Honest Medicine Communications with Julia Schopick: Radio & Online Promotional Coaching for Authors

Using Facebook to Spread Your Book's Important Message

I am delighted to announce that my second column, “Using Facebook to Spread Your Book’s Important Message” appeared in the March 2017 edition of the IBPA’s magazine, "The Independent."

In it, I give authors a roadmap for using Facebook. I tell authors:

• WHY Facebook is a great promotional tool for authors
• How to use it
• How NOT to use it

Other columns by me are set to appear in the July, August and September 2017 issues of The Independent. Please stay tuned—and please contact me at [email protected] with any questions or comments you may have.

Here is my March 2017 column: CLICK HERE!

Julia Schopick Becomes a Columnist for the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA)

This past September, my first column for the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) was published in their magazine, The Independent. It was to be the first of at least FIVE columns about using radio and social media to promote books with life-changing messages. My second column, about using Facebook to spread the word about your book(s), appeared in the March 2017 edition of  the magazine, and three other columns are scheduled for July, August and September, 2017.

I hope this will be the beginning of a long, fruitful relationship for all concerned.

In my first article, “Taking to the Waves: Using Radio to Get the Word Out," I wrote:

"You’ve just published a book with an important message—one you and your author hope will change the world. Now, it’s time to promote it. Of course, you’ll use a number of tried-and-true methods, some of which will succeed, and some of which will fall flat. One way that’s worked well for me is radio. Radio promotion is a great way to involve your author in the promotional process, sell more books, and, believe it or not, enjoy the process!

"Successful radio interviews helped me make my independently published book, Honest Medicine: Effective, Time-Tested, Inexpensive Treatments for Life-Threatening Diseases, an award-winning bestseller.

"For instance, after an appearance on one late night radio show, Coast to Coast AM, my book climbed to No. 49 out of all the books on Amazon.com, and in that one month alone, over 1,200 copies were sold. Additionally, as a result, my book has been featured on several high-traffic websites, including The Atlantic, and it has received excellent reviews. Five years after its publication, Honest Medicine remains an Amazon.com bestseller, and I still receive offers to appear as a guest on talk shows.

"Why Radio (and Internet) Talk Shows Matter

"As I was writing my book, I knew I wanted radio to be the main means of getting my message out to the public. I’m a longtime fan of talk radio because it gives the guest time to tell a story. Stories are what make that connection to the listener, and that’s what sells books. Television, on the other hand, is more about the sound bite. Unless you’re a bestselling author with a very topical message and a big publishing house, it’s hard to get booked on TV. If you do, chances are you’ll get a few minutes at most. That’s not enough time to say very much—or to sell books.

Please read the rest of the article online at http://articles.ibpa-online.org/article/taking-to-the-waves-using-radio-to-get-the-word-out/

Honest Medicine Communications: Marketing Strategies for Authors

 

Many of you know me as the author of the book, HONEST MEDICINE, which has been an Amazon.com bestseller for 5 years. I attribute the book’s success to three promotional strategies I have developed and applied over the years. This experience has been so gratifying and inspiring that I want to share these strategies for success with authors and aspiring authors—especially those who want their works to make significant difference to our world.

Learn about my new marketing service for authors!

With this new service, I am returning to my “PR ROOTS”:

I have been a public relations consultant for professionals and private practitioners since 1985. My clients have been experts in their fields. With my expertise they have become better known to their potential clients and patients, and have built their professional practices.

Does Radio Sell Books? Cathy Lewis Interviews Julia Schopick

In May, 2015, I was interviewed by publicist Cathy Lewis (C.S. Lewis Publicity) about whether or not radio sells book. Of course, my answer was a resounding YES!  Here is that interview.

Does Radio Sell Books?

May 9, 2015  by  Cathy Lewis

Q & A with Julia Schopick, Amazon.com bestselling author of HONEST MEDICINE: Effective, Time-Tested, Inexpensive Treatments for Life-Threatening Diseases.

Is TV a better platform than radio for selling books? Many of my authors ask me. So I asked Julia Schopick, bestselling author of the book HONEST MEDICINE, to talk about WHY she feels RADIO is the best way to promote and sell books. I think you’ll find her answers fascinating.

Q: You’re a huge fan of being interviewed on radio. Why?

A: Even before my book was published, I knew I wanted radio to be the main means of getting my message out there. I’m a long-time fan of talk radio, because it gives the guest time to tell a story. Stories are what make that connection to the listener, and that’s what sells books. Television, on the other hand, is more about a sound bite. Also, unless you’re a New York Times bestselling author with a very topical message and a big publishing house, it’s hard to get booked. If you do, chances are you’ve got a few minutes at most. That’s not enough time to say very much.

10 Hints for Being a Great Radio Interview Guest

My aim when working with my clients is to coach them so that they will be in-demand talk show guests who will be invited back again and again. I have developed a few key rules to guide my clients. I hope you will find them helpful.

1) Whenever possible, conduct your interview from a land line phone. Never, ever use a cell phone – unless there is no other option. Show hosts detest cell phones.

Please contact me separately about Skype interviews.

2) If you have call waiting, deactivate it before the interview.

a) If you are calling in to the station, press *70 before the call. (You will hear two quick beats, then the dial tone.)

b) If the station calls you, ask for a moment to deactivate call waiting. Press FLASH, then *70. (Again, you’ll get two quick beats, then the dial tone.) 

3) Make sure you’ve prepared some Questions and Answers for your interviewer. Remember, most hosts will not have read your book, so this step is crucial. During the interview, have your Q&As in front of you, along with a “cheat sheet.” On each, write the name of your host/interviewer, so it will be foremost in your mind. Don’t use his or her name with every answer, but do use it liberally.

NOTE: During my coaching sessions, I help my author/clients to prepare Q&As and a Cheat Sheet.

 

My Three-Part Column Featured by ACAM

 

 

 

 

I was honored that ACAM (The American College for Advancement in Medicine) featured a three-part column by me in their weekly newsletter, "The Brief," in January of this year.

For those of you who don't know about ACAM, it is a well-known organization whose members are all integrative medical practitioners.

The title of my series was "How Should I Promote My Book?" and the three columns taught practitioners the value of LEAVING COMMENTS ON OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOGS, which I believe it one of the most UNDERutilized ways to promote one's expertise -- and one's books. It is one of the most effective promotional efforts I use when promoting my book, HONEST MEDICINE.

Here is Executive Director Michael Boutot's introduction to my series:

How Should I Promote My Book? (The First Column in a Three Part Series)

The first column in my 3-part series for ACAM, Part 1, was titled, "How Should I promote My Book?". In this introduction, I tell WHY you will need to promote your book online -- and I give you the first steps for doing it.

Here's how the column begins:

I can't count the numbers of times integrative doctors—friends, clients and colleagues alike—have expressed shock that the books they've worked so hard to write haven’t sold. They hoped the information in their books would help readers throughout the world. And yet, they've had very few sales.

Part 2 of my ACAM Series: Leaving Comments on Other People’s Websites and Blogs – A Great Way to Promote Your Book

My second ACAM column, "Leaving Comments on Other People's Websites and Blogs -- A Great Way to Promote Your Book" ran in "The Brief" on January 14, 2014. In it, I actually showed people HOW to leave comments.

Here's the beginning of the column:

As I wrote last week in my first ACAM column, very few authors understand that leaving comments on other people’s websites and blogs is a wonderful way to promote one’s expertise. Used effectively, this promotional method gives readers an opportunity to get to know you and your message, and by extension, your book. And very importantly, they get to know you as an expert and, perhaps most important, your book as a “must read.”

Part 3 of my ACAM Series

Part 3 of my ACAM series, which ran on January 28, 2014, gets into the nuts and bolts of leaving outstanding comments on other people's blogs. From this column:

 A Template for Leaving Comments:

1. Start with an emotional connection to the topic. You may want to start by thanking the writer or poster. Be sure to show that you understand the problem, concern or issue expressed in the article.

For example, my comment about the New York Times article, “The Boy with a Thorn in His Joints” starts with a statement that shows my connection with and empathy for the ordeal these parents went through in their odyssey:  “I was very impressed by Susannah Meadows' account. . . . .” See my comment here.

What Makes a Blog Comment Great??

More and more people are beginning to see leaving comments on other people's blogs as a great marketing opportunity. I recommend it highly and credit it with building my medical advocacy blog HonestMedicine’s visibility and name recognition. As I have pointed out before, my blog comments have brought the site lots of attention, including this article about it here, and recognition for being a healthcare hero. You can’t imagine how happy that made me!

Soon I was being interviewed about my success with promoting HonestMedicine this way, and was asked to teach a class on the topic. As more people learned about my success with this promotional method, they would often ask me HOW, exactly, to write blog comments that get great results.

The truth is, lots of people have written about this marketing technique. But most of these bloggers write about blog comments solely as a way to bring traffic to one’s site.

I am essentially advocating the same thing: My blog comments also bring traffic to my site -- and to my clients’ sites. BUT THERE IS ONE BIG DIFFERENCE. Most online marketing experts consider getting people to visit