Tuesday, October 1, 2013

What You Should Expect From Working With A Book Publicist


Many authors will work with a book publicist, whether: it’s someone from their book publisher (if they have a publisher) or someone the writer hired to help make them a star. What should the author reasonably expect to come from the relationship?

Certainly, you can’t expect to be turned into an instant celebrity, best-selling author and media darling. You can hope for it, though. And overt time, with enough luck and grass roots successes to build on, you may just rise up the fame charts and become famous. But the first expectation should be that your publicist helps define and grow your brand.

Another expectation is that expectations should be set. You should agree on what your goals are and the publicist should start to handicap where he or she envisions success coming. It’s okay to reach high, but know the difference between a long-shot and a layup.

Authors should expect that a plan is created, shared with them, and pursued aggressively, creatively, and in a timely fashion.

Expect to be updated on progress regularly.

Expect to be media coached.

Expect to brainstorm together and to exchange ideas.

Expect to get advice beyond PR, such as on marketing, sales, advertising or other related areas.

Expect to receive feedback on the campaign and on what the media is reaching to when pitched on your behalf.

Expect the publicist to be responsive to your needs and to return calls or reply to emails in a timely fashion. Communication is key.

Publicists should understand your vision, hopes, desires, and needs. They should fully know all about who you are, what you’ve done, what you stand for, what you like, what you’ve written and what you have to say on a host of topics.

You should expect the creation of strong pitch letters and press kit materials.

You should expect the publicist to share resources and to tap into his or her network to help you in all possible ways.

You should expect results, but be careful to define what those results should be…

One other note -- you should expect that your publicist will be honest when taking you on as a client, that he or she is only providing the services that you need, that he/she feels capable to deliver, and make the proper commitment to dedicate time and resources to you.

Lastly, expect to be surprised!

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2013

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