When Should Authors Invest in PR?
EPISODE EIGHTY
A lot of online advice about book marketing includes hiring a Public Relations specialist. But what do PR agencies and publicists do, and at what stage of an author's career is it a good idea to hire one?
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TRANSCRIPT:
Jenn Hanson-dePaula: Hello, and welcome to the Book Marketing Simplified podcast. I'm Jenn Hanson-dePaula.
Marcus dePaula: I'm Marcus dePaula. Following up on last week's episode about whether or not authors should hire an expert to help them with their social media marketing, I thought it might be a good idea to ask a related question to that, that I see a lot online when searching for how do I market a book. That is whether or not authors should hire a PR person.
Jenn: Yes, that is often a service or a word that people are familiar with and they see it tied to book marketing. They often just search for it and think, "Okay, this is what I need." It is important to know the roles of these. I'm glad that you are bringing this up.
Marcus: Yes. You're uniquely qualified to talk about this.
Jenn: I call myself a recovering publicist.
Marcus: That's right, because you used to be the publicist for a couple of record labels in Nashville.
Jenn: Yes. It was my first job right out of college, but it was also before social media came out. The way that I walked into public relations and publicity is different now. Many times, social media is dumped into the publicity canister or they think, "Okay, this should just go right into publicity as well." It's not really the same thing, so I'm glad that we're going to be talking about this today.
Marcus: PR was described on a couple of websites as being the overarching department of reaching out to other people and interacting with people outside of yourself or an organization. Publicity and social media in particular are disciplines within that, right?
Jenn: Yes. I look at a publicist as the face of an organization or a representative of someone that it's either a company, or a person, an author or whatever it is. That PR representative is the voice of the brand.
Marcus: Got you.
Jenn: Publicity is, basically, bringing things into awareness. It's making people aware. I often talk about how, at the beginning, when we're trying to grow that author platform or to bring that awareness, yes, the obvious choice is social media because everybody's on that, but there are other ways of being visible. That is getting publicity through local press or through blogs or through podcast interviews and stuff like that.
Many times we think, "Oh, I have to hire a publicist in order to get these things or to do these things," and that isn't necessarily true. You can definitely do a lot of this on your own, but there are certain things that you definitely need a publicist for if you want these big media hits.
Marcus: Before we get into where that bar is for whether or not authors should look into hiring a publicist or a PR agency, can you describe exactly what authors can expect a publicist to do for them?
Jenn: When you hire a publicist, there are several layers of publicity that people have an expertise in. For example, if you want to be featured on The Today Show, or if you want to be featured in the New York Times, or to get these huge, huge media hits as well as, maybe, connections to celebrities, connections to other agencies or other influencers,-
Marcus: Events.
Jenn: -events, that kind of thing. Publicists who really specialize in these high-tier connections, they look to represent those people who have a substantial story. It's not someone who just might have a lot of money saying, "Hey, I have this book."
Marcus: Get me in the New York Times. [chuckles]
Jenn: Yes. They are very selective because their reputation as a publicist is also on the line. They need to represent people that they know will benefit the TV show or the magazine or the newspaper.
Marcus: For top-tier publicists, they can charge-- they charge because of the actual connections that they have, the people that they know in these positions of contact in these large media organizations.
Jenn: Yes, that is what they have spent years developing. They have fostered these relationships. You have to take note of who they are connected with and who they have had great relationships with. You have to remember that these connections, it's not a shoo-in for coverage. The publicist is pitching a story and really great publicists are great at coming up with a great pitch. It's a marriage of that pitch with their relationship to the organization. This is all about thinking what is going to best serve the media or the agency that they are connecting you to or the influencer. It is a very sophisticated dance.
Marcus: It has to be mutually beneficial to both sides.
Jenn: Exactly. Yes. I have known authors who I have personally not worked with who have hired publicists and spent tens of thousands of dollars-
Marcus: Sometimes per month.
Jenn: Yes. -and who have gotten nothing in return. I've also seen other celebrities and authors and musicians pay those tens of thousand dollars a month and they see a lot in return. It's not a done deal when you hire a publicist. Many times, especially if there's a very busy news cycle, if there's a lot going on in the world, yes, we have a lot more space for coverage being online and everything in a 24-hour news cycle, but they are still limited in what they will cover and what they won't cover, so it's not a shoo-in when you hire a publicist.
This leads into when you should consider hiring a publicist. Let's talk about fiction authors and then nonfiction authors, because there is a difference for hiring a publicist. For fiction, especially if you are new, and you are just getting your feet wet with the publishing world, it would take a very unique story in order to think that hiring a publicist right off the bat would be a good idea.
For example, there is a new author, her name is Paula Lafferty, who is self-publishing her first book. She has done an incredible job of getting a lot of visibility, a lot of notoriety on social media. She had a very successful Kickstarter campaign. She is on this mission to remove that stigma of self-publishing on authors, and that they can have a very successful career. That is a story.
Even though she has an amazing story for her book, and that is what's getting readers' attention, what is going to hook the media is this bigger story of she's raised a ton of money, she's getting all of this visibility, and she's self-published, she's not relying on the big machine, so that is a story. Even in Paula's case, because this is a great story, would that warrant hiring a publicist? I don't know, because that in itself might not be enough to get an editor's attention or a producer's attention for a TV show.
It's all about the story, and it's all about the pitch. When we ask, when should I consider hiring a publicist as a fiction author, I would say it would need to be several books in where you would have, maybe there's a deeper story there, maybe there is a level of success that has crossed over. Maybe there's some sort of connection between a real-life experience and then your story, that kind of thing. There are many celebrities that are also starting to write fiction, and it's a bigger story. It's the celebrity who's writing this work of fiction. It is slightly different when it comes to fiction.
For fiction authors to get into a bigger newspaper or like a bigger magazine or TV show, you would need a publicist to get you to that next level. Again, I would say that would be several books in. When we're talking about fiction writers getting local coverage, that is definitely something that a fiction author could pitch themselves. Actually, in The Author Circle this month in August, I'm going to be doing a tutorial on how authors can pitch local media and get local coverage and all of that good stuff, so there is that.
Now let's move on to the non-fiction. Non-fiction can be a lot easier to get press for because, many times, the book is related to a business, it's solving a problem for a specific industry. Maybe it's a memoir that has a very tantalizing story associated to it. It could be a children's author who's writing a very particular book to help a specific need of a child or a parent. There are ways that you can get into the press because you ha-- you're addressing a specific problem. One of my dear friends, her name is Mary O'Donoghue, she has a whole course on how non-fiction authors can actually get national coverage for their books. Mary was one of Oprah's former producers. She used to work for The Today Show, I think Nightline. She's been everywhere and Mary is the best. She is really fantastic.
There are ways that non-fiction authors can bypass hiring an expensive publicist in order to get coverage for themselves. Now, if you want to hire someone, if you don't want to do that yourself, you can absolutely do that, but that is where you are going to be paying high dollar for the service because, again, as a recovering publicist, I know how much time it does take. Also, seeing what relationships that you already have, what connections you already have, is going to be a good fit for this book or for this company.
It's really weighing what do I want to invest in versus what do I want to invest my time in. That is only something that you can answer for yourself. The overlying message here is every single book, whether you are fiction or non-fiction, has to have a pitch. It has to have a pitch that it's not only benefiting you. It has to benefit the outlet, or the influencer, or the company that you are pitching to. It's not enough for you to say, "Hey, I wrote this amazing book. I'm getting so much great feedback. I would love to be featured in your magazine." That's not going to win anyone over. Again, why is it going to benefit their readers or their viewers?
Marcus: What's the story for them.
Jenn: Exactly. We have to remember that they are worried about ratings. They're focused on selling ads, on serving their audience. They don't want people to tune out or to flip the page or whatever it is. They have a lot that they are considering as well as the outlet that is going to be featuring you.
Marcus: Is there a bare minimum of what the average author would need to have in place before they consider hiring a publicist or a PR agency?
Jenn: The first thing that I would look at is, what assets do I have. Meaning, do you have tens of thousands of people that are already buying your book?
Marcus: Do you have a website?
Jenn: That's a really good point. Some people might think, why would I need that? Many people do not think beyond just getting the coverage. I have had many experiences- This was in the music industry, and this is with books. -If I were to ask you if you could get featured in the New York Times or if you could be featured on The Today Show, would you be able to handle the response? Do you have books available to sell? Can your website handle the amount of traffic that's going to be coming your way?
If you have a website that shows readers what it is that they can expect from your book, how they can connect with you? Do you have a presence on social media? All of these things because, much of the time, we are just looking at that goal of, okay, I just need to get featured here. Okay, once you get that, are you going to be ready for it?
Marcus: Yes. It's about the follow-through.
Jenn: Exactly. It's thinking it all the way through. It's thinking about, once I have their attention, are my ducks in a row for people to easily find my book, my information, my social media outlets, all of that.
Marcus: The same thing applies to going viral on social media.
Jenn: Absolutely. It's all about thinking through the follow-through. I think that that is a very important element that many people don't think through.
Marcus: How can we summarize what we've talked about and what should authors walk away with understanding about publicity and PR for their book?
Jenn: PR and publicity can be looked at as that next level of marketing that, once they have a solid pitch, they have a solid story, and they have something that has meat on its bones, then you can confidently approach a publicist. When you are just starting out, you yourself need to be your own publicist. Look at it as those stepping stones.
In order for you to get national coverage, you need to first get local coverage. You need to build up to this because, also, an interview is something that you need to learn how to do. Yes, it's a skill. It is, and it takes practice, so start with reaching out to your local newspaper and podcast, local access TV. As you build up and as you develop these connections and these stories, and as you have more of a hook and a pitch for national media, that is when you can begin to look into hiring a more established PR company.
You definitely want to do your research and ask around and get some feedback from past clients where you can decide, okay, this is the best fit for me and my book or my business or whatever it is that you are getting coverage for.
Marcus: For those authors out there that are looking for ways outside of social media to promote their book, this is definitely an option.
Jenn: It is. You have to be prepared for an investment. Again, I would not necessarily do it for the very first book unless you know that you have a very strong pitch or you have a very strong story.
Marcus: You already mentioned that you're going to be talking about this more in The Author Circle.
Jenn: Absolutely. We're going to be covering that, so if you want to join us there, we'll have links in our show notes. Then I'll also have a link to Mary O'Donohue's website as well if you want to learn how to do more national press.
Marcus: As always, thanks for listening.
Jenn: Talk to you soon.