HARO - Great Publicity Tool for Independent Authors

The greatest challenge facing most authors, whether they're traditionally published by one of the big New York houses or self-published on Smashwords, is how to market their books. Most authors are credible experts on something, yet that something is rarely marketing and public relations. But without marketing, most books will die on the vine because prospective readers will never know they exist.

Now comes a great marketing tool for authors called HARO, which stands for Help A Reporter. HARO is a free service operated by PR pro Peter Shankman that sends subscribers dozens of queries a day from reporters at newspapers, magazines, blogs and broadcast television who are seeking subject matter experts they can interview for their stories. Each query describes what the reporter is looking for and provides contact information (usually an email address) where you can direct your pitch. This morning's email included 22 queries, including some from The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor and Fox Television.

The rules for using HARO are quite simple: No off-topic pitches, otherwise Shankman will boot you from the list.

All authors, especially non-fiction authors, would be simply FOOLISH to not subscribe to this free service.

Subscribe at http://www.helpareporter.com.