Press releases are very important for many businesses al over the world and they are used regularly to keep the public informed about what is going on with a particular industry, company or product. Press releases are used by all sorts of businesses from car manufacturers, to the most high tech device companies, to non profit organizations to authors and publishers. When you are marketing a book or some other type of publication, it is important to reach the right people. Here is some more information about doing a book press release so that you can promote your book to the fullest and get the best result for your sales volume.

If you plan on having a press release for a book you have written, you will need several different things. First you will need a publisher, agent or public relations firm. Then you need a computer with a word processing program or software installed that you can use to prepare the document. You will also need access to the internet and to email so that you can receive any correspondence that may come as a result of the press release. A press release in general is something that is fairly simple in concept and sometimes less simple in production and implementation than some people think. The first step in preparing a press release is to get a fresh piece of paper or letterhead that has your information on it. It should have your name and contact information at the top and information for your agent, publisher or public relations firm that you have working for you. It is good to include a traditional mailing address as well as an email address where they can contact you if they need more information. At the top of the page under your contact information, you should have the words "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" typed in bold letters. You should also include the name of the book you are releasing and it should be a few font sizes larger than the actual body of the press release.

 The first paragraph of the release needs to catch the attention of the reader very quickly and be informative at the same time.  This may be the most important part of the press release, because you only have a limited amount of time and words to catch the attention of your readers and the media that may be reporting on your press release.  It may also be a good idea to put some information about the book or even the chapter titles of the book if you have the space to do so.  Many people say that you have only about ten seconds to catch the attention of readers and that people who may be considering buying your book will make the decision to buy or not to buy within these first ten seconds.  You really need to make the first paragraph of the press release count and make a good impression.  You want to organize all your thoughts about the press release on one page and it only should take a paragraph or two to say what is most important to communicate about your book.  People will quickly lose interest in the press release if it is too long or goes onto a second page.  Make the wording very rich and have it explain the most possible in the shortest number of words.  Then you should wrap up and summarize the press release with what your general intent of the press release is and what you want the reader to take away from it or do after reading.  Reiterate general information about the book like the title, the author (your name), and where and how the reader can get more information about buying the book.  Keep in mind that the ultimate objective of releasing a book press release is to entice the highest number of people to buy the book.  Sales will truly benefit you as the author. 

Another great idea is to give them a website address where they can find more information about the book, about you, the author or even read some excerpts from the book to get them to buy it.  You want to make sure that you are sticking some sort of signal at the very bottom of the page to tell the reader that they have reached the end of the press release and the information. 

When you are writing your press release, you need to make sure that the type is big enough to read and that it isn't in some sort of bizarre font that would be difficult.  If there is any significant amount of effort needed to read the press release, then readers will more quickly lose interest and will also be less likely to buy your book.  As with any press release, you need to make sure that you are getting the information to the right people at the right time.  For an author, you should be certain that your press release is delivered or mailed to bookstore owners and other people in the library or book industry who will want to be informed about new and interesting books coming out.  It wouldn't make much sense to send information about a book on African jungles to subscribers of a car or weightlifting magazine, but it may be a very good idea to target people who read national geographic or some other sort of travel magazine.  You should also try to get your press release placed in good positions in search engines on the internet so that people who are using certain words or certain combinations of words will be able to find their way to your site or to a site that has your press release. 

 You may also want to use different form or variations of your press releases to send to different types of media so that they are getting a unique and more tailored approach to what they are offering their readers.  It is very important to keep it on one page only especially when you are dealing with radio and TV representatives, because they receive a tremendous amount of information in very large amounts.  You want to give yourself the most likely chance of having your press release read by the decision makers.  If you have the money and can afford it, it is also a very good idea to send an example or pre release version of the book so that the person in charge can read the book and determine what they really think about it and not just from excerpts.  It is very important that your press release be done properly so that you can start off the marketing of your book on the right foot and give it the best chance of becoming a bestseller and making you a lot of money.

An email press release can also be a very effective tool and can help you get the recognition you want online as well as in print versions of the press release.  An email press release is generally going to be shorter than a traditional hard copy release, because people commit even less time to reading and considering an email than they do a letter.  Most email press releases for books should be about 400 words of text and should be organized into several short paragraphs.  Some email services will shorten the length of email automatically so it is not recommended to put to too much information in the email or to take up a lot of space.  Obviously, the title or subject line of the email has to be attractive and able to catch the attention of the reader very quickly.  If they cannot quickly identify that it is a press release about a book they may be interested in, then they may assume that the email is just spam or some other sort of trick to get money from them.  Make it clear that the email is about a book that will be coming out soon and that you want them to learn more about it.  You should never trust a word processing program to find all of the errors that could creep into a press release or any other sort of document.  You need to make sure that you proofread it several times and that you also have other people give input whenever possible so that it can be the most effective.  You should also be on the lookout for flawed syntax and ideas expressed poorly that could give a different meaning to the reader than the one originally intended by you. 

No matter how you approach sending out the press release, you need to make sure that it expresses the things and ideas that are the most important to you and that you are getting the point across.  Make the best decisions you can with the information you have and make sure that you are taking all the time you can on your press release.  You want to make sure that you don't rush simply because you have a deadline to submit it.  It is better to not submit something than to send out a press release that looks like it wasn't planned properly.