“Dear publicist, My book just released and I’d like to promote it. How can you help?” “Hi! My novel came out last fall and sales have been close to zero. Can we talk about what your firm can do to promote it?” Ouch! These emails break my heart. I typically get about two like this
As writers, we all know how hard it is to read a book without dissecting, critiquing or copy editing in your head. As a publicist (and a lapsed writer), I can’t help giving the same scrutiny to every email and newsletter blast that lands in my inbox. Sad, perhaps, but true. That’s because, whether you
If you’re thinking of hiring a publicist, one of the first questions you’re likely to ask is: “Do you have good contacts?” Authors ask me this every day. While it would be easy for me to say, “Of course!” (and to add with a glint in my eye, “if you just sign on this dotted
Once upon a time, there was vanity publishing. Remember? Those were the days when self-publishing had a very bad rap. Not so much because the books’ quality was shaky (though that tended to be true), nor even because authors had to pay to have them published (though that was indeed frowned upon), but mainly because
Around the time blogs first started catching on, writer Julie Powell decided – just for the heck of it – to cook every recipe in Julia Child’sMastering the Art of French Cooking and chronicle the experience on her blog.
We all know her story’s happy ending.
Soon every writer was launching or joining a blog. So was every mom, every foodie, every fitness buff, bibliophile and investment guru. For fun and fulfillment, but also, quite often, in the hopes of increasing discoverability. And we also know this story’s ending: a blogosphere that wound up as bloated and oversaturated as any literary agent’s slush pile.
Luckily the one constant in today’s media, which includes the online world, is change. And as media outlets have gone increasingly digital, a whole new category of outlets has emerged: the highly visible, online-only publication. Think, The Millions or The Huffington Post. These outlets have all but replaced personal blogs as a means for getting your name out there. Most offer superb opportunities for writers to submit and publish articles, opinion pieces and blog posts. And publishing one guest piece in an outlet like The Huffington Post can be equal to years of blogging in terms of the number of readers who stop by, comment and tweet.
In fact, as the media landscape continues to change, contributing pieces to
Over the past few months I’ve spoken to two authors who’d signed with the same, well-reputed PR firm for a book launch campaign, paid a considerable amount of money and then…nothing. Barely a review or author interview to show for the firm’s initial promises and excitement.
(For the record, this was not one of the wonderful PR firms plugged into the Writer Unboxed community.)
Each of them told me – with quite a bit of emotion – about their disturbing experience: a positive, promising initial meeting followed by months of waiting for potential press coverage that never panned out, then finally, a barrage of lame excuses including, “It’s because of your book.”
One of these authors became my client, and before we started work I asked to see the list of media outlets said firm had contacted about his middle grade fantasy novel. To my surprise, the list contained no fewer than 4,000 entries, which is far too many and implies that proper targeting hadn’t been done. Case in point: the list included publications such as General Dentistry and American Cowboy.
The second author was unable to obtain a copy of her press list at all, having been told it was “proprietary.”
Needless to say, this makes my blood boil. It’s deeply unfair to the authors who placed their trust in this firm, it’s disrespectful of authors in general – taking advantage of their earnest hope and vulnerability – and it’s an insult