In this powerful conversation, I’m joined by Leah Paulos—founder of Book Publicity School and Press Shop PR—who brings more than 25 years of experience helping authors break through the noise and get meaningful media attention. If you’ve ever found yourself wondering where to put your PR energy, how to position your book, or what actually makes a launch successful, this episode is packed with clarity, strategy, and mindset shifts.
We dive into what’s changed in PR (hint: everything), where authors should focus their limited time and resources, and how to build a strategic, sustainable publicity plan that aligns with your goals—whether those goals are business growth, speaking, brand authority, or simply getting your book into more hands. Leah shares practical, doable steps, including how to reverse-engineer a PR plan by researching comparable titles, how to tie your expertise to timely news cycles, and why promoting your book is essential.
If you’re an aspiring or published author wanting to grow your influence, reach your readers, and launch with confidence, this episode will give you the road map you need.
Learn more about Leah:
- Website
- Instagram @bookpublicityschool
- YouTube @bookpublicityschool
Book recommendation:
- The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants, by Karen Bakker
- Areas of Fog, by Will Dowd
Follow me on:
- Instagram @stacyennis
- Facebook @stacyenniscreative
- YouTube @stacyennisauthor
To submit a question, email hello@stacyennis.com or visit stacyennis.com/contact and fill out the form on the page.
Leading with purpose and care | Episode 232
These transcripts were generated by robots, not writers.
Leah: Your strategy has to be based on your goals. So if your goals are more about, you know, name recognition or building your profile or getting new clients or getting speaking engagements, like that’s really important because that’s going to change what kind of activities you should spend your time, energy, money pursuing. So, you know, I think with any book publicity campaign, it is about, you know, figuring out how to get your book, how to position your book and get your book to the target audience. So once you sort of get that piece of the target audience, then you have to figure out, okay, these two new components. Any publicity campaign does have those two components. Obviously, depending on your goals, the topic, all of that stuff, it’s going to, you know, the people on your outreach list are going to change.
Leah: The types of entities you’re going to try and crack are different. But you always need to think about the messaging, the sort of elevator pitch for your book and who you’re going to get it out to make sure you’re getting it to the right people.
Stacy: Welcome. Welcome. This week we’re going to talk about something that all authors need, which is pr. As a book coach who focuses on that process of idea to draft, I I need to work with really good people who can help authors after I support them in that writing process. And what I find a lot of times is when authors get into the publication and launch of their books, good PR is the make or break of a successful book launch. So I’m really excited that today’s guest is going to give us some expert insights, some tips, and share some of her experience.
Stacy: If you are an aspiring author or even if you’ve already published a book and you’re trying to understand how to continue getting eyes on that book. And driving readers to your book today will be an incredibly valuable episode. So let me introduce you to this week’s guest. Leah Paulos. The founder of Book Publicity School and Press Shop pr, has worked at the intersection of books and media for over 25 years. She’s led publicity campaigns for hundreds of authors, helping them line up media attention and events and supporting them as they navigate the world of publishing. Leah has long wanted to offer publicity support to more authors than Press Shop PR can accommodate for full media campaigns. Book Publicity School is her answer, allowing her to bring her decades of experience and passion for championing authors to more writers at an affordable price. Leah, welcome.
Leah: Thank you so much for having me.
Stacy: I’m so excited to get to have this conversation. And before we jump in, I’d love to hear a little bit of your origin story because all of us in the industry have some origin that has to do with books and reading, writing. So how did you get into this work?
Leah: I actually started out in journalism. That was my first job out of college. I got an internship at a magazine which turned into a job as an editor. I was there for several years. So all of my, the start of my career was in magazines as a writer and an editor. It was the best training for doing book publicity because all of the components of the work that we do now, I really learned and perfected there. As an editor, you are, you know, fielding so many pitches from so many different people from writers, from companies and publicists, from all sorts of entities trying to get coverage. So it really forces you to. You know, figure out what is newsworthy, what is going to be a good story, how to package it. So, you know, that was really where my training was.
Leah: I’m one of the rare independent publicists that was never in house at a publisher. And it really, I think, has served me well in terms of making the switch. You know, there were a couple factors. You know, we, I live in New York and I, to be honest, it was a lifestyle situation. I do not like going commuting on the subway to Times Square and sitting in a cubicle every day. That was, you know, back when there five days a week in the office was non negotiable. It was, you know, 10 days of vacation. So, you know, I did it for a couple years and then I just thought to myself, I have to figure out a way to have, you know, to do the work that I love, but to have a lifestyle that I like better.
Leah: So that was what led me to leave magazines And I went freelance. And, you know, going freelance, what happened was everyone who heard I worked in magazines when I would do a lot of copywriting and writing, and everyone. A lot of people picked my brain about how to get into magazines. And that was what sort of set off that light bulb. Oh, wait, maybe I can, you know, be a publicity consultant. And then once I got my first book project. I just ran with it, and the rest is sort of history. One thing led to another.
Stacy: I love that you have this background in magazines because I also. My early years were in magazine work, both at the first the regional level and then at the national level. And I feel like it’s such great training ground for the book world. It’s also like, one thing I do miss about that industry is that you get like, it’s a little bit faster to get some return on your investment because you get to see it quicker, you know, with a magazine that’s coming out, you know, whether it’s like weekly or monthly or bimonthly. And I loved that aspect of it. With books, obviously, it’s the total opposite, where you’re often waiting, like up to years to get that thing out to market and get into reader’s hands.
Stacy: But, yeah, I’m curious, you know, I can point to so many things from my time in the magazine world that I use today, especially in learning how to write in a really effective way that’s really engaging. Use storytelling, but still make a point and get it in a tight little space. There’s a lot of things I took into writing and of course, many other things as well. What are some of the things that you bring from your magazine experience that you’re still using today? Are there any kind of ties to those early years?
Leah: So many things, like you said, I mean, first of all, when you’re a magazine editor, you’re. Everything that you produce is. It has to be publishable in that format. There’s nobody. There aren’t people above you. Like, yes, there’s the editor in chief that signs off, but you have to make it, like perfectly polished, accessible, digestible. So that’s one element I think, really figuring out how to package stories is huge because, you know, there’s a lot of different ways to cover anything. And you have to find the story, you have to find the angle that is compelling and compelling to your readers. So really sort of understanding what your readership is like and making sure to tell the stories that are going to keep them interested, that’s one thing that we use all the time. In our, in our book publicity campaigns.
Leah: And then like you said, just figuring out, really learning how to use just an economy of words, you know, you cannot, there’s limited space. Or at least back in the day when I was there and it was a print, it was a very limited space. So it forced you to have to, you know, figure out how to say things really concisely. You also couldn’t repeat words. I will say one thing. I worked at Lucky magazine for a while. The magazine about shopping.
Stacy: Oh, cool, that’s fun.
Leah: It was, you know, it was the best training. We would have to write little 25 word captions about eight handbags and you had to make them all interesting and you could very easily just be like, oh, that’s some brown slouchy one, that’s a cool looking black one. But like, obviously that’s not interesting. So you really had to figure out how to tell a teeny tiny little story in that many words without repeating the same language. You can’t have everything being called stylish. And obviously this is all a very different topic than book promotion. But the skills are the same and I lean on those skills all the time.
Stacy: Oh, that’s, it’s such great training. And I often think about like the generation coming up behind us and how they’re going to miss some of these really formative, like develop skill developments that you get working in these kind of fields and these kind of jobs. One of my, like maybe a stress nightmare that I might have from time to time is remembering my job. When I first got into magazine work, I was a proofreader. So of course you start at the bottom, you move your way up. And eventually I was the final proofreader of our print publication and it went out to 11 million people. And when I tell you I would lie awake at night running through every, I’m like, oh, did I fix that? Oh no, wait, it was. I will. I never wanted to. Never want to do that again.
Stacy: Was not my favorite. Not my favorite. So I mean, speaking of things changing and the way that you know, of course in the magazine industry and the book industry, so much has changed in pr. Absolutely so much has changed. I think right now. It’S a tricky time for authors, especially with now so much influx of AI content that’s like making it difficult with so much coming in all the time. And authors often don’t know where to put their energy and attention. And do they go to Book talk? Is that where they focus? Should they be writing articles? Should they be pitching? Should they Be on podcasts. It often feels really hard. And I have, because this is my space is supporting authors. I also have an author community called the Author Influence Circle. So we’re often having these conversations.
Stacy: It’s just really hard for an author who has limited time and energy. Sometimes limited budget kind of depends, of course, on the author. I mean, everybody has limited budget, but I mean, some really don’t have a lot to spend and some have some that they can invest. How do you decide where to pour your energy and time and just like a layer to that I’ll add, Leah, that I think is important when we’re working with authors, we are not necessarily optimizing for book sales. We are optimizing for business and brand and impact growth. So for them, of course, they want to sell copies, but it’s not, that is not the highest ROI typically for them is in books sold.
Leah: Yeah. So I mean, lot of things to say here. So the, you know, to your last point there, I mean, that is great. I always suggest, and in all of our workshops at book publicity school, one of the first exercises we do is or what are your goals here? Because that’s going to decide, you know, your strategy has to be based on your goals. So if your goals are more about, you know, name recognition or building your profile or getting new clients or getting speaking engagements, like, that’s really important because that’s going to change what kind of activities you should spend your time, energy, money pursuing. So. You know, I think with any book publicity campaign, it is about, you know, figuring out how to get your book, how to position your book and get your book to the target audience.
Leah: So once you sort of get that piece of the target audience, then you have to figure out, okay, these two new components. And that’s really the basis of any campaign that the, the way you pitch it. So the press materials, the media pitch, the one sheet, whatever you can, you know, call it, but the idea of the book, how you are getting people interested in it, how you’re making it really easily digestible quickly because everyone’s attention is just shot. You can’t, you know, you can’t take three minutes to explain your book from the start. It just needs to be really fast. Once they’re interested, you can take more time, but you need to get them interested very quickly. So, you know, really figuring out what that hook is for your target audience and then. You know, creating a, an outreach list to those people.
Leah: So if it’s media, because you really want to Just get your name out there and get more eyeballs on you, because that’s going to be part of your, you know, work to get more eyeballs on your website. Then great. You know, then look for the media that are, you know, editors and contacts at the media that speak to. To that audience. But any publicity campaign does have those two components. Obviously, depending on your goals, the topic, all of that stuff, it’s going to, you know, the people on your outreach list are going to change. The types of. Entities you’re going to try and crack are different. But you always need to think about the messaging, the sort of elevator pitch for your book and who you’re going to get it out to make sure you’re getting it to the right people.
Leah: I can obviously dive into both of those two elements, which, you know, we do all the time. But. But those are. Know that is true for any campaign. It sort of is like a puzzle piece. And, and it’s really important to be strategic about it because you can spend, you know, you can spend 80 hours a week for a year trying to, you know, do everything out there, like starting a substack and doing book talk and, you know, having some other newsletter and setting up events like, there’s. It could completely run yourself ragged and it’s not going to be impactful. So. So you have to be strategic. So that’s why I always want to start with the goals, start with what a successful launch would look like for you, and then try to sort of reverse engineer it.
Stacy: I like that approach because I think it also helps people decide what not to do, you know, where it doesn’t make sense to lean in and put energy. I’m still thinking about, you know, maybe somebody who has a book launch coming up, or maybe they’ve just launched their book recently and they’re kind of trying to figure out their ongoing marketing and PR plan, which I, you know, of course, are different. Different, but connected things. And just to share one thing that I’ve noticed in my own journey with pr, and I’ve worked with a few different PR people over the years, of course I get the best results when I’m working with a PR person, because that is like their dedicated work that they’re doing. They’re experts in it. They’re connected all the things.
Stacy: When I am working on my own and I’m continuing those efforts, and I say on my own, that is very much with Rita, who’s the producer of this podcast, leading and doing. The vast majority of the work there. So I need to acknowledge that it’s not me out there. I think that’s important to know because. Sometimes when you look at somebody out there doing all the things, you just are like, how could they possibly do it all? And they’re not like, they’re not doing it all. But one of the things that I found that’s been really helpful for us is that we’ve broken out by quarter. Really clear focus based on the time horizon for each of the things that we’re focusing on.
Stacy: Like awards we know are generally in this period of the year, speaking opportunities generally you apply in this time of the year, and then podcasts. A lot of what I’ve found with that is a lot of follow up seems to be the name of the game there. So I’m curious to know if an author is listening to this and they’re like, this sounds awesome. Maybe I don’t know if your book publicity school is what would walk them through this organizational process, but maybe you could just give them a few initial steps to help them start to get some clarity around how to be successful in their own book project.
Leah: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So, I mean, we do def. That definitely is a huge part of what we do at our workshops. I mean, like you said, I, you knowing what to ignore is so important nowadays. I mean, there are 70 billion places where you can get book marketing advice and, you know, you have to know where to focus your attention. I, I think like, if I had to give people one thing that they can do to get started that can sort of cut through the overwhelm a bit and give you a little bit more of a roadmap in the easiest way possible is to come up with some other books that have come out recently with a similar, with some similarities. The similarities being they reach a similar audience to yours, the one that you want to reach.
Leah: They, you know, their goals seemingly were they basically that they landed in the market in a way that you would like your book to land in the market. So once you find some of those and they should be, you know, they should be realistic, like a little aspirational, but like not crazy. You know, you don’t want to be doing this with like a massive book like, oh, let’s see how, you know, Prince Harry’s book landed. Like, that’s not going to be helpful. So a book that’s sort of similar. And then get out a spreadsheet. Everyone needs a spreadsheet for book promotion. And Just start mapping out, like, do a deep dive. Just put on your, you know, sleuthing hat and do a deep dive into what happened with this launch. What did the author do? What did the publisher do?
Leah: As far as you can tell? You can look around. You can use, you know, just straight up Google News. You can use Perplexity, which is AI research tool, which is really effective. You can use, like, look at the authors, obviously, their website, see if they have a really good page. You can look at their social media. Just really look at podcast players to see where they spoke. And if you start doing that for a number of different books in your spreadsheet, that’s a really good way to get started because first of all, it takes it out of the abstract. One of the problems is that, you know, once, if you’re not trained in publicity and marketing and the publishing world, it just seems really overwhelming. Like, where do I even start? Sort of mapping that out for some books is.
Leah: Gives you a really clear roadmap. It’s, you know, maybe you heard about this book here and you feel like you heard an interview and it was popping up all over. And it’s not magic. It’s, you know, somebody was. Was one or more people were behind the scenes making these things happen. And so if you start mapping that out on a spreadsheet, that first of all takes it out of the abstract, gives you like, well, it’s not magic. This is what happened. They maybe they got like a couple trade reviews, you know, a feature in their local paper. They spoke at, you know, a bookstore at a local organization and a festival, and they were on four podcasts and two substacks. Mention them, whatever it is, like, that’s helpful information.
Leah: And then also, if you pick the books, well, those can become your targets too, because if you picked a book that’s similar in audience and topic, you know, they’ll hopefully will. That will lead you to some venues that are really good for you. So that’s the first thing that I would say everybody should do. Try to do it for a number of different books. If you find a book, one book that’s really good, maybe you can look at who blurbed it. Because typically blurbers are authors in a similar space, maybe with a slightly higher profile. So look and see if their book might also be a good one to check into.
Leah: You know, if you stumble upon a podcast that’s like so perfect for your book, this is exactly, you know, the people you want to be reaching, then maybe look at who else they’ve Spoken to. Maybe they’ve spoken to some other authors that have similar books that then you can go map it out. So that’s sort of the first step that I always recommend, especially if people are feeling like, oh my God, I have no idea where to even begin. That can be really helpful.
Stacy: I love how practical that is. It’s so smart and something I was thinking about. I’m working on a book right now and as I’m building out the proposal for this book, you know, there’s a lot of opportunity to utilize AI, but I have just chosen not to, except for the extent of like, I’m trying to find a source or I’d like some initial, like, you know, I want to do some research for it. And I’m gathering like a list of maybe studies to look at things like that. And the reason is that. A lot of my most important connections have come in the piecing together of things that I’m gathering. So even in doing a comparative analysis, when I’m looking at titles that I hope mine would be on the same shelf as.
Stacy: You know, that would be super easy to go into chat GPT and say, give me a comparative analysis. Here’s the book I’m working on. But the amount of clarity I’ve gained from going through the process of building that myself has been really, really important. So I’d be curious to know. I mean, you mentioned the perplexity, which I think sounds like a fabulous tool to use. And there’s a lot of reasons why you would integrate AI into some of this. But I would be inclined to like, labor over this a bit because you’re also going to have your own creative ideas or you’re going to remember, like, oh, I know Jane at this place and she might be able to make a connection for me. I imagine there’s a lot in that strategy building that is also creative and.
Leah: Require some introspection, definitely. So, yeah, I mean, I totally agree. I mean, I think we are sort of in this environment where there are so many different places popping up and venues. It’s not like, oh, there’s 150 places. And like, that’s what you need to target. It’s. There’s so many, it’s impossible to stay on top of them. So we are sort of like all hands on deck. Like, I think that. I always think I agree with you that sort of getting into the weeds is really helpful because it does get you like, give you different ideas and you always also want to, like, when you go down these little research rabbit Holes. I always tell people to sort of keep, sort of have two minds about it. Like one hand, remember what you’re doing, like keep a focus. But also at the same time.
Leah: You know, if you stumble upon like, oh, this book and this author spoke at this conference and then you go peek over at this conference and you’re like, oh my God, like, and that gives you like a tons of ideas, like different authors that could be good comps. Maybe I could even reach out to that conference. Oh look, this conference is being sponsored by these three entities. Let me go check out those. You know, like you want to leave space for that because that is really helpful and it does give you that sort of like in the weeds, like pounding the pavement type. You know, benefit that is really helpful in publicity. So, you know, we think of adding something like perplexity or chat. GPT is as complimentary.
Leah: Definitely not, you know, something that should replace the work because then you will miss out on it. But also it’s a, it’s wild brawl out there and if you could get a little bit of help or if you do it and then you put it into perplexity and it gives you other ideas like amazing. And then you can start to go, you know, go research those and go dig down those holes.
Stacy: Yeah, I like that approach a lot. Another thing that I know you’re a big proponent of is having this mindset of self promotion is essential to your success in pr. And this is so hard, as you know, for authors. I know that a lot of the authors I work with, they really struggle from going from the writing process where it’s very much cozy, especially if they’re working with me as a coach. We’re meeting every two weeks. It’s very safe and it’s just us. And then, you know, now they move into editing and then publishing and of course this is now widening and then they should really be all the while promoting their work. But some are and some aren’t.
Stacy: And I find that it takes a while for authors, even when I am actively encouraging them to really get comfortable with starting to share, starting to promote their work. I think there’s this worry that they’re going to be annoying or they’re going to be, you know, like people are going to get sick of hearing about their work. But we both know that really like that key along with good PR to a successful launch, an author being clicked in and being in it and like knowing that they influence the success of their book and they can influence it is so important. I’d love for you to tell a little bit about that and how you see that showing up for authors that are successful not just in the launch but the long term aspect of their book.
Leah: Yeah, I mean I see it all the time as well that you know, for all sorts of reasons people feel uncomfortable with it. I mean I think just mindset wise one thing I sort of say is like just imagine, like imagine you have a friend you really care about who is like an artist of some sort and they work so hard on like you know, like all these paintings say and they have this like exhibit and they’ve been working so hard and they finally landed this exhibit and then it’s going to be up and it’s so exciting. And if they said to you just imagine if they were like, well, I don’t know, I just like, I don’t really want to email people and like let them know because like, oh God, it just seems so egotistical. You’d be like, are you kidding me?
Leah: Like this is your work. Like you, this is worthwhile like work. You have so much talent, you put in so much work. Of course you have to promote it. How is anyone else going to know about it if you don’t promote it? And it’s really the same thing with a book. Like it’s the same exact thing. You have to let people know. It’s a different environment. It is not like in the, you know, 1990s or 2000s, not to date myself, but where publishers would.
Stacy: You can date me as well with the very much a 90s kid over here.
Leah: Yeah. Where publishers are able to do all of the promotion, it just falls on authors to do a lot of it. We’re just also in a different culture which you know, for all the downsides of it of there are many. We are in a culture now where it’s just much more accepted. Everybody does it, everyone knows it. I mean I think if you have to sort of get out of the mindset of like the pre social media world on some level where you know, maybe it would feel tacky. Now it’s like everybody promotes their stuff. That’s like what social media pretty much is like LinkedIn, you know, that’s where TV people, you know, that’s what they do. So I would just say, you know, keep in mind that. You, it’s sort of necessary these days.
Leah: No one is going to think about it as much as you are. You know, it’s much. You’re going to be the most critical one about it. Most people are going to. I mean, not that this makes it better, but most people aren’t even going to think about it because they’re also getting a lot of other emails and they’re just not even going to pay any attention to the. That element except for maybe like, oh, Stacy has a book. Cool, awesome. Let me check it out. Like, they’re not going to think like, oh, you know, they’re not going to be thinking through the psychology of, oh, my God, should she have emailed me? Should she have not, you know, and.
Stacy: They’Re too worried about what you think about them anyway to be focused on what they think about you. That’s like human nature, right? Like, we’re in, we’re in our own minds. Not.
Leah: Yeah, same advice people have for public speaking. Like, nobody’s like, most people are probably like, itchy to look at their phone while you’re giving the speech and you’re like, oh my God, I’m freaking out. So, so that’s what I would say there. I mean, I think the other sort of mindset tweak you can do is, you know, instead of thinking about promoting yourself, it’s. It’s promoting your work, which, you know, you obviously are proud of and think it deserves an audience. So you can sort of try and pivot a little bit to thinking of it as like, you’re promoting your work as opposed to like, me, me, me.
Leah: And then the other thing I would say about that is there just is no way around it these days that you almost need to think of it like an entrepreneur thinks of, you know, a business. You, it’s, you have, you’re running a teeny tiny little business with one product, which is your book, and nobody tries to start a business or, you know, open a cafe or do any kind of work that they want to be successful without thinking about the promotion and acting on it. You just don’t do it, you know, nobody. And it’s also not, it’s not just the launch, you know, like anything that opens. It’s not just like, okay, hooray is open. We’re gonna do a grand opening party or this or that.
Leah: It’s like, no, you show up every day and you iterate on what works and you know, discard what doesn’t work, and you brainstorm, maybe hit a plateau and then you know, come up with some other thing and you brainstorm that Angle. It just, it just takes work and it’s, I think especially if it’s a book where you have sort of business goals or a goal that is, you know, around your raising your reputation or whatever it is. Like, yeah, that’s a, that’s a business goal too. And you know, you have to think of it in business terms. You know, every entity needs promotion.
Stacy: Yeah, it’s a good mindset to have that you have to treat it like a business. It’s absolutely true. I would love to hear a, a success story that you could share with us about an author who had a really thoughtful, targeted publicity effort. And maybe you can share a little detail of how that was, how they did it, and what the results were at the end.
Leah: Yeah, so I’m trying to think. I mean, there’s a lot. I mean, again, because it varies for every book, I’ll just share a couple things that have worked for different people. So one thing to keep in mind is that, and this is true if you are, especially with nonfiction and if there’s sort of a, you know, a component of you where it’s not you just, you know, promoting your work as like a novelist, like there is a little more goal oriented, you know, don’t be afraid to you to stray a little bit from the book if needed. So one thing that I see all the time right now in person particular is almost all the books that like, we’re working on and that are coming out now have been, were written, you know, before AI, before the new American administration.
Leah: And all of the political, cultural changes that have come. And it’s landing in a different world. And some of the books, you kind of need to pivot a little bit to speak, speak to your expertise. And whatever expertise you’re sharing in your book. You might. Now that things have changed so much, you don’t want to get caught on, you know, talking specifically about the examples in the book if they are a little dated. You know, use your expertise to speak to what’s happening now. Like, that’s how you’re going to get more coverage to say, like, okay, you know, my expertise is in, I don’t know, whatever it is, like, you know, how to lead groups or, you know, business groups through change or something. And maybe you were using a bunch of examples that were more relevant two years ago.
Leah: And now it’s like, well, okay, now AI is changing everything. And, you know, maybe if there’s some element of your entity that is interacting with tariffs, maybe that’s changing. So like, don’t get stuck on those examples. Use the current examples because that’s how you’re going to get attention. Media, news people, media people need to talk about. What is happening now and then use your book to have a conversation about now with sort of grounded in your expertise. So, you know, we’ve done that with a number of books. I mean. So many it’s hard to say. We really, we pull on that, we pull on that thread a lot because it is so useful.
Leah: So if something happens in the news, like, okay, right, talking points that only you, given your experience, insights, expertise can give and go out with that and try and get interviews based on those. So it’s grounded in the book. The book is supporting you. But it’s, you always have to think about like what will a media person or someone who’s booking a talks, what do they need, they don’t need to cover your book, they don’t need to have you speak about your book. They need to cover, they need to create a conversation that their audience is going to be interested in and their audience is living in the current moment. So it has to be relevant to the current moment. So keep that in mind that you know, you always want to come with the best, most current story possible.
Stacy: Yeah, it’s interesting too. What I, what I find interesting about media is that when you do hit on that moment that connect and you can make that connection, it’s like you can work, you could be pitching a place for a year and get absolutely no traction and then the right thing hits the right pitch and suddenly you got this amazing attention on your book. And to your point, I think that a lot of authors don’t focus enough on what’s relevant to the media cycle, to the news cycle, to the, to what people are paying attention to. And that’s probably something you have to learn how to attune yourself to be able to like pay attention to what’s happening and be able to craft that pitch, which is also where like an excellent PR person comes in. So this is all such useful information.
Stacy: I want to ask you the question that I ask all of my wonderful guests and of course because we have readers and writers that listen to this podcast, if you could recommend one book to listeners so it’ one that has really profoundly impacted your life, what would it be and why.
Leah: That is so hard? As somebody worked on 400ish books and.
Stacy: Yes, I know reader.
Leah: So I think I may have to chief and share a couple. I love, love a book we worked on and actually it’s called the Sounds of Life. It is about how digital technology and in advances in acoustics and AI allow scientists to actually hear the natural world in a way that we never have before. Fascinating book. I think about it when I go for like a walk in the woods because you’re like oh, okay there’s, you know, you can appreciate nature but we’re not able to paint pick up on so many of the. Of what’s happening all the life that’s happening and now they can. And it’s just a riveting book that I think about every time I walk out. There’s also a book called Areas of Fog by Will Dowd that I absolutely love.
Leah: It is these teeny short little essays about the weather and he absolutely manages to bring out the sort of delight. It’s has this like sense of whimsy and just is this wonderful way of grounding you in the present and finding the sort of just delight and whimsical joys in the everyday. So I’ll leave it with those two.
Stacy: Oh, those sound amazing. Thank you for sharing those. I’ll have to add them to my tbr. This was such a wonderful and useful conversation. I know you’ve inspired an aspiring author or a published author to really take a look. I love that idea of looking at the other, you know, comparable titles out there, seeing the ones that have been successful and gaining like why Reinvent the Wheel? That’s such a great tip and I’d love for you to share with our listeners, our viewers, where they can find you where they can learn more about your work. Yeah. Where’s the best place to learn more about you?
Leah: Yeah, so the best place is probably at our on our website book publicity school.com. That’s where we have you know, all of the different workshops and coaching programs we have the Media sheet has or the media page, I’m sorry has a lot of different, you know, interviews and pieces we’ve written which is you know, we’ll give, we’ll give you even more ideas and we have a blog that has a lot of ideas and of course that will lead you out to our social media as well.
Stacy: Awesome. Thank you so much Leah. I really appreciate you being with me today and sharing so much of your expertise and wisdom with our audience.
Leah: It was really fun. Thank you so much for having me.
Stacy: And thank you to you, our listener or viewer, for tuning in with us today. I really hope that this helps has supported you in your author journey and that you got some really good actionable tips, but also maybe a mindset shift today. I also have to say thank you as always to Rita Domingues for her production of this podcast. As I tell you every week, you would not be listening to or watching this without her. She is the reason that everything I do shows up in the world and I am grateful. And if you are still listening, it must mean you really loved this video show or this video on YouTube.
Stacy: So if you would take a moment to rate and review the podcast or hit the little bell, subscribe and hit the Little Bell on YouTube that would number one, make sure that you don’t miss these episodes that are going to support your author journey. But also it really helps me reach more people with the message of living a life that is not just better, but beyond better.
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