Almost every Tuesday during the last decade, my readers and I have been sharing our best tips in “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week.”

If it’s Tuesday, and it’s Christmas, the ezine arrives via email on Christmas Day and the other 51 weeks of the year.

On April 16 this year, I’ll published Edition Number 500, and I’m looking for a clever promotion or contest that will engage current readers, create a buzz on the social media sites, and attract new subscribers.

Because I’m knee-deep in three other projects, I’m not even sure I’ll have time to pull this off. But I’d be crazy not to ask my Hounds for help.

What can I do to promote the newsletter, pull in new readers, attract attention for the archived issues, encourage people to submit questions for Help this Hound, and make this a really fun celebration?

Boring bios are more potent than sleeping pills.

Yet you read them all the time in people’s online press rooms, in their books, and even on the mini-profiles they write on their Twitter and Facebook pages.

Sometimes job-hunters include a useless paragraph of incredibly dull information on their resumes.

Publicity expert Nancy Juetten hates boring bios, too. The arrogant ones really get under her skin. They include sentences like this:

“Complimenting her extraordinary capacities as a prodigy composer of collaborative entrepreneurial masterworks is her former multi-disciplinary career as an entrepreneur and corporate executive, encompassing 34 years of exemplary achievement in well over twelve industries, including…”

She wrote about those kinds of bios at her blog, and  just created the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide ($49), which should be must-reading for every author, speaker, entrepreneur, coach, consultant and expert who needs to rewrite a bio or make over their current one, and for every job-hunter who really wants to stand out from the crowd.

It includes handy templates, examples of great bios, and work sheets that will help you inject life, fun and even humor into even the most boring bio. 

Nancy is running a special promotion that ended on Sunday. But she said that anyone who writes  “Joan Stewart” in the comments section of their online order form throughout the month of March 2010 can get an anniversary bonus gift, her Publicity Express Digital Workshop which is a package of audio files and other goodies. The bonus applies to the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide and her DIY Publicity Success System.  Order here.

Here’s Nancy’s own bio:

Nancy Juetten (rhymes with “button”) is a passionate and engaging publicity trainer who shows business owners across America how to get seen, heard, and celebrated in their own backyards … and beyond.  She created the NEW Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide to help job and publicity seekers wake up decision makers and open doors fast.  Her essential advice: “It’s your story.  Tell it well.”

Twice this week, people who want to create ebooks but are afraid that the content will be plagiarized, or that their customers will give the ebooks to their friends, asked me how I prevent that from happening to my own ebooks.

I don’t worry about it. Period.

With one slight exception. When you turn a document into a PDF, the security settings allow you to prohibit people from cutting and pasting the text. I always do this to prevent someone from stealing my content and turning it into an article with their byline. They can retype what I’ve written, of course, but preventing cutting and pasting makes plagiarizing more difficult.

But if people are able to download the ebook and save it to their hard drive, there’s nothing I can do to prevent them from passing it along to their friends. Let’s say somebody passes along my ebook, How to be a Kick-butt Publicity Hound, shown here.

Lots of reasons not to fret

• Throughout the ebook, I include links to sales pages where I sell related products. If somebody who has received it for free clicks on one of those links and buys a product, I win.
• Ditto for links to other people’s products and services that I sell for a commission. If somebody who has not bought the book clicks on a link and buys a product from a vendor who pays me a commission, I win.
• My ebooks include a list of “Recommended Resources” at the end of each book. Many of these resources are products and services I sell for a commission. I only include products and services from vendors I know, and that I can stand behind 100 percent.
• My ebooks also include a list of places where readers can find lots of free content, like my free “The Best of The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week” ebooks. Every December, I give away a free ebook filled with the best two dozen tips from that year’s ezines. I encourage people to regift the book to their friends. Every item includes links to my own products, or to products and services I sell for a commission. I’ve even written about 12 ways you can use my free ebooks.
• The person who gets an ebook that somebody else bought might not know me. Because my ebooks are content-rich, the reader might think, “This is pretty good stuff. I wonder what else she has at her website?”

When creating your ebook, think of all the ways you can use that book to sell other things. Build in links to your website, links to product pages, links back to your blog, affiliate links, and links to places where a reader can find more free content by opting in with their name and email address.

I always include references to my free ezine, “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week,” and tell people how to subscribe. If somebody who gets the ebook for free subscribes to my ezine, I now have their email address. Again, I win.

Authors and publishers, particularly those who publish printed books and other materials, have taken me to task for this attitude, but that’s OK. Let them spend time worrying about how to protect their content. I’d rather spend my time creating more helpful content that my readers might pass along to someone who doesn’t know me.

Am I wrong?

If you publish ebooks, how do you deal with this “problem”? Do you think I’m wrong?

By the way, if you’re looking for content for your blog, pay attention to questions that people are asking you. This blog post originated because two people asked me the same question. If you want more ideas on how to find blog content, see “Time-saving Tips for Smart Business Blogging,” a teleseminar I hosted a few weeks ago with blogging expert Patsi Krakoff.

One of the handouts includes 101 ways to find content for your blog. Here’s a list of 9 easy places to find content for your blog, from those handouts.

If you’re a guest expert, or a PR person who represents an expert, and you’re looking for radio talk shows and podcasts that need guests, don’t pitch only the big shows.

Many of them are difficult to book, and you might be far better off trying to get onto shows that reach niched audiences.

Check out RadioGuestList.com.  You can use this site several ways.
       
      

How to be on a show

Experts, authors and PR firms searching for the right shows can sign up here. Whenever a talk show is looking for guests, RadioGuestList will notify you.
  
     
How to find guests for your show

If you’re a radio show booker, podcaster, talk radio host or TV producer who needs guests, submit your talk show booking opportunities here. RadioGuesetList will email its list of guest experts, authors and PR firms so that experts who are a good fit for your show can email you directly.
     
    
How to see which shows are available 

On the homepage, you can see a list of categories on the right side. I clicked on a few of them and saw lots of opportunities for authors, musicians, small business people and Internet marketers to appear as guests. If you have an area of expertise, you’ll find something here that’s a good fit.

The site is maintained by Scott Fox, an author and Internet marketer. Check out his 10 tips on how to use social networking to market your product or service. You can also follow RadioGuestList on Twitter.

Never done a radio interview before? George McKenzie, a former radio talk show host, offered tips galore when I interviewed him about how to get onto drive-time radio shows and ace the interview so that the host invites you back.

Have you used RadioGuestList.com? Share your success stories here.

Jenni Bowring-McDonough of St. Paul, MN, writes:

“My husband, Tim McDonough, is a graphic artist who is now producing book trailers at Standard Book Videos.

“Because I work in publishing, I introduced him to our president who hired Tim to design several trailers (book videos) for us. That’s terrific, but Tim needs more exposure to attract more clients. He advertised in the event catalog for a regional publishers conference and he will be running an ad in ForeWord Magazine’s national online newsletter later this month. 

“We have reached out to other local publishers to introduce Tim’s business. He’s on Twitter, and we will be building a Facebook page soon. We have also reached out to other contacts via the local Book Publishers Association, but thus far, to no avail.

“I even pitched Tim’s story of reinventing himself after 20 years in broadcast news to several weeklies and dailies, but no one bit on the idea.  We have also begun branching out into web videos and hope to expand into promotional/sales web videos for small businesses. Thanks for any and all advice!”

Phyllis May of Key West, FL, writes:

“March 1 is my day in Chase’s Calendar of Events.  It’s ‘Refired not Retired Day’ and it’s also the title of my book. It’s a humoprous book that shows people how to make the most of life after retirement.  

“Might your Publicity Hounds have suggestions for things I can suggest for people to do on March 1? Amazingly, because I have a Google Alert, there is a restaurant in Australia that has it on their calendar. I wrote and told them I thought I should be there but they didn’t respond. Darn.

“One time I saw an assisted living facility promoting it but I truly don’t know any BIG ideas. Can your creative readers help?”

Jill Starishevsky of New York, NY writes:

“I am a prosecutor of child abuse and sex crimes in New York City.  I wrote a children’s book called My Body Belongs to Me to teach children that if someone touches them inappropriately, they should tell a parent or teacher right away. 

“In a non-threatening, engaging manner, this guide establishes boundaries and teaches kids that when it comes to their body, there are some parts that are for ‘no one else to see’ and empowers them to tell a parent or teacher if someone touches them inappropriately. 

“Most importantly, this narrative assures young ones that sexual molestation is not their fault, and by speaking out, the child will continue to grow big and strong.  A ‘Suggestions for the Storyteller’ section is also included to help lead a comfortable discussion afterward.

“How can I promote this book in traditional and social media?”

(Read more about how to submit your own question to this blog.)

Struggling to find a good story idea to pitch to the business reporter at your daily newspaper?

Wondering how to use your Facebook Fan page to promote your product or service?

Trying to catch the attention of the editors at Oprah’s magazine?

Help is on the way. Actually, it’s called “Help This Hound,” and it’s one of the most popular features in my weekly ezine, The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week, delivered every Tuesday.

      
Here’s how it works

Anyone who needs help with publicity or marketing can email a question to me, along with their name and town. If I use your question, I’ll post it here at my blog, and then print the question in my ezine.

Readers who are willing to help can offer their best ideas as blog comments.  I choose the best ideas and print them in the following week’s newsletter. Authors, small business owners, PR people, publicists and nonprofits submit the most questions.

  
Here’s why “Help This Hound” is so popular

• Most of us are too close to our own businesses to be able to see clever angles or unusual hooks that can catch a journalist’s attention.
    
• Many Publicity Hounds are on razor-thin or non-existent publicity and marketing budgets. They appreciate the free ideas.
     
• The blog posts live forever. That means that as the search engines pull in traffic, ideas will be accumulating here over several months or years. If I use your question, check back every few weeks to see who else has commented.
     
• Even though I created this service to help you solve a problem, your question exposes you to my audience. Several people who have submitted questions over the years have gotten calls from journalists and bloggers who read about them in my newsletter. Others have even received additional business.

No anonymous questions, please. Be sure to offer enough information in your question so that my readers fully understand the problem. Explain what you’ve done that has or hasn’t worked. And include a link to your website. If appropriate, attach a photo of your product.

Right now, I’m short on questions, and I could really use yours. But don’t just email it to me. Help other Hounds by contibuting your best ideas when you see a question in my newsletter that you can answer.

  
How to subscribe

If you don’t subscribe to my newsletter, you can do so by typing your name and email address into the box on the right side of this screen, under my photo. Then check your email box (or spam folder) and click on the confirmation link.  

By the way, have you downloaded the five free publicity ebooks that include the best publicity tips from my ezine in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009? They’re chock full of ideas, and there’s something there for everyone. 

As you’ll notice in the ebooks, many of the best publicity tips, success stories, and dog jokes and videos come directly from my readers, with attribution. 

I’d love to see yours.  Bring ‘em on!

From Bonnie Stuempfig of Waukesha, WI:

“I wrote a book, Heavenly Connections, a soft-cover spiral-bound book, and hoped to sell it mostly at my church and other area churches, but there seems to be a ho-hum attitude despite the fact that I’m already a published writer and the stories are uplifting and entertaining.

“They include 24 God-based contributions from other church members and me, along with a few poems and four pages of color photos.

“My plan was to donate a good portion of the proceeds to the church, but now I’m thinking it would be best to just bypass the church and pitch it to bookstores and gift shops.

“I’m working on getting a website and am doing nothing with social media. I should have done all htis earlier but have put more than two years into this book and wanted it printed by Christmas. Now, I can concentrate on the marketing but don’t know where to start.

“Thanks for any help your Hounds can give.”

(Shutterstock photo)

Linda Alexander of Pitman, NJ, writes:

“I work for an association management and publishing company, and we have just published the book Mentoring the Stars: A Program for Volunteer Board Leaders. 

“The book is designed to help new board members on association boards understand their new roles and learn the skills and competencies they need to be a successful board member.  Leadership, decision making, teamwork, strategic planning, effective meetings and mentoring are just some of the topics covered.

“Mentoring the Stars is a great resource for association board members in any industry—nursing, hospitals and health care, education, banking, real estate, human resources, plus church groups, community organizations and more.  While it’s great to be applicable to anyone, it’s also hard to promote to everyone!

“The book is available on our website and on Amazon. We have done some traditional PR and will be trying some targeted advertising on Facebook, Google and Yahoo.  Can your readers offer any suggestions for ways to promote Mentoring the Stars to members of association boards?”