f Changemakers Publishing and Writing Consulting -Promoting your Article or Column

Gini Graham Scott, Ph.D. is a nationally known writer, consultant, speaker, seminar, and workshop leader, specializing in business and work relationships, professional and personal development, and social trends.

She has published over 50 books, writes scripts and TV pilots, produces indy films, and helps clients write, publish, and promote their own books and films.

She has had extensive media and PR experience.

PROMOTING YOUR ARTICLE OR COLUMN

To promote an article or column -- or even get paid for it, you can try to find a publisher to run it -- or use it to promote your own expertise, leading to interviews. Or do both. In either case, send a query letter or press release to the media.

If you are seeking a publisher for your article or column, send a query letter offering this to editors at newspapers, magazines, and/or the Internet media. In doing so, keep these principles in mind:

Target the editors who might be interested in your topic based on the beats they cover. Consider their interests broadly, but eliminate any beats that are obviously not a match, such as editors and publications featuring autos, when you have written an article about business success or health.

Offer your article for free, in return for a bio and links to your Website to get more responses. If you want to get paid, figure on about $10-20 for a non-exclusive or first rights article, though the editor may ask for the first rights to a certain regional area until after the article runs. For an exclusive article, figure on about $100-400, depending on the length of the article and the publication.

Include a copy of an article at the end of your query letter, not as an attachment, since many people won't open attachments from people they don't know. If you are pitching a column, indicate this is a sample article and offer to send more.

If you are pitching yourself as an expert based on your article, take the following into consideration:

Tie your article and yourself as an expert into something in the news.

Promote yourself as an expert who can comment on that topic using your article or column as a credential.

You can send out a query letter to thousands of contacts in the media yourself or work with a publicist who can do a more personal targeted campaign to selected media.

For more details, see Doing Your Own PR or Using LinkedIn to Promote Your Business or Yourself or set up a consultation on creating a campaign for your article or column.

To send out your query letter to 1000s of contacts in the media, use our affiliate company, the PR and Networking Connection . If you want to find a PR person to make the initial contact or follow-up for you, we work with a few PR pros based in L.A. and can refer you.