When the e-books first blinked onto the scene about a decade ago the need for publishing houses started getting questioned. Does an author really need a publisher for a book? If anyone could publish a book online; why should authors share their royalties with a publisher, whose only role seemed to be lending some credibility to the project? There have been some notable self-publishing success stories since; but many authors have learned the hard way that it can be hard to sell a book if nobody has heard of it. That is where a publicist for the book comes in.
Usually, at any major publishing house, editors acquire and edit books, and the sales team works with bookstores to sell them, while publicists are tasked with arranging book tours and persuading media gatekeepers to feature the author.
What is the job of a publicist in today’s scenario?
The Internet has radically changed how books are publicized. Before the digital era, if you were a writer who want to reach readers; all you really needed to do was just yo write a great book. Once the book had been acquired, the publicist would quietly reach out to the editors of the book sections; and then publish editorials about the book in major newspapers. A publicist would also strive with a few prestigious magazines and radio programs. Critics at these outlets would write reviews, and if the buzz is positive, readers went out and bought the book.
But today the landscape has been changed. It has been replaced by a highly specific digital realm in which critical reviews matter less than they once did. Today, a publicist must come up with creative means to leverage an author’s personal profile in order to publicize his book. These days you are not just selling the books, you are selling the author as well.
Book publicists still spend a great deal of time cultivating relationships with critics and editors at major publications where even today a rave review can catapult a book onto the best-seller list. However, the space these publications devote to books had been shrinking consistently.
This has compelled the book publicists to find other ways to get the word out about their authors’ books. And most of it requires some direct involvement by the authors themselves. It includes embarking on book tours, more interviews to writing original essays related to the book. A publicist then can try to increase awareness and create a buzz about the book as well as the author. Evidently, this puts more burden on the writer who has to keep writing even after writing an entire book just to draw attention to the book.
Why Authors Needs A Publicist For Book
The thing that people undermine about publicity is that even to get an editor at a particular media outlet interested in running an original piece by someone, there is a lot of that goes into that negotiation. There’s a lot of pitching; there’s a lot of dialogue and there’s a lot of strategies that go into it.
In fact, much of what book publicists do is invisible to the authors they serve. In most cases, publicists are involved with a book throughout its lifetime often starting with acquisition itself. Many editors even ask publicists to read manuscripts they’re considering for publication just to have a second opinion. These early reads can have a huge impact on a book’s fate. In-house enthusiasm is a must inside a publishing house. It makes the book sell externally.
Instinctive editors and supportive publishers know how to get a publishing team excited and interested in investing more of their resources behind the projects they feel have the potential.
Pre-publication jobs of a Publicist
The formal work of publicists on behalf of a book begins as much as a year before publication. Publicists team up with the marketing team to devise a plan for launching the book. They earmark potential sites for a book tour and list down media outlets to approach for reviews and other related articles.
They present these plans to the company’s sales team about nine months before publication. The sales team is then tasked with pitching the books to the online and physical bookstores they cover. This back and forth between the sales team and the publicist helps position the book. It also gives publicists the perspective to spread awareness about the author and the book.
Before planning a tour, a publicist factors in where their authors are from; where they’ve had successful appearances in the past; and where their target readership is most likely to live. They arrive at a particular location having assessed all the relevance and possibility for the book to create a buzz.
Also read about: Book promotion services
Precisely, five or six months before publication, just as book tours are about to begin, the first advance reader’s copies, or ARCs, arrive. The publicists then begin pitching the book and its author to newspaper and magazine editors, TV and radio producers, and other media houses. A big part of a publicist’s job is cultivating real relationships and friendships with people in the media. Positive representation in mainstream legacy media remains the most dependable way to move the book’s sales. Even as books coverage in traditional venues dwindles, the web has opened up a plethora of new outlets for publicizing books.
Evolution of the publicist for book
Many of the legacy publications have slashed literary coverage in their print issues; and at the same time expanded the numbers of interviews and reading lists they publish online. And then there are digital-native blogs and podcasts devoted to books, that are always hungry for content.
The publicist for book has a lot of tasks to be performed and some of these are seemingly invisible. But that doesn’t diminish the importance of a good publicist who is an important cog in the overall wheel machinery. With a collaborative and accommodating author, the book publicist can really move a book up the ladder.
