Book Review: How to Be Your Own Publicist by Jessica Hatchigan

How to Be Your Own Publicist is written by an award-winning writer and publicist. This made me a bit nervous right away; I was afraid that the book would either be overly technical and thus inaccessible, or extremely basic (I've had some experience with overly basic business books).

Thankfully, I found the book to be neither. How to Be Your Own Publicist finds a great middle-ground between people who just want to get attention for their cause/business/writing/blog and people who are getting ready to head up the PR department in their own small business. The book is easilly accessible for those with no marketing background, with plenty of meat for people with more experience.

The most valuable part of the book for me were the sections on creating press kits and writing press releases. I'm looking at moving my podcasting beyond just a hobby, and I learned a lot that I can use to promote both my podcasts and myself as a podcaster. I'll be making use of those ideas in the very near future. There are also valuable sections on getting yourself recognized as an "expert" in your field -- leading to radio and TV interviews where you can let people know about your product/service/company. Hatchigan also covers what not to do, including the infamous "soup to nuts" speeches where you overload your audience with too much information. She also cautions budding publicity hounds to use "publicity stunts" with great care -- don't let the stunt overshadow what you're trying to promote. This reminds me of commercials that I see all the time -- witty, memorable skits that leave you humming the tune but wondering what they were trying to sell.

Knowing how to attract attention to your business -- or your blog, or your podcast -- is important. Being able to create not only an impression, but also a memory -- and a good one -- is also important. How to Be Your Own Publicist shows you how to do both.