Why authors shouldn’t contact journalists directly
Given that this is, after all, The Book Publicity Blog, every so often an author will write in asking for contact information for a show. It may surprise you (if you’re an author — not so much if you’re a book publicist) that it’s really not a good idea for authors to be in touch directly with reporters and producers.
As an author, you’re probably thinking, “What’s the big deal?” Book publicity isn’t exactly, say, rocket science. In fact, you would be correct about this. However, we do learn who to contact, how to go about it, when to do it. We think and consider and strategize. We research and meet and talk with journalists. So while I’ve covered a lot of book publicity issues in this blog like how to utilize social networks or what an author website should contain, I’ve never posted about how to publicize a book because one post (or even a series of posts) will never cover that.
So book publicity is not rocket science, but there still are reasons to leave publicity to the publicists:
- As publicists, we spend careers developing relationships with journalists. We meet with them, talk to them, alert them to interesting upcoming books. Our contact with many journalists doesn’t consist of one message pitching one book one time. It’s an ongoing process.
- We follow up with any combination of mail, email and phone, depending on the contact. We want to make sure journalists are aware of a book, but we don’t want to overwhelm them. (At least we really try not to.)
- We’re familiar with the lead times of various television and radio shows as well as with those of newspapers and magazines which vary from the next few minutes to six months and more.
- We can distinguish the book editor from the economy correspondent from the news assignment manager. There’s very rarely only one right contact at a show or newspaper or magazine (or even some blogs). We can find reporters who cover cruise ships. Or Salem Radio Network affiliates in the top 20 markets. Journalists based in Eastern Europe. Newspapers for the Armenian community. And a lot more.
- We’re accustomed to hearing “no.” We’re also accustomed to not hearing anything at all most of the time. The reality is that there are hundreds of publicists pitching hundreds of thousands of books to hundreds of newspapers and magazines and radio shows (and only dozens of national ones). You don’t need to be a numbers genius to see that means there are a heck of a lot more of us than them.
Some exceptions:
- If you’re an author and know the journalist (and by “know” I mean you were at dinner at their house last night, not you handed them a business card at a conference), by all means: chat up your buddy (and call in a favor while you’re at it).
- Many bloggers don’t mind being contacted by authors, particularly if said authors regularly follow and comment on their blog. Also, there’s no centralized blogger database (in part because blogs change so frequently) so anyone — like an author — who’s willing to do the leg work of digging up appropriate blogs is welcome to.
Lest you think I’m simply raining on the publicity parade, here are some suggestions for what authors should do:
- Communicate with your publicist. Your publicist should contact you starting four-six month’s before a book’s publication. Make sure to ask questions so you understand the publicity process and timeline. Ask what you can do to help. (And of course, you can also read this blog for general tips.)
- Trust your publicist. It may be hard to believe that the publicist has so few responses from the media. But you can see the numbers above. Journalists can either do their jobs or their can spend their days answering our queries about books we’ve sent and authors we’re offering for interviews. They can’t do a lot of both, which, unfortunately for us publicists, means that we don’t hear back from journalists nearly as much as we’d like to.
- Keep your contacts in a database. Assuming you use anything that doesn’t involve a pen and paper (like Outlook or Gmail), you probably already do. In advance of a book’s publication, publicists will ask authors for their media contacts (if any). Rather than sending along the contact information in an email or a Word document, export the information into Excel so it can be quickly imported into publicity databases or mail merged into labels. (Think of it like this: entering data like names and addresses in Word makes about as much sense as submitting a manuscript in Excel.) If your publicist doesn’t provide you with a template, you can use one like this. (And to make sure you don’t inadvertently drop leading zeros from zip codes, make sure to select the column, then select “Format” from the top menu bar, then “Cells.” In the “Number” tab, make sure “Text” is selected.
And lastly, if you really feel that you need to supplement the publishing house’s publicity efforts, rather than diving in on your own, consider hiring a freelance book publicist.
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Questions? Comments? Do share.
Increase book coverage: small steps
Anyone and everyone in book publicity can tell you it’s hard to get coverage for books. At the same time, many journalists and bloggers will tell you that when they *do* want to cover a book, it’s impossible to get responses from publishing houses. Odd, that.
Murphy’s Law states that not all books will receive lots of publicity (oh — that’s not Murphy’s Law? Well, you get my drift …) but here are a few mistakes we all make that can lead to those small delays that can become big delays that can become missed opportunities. Sort of like when an air traffic control glitch grounds your plane, then the traffic builds up and you’re sitting on the tarmac for eight hours, then the FAA decides that the crew has been on duty too long and your flight gets cancelled. If we can all take a few seconds or a few minutes to be a little more careful / clear / thoughtful, we could improve our chances of getting what we want: book coverage.
Journalists / bloggers:
– Don’t leave requests on voicemail. Use email. It’s a hassle forwarding voicemail to another publicist in house; it’s impossible to forward a phone message to an author.
– Leave some information about who you are and why you need the review copy / interview, particularly if you’re contacting a book publicist with whom you do not have a relationship. If the publicist has to get in touch with you to ask for more details, your request will get delayed to some time between later and, well, never.
Publicists:
– When journalists and bloggers contact you, respond. A reviewer might be interested in covering a book or author, but if they can’t get through, it’s often easy enough to move on to the next book — and the next publicist who does respond.
– Don’t make people jump through hoops to get a book or interview unless it’s really necessary. For some authors, requests must be vetted. Really, really carefully. Most people understand that. I myself am a stickler for getting *some* information about a journalist and their story — “I want to interview an author” isn’t going to get someone an interview with one of my authors. But it’s one thing to expect a few sentences of explanation; it’s another to ask for everything short of someone’s tax return and subsequently impose rules and requirements on the person’s coverage. It’s called “freedom of the press” for a reason.
– Don’t rely exclusively on blast emails when pitching. Although email blasts are inescapable, do your research and try personalizing some pitches some of the time. Use the phone to follow up selectively and wisely.
– Include links in pitches. Just as we publicists like to see details in the requests we receive, journalists (sometimes) like to see further details about the books we’re pitching. Since there’s a limit to the amount of information an email message can contain before the recipient’s eyes glaze over, give them the option to easily access more information by including links. (Keep in mind that long links can break up when messages are sent, so utilize the hyperlink button or a URL-shortening website like Tiny URL.)
Authors:
– Be up front with your publicist about your publicity expectations / requirements. If there are certain media outlets / types of media outlets / journalists with whom you do not wish to conduct interviews, let your publicist know ahead of time so they won’t pitch these people in the first place.
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What am I forgetting? What are those quick, seemingly minor things we could do to improve our chances of hitting the mark and getting coverage of books and authors?
Best-laid plans
A lot of publicists focus on how to book interviews since, after all, this is our job. But anything scheduled can fall through. What then? So I was interested to see this post by Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists about what to do when those hard-earned interviews … don’t pan out.
I also wanted to point out that scheduling an interview isn’t just about scheduling one interview on one day; the interview is merely one link in the chain, so missed interviews have ramifications. There are, of course, legitimate reasons for cancellations — breaking news, insane flight delays, illness and other personal emergencies, etc. — but when an author decides at the last minute they simply don’t feel like doing an interview (or when a host decides at the last minute they feel like bumping one guest for another), book publicists are left scrambling either to placate producers with whom we’ve carefully tried to cultivate relationships or to fill sudden gaps in the schedule. Not. So. Fun.
As a book publicist (or as an author or producer), what’s your craziest story of a missed interview? And how have you resurrected missed interviews?
In-house vs. freelance book publicists
A self-published author recently wrote in asking about how to pitch a certain radio show and I thought this would be a good time to make it clear that while I offer general book publicity tips, I wouldn’t be able to offer suggestions for how to pitch specific shows / writers for the same reason that a doctor might suggest that you eat well and exercise but wouldn’t walk you through how to remove your appendix. In other words, publicity is something that is learned, over time, and I can’t dash off in one email (or blog post) how to promote a book.
There are, however, freelance book publicists and publicity firms that can be hired to promote books. Which brings me to another, related question an author recently asked about, which is how do book publicists at publishing houses feel about freelance publicists? Several of my authors have asked this question over the years (as do many others, I’m sure) so I’ve put together a few considerations that authors might find helpful (and which publicists can forward to inquiring authors).
Basic Tips For Hiring Freelance Book Publicists
– This may vary depending on the size of the publishing house, but most publishing houses have at least one person on staff dedicated to marketing and promoting their titles (so yes, we will do everything we can to promote your book), but if you are thinking of hiring a freelance publicist any way (perhaps to continue promoting a book a year after it goes on sale and we’ve moved on to other titles), it goes without saying you should inform the in-house publicist (preferably before doing so).
– In-house book publicists don’t dislike freelance book publicists — after all, it does mean someone else is helping out — but we do need to know what everyone is doing so we don’t end up wasting time by doing the same thing (and annoying journalists in the process).
– There are a few common strategies for dividing up work between in-house / freelance book publicists. Please keep in mind that the following are examples and ultimately, whatever combination works for the individual publicists should take precedence over any suggestions here.
1) By medium: one person handles print and broadcast media, the other online. (Or whatever other combination works.)
2) By market: one person handles national media, one local. Or one person handles certain markets, the other person all others, etc.
3) By project: one person handles tour media publicity (or press materials or whatever other project might be in the works), one handles all other publicity.
4) By timing: one person handles all publicity before and for the month or two after the book’s publication, the other all publicity after that point.
– Specific terms (and prices) will vary from one freelancer to another. All reputable firms will post terms on their websites / provide details if you ask. A small — and admittedly incomplete — list of some freelance book publicity firms can be found on The Book Publicity Blog’s blog roll. (On the right side of the page, scroll down to Marketing / PR Blogs.) The firms listed have their own blogs (hence their appearance on a blog roll); there are many excellent book PR firms that do not maintain their own blogs.
– If you are seriously considering a particular freelance publicist, make sure they have read your book so they have a sense of how (and to whom) to pitch it as well as how to best work with the in-house publicist. Before signing a contract, make sure they have provided a publicity plan / proposal that works for you and the in-house publicist. (And if you have asked a freelancer to read your book, make sure to get back to them regardless of whether or not you end up hiring them.)
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Authors and in-house publicists — let me know if I’ve missed any basic and important details. (I will update the post.)
Freelance book publicists — if you would like to submit your contact information, you can either email me at bookpublicityblog[at]gmail[dot]com or you can simply submit a comment. If anyone asks for a freelancer, I will provide your name (although not a recommendation unless I’ve worked with you). I am planning to post a list of freelance book publicists (hopefully, at any rate – I’ve been meaning to post about publishing house blogs for about five months now), so please submit the following information by Wednesday, February 11:
1. Name (first and last) or company name — mandatory
2. Website (or blog / LinkedIn profile / etc.) — mandatory so I have something to which to link
3. Specialty(s) if any — can be by genre, medium (broadcast / online / etc.), location or anything else that makes sense for you
4. Up to three books / authors with whom you have worked
(I’m not asking you for an email address lest spammers take the information from this site. I’m assuming anyone with a half-way decent website will have contact information prominently posted.)
The book publicity timeline
I spent a goodly amount of time the other day copying 200 press releases and folding them because I’d missed my department’s deadline for sending the releases to the printing house to be copied. The book is a paperback reprint we’re publishing in April, but in publishing we work so far ahead of time that three months early can be late.
Although timing will differ slightly from house to house, here are some common deadlines. (This is the 30-second — actually, make that the 10-second – version of book publicity, since I don’t want to write a book now and you don’t want to read one. At least not here and now, at any rate.) If you do want to read an actual tome about publicity you can try books like Publicize Your Book, The Savvy Author’s Guide to Book Publicity or Publicity: 7 Steps to Publicize Just About Anything – none of which I’ve read, by the way, but I like the titles.
Four-six months before publication:
Publicists: Mail galleys to long-lead media outlets (including monthly magazines and trade publications).
If you’re not a publicist: Make sure to share your thoughts about the book’s promotion with the publicity department. For example, what do you think are the book’s key points? What would attract readers’ attention? (And the attention of journalists?) What’s the target demographic? (Is there a demographic we should be pitching that is not immediately obvious?) What ideas do you have to market and promote the book? In what media outlets would you like to see the book covered? (Yes, we’ve heard of Oprah. And The Today Show.)
If you would like galleys sent to your personal media contacts (some authors will have more than others depending on their profession), you should let the publicist know earlier rather than later. Although it may make sense to wait to send the finished book to certain people (rather than the galley), if the publicist has the names early, then s/he can make that determination. FYI, you cannot approach the same person to blurb and review the book for reasons that should be becoming obvious to you right now — if they didn’t already occur to you.
Also, a book’s web presence (website, blog and / or social networking profile) should be established so that journalists can find information online when they receive galleys.
Publicists: Schedule bookstore events (if an event is appropriate for the book).
If you’re not a publicist: Make sure the publicist knows about any significant markets and / or bookstores. Make sure your schedule is clear around the time of the book’s publication (and if it’s not because, say, you’ve won a trip to the moon, let the publicist know). Bookstores need time to organize and promote events (both online as well as in print newsletters) and they often won’t schedule events with less than two months notice. If friends have promised to organize events, get in touch with them and keep the publicist apprised of what’s going on — keep in mind that most bookstores don’t have the staff to sell books at offsite events (like your friends’ parties) if fewer than about 100 people attend.
Four-six weeks before publication:
Publicists: Mail finished books to the media.
If you’re not a publicist: Publishing houses receive finished books (called “bound books” four-six weeks before the publication date of the book). This gives us a head start to get finished books to the media before they appear on shelves. Basically, everything you should have done before *really* needs to be completed now.
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And that’s my 10-second spiel. Which can pretty much be summarized as: it’s never too early.
How to get involved in online book promotion
Today, Buzz, Balls & Hype bemoans diminishing marketing budgets and suggests authors and publishing houses work together closely to maximize their efforts.
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One area that is particularly conducive to a publicity novice jumping right in is the online arena — blogs, discussion groups, wikis, etc. Although all publicity and marketing departments maintain increasingly large lists of bloggers, there are so many blogs that change so frequently, it’s impossible to keep track of all of them. This is where the author comes in.
Did you write a book about the Civil War? Or knitting? Or pets who are heroes? Look up blogs and discussion groups about those topics. Use a site like Alexa or Technorati to determine which of those blogs get the most traffic. Check the blogroll (the blogger’s list of favorite blogs) to find other related sites. Blogs that appear on a lot of blogrolls are obviously more popular than those that do not.
While finding a handful of blogs might take an afternoon, becoming a part of an online community can take weeks or months. Bookmark the blogs. Better yet, add them to your RSS reader. Read the posts regularly. Comment when you have something wise or funny to say. Get to know what a blogger likes to cover, their tone, how frequently they post. Get to know other commenters.
Right about now, you’re asking whether it’s worth spending the time to do this. First, if you had the wherewithal to write a book about knitting, please tell me you at least have some interest — book promotion aside — about what’s rocking the boat in the knitting community. And second, blogs and websites link. They link to small sites, which link to medium-sized sites which link to larger sites. Freelancers who write about knitting visit these sites. Print reporters who cover crafting visit these sites. So yes, it’s worth taking the time to do this.
Booking radio interviews
An author with a large publishing house wrote in the other day asking why radio interviews are so hard to come by. It’s a good question — particularly since us publicists are gnashing our teeth over the same issue. While none of us has the magic pill of an answer, here is some information that might come in handy.
First off, some basic radio tips from Tiffany at Thames & Hudson:
Some show types / formats: syndicated, national, satellite, local, news/talk, NPR, adult contemporary, rock, classic rock, alternative, hot AC, Christian.
Tiffany also suggests that authors discuss the following issues with publicists:
– Have you done radio interviews before? If so, which ones?
– What is your local station(s)? And / or are there markets in which the book would be significant?
– How can you tie the book/topic into the news? Help out the publicist by providing a handful of compelling but succint bullet points. Update this information if / when necessary.
– Most radio show hosts don’t have time to read all books in their entirety, so they rely on publicists — and authors — to provide sample questions that help them prepare for interviews effectively and efficiently.
I’d add that you should consider supplementing (or editing) the usually skimpy bio that appears on your book jacket. For a producer, it doesn’t matter what college you went to or how many kids you have; it does matter what qualifies you discuss the subject at hand.
Also, presumably you will share with your publicist the dates and times are you available (or not available). But if there are certain types of shows / stations on which you are not willing to appear, let the publicist know ahead of time so they don’t waste their — and the producers’ time — pitching shows in which you are not interested.
Generally speaking, there are far fewer shows nowadays than there once were because stations go bust / get taken over by other stations. Rather than having original programming, many stations syndicate content. Shows that have survived have slashed staff in many cases, making do with part-time producers and interns. This means that more than ever, we need to do anything we can to make their jobs easier, i.e., suggesting timely story ideas / segments, providing talking points, etc.
Morning Brief — Tuesday, November 18
I was walking to the subway station this morning when I spotted an ad for American Airlines on the side of a bus that was promoting non-stop flights to London. Now, I live in New York City. Which begs the question: where exactly could a flight from New York to London stop?
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Yesterday, Publishers Weekly reported on the PubWest conference in Portland, noting that one popular panel was “Authors Breaking Out” that focused on three authors discussing book tours and online marketing. It’s great when authors are willing and able to promote their books, even better when they work hand-in-hand with publicists. Conveniently, Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists recently posted some handy tips from an author about how authors can best work with book publicists. (The author, Wendy Kays, spoke about her book, Game Widow, on the Dr. Phil Show, so clearly something worked.)
Morning Brief — Monday, September 15
The Swivet, via slunch, offers an explanation of the book publicity process. It’s a great guide for authors (and publicists) because it offers a handy publicity timeline. One thing that I would add is that when authors provide the names and addresses of contacts to whom they would like galleys / books sent, it’s ideal if these names are provided in an Excel document. This way the information can instantly be imported into our publicity systems / mail merged into labels. If the contact information comes in any other format (in a Word document or in an email) we have to either copy and paste or retype all the information and that’s a waste of time. (And by “waste of time,” I do, of course, mean “probably gets passed to the intern.”) Lest anyone kick up a fuss about this, I’d like to ask, when was the last time someone wrote a book in Excel? Sounds pretty ridiculous, right? So why is it any less ridiculous to be submitting data in Word?
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The Washington Post’s book blog, Short Stack, will now feature daily posts including author Q&As and publishing trends.
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For authors who might be considering blogging, social media guru Chris Brogan offers some tips on starting and maintaining a blog. For those who prefer Facebook or Twitter, Marketinghackz posts A Quick Guide for Newbies.
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On Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, Sarah Weinman posts her sixth and final entry of the Publishing Imprint Report Card that explores the Random House imprints.
Morning Brief — Tuesday, September 2
Labor Day = The end of summer Fridays. Alas. Yesterday I ran a 20K road race at my alma mater. It was great racing through campus to the finish line — it felt like I was running home. Not so great coming home and realizing I’d packed on a few pounds. And now I begin to rethink the bread pudding. And the Lithuanian coffee cake …
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When appropriate, we pitch our authors for “expert” interviews. The Publicity Hound offers eight tips for interviewees who are preparing to talk to reporters. And don’t forget to get in the plug for the book early, as Catching Flack reminds us.
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If you’re wondering what all the fuss is over social media (blogging, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and you’re thinking “everyone else does it” sounds a little hollow, check Chris Brogan’s post about communications objectives of social media.
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All Book Marketing offers some publicity tips for authors courtesy of Sara Dobie of Sylvan Dell Publishing.
