Publicity has intrinsic links to Marketing as it is concerned with the promotion of the finished book. A publicist has to judge how a book will be received and arrange for author signings or promotional tours in order to enhance sales. A huge amount of planning is involved as campaigns start before the book is published: the book will not only need to be carefully sold to the public, but also to book traders. Day-to-day tasks may include running through press coverage across a variety of newspapers, arranging personal appearances for authors at bookshops or signings as well as liaising with journalists, authors and the Marketing department to ensure that everyone is kept up-to-date with a book’s current reception. A successful publicist will have to work hard to guarantee the maximum level of exposure.
Publicists need to be outgoing and organised. Careful planning is key whether it be through promoting the book to journalists or by organising an author’s appearance at a bookshop. Excellent communication skills are also hugely important; writing press releases or talking with journalists, authors or agents. They need to be flexible and able to act on initiative to control the public perception of the book.
Publishing-puffette Bridget Jones has informed many people’s views of what publicity involves. But, just as our editorial departments aren’t packed with Hugh Grant look-a-likes, we do a bit more than ‘fannying around with a press release’.
In publicity our job is to create a buzz around the publication of a book and un-missable coverage, raise the profile of our author and build relations with media contacts.
I studied English at University and started in publicity in 2001 after a work experience placement at Virago. I loved my time there and it was refreshing and exciting to work with living authors after studying all the dead ‘great and the good’. I moved onto Penguin to become a publicity manager and joined Jonathan Cape as Publicity Director two years ago.
My job involves placing interviews with our authors across the media, encouraging literary editors to run reviews of the books, pitching for author-written opinion pieces, securing invitations for authors to literary festivals and bookshop events and arranging all the logistics around that, and being the unfailingly polite, sympathetic and responsive point of contact between the author and publishing house.
In a typical month a publicist will work on 2-3 titles. I begin to work on a campaign anywhere between 6 and 3 months before publication date. This week I have written a press release and arranged for advance proofs to go out to the women’s magazines, pitched a news story from a history book to the broadsheets, given feedback to the rest of the company about good reviews, liaised with an agent about an extract and author interview deal in one of the supplements, secured and set up a date for a Radio 4 interview next week and provided pictures to go with a feature in The Guardian Family section. I try and read the papers and listen to the radio as much as I can – if you are going to make a pitch to a producer or journalist you have to know what their brief is and what would make a successful feature or interview.
So, it’s a role that involves creativity, fiendish organisation and forward planning, and being persuasive, energetic and flexible.
My favourite part of my job is working closely with our authors and journalists and the variety of people and topics you work with. One day I’ll be reading about the painter Edward Burra and finding out about twentieth century art-lovers and writers, the next day the new Rushdie novel will land on my desk. I love learning about so many different topics and the opportunity this job gives you to visit literary festivals all over the country, accompanying authors to their interviews and working in a dynamic environment with people who spend their days talking about books.
