With the news that newscaster and talk show host Hoda Kotb released another children’s book yesterday, philanthropist Melinda Gates is about to publish a book about empowering women, actress Ellie Kemper recently published an essay collection, and Martina McBride and Chrissy Teigen have new cookbooks, it’s no wonder that authors who lack fame and fortune are a bit discouraged.

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em

How can an “ordinary” author compete with the publishing platforms of the rich and famous?

By taking the advice of this old expression: “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

Instead of getting discouraged, frustrated, or disappointed when you discover that a celebrity has written a book like yours, step into the spotlight the celeb is shining on your topic or genre.

Use their celebrity to your advantage

Here are a four ways to be opportunistic when you and a celebrity have a book in common:

1. Flag a trend.

Let’s say you make a living as a fashion stylist. As you’re cracking open your first carton of The Fashion Gurl’s Guide to Finding and Defining Your On Fleek Style (“SQUEE!”), you look up to see yet another gorgeous Hollywood glamour girl plugging her new “you can be stylin’ like me” book on “Entertainment Tonight.”

Instead of complaining about it on Facebook, see the trend — two new books on finding your own fashion style.

Write and distribute a tip sheet-type press release offering advice for finding your own unique fashion style. Refer to the celebrity’s book as an indication that this is a popular topic. Note that the tips are from your book, which is written by someone who provides style advice for a living.

2. Pitch yourself to the local media as the hometown version of the famous person.

Contact local reporters to provide the hometown angle. Summarize the national media attention the celebrity is receiving and explain that you’ve written a book on that subject, too. Highlight that you’re local.

Identify article or segment topics the celebrity is discussing and offer to provide similar, helpful information in an interview. Stress how your local ties will make your information more relevant to their audience.

3. Comment on online articles and interviews about the celebrity’s book.

It’s quite likely that the big morning programs will interview the celebrity at some point soon after the book’s publication date. When the interview is posted on the show’s Facebook page, comment on the video in a way that shows you are knowledgeable and informed about the topic. Include a link to your book at your preferred online retailer.

Use this approach for articles that run on online news sites that allow comments, too.

Always comment in a way that’s relevant and adds to the discussion — no “I wrote about this, too, here’s where you can buy my book” messages. Demonstrate your knowledge and your book’s value through your comments.

4. Give the celebrity’s book a little love.

Interview the celebrity (or the celebrity’s ghostwriter) on your blog (get contact information at my affiliate link for a celeb database).

Review the celebrity’s book on your blog or Medium.com.

Announce the celeb’s book in a blog post that outlines how your views compare and contrast.

Rather than worry about the celebrity taking attention away from your book, find a way to take advantage of the interest the celebrity is generating for your topic. It might be easier (and more productive) than you think.

Has a celebrity written your book? Tell us about it.

(Editor’s note: This article was first published in February 2013. It has been updated and expanded.)

The iconic campaign was a launchpad for many of America’s first generation of super models, including Christie Brinkley, Cybill Shepherd, Cheryl Tiegs, and Kim Alexis.

When hired by the brand’s importer to build excitement around the advertising, I worked with the brand team to create “The Black Velvet Model Search,” a nationwide grassroots search for the next Black Velvet lady. The contest had two elements — live competitions in key markets across the country and a mail-in option available through entry forms in liquor stores.

Local publicity leads to national award

The competition went on to win a national award for publicity excellence in the beverage alcohol industry for one reason: I created a press release “factory” that customized all of the press materials for each local market. The  media outlets in each city where there were live competitions received a localized press release with a:

• Local dateline
• List of local events complete with date, time, and place
• Name and telephone number of the local distributor to call for an interview

Technology allowed me to merge a fill-in-the-blanks type press release with a database of localized information to generate these regional press releases, each sent only to media outlets relevant for that city’s events.

Because of this localization (and lots of telephone follow-up with the press), the brand received an impressive amount of local print and broadcast publicity — at its peak, the Black Velvet Model Search was named the best beverage alcohol publicity program in the country. That free media exposure also contributed to a brand sales increase in an industry that was experiencing a slump.

Use this tactic to generate publicity for your book

So what does this have to do with authors  publicizing their books? Believe it or not, there’s an idea in this for nonfiction authors who have quoted others in their books:

Create a fill-in-the-blanks press release to send to the hometown media of each of the experts or other types of resources — including sources of anecdotes — in your book.

Here’s a sample fill-in-the-blanks press release to get you started. Because it’s so generic, you’ll want to make sure your resulting press release for each source reads well and makes sense, but that won’t be hard.

Click here to download and save the template: Template press release for sources

How to use it

After completing the press release, send it to the appropriate media contacts in each community. E-mail it by copying and pasting the completed press release into the e-mail message (don’t attach it).

For this type of news, you’ll send it newspapers and radio stations, but not TV stations. TV news programs don’t use this material. At each outlet, send it to:

• Weekly newspaper: Editor
• Daily newspaper: The appropriate section editor or beat reporter, depending on the book’s topic (lifestyle? religion? business? education?) and the local section editor
• Radio stations: Producer of morning drive-time programming

Consider asking your source for help with the names of local media contacts but if that’s not possible, you can get everything you need online or by calling.

Yes, it’s work

I won’t pretend that this doesn’t take time and effort. But I won both a national and local publicity award for a client by making this effort to get the most exposure possible while the client enjoyed an increase in sales as a result. Anything you can do to get exposure for your book will help, and this tactic won’t cost you a cent. All you need is time. (Short on time? Get an intern.)

Your book, and your relationship with your sources, will benefit from any resulting exposure.

What do you think of this tactic? Are you willing to give it a try?