Book Publicists?!

Huh? I've never heard that. Publicity is something with which you concern yourself once the book's published, I always thought.

One step at a time, little grasshopper. Yes, you can hire a publicist but this is not something you need to worry about until after you get an agent and have been published.

Also, I don't think it's a requirement. If you are very lucky, at some stage in your career you will need one but I suspect this need only occurs once you've hit a certain level of sales (published folk feel free to jump in and correct) and are doing major publicity.

I take it you have neither yet.

Find an Agent first and forget the publicist.

Leigh86 said:

Holy Crap! Okay, I just got used to having to find a literary agent, but now I find out that I'll eventually need to get a literary publicist too??!!
Somebody help me out here!

Click to expand...

Leigh86 said:

Holy Crap! Okay, I just got used to having to find a literary agent, but now I find out that I'll eventually need to get a literary publicist too??!!
Somebody help me out here!

Click to expand...

You don't necessarily need a book publicist.

However, if you choose to hire one, there are many good ones, and you won't need to hire one until after you've signed your book contract. In fact, it would be silly to hire one before then, because they need to know things like your book's release date before they can do anything on your behalf.

So don't borrow trouble--wait until you've got a book contract, and then come back here and we'll give you recommendations for book publicists if you want one.

Your publisher will handle most publicity. If you want to hire another publicist, that's fine too, but it's not something you have to worry about at this stage -- and possibly not ever.

Also the good news about publicists is that you don't have to audition for them. Yes some of the top ones can afford to be pickier, but you pay them to do a job. It isn't quite the same as finding an agent, it's more like when you hire a lawyer or something. So if and when you do decide you want an outside publicist, it's a much easier task. Problem is, it can also get quite pricey.

I will add that since acquiring my publicist, I have been very very happy with the results. Some of you guys saw the article with the photoshoot that I mentioned in "Goals and Accomplishments" that I did. That was all courtesy of my publicist. She's excellent at thinking outside the box. But the others here make a good point as well. Hopefully your publisher's publicist will do most of the work. It just all depends. Because, to be honest, some in house publicists aren't that great, and even if they are, they are stretched thin representing all the house's authors, not just you.

It's a case by case kind of thing.

Right, as most have said, many publishers will publicize the book. If it's not to the scale you like, then you can hire a publicist. Some agencies, like Folio, offer free publicity services to their authors and extra items at a cost.

It's also possible to publicize, at least locally, on your own.

My second publisher hires the publicist - and at no expense to the author, of course. Just wait until you have a publisher offer to publish the book then see what they say about it.

I've known many fairly successful published authors (my husband included) and none of them ever hired a publicist. Unless you anticipate a ton of money in royalties, it generally isn't worth it. Publicity is a lot of hard work, but you can do a great deal of it on your own. I would buy a PR book and spend sometime learning about publicity while you are querying agents.