The Big Red Envelope’s Best Kept Advertising Secrets

Two years ago, I interviewed a self-publishing millionaire who had sold 500,000 copies of his Special Effects Cookbook and had a great way to get free publicity.

This is what he said…

“As a cookbook author, I’ve been on a full page in the food section of a newspaper, in full color. The entire front page is my face, my story, and all my contact information. And if you get a big story in Boston or Los Angeles or Chicago or New York, millions of people are going to see that.

I’ll tell you what happened to him…

When a whole story is published in a big city like that, you sell a lot of books! And he did!

As a self-published author, advertising becomes your new best friend. And in most cases, there is no perfect time to launch an ad campaign for your self-published book. You do it practically all year long.

He started sending press releases through the mail during a time when email wasn’t as big of a deal, but even now, email doesn’t work that well. Neither fax. Instead, direct mail is the way to go. There are special ways to do direct mail. You put your press release in a big red envelope and use a magic marker for the return address and just write big letters all over it to make this envelope really look special. I’m talking about a big red envelope, 8 x 10, #10. You can get them at Staples.

Just be outrageous. Like the guy in the red suit, he walks into the room and you have to see him.

So you send your press release in a big red envelope and with a black magic marker you write the guy’s name in big black letters. Use a couple of stamps and handwrite the address. You only need ten a day.

He makes hundreds a year for his book. You can do a little every day to get that steady stream of interest from TV, radio, or newspapers, the latter of which may work better because you can get an article; usually a full page.

It puts an 800 number on the press release and a computerized system where everything is automated that can handle 10,000 calls simultaneously. Calls can come directly to you from the press release.

The way a press release works and looks is if you have to follow a format. At the top of the press release, in the upper left corner, simply enter your name and office phone number for immediate publication. You can leave a number with an answering machine, but I don’t recommend it. You want to handle all media contacts yourself.

The person who calls you is usually a journalist and they have an editor. And the whole point of writing a press release in the format I recommend is that you’re not selling anything. You can’t sell anything with a press release. Make them look good with your story. When they go to their publisher and say “hey Mr. Editor, I found this great story”…it makes the publisher look good so they let you write and let them sell it for you. It works as a thousand wonders. it really does

If you want your sales to skyrocket, put together an ad campaign that will get you noticed. Be unique. Let them know that there is no one like you out there. Use his advice on the use of this great red envelope. Works.