Have you ever put together a press release for an upcoming author event, sent it on time to the newspaper editor, checked the paper close to the event date...and nothing?

It's a frustrating reality. Sometimes newspapers get inundated with press releases, and they don't run. 

All that time and effort wasted.

Here's a pro tip from DIY Book Marketing for Maine authors: you can bypass the entire process and put your own event on multiple Maine event calendars that show up under the Lifestyle and Arts section of the newspaper.

Centralmaine.com, Pressherald.com and Sunjournal.com partner with the City Spark platform for event calendars that highlight things to do across Maine.

Readers, event coordinators, and venue managers are encouraged to use the step-by-step process to enter events in the calendar. Just create a City Spark account (it’s really easy) or log in with Google or Facebook. Fill in fields for the event name, location, date and time; add categories; upload an image if you want; include a description; and provide ticket and contact info. You can proof your free event listing, then choose from three promotion levels if you want to make sure it really stands out.

Join our Facebook page to learn about the next free Zoom book marketing session available.