A few weeks ago, we posted five tips to help you be in top form for TV appearances. Here, courtesy once again of Marsha Friedman, are ten more tips to help you capitalize on valuable air-time when you appear as a TV guest.

1) Use “Tips” as part of your segment! If your topic offers helpful advice then tips are a great way to communicate your message. Television producers want to provide their viewers with useful content presented in a manner that is easy to understand. Develop five tips that solve a problem your topic addresses. Are you a fitness guru with a unique formulation for fat loss? Then offer five fat burning tips! Does your book offer advice about how to live a happier life? Then come up with 5 ways to live happier today!

2) If you’re pitching local TV, find the local angle. Local network affiliates are extremely valuable, so a great method to grab the producer’s interest is to find the local tie-in for your topic. If you are a real estate guru, before going on air do your homework and find out what the real estate market is like in that city. Have you written a book about the American economy? Be prepared to talk about the economic climate in that particular city. By highlighting a local angle, your interview will resonate more with the host and the viewers.

3) Don’t be monotone. It doesn’t work. The alteration of pitch and tone in your voice will keep your audience interested. Stay animated. It’s not only what you say, but how you say it that counts!

4) Prepare for personal questions. The job of a producer is to do research for the host about you and your topic, in preparation of your interview. If simple web research unearths two previous bankruptcies and you are promoting a CD series on how to make millions . . . be prepared! Often the best comeback is a real and even comical answer. It will not only endear you to the audience but can deflect the tone of an antagonistic interviewer.

5) Don’t overload your interview with statistics. Use stats and numbers wisely. For example, if you have written a book about natural methods of preventing diabetes, the fact that 20.8 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes is important. But if you also mention that 85,000 diabetics have their feet amputated and 12 million people will go blind from it, these statistics will create more of an emotional impact on the host and viewers.

6 ) Double-check your contact information. Before you go on-air, make sure your website is up, your toll free phone number is working and you have a list of the retail outlets where your book can be purchased. Why? If you share the incorrect contact information during your interview, you defeat the whole purpose of your appearance. Also, if you give a great interview and viewers can’t find your book, the TV station will get overloaded with calls from viewers asking for information—and reflects poorly on you as a guest.

7) Record and critique your interviews. Watch your interview numerous times and observe the different elements of your performance. How well did you answer the questions? Did your clothes send the right message? What did your body language say about you? Did you seem natural or rehearsed? Did you remember all of your sound bites? Did you interrupt the host? Identify the points you felt were weak and do whatever you can to strengthen them before your next interview.

Look good / feel good. Sleep and good nutrition are obviously important to our daily mental and physical well being; it makes us look better, feel better, and think clearly. But these health points are even more important when you factor in the stress of an important media interview. So try to get a good night’s sleep—and a healthy breakfast before your interview. Don’t overdose on the caffeine either! You want to be at the top of your game for your TV appearance.

9) Be gracious on and off the air. Remember to thank the host for the interview while you’re still on-air. Make sure to thank the producer as well. It’s also a good practice to send a brief thank you note to the host and the producer. It’s good manners and presents you as a consummate professional. It can also increase your chances of being remembered in the future, when they need to interview an expert on your topic.

10) Prepare for the pre-interview. When it comes to national TV, you may be asked for a “pre-interview”. Don’t take this lightly. Be prepared with your message; be energetic, informative and appropriately entertaining. The interview isn’t completely secured until you pass this test!

Marsha Friedman has been a leading authority on publicity for authors for nearly two decades as CEO of Event Management Services, Inc (EMSI). If you would like to receive her free e-book, How to Be a Great Talk Radio Guest, visit emsincorporated.com.

Ever watch morning TV and think, “Hey, I can do that!” Well the truth is that if you have a book, product, or service to promote to consumers, there is absolutely no reason why you can’t appear as a guest on TV!

But what does it take to be a good guest? Here are five simple tips to get you started and help you capitalize on the valuable airtime at your disposal:

1) Don’t overdo the makeup, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, both women and men are repeat offenders in this category. There’s no need to go to the station with a full face of make-up. You’ll find most producers are prepared to give you a quick once-over when you arrive so that you look good for the cameras. Shallow as it may sound, it’s hard for viewers to take you seriously if they’re too busy zeroing in on a face that’s overly made-up.

2) Check your props. As TV is all about visuals (no matter what your topic is) it’s likely you’ll have some kind of props for your interview. Take stock of them before the interview to make sure they’re in good shape with all parts intact. For example, if you’re conducting a “how-to” demonstration, ensure your equipment and tools are clean and at the ready. If you’ll be using the station’s stove for a cooking segment, make sure it works. If your prop is your book, hold it on your lap with an un-tattered front cover facing the audience.

3) Stay seated! When your interview draws to a close and it appears that the camera has stopped focusing on you, don’t stand up and take off your microphone! It’s the job of the floor manager to remove the mic for you and give you the all-clear to leave. By leaving prematurely, you could run the risk of ruining a perfectly good camera shot and coming off as an unprofessional guest.

4) Speak in a conversational manner. When people get nervous about being on camera, they tend to speak too fast and sometimes tense up—which can be very distracting for the audience. To relieve the nervous tension, you first need to get comfortable. Look around and get familiar with the studio and set. Introduce yourself to the host, producer, and camera crew. Locate where you’ll be seated during the interview. Then, when the interview starts, you’ll feel less like you’re in a strange environment. You’ll look more at ease and feel like the ultimate pro!

5) No arguing! Unless you are on a show that thrives on arguing, being combative on a show is not suggested. Your goal as a guest is to win over the audience; something that can be tricky if a question makes you feel angry or combative. If you’ve been ambushed with a nasty question, remain dignified and answer calmly. Losing your temper won’t boost your credibility; plus, it makes you look defensive, which is definitely not the best position to be in when trying to promote your message.

So there you have it! A good solid start in making the most of your time on the air!

Marsha Friedman has been a leading authority on publicity for authors for nearly two decades as CEO of Event Management Services, Inc (EMSI). If you would like to receive her free e-book, How to Be a Great Talk Radio Guest, visit emsincorporated.com.

It’s time again in the publishing industry to start preparing for industry trade shows. There are easy ways for authors to exhibit even if they don’t have the time or money to travel or invest in a full-fledged booth. Combined Book Exhibit can display your book for you at a number of regional shows and some of the industry’s largest shows, such BookExpo America (BEA), the American Library Association annual conference, and the Frankfurt International Book Fair. For a single fee, you can tap their expertise to show your title or titles for you; interested attendees will be given catalogs with all contact information should they be interested in the book, and you can buy full-page ads in the catalog if you choose. You’ll also be included in the CBE searchable online database for a year. Visit this page for details on registration.

It’s that wonderful time of year again–time to give your sales a little jolt by positioning your book as a gift for the season. Email your platform a reminder that there is still time left for holiday shopping, and that your book would make a great last-minute gift. If you sell through your own website, offer a discount or free shipping (or both). Otherwise, simply link them directly to your book on Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com, BordersStores.com, BookSense.com, or an independent bookstore near you (if you know they have your book in stock). Holidays present a great opportunity to find a creative sales hook for your book.

Amazon.com is the hands-down leader in the online bookselling marketplace. And—although it’s notoriously difficult to speak with a living, breathing human being—Amazon prides itself on meeting its customers’ needs. What’s the easiest way to drive sales for your book on Amazon? Easy: maximize the content on your product page and optimize your chances of coming up in search results via Amazon’s internal search engine.

You’ve heard of optimizing your website, optimizing your web presence, optimizing your blog, etc. The point of this optimization is to increase your visibility through various online search mechanisms. While self-contained, Amazon is a powerhouse search engine in its own right. Despite being a retail site, it should be treated as a search engine from an online marketing standpoint. Think about it: what’s the first site you go to when searching for information on a book? Amazon, of course. Remember that on top of its own strong brand, Amazon powers the virtual marketplace of Target.com, AOL’s Shop@AOL service, and, for a short while longer, Borders.com and Waldenbooks.com—just to name a few.

To leverage Amazon’s search power, a major component of your online marketing strategy should involve making your Amazon product page as informative, search-optimized, and consumer-friendly as possible. It has been our experience at Greenleaf Book Group in optimizing Amazon pages that the product’s rank improves as it collects additional content. Whether search suggestions, tags, inclusion in Listmania lists, and so on have a direct effect on the sales rank formula is unclear; it’s more likely that books with more detailed pages and links to the title information from outside pages simply attract more buyers. Regardless, ensure that your product page does a good job of representing your product with no detail spared.

Amazon offers many features to enhance your title listing that, when properly implemented, can increase page views and potential sales for your title. Understanding and executing these programs has been historically time-consuming work, but since Amazon is a content-driven site, the benefits are clear. The more visits you get to your book detail page, the more popular your book will become in the eyes of the Amazon internal search results algorithm. The Amazon algorithm favors the most popular items, so if two different products match a user’s criteria, the more user-popular item will show up first. Our Amazon optimization work has uncovered some powerful tools for influencing Amazon search results, as outlined in very basic terms below:

Tags

A tag is most easily described as a keyword or category label that a user places on a particular product. Tags appear on book detail pages and will help users find book on Amazon within a certain category or genre. Each link increases your exposure on Amazon.

Listmania! Lists

Listmania! lists are different groups of products that a person finds interesting. Each list can cover any type of category and helps other Amazon users discover your favorite products. These lists are rotated on various search result pages and on individual book pages. A popular list will appear on the product pages of all the books it mentions. The more popular the list is, the more exposure the products within your list will receive. Take the time to carefully research the other books on your list so you are more likely to appear before your target reader.

So You’d Like to . . . Guides

So You’d Like to . . . Guides are a way for you to help other customers find all the items and information they might need to discover something new about an interest or hobby. The guide includes a short, informative article targeting consumers interested in your genre and is connected to your book’s detail page and to other similar bestselling books. These guides are more detailed and informative than the Listmania! lists.

Reviews

Reach out to your friends and family to write reader reviews for your title. Reviews boost the exposure of your book detail page because the Amazon algorithm examines the number of reviews and the review ratings when determining exposure levels. Greenleaf Book Group makes a listing of the top-rated Amazon reviewers available to its clients. Reviews by this elite group are weighted more heavily in the system. Ask your distributor if such a list is available to you so that you can solicit these powerful tastemakers’ reviews for your title.

Search Suggestion

Amazon also has a way for users to help customers find items and to provide tailored information on product pages via Search Suggestions. Like tags, this tool requires some front-end thought and research on your part. Search Suggestions can:

• Associate an item with a search phrase so the item is more likely to be shown whenever anyone searches for that phrase. This is helpful for items that may be associated with a person, genre, or theme that may not appear on its product page
• Explain the relevance of your suggestion to searching customers and have your explanation and your name appear in search results
• Add information to the product page, which is tailored to the customer’s search

Amazon.com is constantly evolving. Take advantage of the features outlined above, and be on the watch for new offerings to increase your exposure (or hire an expert in the field to do this work for you). This will increase the number of eyeballs on your product’s page and result in additional sales. Amazon has millions of registered users and continues to lead the pack in online books sales. And in Amazon’s realm, there’s no such thing as too much information.

The Worst-Case Scenario Tip

Most storage facilities will carry some degree of insurance in the event of loss or destruction of inventory, but be sure to carry your own coverage to doubly protect yourself. Small publishers commonly add a rider to their homeowner’s insurance policy or business insurance policy or business insurance policy to insure their stored inventory. Be prepared to provide your insurance company with the location of the storage facility, year of construction, type of construction (wood frame, steel, etc.), whether there are hazardous materials stored on site, and details on the facility’s security system.

There isn’t much to say about YouTube that hasn’t already been said, but it would be careless to exclude this mammoth of social media from our series. And “mammoth” is no exaggeration: YouTube is big, hairy, and, er, tusk-wielding. Well, at least it’s the first of those three, unless we were to explore some extended metaphor. Get this: YouTube has the eighth largest audience on the Internet, pulling in 55 million unique visitors each month, according to Nielsen/Net Ratings. Read: YouTube’s no fad. Google doesn’t pay $1.65 billion for fads. And fads don’t hold this much book marketing and publicity potential.

So, what exactly does YouTube—or at least the technology it employs—mean for book publishing? Well, duh, book trailers for one. (But that’s not all. More later.) In an interview with Publishers Weekly blogger Barbara Vey, Sheila Clover English, CEO of book trailer producer Circle of Seven Production, said she “expect[s] to see book video become a main element in most authors’ marketing campaigns.” Whether trailers become the “main” element remains to be seen, but there’s little doubt that online marketing and publicity efforts—including YouTube and other social media—will become standard in book launches.

This year Simon & Schuster partnered with the New York Film Academy to create the “Reel Reads Book Sizzle Contest,” in which 400 students were invited to create a three minute trailer for one of S&S’s titles. The contest itself hasn’t much to do with YouTube, but another S&S project does: BookVideosTV. BookVideosTV is a channel on YouTube that exhibits book marketing and publicity possibilities other than book trailers. It features author profiles and even some behind-the-scene looks at the book in the developmental stage. It’s like VH1’s “Behind the Music,” but twice as sordid! (No, not really. Not at all.)

So, bottom line, YouTube can be way more than just trailers for books. Even Oprah and Harpo Studios announced this month the launch of the “Oprah on YouTube” channel. Neither the press release nor Oprah’s welcome video mentioned Oprah’s Book Club specifically, but who knows? Perhaps the juggernaut that is Oprah’s Book Club will eventually find a second home on YouTube.

Looking to speak directly to readers? Look no further than BookwrapCentral.com.

Bookwrap Central features interview clips called Bookwraps, in which authors talk about their books, themselves, and other relevant and entertaining topics. Each Bookwrap feature may also include supporting information such as a sample chapter, a synopsis, review quotes, an author biography, and a link to purchase the book. You can also host a Bookwrap on your own website and email it to everyone you know. A Bookwrap may be just the tool you need to let readers get to know you.

Whether you are managing your website by yourself or with the help of a professional web designer, it is important to make sure that your site is optimized to increase its page ranking and overall visibility on search engines.

For you do-it-yourselfers, search engine optimization is tricky, but it can certainly be done. You’ve probably heard about the importance of including keywords in your site–the key is location and frequency. The most important and relevant keywords should appear in your site’s HTML “title” tag. You should also incorporate as many keywords as you can within the content of your pages, preferably in the headline and first or second paragraphs. Another essential component of SEO is inbound linking. While you should get as many links pointing to your site as possible, the quality of the links is just as important. You want to be linked to high-ranked sites that are also relevant to the content of your own site. To get an idea of a page’s ranking, download the free Google Toolbar and use its PageRank feature.

For more detailed information about optimizing your website’s search engine ranking, check out this article from TheSiteWizard.com.

Looking for potential readers? Internet groups (aka forums, communities, or clubs) can connect you with people who are already discussing topics relevant to your book or area of expertise. Some groups even allow you to post audio, video, photos, polls, links, and calendar events. All you need to do is find them . . . and join them. Here is a list of some of the most popular group sites:

• Yahoo! Groups
• Google Groups
• MSN Groups
• YouTube Groups
• Flickr Groups
• MySpace Groups

All of these sites have communities dedicated to books and literature, but don’t stop there. Browse through the various categories and find more specific groups. There are millions of groups out there, so you’re bound to find some that fit your interests and needs. To narrow your search, look for groups with more members, but remember that smaller niche groups can be beneficial too.

Join the groups and join in on discussions. Just don’t be too invasive and salesy. Let your knowledge and winning personality sell the book for you!