Why I wrote Be The News: A Guide to Going Viral With Your Human Interest Story

The reviewers love it and I am ever humbled! Be the News: A Guide to Going Viral with Your Human Interest Story has marched its way up the ranks of bestselling books at Amazon to the #1 spot in its category. 

After much rumination and over 2,000 hours spent on writing a memoir of our personal family story I found myself wondering about the 15 minute of fame rule. How do news stories that dominate the landscape of every media venue in the country end up looking like isolated examples with nary a trace of change effected by them just a few months or years later? Is it apathy or is it just because we are a flash in the pan society? I refuse to subscribe to either of those possibilities and can merely surmise that there just aren't tipping points on the meaningful issues at the foundation of the stories.  So, I set aside my memoir to write a simple to follow How-To book about going viral.

It's hard to risk your reputation for something you believe in. I cover this extensively in Be the News. It's hard, but it's not without a well won sense of accomplishment if it helps to effect change. There are specific steps you must take in order to prepare your story for release. It is key that the reason for your story is not ego-centric but issue or story-centric and that you position the mission of your decision to speak out ON TOPIC. Again, identifying a topic that is relevant and newsworthy already puts you in the "back story or side-bar" category to most journalists and that moves you closer to having a venue to speak through. 

 

Carrying a media megaphone isn't the way to ingratiating yourself with journalists but carefully plotting who you trust with your story based on their experience with others like it, as well as their overall integrity is. If you have a story, business related or otherwise, that you would like to see the media grab onto, there are specific steps you must take in order to gain the attention you want. Be the News is the only how-to guide offering the insights as to what those steps are. 

My seasoning of over 26 years of public and media relations and strategic marketing expertise didn't even begin to prepare me for the days I hid in my basement avoiding the media on a hunt for my story. I wrote the book from the standpoint of the things I did right in addition to the things I did wrong, but mostly from the standpoint of things I didn't think about at all as an outgrowth of the intention to advocate on a larger issue. 

Our story started a national discussion. If I were to be a little more candid, what it started was a real (and sometimes nasty) national argument. Did it effect change? If our appearance on live national TV and our 10,000+ newswire pickups and radio interviews saved even one child from the legacy of FASD, then yes, I believe it effected change! Would I like to see more change? You bet! Which is why I wrote Be the News. With this step by step guide to going viral with your story, more people can stand up for their right to effect change and make a difference. So go ahead, think about going viral, but don't do anything until you read Be the News. It will prepare you in a way no other book will.