We all know being told “no” is hard.  It can be frustrating and ruin your day.  In PR, we don’t pitch things just for our benefit.  The response affects a vast amount of people.  But when it comes to clients and pitching, those who are dissatisfied are the ones you will learn the most from.  When a client, producer, or contact of any kind says “no” to something, keep your cool.  This can be a way for you to reflect and improve yourself.

-Look at all angles: how can you improve the idea?  Just because you think it’s the perfect idea or pitch, your client may have a different agenda. 

-Be open minded: take the idea you had, and look at it from a completely different angle.  Remember that if you feel you have a great idea, chances are it is just that. 

-Pitch something memorable: make your pitch revolve around the story behind the scenes, rather than the product itself.  What event, holiday, history, celebrity, etc. can you relate the creator and/or the product to?

-Don’t be afraid to ask why: if you don’t ask why, or for a little explanation, how are you supposed to come up with something better?

-Communicate: if you have the opportunity; take your clients out for lunch or coffee.  This way, you have a chance to talk in a casual setting, keeping a business perspective while really getting to know aspects of their personal life.  In doing this, you will gain valuable knowledge about their interests and ways to approach ideas.

Keep these things in mind the next time someone tells you “no” and try to turn the negative into a positive way of improving yourself as a PR guru.

Are you interested in finding other ways to make money as a writer in addition to selling books?  Use your own expertise to create a how-to tool kit!

Many successful writers, whether online or on paper, have been utilizing this savvy little secret for a while now.  If you are an expert on any given subject, there is an audience that is waiting to hear your advice, especially if you already have a publishing history or established fan base.  People love to read up on their own interests, and if you can provide them with a legitimate step-by-step guide based on your own knowledge and experiences, you’ve got a sellable product.

A couple of things to consider before diving in: Do you have a website that gets regular traffic?  This is very helpful when trying to sell your product online.  Also, what knowledge or wisdom can you provide that no one else can?  

Remember that we are in the information age, in which people can’t get enough.  Use this to your advantage!

The first step in getting more followers is to build yourself as a brand. Decide what the purpose of your Twitter is. Do you want to build your authority as an expert? Having the most followers is not a strategy that is likely to work out. Next, assess the value that you want to add for your followers. Simply wanting to tweet about your book is not interesting enough to keep people coming back. Try turning your tweets into educational tips.

Don’t worry about when you tweet. As long as your tweets are fairly frequent, do not worry about trying to stir up controversy.

A few examples of traffic-driving strategies:

1. Organize a contest through your twitter profile
2. Include links to your profile in email and forum signatures
3. Link Twitter to your blog and other social media profiles
4. Follow other users with similar interests
5. Ask your friends to “retweet” your posts
6. Link to useful sites and articles
7. #hashtag your posts
8. Evangelize your Twitter in the real world as well
9. Add pictures
10. Be interactive. Respond to tweets, ask questions and answer questions.

Hello all!  I’m Shannon and I am yet another Public Relations Intern just beginning my journey here at Brio.  I just finished my third year as a student at Winona State University, majoring in mass communications with a minor in communication studies.  It’s been very exciting for me to dive into this experience and I’m anxious to see what the next few months hold.  I’m looking forward to getting some great professional experience while expanding my literary horizons.  For my first blog, I want to touch on the importance of knowing your audience within the PR realm.  While it is important to think of yourself as a mass communicator, it is vital to remember whom exactly you want to reach.

Your audience can vary much broader than you maybe ever anticipated.  It is important to consider your audience when making a name for yourself and your service.  These are those people who can help you thrive and succeed as a business.

-Remember that your audience is anyone who has any interest in your business.  This can mean although certain people may not be looking to purchase your good or service, they may be of another resource to you.

-Once you begin creating a name for yourself, remember your personal resources.  You never know when someone you met at a local café could give you an in to a public event or appearance within your niche.

-While it is important to remember personal resources, avoid exploiting your personal life.  It is essential to think of yourself and your name as a business.  This can only increase your professionalism and credibility.

-Think beyond that of your customers.  Keep in mind the media, competitors, employers and agencies.  What might they be looking for?  Consider these audiences just as you would consider those purchasing your good or service.

-Once you have entered the world of online branding, such as Twitter and Facebook, think critically about your audiences.  Don’t alter yourself so much to fit your target that it begins to lessen your credibility, but it’s more than okay to accentuate your positive assets.  It is important to be as well rounded as possible.  Explain organizations you have been involved with and previous jobs you’ve held.  Again, these ties could lead you to something or someone you never expected.

-With this, consider ways for your audience to reach you.  Although online mediums are going, not everyone has realized these resources.  Have your mailing address, phone number and fax number—along with your blog, Twitter and Facebook addresses–visible wherever your audience may see your name.

Stephen Redic will be at the Blue Moon Cafe in Exeter, NH June 20th.  The appearance will be from 3-5 p.m.. Redic will read selections from his poetry book, Out of the Rain: conversations with spaces between leaves, and will also sign copies for customers.  Redic is not a traditional poet.  He writes about love, loss, war, and even his love of McDonalds.  Redic is an entertaining storyteller and presents his poems with drama and character.

On June 23, Redic will appear at the Bearly Read Books in Sudbury, MA from 2-4 p.m..  Later that night he will judge a poetry contest at the Hudson Public Library at 7 p.m.  To order your copy, go to www.StephenRedic.com.  Read more about the poetry contest at the Hudson Public Library here http://www.wickedlocal.com/hudson/news/x124601291/Hudson-Public-Library-events.

Greetings!  My name is Mandy Jones and I am a recent graduate of Indiana University - Bloomington.  I just joined the team here at BRIO as a Public Relations Intern and I am enthused to be working for such a progressive company.  I have a background in the arts as a jazz musician, arts advocate and educator, I love to read, and I find my favorites in colorful fiction, travel narrative and medical narrative.  Thanks for reading and please enjoy my first post!�
Authors: Branding Yourself Online

One of the most important tools in creating a successful public relations campaign is branding yourself online.  It can help to increase your credibility and greatly expand your fan base to new levels. 

Here are some tips to start:
• Get your name out on the internet.  Whether it’s regularly contributing to a blog or forum, extend your own expertise to others.
• Connect to others via social networking sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Myspace, etc.  It will keep you informed about what your contacts are up to, and help you to spread the word about your work.
• Post your resumé online.  Making your experience and achievements highly visible enhances credibility, but it can also lead to new connections where you may not expect them.
• Provide easy methods of contact.  Landing a new project or interview may be easier if people have a clear and simple way to contact you via email, Twitter, Skype, etc.
• Contribute to your industry by helping others.  As aforementioned, writing for a blog or forum is very helpful.  This can be especially true when your contributions specifically pertain to your brand.
• Come up with a signature of some kind.  Whether it’s a logo or a saying, find something that the world will associate with you and your brand.�
• Create your own blog or podcast.  Let others know your thoughts.  You can write about your past, present or future work, and the inspirations for those projects, etc.  With a podcast, you can use audio/video to convey these thoughts.

My name is Kelsey and I’m the new BRIO PR intern.  I go to Syracuse University and I’m dual majoring in Marketing and Psychology.  I’m very excited about joining BRIO for the summer, and gaining a lot of valuable experience.  I am an avid reader, and I love discovering all of the fantastic authors that we’re working with.  One of the most recent projects that I have worked on was with J.P.MorganChase.  I helped to develop a marketing initiative to be implemented at colleges and universities.  For my first post, I thought I’d talk about how to use Twitter to build your fan base.  Enjoy!

Using Twitter as a New Form of Communication:

Twitter is a way to build up a large audience of people who know and trust you.  It also gives you the ability to not only watch what is being said about your products, but to start conversations with your fans or answer any questions they might have.  Here are some tips for optimizing your Twitter:

1. Regularly post thoughts, opinions and links to articles about topics relating to your book.
2. Limit sharing about your personal life.
3. Be interesting!
4. “Follow” other people that post in your community and area of expertise
5. Post regularly.  Try to post every day, it’s only 140 characters, you can do it!
6. Get the word out.  When you make new contacts mention your Twitter.  Put it on your blog, your website or anywhere that people will see.�
7. Fill out your profile information.  Even though they may not want to hear about what you ate for breakfast, people like to gain a better understanding of who you are. 

Go to Twitter.com to sign up and check it out.

Kelsey Doyle
BRIO Public Relations Intern

It is unusual for BRIO to post a book review on our company blog but I thought I would mix it up.  Author Nelson Harrinsson is excited to tell his story and let others know.  Here’s what he has to say…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.
With no hesitation we could say that Mansión Thunderstorm is one of the most intriguing and passionate novels of today’s modern writing, in the Nelson Harrinsson’s terror gender.
 In this masterful book, the author combines an up going romance followed at the same time by a pending doubt and a veil of the un-expected, all framed up within a developing story that keeps the reader, searching into the unknown and maintaining his or her interest in a state of wonder to the very end.

 In a brief glance, Belamy Carmichael is a young journalist who returns to Illinois in order to rebuild the empty mansion in which she grew up. Same one she and her family abandoned following an unexplained order from her dying father, who never revealed the cause of his decision. Now twenty years later the young lady comes back, still wondering about her father’s drastic determination to leave that old house, sinking herself deeper and deeper every time into her father’s mysterious resolution.  When she starts her own search it’s only to find out later a waiting-horrifying reality, immersing her into a whirlwind of passion and terror.

Nelson Harrinsson has been writing for adults and kids around the world for many years. His creativity and willingness to write novels and Stories have made him become one of the most versatile popular writers nowadays. Graduated from Language at New York University in 1981 he started to write for a tiny press in a small fishing town located on the northern border of South America. In his native Venezuela. In 1992 he returned to Washington DC. Where he finished his Fiction Writing studies At NRI the McGraw Hill School of writing.

He now resides in the state of Florida where he continues to write. 

Willie Phair will be a guest on the Out the Box Blog Talk Radio program tonight at 9 p.m. EST. Phair is a suvivior. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY as one of 11 children. He spent most of his childhood in the Fort Greene Projects. Some of the most infamous people came out of this area. Phair spent his childhood around killers, thieves, and gang members.  There were times he would spend weeks in his house because his life was threatended.

Phair’s book The Testimony is his life-long journey to discover his religion. Phair has experienced the negatives and postives of life.  This book is his story and his testimony to Jesus.  he lives in Roselle, NJ with his wife Shakira and their 4 children. This is his first book.

Tune tonight at www.blogtalkradio.com/OutTheBox. 

Go to www.thetestimony2.wordpress.com for more information.
�

     An obstacle for any author is to receive positive reviews or any review.  For a self-published author, it is ever harder.  Here are a few tips to get you on your way toward positive reviews.
    In the world of publishing, it is customary to have ARCs or Advanced Review Copies.  Sometimes authors come to me with their book already printed.  Although this is not a deal breaker to getting reviews, it does make it harder.  Magazines like Publisher’s Weekly and most newspapers want copies three to four months before publication.  Some media won’t look at the book if it is not an ARC.  Second, you must have a very professional cover.  As a self-published author, everything must be as good as or better than something that comes from a traditional publisher.  The author must make sure their product is the best it can be.
     Next, the editing must be absolutely perfect.  It is OK to have one or two types or errors in a book that is more than 300 pages, but if there are overwhelming errors, it is not okay and reflects on the quality of the read. If an author puts a lot of time into a manuscript and makes it close to perfect, the next step is getting reviews.
     The traditional avenues are the New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, and other national newspapers.  Even outlets like Booklist and Library Journal are traditional.  However, another way to get reviews is to talk to your local newspapers.  Work the local angle.  It makes more of a story.�
    With self-publishing becoming a more accepted form of publishing, there are several web sites that review these books.  For example, Front Street Reviews will review a book and they guarantee an objective review.  Another outlet is Abrah-Cove Publications.  It is a web site for self-published books and the wonderful women who run the publishing company will interview authors for their web site.
     Other web sites that take self-published books are:  The Compulsive Reader, TCM Reviews, Midwest Book Review, and Foreword Magazine. 

 See you next week and Happy Memorial Day!

Sara Lien
BRIO Public Relations Director