Lisa Earle McLeod is a syndicated columnist who uses PR LEADS to find sources for her articles and books, including the landmark Selling with Noble Purpose which hit #2 on CEO Read.

She is a sales leadership consultant.

Organizations like Apple, Kimberly-Clark and Pfizer hire her to create passionate, purpose-driven sales organizations.

I interviewed her to get her insights on how to pitch effectively.

Here is a synopsis of the conversation.

  1. Don’t use a subject line “New book about business,” or “New book about health.” Instead, show one of your great ideas from the book.
  2. When she looks at responses for her PR LEADS queries, she likes to see the tips first and bio second. She hates pitches that only include a bio but no tips.
  3. Beyond the responses she gets from her PR LEADS inquiries, she’s overwhelmed with 50 pitches a day from publicists who send her email about every topic under the sun – especially topics she doesn’t even cover. She has rarely written a story based on an unsolicited pitch letter. The few times she did, it was a killer pitch that provided great reader tips, not just a summary of the book.
  4. She doesn’t look at press release sites. “I don’t have a shortage of ideas.” But she does use press releases to verify information, get background, and pull images of experts and book covers.

For more tips on how to help pitch a reporter, read my book, Reporters Are Looking for YOU!