Questions re hiring book publicists

[Lily]

Hi Everyone, My third novel will be released this July, and I'm considering hiring a publicist to help get out the word about my book. However, from the research I've done so far, I've discovered that good PR people are extremely (outrageously!) costly, and I would love some feedback from other authors who have taken this route. Has it been worth it? What did it cost you? Are there any publicists you can highly recommend.

Thanks for your input!

[Zee]

Hi Lily
I don't have a publicist per se - she is more a virtual author assistant, but she is the one who arranges newsletter swaps for me and handles my ARC crew and review requests. I pay her by the hour - choosing how many hours to get every month. Mine is one of the more expensive assistants in the lot, but there are others who ask for less but they might just be beginning and thus building their stable of authors. Still, even the expensive ones aren't as pricey as the big PR ones.
I deal with Aurora Publicity - this is their site http://www.aurorapublicity.com/
My assistant is Pam Labbe, and I cannot recommend her enough - she is my gem!
Hope this helps!

[Lily]

Zee wrote: "Hi Lily
I don't have a publicist per se - she is more a virtual author assistant, but she is the one who arranges newsletter swaps for me and handles my ARC crew and review requests. I pay her by t..."

Thanks so much for this info, Zee. I wasn't aware of this kind of service, though it sounds as if it's aimed at writers in the romance genre. I wonder if there are other firms similar to this that handle literary/women's contemporary fiction.

[Zee]

Lily wrote: "Zee wrote: "Hi Lily
I don't have a publicist per se - she is more a virtual author assistant, but she is the one who arranges newsletter swaps for me and handles my ARC crew and review requests. I ..."

There must be someone in there handling women's contemporary fiction! Drop them a line - cannot hurt :)

[Julia]

Would recommend ReadersMagnet for publicity. They specialize and worked with alot of self published authors..