What a Publicist Can Do for You

You’ve written a great book.  Let’s suppose an editor likes it so much that she wants to publish it.  What’s next after signing the contract?  You’ll need to market your book.  Say what?  Isn’t that what the publishing house is supposed to do?  Yes, to some degree.  Each publishing house has their own marketing strategy, but the author is expected to do marketing as well.  This task can be daunting; therefore, you may want to consider hiring a publicist.

Publicists can help you create your platform before your title is released to help you get noticed.  Successful launching of a book requires pre-promotion.  This may take up to a year before your title is released. 

Gail Kearns, President, Project Editor, and Production Coordinator of To Press and Beyond says, "Promoting a book takes a  lot of time and dedication, not to mention perseverance. As a book publicist, one of the first initiatives I like to tackle is the Big Idea, or how to position the book to get optimum results in garnering reviews, interviews, and features." 

"Another responsibility of the book publicist is to create marketing materials, such as press releases, author bios, questions for media, and talking points," says Kearns. "I don't suggest authors do this themselves, even if they think they can. Writing press materials is far different from writing a book. Veteran publicists have a lot of experience in crafting marketing materials that are more likely to bring results, whether it be a pitch to a radio host or to the event coordinator at a bookstore."

Kearns believes that bloggers are the new reviewers. She says that publicists are blog researchers and they have databases of media contacts and bloggers. Publicists worth their salt have established relationships with many of them.  "Hiring a publicist saves the author hours and hours of time building a list of media and bloggers, making contact, pitching, and following up. Hiring a publicist lends credibility to an author's promotional efforts," says Kearns.

Publicists can provide branding, trade and niche marketing, press kit development, and website development.  More, publicists step in to navigate the complex world of social media and present you with smart opportunities to help get the word out about your book.

For more information check out:  To Press & Beyond is a full-service book shepherding agency. For more information on their services, visit www.topressandbeyond.com or email gail@topressandbeyond.com