Selling Goodness-Introduction To The Book

Home
>
Book Reviews
>
Selling Goodness-Introduction To The Book

Selling Goodness-Introduction To The Book

Unfortunately, I have seen too many of even the most noble and vitally needed charitable nonprofits fade into obscurity, never having accomplished the laudable goals they set out to achieve. In most cases, the reason for their demise is that they did not promote themselves with vigor and assertiveness. They either failed to learn to use public relations (PR) to their advantage or they did not avail themselves of the services of professionals who could have launched their causes into the limelight and helped them get the momentum, manpower, and funds they needed to stay alive.

These early deaths are disappointing, unsatisfying-and tragic. They could have been prevented if the right steps had been taken. As a public-relations professional, I strongly believe that the world cannot afford to lose the efforts of so many charities and nonprofit organizations which help solve the never- ending problems that plague our fragile planet.

This book is therefore dedicated, with passion, to helping these charities and nonprofits learn to use pubic relations of all kinds to accomplish their important goals. Drawing on my background as the founder of one of Hollywood's most prominent public-relations firms, and having represented hundreds of the entertainment industry's biggest celebrities, I wrote Selling Goodness to show you how to take advantage of professional public-relations techniques on a fledgling charity's often- impoverished budget. The book describes how the media operates, and how you can make it work for your charity or organization.

In the following chapters, you will find advice on such matters as pitching a story, writing a press release, and giving an interview. I guide you through the critical steps of a PR campaign, from initial contacts with the media through follow-up, special events, and dealing with a PR crisis should one happen to you.

Throughout the chapters, you will also find two types of "boxed features." One contains special hints about PR techniques or additional elaboration on a topic. The other presents case his, stories of inspiring PR stories from my personal files. Indeed, one of my joys in writing this book is that I get to recount some of the great stories I've collected over the years of promotional techniques used by many different businesses and nonprofits.

THE MORAL CASE FOR PROMOTION

But Selling Goodness is much more than a practical handbook on skills and procedures. It is also a moral manifesto. If you are a humble do-gooder with qualms about seeking either attention or special promotion, this book presents a powerful case for promoting yourself and your charitable cause. I believe the moral argument is especially compelling now that government is trimming outlays on social services. Nonprofits are being called to fill in the gaps. They will need more resources-and they therefore must do whatever it takes to get them, especially vigorous promotion of their vital cause.

If after reading this book you are able to take your cause more seriously, and promote it with greater vigor and intensity, you will not only be contributing to your individual charity, but to the broader purpose of promoting goodness. It may sound quaint but the truth is that the promotion of your charitable work can assist ill living beings. This is a grand vision, to be sure. But imagine the potential of a planet that is better nourished, both in substance and in spirit. I believe this is our potential.

My plan in this book is direct, and the process doable. It can make you an ally in the grand project of selling goodness, and, through that alliance, a portion of paradise can be regained.

Michael Levine is the founder of the prominent public relations firm Levine Communications Office, based in Los Angeles. He is the author of Guerrilla PR, 7 Life Lessons from Noah's Ark: How to Survive a Flood in Your Own Life.

GuerrillaPR.net is a resource for people that want to get famous in the media, without going broke. http://GuerrillaPR.net

In The News:

Transworld Surf
Spring Book Reviews
Transworld Surf
That's great and all but lately I've rediscovered the joy of reading a good book. Something about posting up somewhere (preferably in a hammock under a palm tree) nice and quiet and getting away from all the phone calls, emails, instagram updates, ...

Book review: The Watch
MSN India
His earlier book, The Storyteller of Marrakesh, received glowing reviews and established him as a literary heavyweight. The Watch, published by Random House, follows a desperate night-long battle; a group of beleaguered soldiers in an isolated base in ...

Book Review: Successful Partnering
Metropolitan Corporate Counsel
The new chapters added to this treatise in 2012 were discussed in book reviews in our April 2012 and May 2012 issues of The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel. In addition to the new chapters, existing chapters are revised and replaced each year when there ...

Lancashire Evening Post
Book review: Empire: The Leopard Sword by Anthony Riches
Lancashire Evening Post
His plots bristle with emotion, realism and electrifying tensions, his multi-layered characters open doors onto the fascinating everyday life of the Roman army and the sense of adventure that underpins the whole series makes each book a fresh source of ...

and more »

The Guardian (blog)
The battle of book reviews
DAWN.com
IS the professional book reviewer an anachronism? In a recent Harvard Business School study of nonfiction reviews, assessments in mainstream media outlets and amateur ratings on Amazon largely converged. Surely we could chuck the review section and ...
Amazon v newspaper: which is the more valuable review?The Guardian (blog)

all 2 news articles »

Book Review: Anatolian Days and Nights: A Love Affair with Turkey, Land of ...
TheCelebrityCafe.com
The setting of this rug shop was the perfect atmosphere to showcase the book. The Turkish food, music and poetry brought to life the land that the authors fell in love with and take us through. Anatolian Days and Nights is published by Wild River Books ...

New York Times (blog)
Book Review Podcast: Starkly Different Views of American Liberals
New York Times (blog)
By JOHN WILLIAMS In the New York Times Book Review, Joe Klein and Jeff Shesol review two very different books about American liberalism. Mr. Klein reviews Jonah Goldberg's “The Tyranny of Clichés: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas,” an argument ...

and more »

Music review: Lighten up, Lady Gaga is just comic-book outlandish
GMA News
Last night at the MOA Arena, she opened her concert in an outfit that made her look like a comic book super villain. Her bra top looked like it was fashioned from Kevlar. We wouldn't have been surprised if Spider-man had suddenly fallen from the ...

and more »

Clayton Christensen and How Will You Measure Your Life?
Huffington Post (blog)
The book apparently came from a graduation speech at HBS in 2010 (there are similarities to Steve Jobs' graduation exhortation), which the Harvard Business Review turned into an article, and then Christensen and his co-authors -- Dillon was the editor ...

and more »

The One Book Review Robert Caro Cares About
Huffington Post (blog)
And that's not just because of what former President Bill Clinton wrote in the May 6 New York Times Book Review, but because Caro felt that Clinton understands better than anyone what he was writing about. "It was fantastic," Caro said when I asked ...

and more »

Google News