The 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles and surrounding areas are fewer than two years away, and we’re already seeing a steady drip of promotions.
This week, LA28 sent a hype email for the torch relay, which usually begins several months before the Games. It wasn’t a save-the-date, but a note to remind readers to watch their inboxes for dates and locations. So basically, an advance to the advancer.
When we consider PR, timing is near the top. If you want a flash of publicity, you can get crazy and attract attention in a minute. If you want to build a story, you launch a PR plan.
I’ve been working with an author who wants to release his football-focused book (mostly college) later this fall. The foreword isn’t yet written, and there’s a floating drop date. The book is beautifully designed, leans on credible sources and owns subtopics that could generate attention beyond football — but its roots lie in sports schedules that will be three-quarters complete by the time the book is published if it remains on its current schedule. Its PR program would require a condensed timeline that I believe would cheat the book of attention it deserves from media and fans.
Rush jobs produce mixed PR results
With a few hurry-up projects in the rearview mirror, I know these projects produce mixed PR results. Some stories stick, while others barely attracted bots. Unless your football-based book features Super Bowl stories (can gain steam weeks leading to that game), Tom Brady (pretty much any time), or, on the flip side, something salacious, a late fall football book stands a small chance of getting the public and media to look beyond current games and storylines.
That’s why, like a tease to the torch relay, a PR runway helps whether you’re releasing a book or anything else.
The Los Angeles Olympics organizing committee teased the Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relay this week. This launch before the launch is already a PR win.
A year before the 2027 football season kicks off might look like a long lead time for someone who wants his book, business or ball known yesterday, but so much good can be done for that title between now and then. It’s a chance to build an audience (newsletter, blog, video and social media), sticky storylines and trust among readers. That doesn’t mean the author goes dark for a year. It means dropping crumbs for fans to grab before releasing the meat of the story when people will crave it most. In this case, that’s football’s preseason.
I don’t know what direction the author will take, but I suggest something along the lines of the Olympic torch relay:
1. Tease and please your ideal audience. Share stories and activate PR tactics that whet fans’ appetites in drips. Lead them like cats to string with a promised reward at the end.
2. Make the public part of your publicity. Offer peeks behind the scenes, complimentary downloads, screenings, social media quizzes or your own event-before-the-event to build interest before your drop date. Publicize all of it.
3. Launch time allows for a PR reboot. Reboot PR after you make the first sale and earn your first media hit. Remind fans you appreciate their time. Welcome newcomers and light a publicity flame under your now-timely topics.
PR SIDEeffect : Advance PR planning isn’t a guarantee, but it gives you a better shot at exposure than a rush job. Map your launch, light your proverbial cauldron and let the games begin. BTW, basketball, hockey and holiday book authors — this is your time!
©2026 Gail Sideman; gpublicity.com; SIDEbar
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