Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul: A Woman's Guide to Promoting Herself, Her Business, Her Product, or Her Cause with Integrity and Spirit [Hardcover]

Susan Harrow (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 30, 2002

Master the art of self-promotion with style and substance. Does publicity mean sell-out to you? Do you worry that marketing yourself means compromising your values -- that you'll have to brag, beg, or sell your soul to get what you want? Relax. The secrets to selling yourself while staying true to your beliefs are within reach. Whether you're a company employee looking to move up the corporate ladder or an entrepreneur wanting to position yourself as a hot property, you'll find what you're looking for in this book.Susan Harrow shows you how to avoid the biggest mistakes that will hold you back from phenomenal success.

A thirteen-year veteran of the public relations business, Susan Harrow has helped renowned entrepreneurs, speakers, and best-selling authors gain and keep media attention. What makes Harrow's strategy successful is her philosophy that you don't have to morph into an alpha-male to get great press -- by practicing effective principles that combine business smarts with honesty, anyone can gracefully glide to the top. You can easily become "mediagenic" if you have the right tools.

Written in a conversational, woman-to-woman style without any sports talk or war tactics, this innovative book blends illuminating personal anecdotes and wisdom of famous spiritual, historical, and political leaders with Harrow's own unique system. You'll find helpful examples of powerful publicity packages and dozens of practical exercises that instruct and motivate, not to mention proven techniques to save you time, grief, and money.

Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul will teach you:

• To be the message you want to give.
• The formula professional publicists use to create a winning press kit.
• Strategies to master any type of media interview, verbally and psychologically.
• Insider secrets to help you become an overnight expert.
• The dos and don'ts of forming strong lasting bonds with the media.
• Dozens of ways to gain worldwide fame and fortune on your own terms.

Harrow believes you can't achieve your goals when you're playing by someone else's rules. She gives you the tools to discover what your rules are and practical ways to keep them intact on your way to fame and fortune!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Self-promotion and self-respect are directly related, says Harrow, media coach and "established leader in the authenticity movement," in this Rumi-meets-Seth Godin public relations handbook. Harrow says that women, especially, need to hear this message, since she believes that they are intrinsically less comfortable with hype than men are. Many of her case studies center on the communications challenges faced by her female clients, lots of whom live and work in the San Francisco Bay area. Thus, much of her business and spiritual advice and indeed the melding of the two may appeal more to, say, writers and artists in Marin County and Santa Fe rather than East Coast business types. Depending upon their spiritual proclivities, readers will either enjoy or dismiss the chapter on "publicity secrets of spiritual masters," which, for example, likens business networking to making connections "from warm hand to warm hand." Mantras aside, the book offers a great deal of commonsense advice. How to handle a hostile interviewer? Don't insult back. Dressing for a television interview? Wear a blue shirt rather than white one and avoid stripes, checks or plaids. Self-employed people and small organizations without PR or marketing staffs will especially benefit from Harrow's sample pitch letters to editors and producers and her guidelines and checklists for creating marketing and publicity plans. This book is useful for both men and women who don't have the resources of a big corporation or extensive marketing experience. (May)Forecast: If Harrow can practice what she preaches, her book will do well it's brimming with advice Zen-minded small entrepreneurs will love.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

This is a must read for anyone who has ever had doubts [about] marketing and publicity... (Susan RoAne is a national keynote speaker and author of the classic best-seller How To Work A Room and The Secret of Savvy Networking )

A very supportive, useful guide for when you want the world to pay attention to what you have to say. (John Gray, author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus )

This book is great!!! (Kelli Fox, VP iVillage )

Susan Harrow has done a marvelous job of sharing theknowledge any[one]...needs in order to get major media attention. (Jennifer Basye Sander, co-author, The Complete Idiot's Guide to GettingPublished )

Practical, encouraging, written from the heart. Makes the daunting seem possible. (Lee Glickstein, Author of "Be Heard Now! Tap Into Your Inner Speaker and Communicate with Ease" )

...a valuable resource for those...whose idea of `the big picture' includes more than just the bottom line. (Maggie Oman ShannonAuthor of "The Way We Pray and editor of Prayers for Healing" )

Reading this book is like getting a degree in promotional savvy... (Victoria Moran, author of Lit from Within and Creating a Charmed Life )

A treasure house of fabulous, practical ideas.Do not pass up this book if you know what's good for you! (Carol Adrienne, Ph.D., author of Find Your Purpose, Change Your Life )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (April 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006019880X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060198800
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #707,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for women only January 9, 2003

By Dennis Littrell HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

This is an extraordinarily detailed book written in an incisive and engaging style that will serve not only as a "how to" and an inspirational, but as a work of reference as well. Take it on the plane, underline it. Read it for pleasure. Get it out at night and study.

Susan Harrow knows the PR business backwards and forwards, and reading this book can help you to know it too. She knows the pitfalls to media success, and she knows scores of secrets to success. Let me just say that if you are about to embark (or have been embarking) on a public career of any kind, you will find this book invaluable. I haven't used the word "invaluable" in over five hundred reviews. It applies here, believe me. This is why HarperCollins published this book (they undoubtedly had dozens of similar manuscripts that they could have published), and this is why HarperCollins and Susan Harrow are working hard to promote this work. It's the best of its kind that I have seen. I only wish I had this book when I was one and twenty or even one and forty. And now that I am more like one and ... there's still a chance I might put this to good use!

Harrow uses anecdotes and remembrances from her own experience to get across her points. One that I especially liked comes under her heading, "Trust in your own authority" on page 176. She recalls being in that infamous psychology experiment in which you are to give an electrical shock to someone in another room for some error. The point was to see if you, sadistic innocent that you are, would actually do it! Harrow reports that she opted out rather than administer the shock. I believe her because it is obvious that she thinks for herself and doesn't blindly follow authority....

As in books for learning something from the ground up (a computer language for example) Harrow uses many sidebars with distinctive icons. She has Warnings! and Invitations (the latter in a script font), HOT TIPS! in a military stencil font, and a rather daring pursed lips icon for "Harrow's Kiss of Approval." Curiously, this icon which might seem too familiar actually works well. Very creative.

Here are some items to give you a feel for the book:

Harrow is not content with presenting celebrity secrets of publicity (in Chapter 15). She follows that up with Chapter 16: "...Publicity Secrets of Spiritual Masters." An old friend of mine who sold things for a living once told me that the secret to selling success is to realize that you are selling love. That's what people really want: love. And he meant it sincerely. Harrow makes a similar point when she advises: "See the face of God in everyone." Goose bumps will appear on your own skin if you can do that, AND people will flock to you. Harrow calls this way of looking at people as "choosing to see their true nature." (p. 175)

She warns of the "three times you should refuse to be on Oprah or any other talk show." (p. 223) I'll give you number three: "They want you to air your dirty laundry." (It happens a lot. Even Barbara Walters is not above such an approach.)

In the chapter on becoming "mediagenic" Harrow gives a quick course in public speaking and she begins with what not to drink (coffee and tea can dehydrate and dry out your mouth) and adds this "Do" (which I know from yoga) "Do use salt water to cleanse and clear your nasal passages." This will "aid breathing and speaking." Alternate breathing exercises (a kind of pranayama) will do the same, I hasten to add, should salt be unhandy.

When sending out press releases or articles, include your title! (p. 96) Don't leave it up to the editor to do it. He might not do it so well, and--I can tell you from personal experience--he will appreciate the title and will probably use it since it saves him time.

This is also a beautifully edited and presented book. It's easy to see that a lot of work went into its production. The text is clear and thorough, lively and instructive. There are Internet and other resources near the back of the book, and there's an Index.

It has been said that women are more practical than men, a kind of stable wisdom from my formative years that I got somewhere. I've usually found this to be true. Harrow's book exemplifies the contention: whether it's preparing for a TV interview (Chapter 13) or simply reminding you that persistence counts (Chapter 20), Harrow is a master of the practical.

Bottom line: You don't have to be a woman to appreciate the value of this extraordinary piece of work. Read more ›

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Crowing Achievement among Public Relations Books September 12, 2005

By Donald Mitchell HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Most of us don't want to be packaged for sale like a used car.

If you have ever had a public relations agent, you probably know that the activity can be both unpleasant and fraught with peril.

If you haven't had a public relations agent, you are probably feeling daunted about what's involved in gaining publicity and what you will gain or lose from the experience.

If your situation fits any of those three parameters, this book is for you.

Susan Harrow does an exceptional job of combining

1) the basics of public relations

2) with detailed examples of how to do it while being yourself

3) as she also addresses common concerns.

The book also has an extensive list of resources that is worth the price of the book.

I was impressed by the book's special sensitivity to the issues of being a woman in the public relations arena. I thought that Ms. Harrow addressed those issues with sensitivity and wisdom, down to addressing Sharon Stone's famous movie scene of recrossing her legs.

Although this book touts itself as a Woman's Guide in the subtitle, I thought the advice was helpful and pertinent to me as a man.

The text is designed to be easy to follow, which I liked. The main text is listed in process order with clear numbers to direct your focus to each step. There are boxes with special reminders. You also have exercises you can use to apply the lessons from the text.

You could work with this book for months, and gain new insights from Ms. Harrow each time you open it.

To me, the most special part of the book came in the many examples of how others have created public relations materials that reflect them, rather than putting some "canned" face forward.... There's a delicious, almost-outrageous quality to some of these examples that loosened me right up in thinking about public relations.

This book has a permanent place in my working library.

I strongly urge you to get your own copy and make this material your own. Read more ›

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Go Ahead, Be Fabulous, And let them all know! May 16, 2002

By Ann Keeler Evans

Format:Hardcover

"Day by day, step by step, getting it together," the song says. And that's just what Susan Harrow offers us in Sell Yourself Without Selling your Soul. Susan believes that by deciding what you want, clarifying what you have and plotting out the distance between those two points, you can make your dreams come true. "Sell Yourself" teaches you how to make the media sit and take notice -- and to keep noticing. It offers you ways to stay firmly centered in your integrity and passion. This book is about realistic, practical and doable steps for promoting yourself into your future. And it's fun and funny. It helps you be serious about what you want and encourages you to enjoy the journey. I'm glad it comes in hardback form, because it's a book I'm going to read and follow over and over again. Afterall, I deserve to achieve my dreams. And so do you. Buy the book and dream big!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Expert advice... with heart. September 13, 2005

By Sherry Richert Belul

Format:Hardcover

What I love about this book is its warmth and authenticity. Susan is an incredibly talented marketing and publicity expert... but just as importantly, she genuinely cares about living life with integrity. It's that combination of skill and thoughtfulness that makes this book different than any other marketing how-to. As owner of a small, heartfelt business, this is the one book I turn to over and over again as my reference for publicity questions and inspiration. The pages of my own copy are dog-eared and marked with highlighter. If you believe in what you're doing and want to spread the word, you won't be disappointed in this book. I promise.