20 Nov Don’t look a PR gift horse in the mouth
I got an email from an author today who said she was going to use my story in her book (it’s about reinventing yourself). When I asked her if she’d like me to post something about it in the Examiner she proceeded to ask me a bunch of questions. Now, I wasn’t asking for a free book or anything – although if you include someone in your book you should certainly offer them one. It was obvious she wanted to figure out if it was worth her time. I thought it would be fun to post her questions and tell you how she could have found out the answers without offending the gift horse.
What is the Examiner – act like you know and google it
What city? ibid
How many readers do you have – get an Alexa toolbar
What do you write about – again, google it (or me)
The point I’m making is, don’t ask somebody kindly offering you some exposure to give you their name, rank and serial number. If you truly can’t find it online, then ask nicely.
Oh and the last thing? Remember some day you might be begging for the slightest notice, so leave your ego at the door no matter what number you are on the NYT bestseller list.