Sandra Beckwith - September 18, 2025 - 5 min. read

Book Sales Secrets: Local Publicity Strategies That Work!

Book sales start with visibility. Want your local bookstore to stock your book? Create demand for it. That’s a strategy I used several years ago when my local Barnes & Noble declined to carry my third traditionally published book.

I understood why the publisher’s sales team couldn’t get the book into that store. It was on a niche business topic, nonprofit publicity, so there would be limited interest. “Publicity for Nonprofits” isn’t exactly on a par with Louise Penny’s latest guaranteed best-seller.

Still, the store carried other books related to nonprofit administration, so why not support a local author’s guide on that topic?

How I created local demand to drive book sales

I could do what the publisher’s sales team couldn’t do, though. I could create local demand for the book. I could use publicity to send people into the store looking for my title on shelves. When they didn’t find it, surely, they’d ask the store to order it.

So, that’s what I did. Well, I did three things, actually.

First, I submitted a proposal to speak about nonprofit publicity at a local conference. Organizers accepted it; my workshop was on the agenda.

Second, I convinced my daily newspaper’s business section editor to assign an article about nonprofit marketing that would include an interview with me as an expert source.

Third, I visited the store personally to let the community director know about the visibility the book would be getting and the likely resulting demand.

The result? Publicity for Nonprofits: Generating Media Awareness That Leads to Awareness, Growth, and Contributions was soon in stock at my local Barnes and Noble.

Store managers knew that the local publicity would help sell books. And they didn’t want to disappoint customers.

Here’s how to get local book publicity

Would you like to sell more books locally, whether it’s through local bookstores or other types of relevant retailers? Here are tips for getting the free local media exposure – publicity – that can help make that happen.

#1. Research local media outlets

In most areas, these include some or all of these:

Daily newspaper
Weekly/community newspaper
City business journal
Radio stations
TV stations
Regional online news sites
Community bloggers

After you’ve identified your local media outlets, read/watch/listen to them so you can identify the publicity opportunities.

You find those opportunities by evaluating each outlet’s content.

What kinds of articles do the daily and weekly newspapers use? Do the radio stations have talk shows with guests? Do the TV stations have early morning or noon news casts that feature in-studio interviews with community residents?

#2. Determine where you fit in

Studying how each media outlet handles news and information helps you figure out where you fit in at each.

For example, you’ll soon discover that anything related to your book’s topic is probably too “soft” for local TV evening newscasts focused on hard news (and weather! They are obsessed with weather!). But you might see that the local noon news broadcast often has a sit-down interview with a news personality and someone in the community who’s doing something interesting.

That could be you.

And you’ll probably see that weekly newspapers cover just about everything. Honestly, they’re a gift to local authors because of that. They’re also widely read because they’re hyper-local.

I get more comments from friends – “I saw you in the newspaper!” – when I’ve been featured in my area’s weekly than I do when I’m interviewed by our daily paper.

#3. Get contact information for the section or segment that makes the most sense

Once you understand where you might fit in to the programming, determine who to contact at each.

In most cases, that’s:

• Newspapers: Section editors (news, business, lifestyle, sports, etc.), beat reporters (religion, food, features, high school sports, etc.)
• Radio and TV talk shows: Producers
• TV news: Assignment editors, TV personalities with special interests
• Radio news: News directors
• Regional online news outlets: Reporters
• Community bloggers: Blog owner

You’ll find most of what you need – names and email addresses – on each outlet’s website. If you don’t, call.

#4. Figure out your “news hook” – your angle

Your “hook” is what makes you or your topic newsworthy or interesting.

A journalist needs a good reason to interview you. What can you talk about that will interest a diverse audience and boost book sales?

If you’ve written a book about composting, your news hook might be the number of local businesses providing composting bins in office kitchens, or advice you can offer for composting at home.

A romance novelist might pitch an article on how to add romance to your staycation this summer. (Get more fiction news hook ideas in “Finding the hidden news hooks in your fiction.”)

Ideas like this can work for radio and TV talk shows, too.

For a community blogger or weekly paper, “local author writes book about X” or “local author sets new thriller in (your community’s name)” is often enough. That sometimes works for local TV talk shows, too. It depends on the size and sophistication of your market.

It’s rarely enough for a daily newspaper, though. And bookstores pay attention to dailies, so if leveraging publicity to get store distribution is your goal, you want publicity in your daily paper.

#5. Propose your idea

We call this a “pitch,” but you can also think of it as a “sales” letter since the goal is to sell the journalist on your article or segment idea.

You do this via email. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

When pitching radio talk shows, brainstorm a few topics that have a little controversy because radio loves controversy. Make it as easy as possible for the host by offering to provide suggested questions in advance.

With TV talk shows, you’ll need an interesting visual – a prop. If it’s a “local author writes book” segment, your book will be enough. When I was a guest on the national TV talk show “Home & Family” for my humor book that took a lighthearted look at male behavior, I talked about how to get a good holiday gift from the man in your life. My props were the winning entries from my “Worst Gift from a Man” contest.

For daily newspapers and magazines, help the reporter by suggesting other people to interview for your article idea.

Understaffed weekly newspapers often welcome articles that are written for them. Offer to do that.

Get media exposure and boost book sales by starting locally

I always advise authors to start their publicity efforts locally to get the experience needed before approaching national outlets. Starting locally also helps you figure out which hooks or angles resonate with the press.

Local media outlets are also more forgiving of a pitch that isn’t as slick as what they might receive from a publicist with far more experience. If they see the germ of a good idea, they’re more likely to hang in there to determine if it will work.

Most importantly, they want a good story. If you’ve got something to say that’s interesting to your local community, you’ll get a fair shot at it.

The resulting visibility will help you increase book sales, sell more books in person and online, boost your profile locally, and open doors to other opportunities that can include public speaking and consulting.

Be sure to start looking ahead to pursuing national publicity, too, by downloading my free cheat sheet, “8 Services That Help Journalists Find Experts and Other Sources.” You’ll get a list of the same services pricey publicists use to find media opportunities for their clients.

I’m looking forward to seeing you in the news!

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