How to Promote a Book with HARO

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By Virginia Allain
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Promote a Book with HARO

HARO means Help-A-Reporter-Out. It provides several daily lists telling what reporters for newspapers, magazines and online need to complete articles they are writing. It's a great opportunity for authors to get regional and national exposure for their book. Here's how to use HARO to get free PR for a book.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Step 1

Subscribe to HARO using the link provided in the resources section below this article. It's free. Be sure to follow-up when you receive the confirmation e-mail.
Step 2

Each day, take time to scan through the HARO listing when it arrives in the e-mail inbox.
Look for any topic that's related at all to topics in your book or even your life. Even if the main focus isn't on the book, an interview can benefit the book even if it's only a mention like "John Doe, author of XYZ book."
Step 3

When you find one that matches the book or yourself; read the whole listing and then contact the author. The listing includes an e-mail address for the journalist. Explain in the e-mail how you think you can help with information for the article.
I'll use my mom's book as an example of how this works. I found a reporter that wanted information about Depression era recycling and thriftiness. My mom's book had several sections that fit that, so I emailed the reporter offering an online link so she could see the pertinent chapters.
Step 4

Wait for the reporter to contact you with their questions. Respond in a timely fashion as they may be working with a deadline.
In my example, the reporter contacted both me and my mom after reading the excerpts from the book. She had several questions and we answered those.
Step 5

Next you wait for the article to appear in a magazine, newspaper or online. You may not always see the results from this, as some articles don't get accepted or it's in a small publication that you might not be able to access.
In my example, the journalist sent me a link when the article appeared in USA Today. This was very thoughtful of her.
Step 6

Follow up with an e-mail expressing appreciation for being included in the article. If it's an online article, often it will have a comment section but avoid the impulse to SPAM or over-advertise your book there. If you do comment, make it low-key.
Link the article to other sites such as your blog or author's webpage. Promote the article using sites like Facebook and Stumble Upon to ensure that even more people see it and read about your book. The author of the article will appreciate this kind of promotion.
Step 7

Check your website or booksale site to see if there was any immediate response from the article.
In the case of my mother's book, it brought over 60 viewers to her author website the first day and resulted in the purchase of two copies of the book. It's harder to judge the long-term results of such exposure, but every little bit of publicity helps create momentum for the book.

Comments

ScarlettOHairy said

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on 11/2/2009 Great information for marketing online and reaching unknown markets.

alltrails said

on 10/30/2009 Good article on how to promote a book with HARO. There are so many good ways to promote books now with the Internet - I had never heard of this one. 5 stars - thanks!