How to Get Your Book Published in 7000 Easy Steps – A Practical Guide. STEP 5: ENTER THE PUBLICIST
If you paid careful attention to the introductory materials or even mildly skimmed the author handbook, you should have by now at least heard of the concept of a publicist. But, like me, I fear you may have subconsciously passed over this bit, telling yourself that you didn’t need to read this part.
Well, sorry to tell you, darlings, but this is incorrect.
You very much need to hire a publicist. This might sound dreadfully expensive, and sorry, it is, so this might be the time to break open the piggy bank or “borrow” from your kids’ college fund. Not naming names, but suffice it to say I know someone, rather intimately, I might add, who resorted to this, never mind that one of said kids is currently in college, which makes for a somewhat sticky situation. But I digress.
This is where you begin to understand the difference between what a publisher does and what a publicist does. A basic rule of thumb is that the publisher is responsible for everything that has to do with producing your book – designing, editing, printing, distributing, selling. The publicist is responsible for everything that has to do with promoting your book, and (as silly as it sounds) developing you into a “brand” – not your book necessarily, but you.
This, unfortunately, is what I meant back in Step 3 by putting on the marketing hat. And if you’re still trying to land the deal from the Big 5 – comfortably assuming meanwhile that publicity is included in the package – don’t hold your breath. Sadly this kind of built-in publicity is becoming a thing of the past, especially for an unknown.
Nowadays, the Big 5 puts almost zero dollars into publicity and marketing for any of its authors, except the giants, who, ironically, don’t really need publicity at this point, but then again, product placement on that first table as you enter any given Barnes and Noble is expensive. The Big 5 are spending a lot of their publicity budget to make sure that the first book you see upon strolling in is one by Ken Follett or J.K. Rowling, as if you needed any reminding of their existence.
That leaves very little, if any, publicity dollars for you, the unknown, though this seems more than a little unfair. What this really means, however, is that no matter how you publish, you will be forced to either do your own publicity or to hire someone. And while it is, I suppose, plausible to do your own “buzzing,” hiring a publicist adds a flavor of legitimacy to you that you so desperately need.
Besides making you sound important at parties when you casually mention that you have a publicist, hiring a public relations firm is essential to your cause in that they not only begin building your social platform, but they are responsible for sending press releases and galleys to media outlets, setting up interviews on TV/radio and online, blog tours, reviews in the trades, endorsements, and speaking engagements as well as getting new fresh content published to extend your visibility and reach. They teach you that you must think beyond your little locale to a bigger, national, if not global, audience.
All of these things are of course crucial to your success, but the real reason you need a publicist, however, has to do, oddly, with the book distributor – Ingram. And Ingram, you will be astonished to learn, holds all of the keys to the publishing world.
Exactly how this entity called Ingram and the publicist are connected is a bigger story than this space allows for, dear readers, so we will pick it up next week in Step 6.
But don’t be discouraged – not yet, anyway!
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STEP 5: ENTER THE PUBLICIST appeared first on Michelle Cox.
