

That's that's the way that you win, the battle is writing those great subject lines. So that's where I would recommend using, the writing tool, the most. As far as writing, you know, better follow-up pitches, how to use that? Again, that's a lot of times I know that I can get a little bit wordy, and and it's easy to do when you're writing about something that you're really passionate about or, you know, you've you've poured so much of yourself into, like your book. You you wanna write these grandiose, you know, descriptions of of who you are and what you're you're writing about, why you're so well versed and such an expert.

And so it's really helpful for me, you know, to have that editor, have that that help, that AI help, editing my emails down, to a reasonable number of words. I mean, a lot of times, again, you've got about 30 seconds to a minute tops to get across what it is you wanna say in these emails to these journalists. So read them back after you write them. And if if you it down enough on your own, jump into Dibbly and get some help. You know, have that editing assistance there.

You know, a lot of times we look at things so much. You know, I can stare at a pitch for so long that I I really, come kinda blinded to what its shortcomings might be. And it's it's always great to have that objective, second look. So, let's see. Any more questions?

How do you handle a rejection or a nonresponse from media outlets? Again, I think, you just don't take it personally. You know, and you just have to understand that that they have a lot of people vying for their attention. Just stay polite. Stay professional, because you're probably gonna wanna pitch them again at some point.

The the best thing that you can do is just, move on to the next contact at that outlet. And a lot of times, I'll acknowledge that, hey. I I sent a note to, you know, your colleague, you know, Mike, about this, and and and maybe he wasn't the right person. I apologize for you know, if if you're not the right person, but I wanted to get this in front of you guys. I feel like it's important.

But, I I think that's probably the best way to do it just honestly and humbly and, you know, just just move on to that next contact or that next outlet. The other thing you have to keep in mind too, is that a no is not always no forever. A lot of times, it's just no for now. So you wanna leave that door open and, staying humble and professional, and and grateful. You know, having that approach, that posture with these folks is really important.

So there will probably be another time that you'll want to pitch and and and you want to, you don't wanna burn that bridge. So, that's the best way to handle it. And then just to make note and and stay organized again so that you can remember in a few months, when you pitch them again, you can circle back and say, hey. I I emailed them 8 weeks ago. Here was the response.

You know? And you can reference that. So it's just a conversation. Stay organized and stay professional and polite, and that's that's how you do it. Any others?

I think that may be it, guys, in terms of the questions. So thanks for jumping in. Again, I you know, there's there's so so much for us to talk about when it comes to serving as your own publicist. Email is just you know, is a very, very important part of it, but it's just a part of it. Press kits, you know, sending over the right information is really important, and the timing is so important.

There's just there's so many things, so many different aspects to this, that you'll master over time as you, as you perform this. So, really grateful for you guys tuning in. I hope it was helpful. You know, you can always send questions over. You can send them to me personally.

Jason@jonesliterary.com is my email. I'm glad to help answer any questions that you have, and really grateful for Dibbly for giving us the opportunity to talk with you guys. Wish you the very best of luck with all your books and your projects, and, yeah, so long.