Hiring a publicist to promote my book for me

AHunter3

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The Story of Q: A GenderQueer Tale, a 97,000 word genderqueer coming-out and coming-of-age memoir, shall be published by Ellora's Cave. (I have the signed contract now, it's official).


https://www.ellorascave.com/


It will be available in digital format first, on Ellora's Cave's own website, on Amazon, theoretically on ARe*, and on Kobo Books, and Barnes & Noble, and Apple.




* ARe is a web site devoted to erotica titles, which makes sense for Ellora's Cave's traditional oeuvre, but less so for THE STORY OF Q. But if they want to carry it who am I to quarrel?




The book will also be available in physical form as a paperback book, something fundamentally important and viscerally appealing to my 20th-century experiences.


Ellora's Cave is a publisher focused until recently on steamy erotic romances. However, as their front page explicitly states, they are "now accepting new genres". I'm not 100% certain but I *think* my book will be printed under their new imprint "EC For Real", insofar as that is the one designated for memoirs, although it might also come out under "EC for LGBTQ", depending I suppose on whether that imprint is intended to incorporate LGBTQ nonfiction or will be focused on LGBTQ erotica and romance.


So they're doing new things, and I, as a newbie author, am definitely going to be doing new things, and I'm quite looking forward to the experience.


I have already had a leisurely chatty conversation with the editor, Susan Edwards, who will be working hands-on with me to refine and polish the manuscript; she began our conversation by asking what my preferred pronouns are, and expressed warmth and enthusiasm for the project, stating that this is a wonderful time for a genderqueer memoir to be hitting the market.




Due to the economic challenges of the publishing market, Ellora's Cave isn't directly able to engage the services of a publicity engine to promote their authors' books, so that will be up to me. I have no skills but I have my own personal publicity budget and an inclination to hire a professional publicist with it -- perhaps more than one. (If you have experience with a publicist you think would be a good match for this project, please get in touch with me!).




What I do have is a talk, which I have already been taking on the road, and I will be attempting to get myself booked more often now that I have a book coming out.
 

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The Story of Q: A GenderQueer Tale, a 97,000 word genderqueer coming-out and coming-of-age memoir, shall be published by Ellora's Cave. (I have the signed contract now, it's official).


https://www.ellorascave.com/


[snipped]

Due to the economic challenges of the publishing market, Ellora's Cave isn't directly able to engage the services of a publicity engine to promote their authors' books, so that will be up to me. I have no skills but I have my own personal publicity budget and an inclination to hire a professional publicist with it -- perhaps more than one. (If you have experience with a publicist you think would be a good match for this project, please get in touch with me!).

I think you're very brave, publishing with Ellora's Cave right now.

I am not convinced that their lack of a decent publicist has anything to do with "the economic challenges of the publishing market". Please don't spend any money you can't afford to lose on publicising your book. I hope it goes well for you, but you need to be very, very careful.
 

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What the heck else would I spend money on? :Shrug: It's kind of what money is for, if you see what I mean.

It's your money, of course you can spend it however you like. But even if your promotional efforts result in sales, remember that according to our BR&BC thread, your new publisher has a history of not paying its authors. So don't expect to get any of it back.

You have been astonishingly fearless in signing with them. I hope that my fears are unfounded and that you do really well.
 

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I do appreciate your concern.

I am hoping EC is off to a new start on a better footing. If I have any worries, they are not so much about me not getting royalty payments but rather them going belly-up and not actually producing my book, or not doing so in a timely manner, or getting crossways with Amazon or one of the other resellers, things like that.

But for publicizing the book, it's something that has to be done. I'm not capable of doing it "manually" (e.g., blogging and tweeting about it, or plastering the walls of the city with ads for it or whatever) and therefore I want a publicist; unless I'm being dense, the usefulness of doing so isn't really contingent upon Ellora's Cave and their behaviors as a publisher, other than their statement that they are not in a position of putting money towards promoting new authors' books as they used to do -- that being unfortunate but not a good reason for me not to get a publicist, right?
 

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I do appreciate your concern.

I'm glad. My words were meant well but I do realise they could be difficult to hear.

I am hoping EC is off to a new start on a better footing. If I have any worries, they are not so much about me not getting royalty payments but rather them going belly-up and not actually producing my book, or not doing so in a timely manner, or getting crossways with Amazon or one of the other resellers, things like that.

I can see all of those things happening, I'm afraid.

But for publicizing the book, it's something that has to be done. I'm not capable of doing it "manually" (e.g., blogging and tweeting about it, or plastering the walls of the city with ads for it or whatever) and therefore I want a publicist;

A publicist isn't going to do those things for you.

A publicist doesn't buy ads, or tweet or blog on your behalf--at least, the good ones don't. Publicists set up opportunities for you to exploit. So they'll arrange a blog tour, but you'll still have to write the blog posts and participate in the chatting that goes on after; they'll set up a booksigning or two, but you'll have to turn up and sign the books.

unless I'm being dense, the usefulness of doing so isn't really contingent upon Ellora's Cave and their behaviors as a publisher, other than their statement that they are not in a position of putting money towards promoting new authors' books as they used to do -- that being unfortunate but not a good reason for me not to get a publicist, right?

I'm not quite sure what you're asking here but I'll answer what I think you're asking!

My concerns are that your book will be published badly (for example, it might not be edited well; it might not be produced well; it might not come out on time; that sort of thing) and no matter what efforts you make, with your publicist, if your book isn't readily available at the time you focus your publicity efforts, or if it's a hot unedited mess, or if the production of it involves some sort of screw up, then all your efforts will be thwarted.

Good publicists don't come cheap: you're talking several hundred quid, perhaps a few thousand if you're going to do it properly (a friend of mine routinely spends £10k on a publicist for her books: she is not a major seller but is a recognised name). All for sales which might not happen, and which you might not get paid for (judging by the recent stories in the EC thread).

Read this thread:

[h=3]How to promote your book like an intelligent human being and not an SEO Dweeb[/h]
The first post in that thread is particularly useful. Do all it says. Read up a bit in the Self Promotion room, and in the Self Publishing room. And if you are prepared to listen to my advice, don't throw your money away by hiring a publicist. I really don't think it will be effective.
 

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Good publicists don't come cheap: you're talking several hundred quid, perhaps a few thousand if you're going to do it properly (a friend of mine routinely spends £10k on a publicist for her books: she is not a major seller but is a recognised name)

Oh yeah :)

Can you please please pretty please ferret out for me the contact information for the publicist she uses?
 

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I know which agency she uses. It's the UK's primary publishing PR agency and it's easy enough to find.

Do not use them. You can't afford to. You will not recoup anything you pay them, because of the issues with your publisher.
 

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I probably won't use them, insofar as I'm in the US and prefer someone with a lot of familiarity with local venues that I can get to easily.

Forget "recoup". Recoup is not a relevant consideration. I know I've mentioned it before but I do understand that it's not a conventional approach, at least not here on this forum; I do realize that many (probably most) of the authors who post here are hoping and anticipating that writing books will bring in money. That's not where my head is at, though.
 
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I know which agency she uses. It's the UK's primary publishing PR agency and it's easy enough to find. Do not use them. You can't afford to. You will not recoup anything you pay them, because of the issues with your publisher.
I probably won't use them, insofar as I'm in the US
They are huge in the UK. They are also huge in the US. They have probably worked on more English-speaking market best-sellers than any other agency.
and prefer someone with a lot of familiarity with local venues that I can get to easily.
Please clarify. What do you expect a PR agency to do for you? Because this comment implies that you expect them to arrange events for you at local venues, which is fine: but it's such a small part of what a good PR agency does; it only has a tiny impact on your sales, compared to all the other things they do; and it seems very restrictive to only want to work locally, when you have the whole country to sell to.
Forget "recoup". Recoup is not a relevant consideration. I know I've mentioned it before but I do understand that it's not a conventional approach, at least not here on this forum; I do realize that many (probably most) of the authors who post here are hoping and anticipating that writing books will bring in money. That's not where my head is at, though.
OK, I'll forget "recoup". How about we replace it with "reaching more of your readership"? Is that what you hope to achieve? Because I'm afraid that the many problems your publisher has are going to stop you doing that, too, and the reasons I gave with regard to recouping any money you might invest in a publicist work on this level too. If you reach your readership you'll sell copies, and recoup your investment. I hope I'm wrong. I really do.
 

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The primary pools of readership I want to reach are people in women's studies (or interested in feminist topics) and people in the LGBTQ communities. Since interest in transgender issues is trending, there's a penumbra target market consisting of people who have become interested in transgender issues.

• I want to speak to classrooms and make presentations and do talks and be on panel discussions

• I want to be directed in a general "boost me up the learning curve" way as to what I should participate in online (tweeting blogging posting etc) aside from what I'm doing now -- to be given "homework" by someone who knows what an author in my situation really oughta be doing

• I want every formal club or organization associated with LGBTQ or feminist studies in the greater New York City metropolitan region to be aware of this book, and, ideally, to be aware that all the others in that class have been made aware of it, i.e., something to form an opinion of

• I want to do readings of selections from my book at places where authors do such readings, in front of audiences who are generically interested in new books and, especially, in front of audiences who are interested in gender and sexual identity material

• I want book reviews: in periodicals for whom a large chunk of their readership is feminist and/or LGBTQ


"Local" for me is Long Island, New York City, Westchester and other lower- NYS counties, northeastern New Jersey, western Connecticut, and thanks to Amtrak I'll say Philadelphia and Boston. These are places where if someone expressed interest in having me show up to participate or present, I can get there cheaply and quickly and on very short notice. In other words I live in a convenient place :) I'm not uninterested in audiences in Brisbane or Liverpool but it would be a much more challenging and expensive endeavor to hie myself off to such locales for a 2 hour presentation and question-and-answer session.


I may decide after doing my research that my money is best spent on self-directed publicity efforts, but I need to first DO that research so I can MAKE that assessment. And I'm strongly predisposed towards hiring someone because I think I'd be pathetic at it. OK not entirely -- I am looking at doing the initial correspondence with regional women's studies programs on my own, and quickly before the fall semester gets underway. And I have a blog and will continue blogging. (Clueless about how to direct more traffic to it though).

I have a publicity budget and the possibility of increasing its size. At the moment I'm trying to find out what $3000 will buy me, what $6000 will buy me, what $10,000 will buy me. And of course, from whom -- what people or firms have done good work especially for authors writing materials marketed to feminist and LGBTQ audiences?

Is the Public Relations Society of America a good resource? How about the Boswell's List maintained by Biographer's International?


I do appreciate people telling me "be wary, be cautious of scammers" and also "you might be better off spending your money on a web redesign and saving the rest for travel expenses". But yeah, let's move on, I sort of got that bit, consider it acknowledged with appreciation. I'm trying to explore my options in order to make an informed decision.
 

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The primary pools of readership I want to reach are people in women's studies (or interested in feminist topics) and people in the LGBTQ communities. Since interest in transgender issues is trending, there's a penumbra target market consisting of people who have become interested in transgender issues.

• I want to speak to classrooms and make presentations and do talks and be on panel discussions

What do you mean by "classrooms"? High school? University?

Bear in mind that Ellora's Cave is primarily an e-book publisher, so you're not likely to have print copies to sell at these events: which means that you'll be listened to and probably forgotten. Few people are going to buy your book as a result of these talks, I'm afraid. (As a non-fic editor I've seen lots of authors do what you're suggesting here, and have not yet seen one of them do well by it.)

• I want to be directed in a general "boost me up the learning curve" way as to what I should participate in online (tweeting blogging posting etc) aside from what I'm doing now -- to be given "homework" by someone who knows what an author in my situation really oughta be doing

All this side of things is covered in our "SEO Dweeb" thread in the book promotion room; and you're welcome to start a thread in that room asking for the help you need.

• I want every formal club or organization associated with LGBTQ or feminist studies in the greater New York City metropolitan region to be aware of this book, and, ideally, to be aware that all the others in that class have been made aware of it, i.e., something to form an opinion of

Such organisations are deluged with press releases and sales efforts from writers and service providers but they don't often pass any of that information onto their members. And again, I'm not entirely sure this will help sell many books. Further, restricting yourself to New York isn't going to be very effective.

If you want to reach the members of those clubs, then get your book reviewed in the publications they read, get yourself in front of them in the media and press they enjoy.

If you want to become part of a feminist studies cohort you're going to need to be involved in the teaching and syllabus formulation.

• I want to do readings of selections from my book at places where authors do such readings, in front of audiences who are generically interested in new books and, especially, in front of audiences who are interested in gender and sexual identity material

Readings are fun when they go well but they are not very good sales tools. They work well for well-established writers, who already have a following; for new writers of niche books, like yours, they are not very effective. For writers of e-books, they are not very effective.

• I want book reviews: in periodicals for whom a large chunk of their readership is feminist and/or LGBTQ

That IS a good thing to achieve, but it's difficult.

You're going to be one of hundreds of authors competing for two or three review slots a month if you're lucky. Reviews in good publications are notoriously difficult to get. You'll need a good press pack, which a publicist can help you with: you might find that a lot of the best publications here will only consider print editions, so you'll need a couple of hundred copies to send out.

"Local" for me is Long Island, New York City, Westchester and other lower- NYS counties, northeastern New Jersey, western Connecticut, and thanks to Amtrak I'll say Philadelphia and Boston. These are places where if someone expressed interest in having me show up to participate or present, I can get there cheaply and quickly and on very short notice. In other words I live in a convenient place :) I'm not uninterested in audiences in Brisbane or Liverpool but it would be a much more challenging and expensive endeavor to hie myself off to such locales for a 2 hour presentation and question-and-answer session.

I assume your publisher won't cover your expenses for any of this? That's one of the problems with small presses. And again, you're restricting yourself greatly in geographical coverage, which means you're restricting your sales.

What might work better for you is interviews in local press and radio: there are many column-inches and airwaves to fill and if you're ok with phone interviews, and prove to be a witty and entertaining interviewee, you might do well. It'll get you wider coverage, reach more people, and could do well for you. This is something a good publicist should be able to set up for you, and I do think it could be effective. BUT... it's most effective for print editions, which are easily available in bookshops, and I don't think your publisher produces print editions or has full distribution, so again, it might not work well for you.

I may decide after doing my research that my money is best spent on self-directed publicity efforts, but I need to first DO that research so I can MAKE that assessment. And I'm strongly predisposed towards hiring someone because I think I'd be pathetic at it. OK not entirely -- I am looking at doing the initial correspondence with regional women's studies programs on my own, and quickly before the fall semester gets underway. And I have a blog and will continue blogging. (Clueless about how to direct more traffic to it though).

I have a publicity budget and the possibility of increasing its size. At the moment I'm trying to find out what $3000 will buy me, what $6000 will buy me, what $10,000 will buy me. And of course, from whom -- what people or firms have done good work especially for authors writing materials marketed to feminist and LGBTQ audiences?

Don't spend that much money. Please.

Is the Public Relations Society of America a good resource? How about the Boswell's List maintained by Biographer's International?

To do what, exactly?

I do appreciate people telling me "be wary, be cautious of scammers" and also "you might be better off spending your money on a web redesign and saving the rest for travel expenses". But yeah, let's move on, I sort of got that bit, consider it acknowledged with appreciation. I'm trying to explore my options in order to make an informed decision.

It looks to me like you're coming up with a list of stuff you've seen other people talk about in relation to book publicity. You've refined it a bit, targeted it at your potential readership: but you've not looked into it at all to see if it works, or how it works. Much of the stuff you've mentioned works ok for best-selling writers with established readerships, who are published by the Big Five: but it's not really helpful for new writers, niche writers, writers who don't have print editions, and so on.

My advice, as an ex-marketing director, is to step back and think about what you're doing. Consider who your potential readers are, and how best to reach them. That's all you need to do. Stop worrying about publicity budgets and instead think about the people who might want to read your book--not groups of people, but actual, real people--and work out who they are and how to reach them.

Read our SEO Dweeb thread and follow all the advice in the first post to the letter.

On top of that, if your publisher is going to publish a print edition, then find out if it has full distribution--not just a wholesale account, but a full distribution account with active sales teams selling your book into bookshops.

If they do have that, then it might be worth employing a publicist to get you a series of interviews with radio and press. If not, then I'm not sure it's worth doing.

Find a list of conferences where you think your book might sell and offer your services as a speaker. (Again, this is only really going to work if you have a print edition: conferences make a lot of their money through book sales.) You don't need to have a publicist to do this. And you should be paid for your services, and have your expenses covered, so you won't lose money at it.

And through all this, remember that several writers have now reported that the publisher you're with has not paid them, and has caused lots of other problems. Tread carefully. Watch your back.
 

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The primary pools of readership I want to reach are people in women's studies (or interested in feminist topics) and people in the LGBTQ communities. Since interest in transgender issues is trending, there's a penumbra target market consisting of people who have become interested in transgender issues.

• I want to speak to classrooms and make presentations and do talks and be on panel discussions

That's not going to happen with EC. It's just not. You're not going to be even on the radar. Moreover, you're competing against some well-respected and academically qualified writers; people like Judith Butler and Deirdre McClosky

I say this as someone who taught in Women's Studies, Gender Studies and Queer Theory classes and organized conferences. You're going to need credentials for this market. Serious credentials.

There's no shortage of fiction or non fiction. It's not a new field either; the first trans studies dissertation I know of was done in the 1990s. If this is your market, you need a publisher who understands the market, and EC doesn't at all. EC is an erotica publisher that's not at all respected or even known outside of their niche.

One possible model for you might be the writer known as Mx. Sinclair Sexsmith.
 
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Thanks for your comments, Admin. Those were my concerns too.
 

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I will have print copies to sell at these events. That was one of my concerns too. Their standard contract is negotiable. I negotiated.

I appreciate the recommendation of the SEO Dweeb whatever-it-is, as I would never have clicked on anything named "SEO Dweeb"* and assumed it had anything relevant to these matters. Perhaps I will obtain helpful advice. (Or alternatively perhaps I will receive advice telling me that I want the wrong things, asking me why I want them, then telling me those things won't make me happy... but I suppose it doesn't hurt to try it and find out).

Don't spend that much money. Please.

I totally don't understand you. Up until I hit this sentence it sounded like you were telling me that even my miniscule expectations of x occurring consequent to y were not likely to be borne out, which was making me think I need to spend considerably more money in order to make this book go somewhere. Heck, it sounds like you're telling me I need to buy Ellora's Cave and run it myself. I probably can't afford that.

* what's "SEO"? what's "Dweeb"? urbandictionary says "a dorky or nerdy person". That much fits.
 
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Nevermind, I read from your blog that you've already signed the contract with EC, so I removed my post about other options.

Here's info for any future projects if you ever consider self-publishing. She has a lot of experience and information: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/publishing/
 
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Hi. I think I'm an SEO Dweeb, although I'm not sure. I sort of know what a Dweeb is and I am guessing that my cluelessness about SEO makes it that much more likely that I qualify?

I'm a social iconoclast shy snob. There's probably something insufferably arrogant about writing a book and expecting a bunch of folks to read it when I don't have much motivation to pay attention to the thoughts of typical ordinary people around me (hence not much interest in Facebook, Twitter, television, pop culture in general, etc), but I did and I do and fixing my arrogance probably isn't the shortest route to anything, so let's cut to the chase: I can't market stuff. Too clueless.

I have a publication deal with a niche publisher who, as the OP of this thread expressed it, is "without a sales staff or marketing department" or close enough to it to treat it as such. So my first inclination is to hire a publicist.

Old Hack, who sent me hither, thinks that's a bad inclination. On the other hand, when I outlined a few of the tiny handful of things I thought I myself was qualified to do as far as book promo, Old Hack said those were bad inclinations, a waste of time and effort etc. Which to my way of thinking just underlines how clueless I am and therefore how much I need a publicist. Hell, I could probably recruit the first homeless person I come to in Manhattan to do the job and it would be in better hands already than were I to approach this as a do-it-yourself book promotion attempt.

I do of course want to hire someone a bit more qualified than the beforementioned first-encountered homeless person, and also somewhat ethical and not wholly inclined to simply take my money and do nothing useful. Recommendations would be nice. Meta-recommendations (as in "you'll find some listings of publicists that one or more authors says does not suck over here at this website") woud be nice.

Or, if you don't think hiring a publicist is the best use of my resources, you may choose to say so, although being a horribly arrogant person I'll probably listen to what you think I should do instead and then ask you what your going rate is and when you're available to start doing that for me.
 

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Or, if you don't think hiring a publicist is the best use of my resources, you may choose to say so, although being a horribly arrogant person I'll probably listen to what you think I should do instead and then ask you what your going rate is and when you're available to start doing that for me.


I know probably twenty writers who have hired independent publicists. I only know one who said she would do it a second time. I'm not even sure, given her sales, why she feels that way.

I don't have much advice on what you should do, but I know just about no one who was happy with the results of an independent publicist. Contacting prominent book blogs to review your book (although they usually need several weeks-to-months lead time) is an option. Meeting with independent bookstores to see if they will carry your title (on consignment, if needs be.) Goodreads giveaways are an option as well.

Social media is not a great selling tool, not for fiction anyway. It's doesn't hurt to be on there, engaging with people, but it's mostly hopeless (and possibly worse than) using it primarily to sell books.
 
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Yeah. I'm on face book and I see authors that post to these groups that are all about promo, but the only one on those groups are other authors trying to sell their books. It's like going to a Tupperware sales party where everyone there is there to sell Tupperware, and nobody wants to buy.


I'll post every now and then, certainly send out tweets, but beyond that, I'm not sure what to do to get my books out there when I have 0 budget to spend.
 

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My book is nonfiction, a memoir, niche area of interest. I doubt that social media is a great selling tool for me either. (Book is a genderqueer coming-out story, most likely to be of interest to other genderqueer people, people who counsel or provide services to LGBTQ young folk, the LGTBQ community in general, folks interested in gender and gender identity in general such as feminist theorists and women's studies teachers and queer studies people). Not gonna be on the book rack at Penn Station.

Prospective audience isn't terribly large but still a busy enough world and I'd like them collectively to be aware of my book and to have the sense that others in their (above-defined) community may have been made aware of it. That's a lofty enough goal, I think. There isn't much in the way of genderqueer coming-out tales, stories that show what it means to be genderqueer, etc, to the extent that there is for lesbian, gay, and transgender. I have hopes that for people in the overall community to hear that there is one will prompt a little curiosity, more so if what makes them aware of its existence is a favorable review or something.

I have a publicity budget and if I spend it on attempts and it still languishes, that's the breaks.
 

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If your goal is to reach genderqueer youth and older adults, many of whom are not out or don't really know about the genderqueer identity--I would say the internet in general and social media in particular would be your primary avenue for promotion. What approach do you think would be better?
 

Old Hack

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Hi. I think I'm an SEO Dweeb, although I'm not sure. I sort of know what a Dweeb is and I am guessing that my cluelessness about SEO makes it that much more likely that I qualify?

I'm a social iconoclast shy snob. There's probably something insufferably arrogant about writing a book and expecting a bunch of folks to read it when I don't have much motivation to pay attention to the thoughts of typical ordinary people around me (hence not much interest in Facebook, Twitter, television, pop culture in general, etc), but I did and I do and fixing my arrogance probably isn't the shortest route to anything, so let's cut to the chase: I can't market stuff. Too clueless.

I have a publication deal with a niche publisher who, as the OP of this thread expressed it, is "without a sales staff or marketing department" or close enough to it to treat it as such. So my first inclination is to hire a publicist.

Old Hack, who sent me hither, thinks that's a bad inclination. On the other hand, when I outlined a few of the tiny handful of things I thought I myself was qualified to do as far as book promo, Old Hack said those were bad inclinations, a waste of time and effort etc. Which to my way of thinking just underlines how clueless I am and therefore how much I need a publicist. Hell, I could probably recruit the first homeless person I come to in Manhattan to do the job and it would be in better hands already than were I to approach this as a do-it-yourself book promotion attempt.

I do of course want to hire someone a bit more qualified than the beforementioned first-encountered homeless person, and also somewhat ethical and not wholly inclined to simply take my money and do nothing useful. Recommendations would be nice. Meta-recommendations (as in "you'll find some listings of publicists that one or more authors says does not suck over here at this website") woud be nice.

Or, if you don't think hiring a publicist is the best use of my resources, you may choose to say so, although being a horribly arrogant person I'll probably listen to what you think I should do instead and then ask you what your going rate is and when you're available to start doing that for me.

Here's the post in which you outlined what you want a publicist to achieve for you.

You've mentioned that you're considering spending several thousand dollars on your publicity efforts. You're being published by Ellora's Cave--a publisher which only started publishing anything other than erotic fiction in the last few months, which mostly only publishes digital editions, and which in the last few months has allegedly failed to provide royalty statements, failed to pay royalties, continued selling books where rights have been reverted to the author, and which has taken legal action against a prominent book blogger, so poisoning the well for its authors to get decent reviews anywhere else. This is not a publisher which is going to get you the things you want, no matter how much you spend on your publicity efforts, I'm afraid.

You'll do far better if you follow the advice in the first post of this thread, and spend time writing another book, rather than spending money and time on promoting this book. I'm sorry to be so blunt: but there it is.

My book is nonfiction, a memoir, niche area of interest. I doubt that social media is a great selling tool for me either. (Book is a genderqueer coming-out story, most likely to be of interest to other genderqueer people, people who counsel or provide services to LGBTQ young folk, the LGTBQ community in general, folks interested in gender and gender identity in general such as feminist theorists and women's studies teachers and queer studies people). Not gonna be on the book rack at Penn Station.

Prospective audience isn't terribly large but still a busy enough world and I'd like them collectively to be aware of my book and to have the sense that others in their (above-defined) community may have been made aware of it. That's a lofty enough goal, I think. There isn't much in the way of genderqueer coming-out tales, stories that show what it means to be genderqueer, etc, to the extent that there is for lesbian, gay, and transgender. I have hopes that for people in the overall community to hear that there is one will prompt a little curiosity, more so if what makes them aware of its existence is a favorable review or something.

I have a publicity budget and if I spend it on attempts and it still languishes, that's the breaks.

The prospective audience for a book of this type is huge, if it's published well. It could introduce the concept of genderqueerness to a whole new audience. It is topical and has strong potential. But because of who it's published with and how it's being published, it is not going to do those things I'm afraid. No matter how much you pay a publicist.

This book won't have a proper print run. Your publisher does not have distribution or a sales team, as far as I can see. And as you've already been advised in the thread I linked to earlier, by a writer and academic who is an expert in the field in which you're hoping to work:

That's not going to happen with EC. It's just not. You're not going to be even on the radar. Moreover, you're competing against some well-respected and academically qualified writers; people like Judith Butler and Deirdre McClosky

I say this as someone who taught in Women's Studies, Gender Studies and Queer Theory classes and organized conferences. You're going to need credentials for this market. Serious credentials.

There's no shortage of fiction or non fiction. It's not a new field either; the first trans studies dissertation I know of was done in the 1990s. If this is your market, you need a publisher who understands the market, and EC doesn't at all. EC is an erotica publisher that's not at all respected or even known outside of their niche.

One possible model for you might be the writer known as Mx. Sinclair Sexsmith.

Again, I'm sorry to be so blunt. I really am. I do hope your book sells well. But at this point I think that the best thing you can do to help it sell well is write other books, related articles, and so on.
 

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So, as a former reporter for Southern Voice, Atlanta's weekly LGBT newspaper, which was part of Window's Media, one of the largest LGBT media companies in America, I can say good luck. As someone familiar with the spaces you're trying to get into there isn't a earned media space to go around, and you're not high on the list of people who would get it.

I used to be the primary writer who would interview authors, and the criteria included time hook, local connection, community interest, and quality of the work. For example Gregory Maguire was probably the top selling GLBT fiction writer at the time, Wicked was at the Fox, he had a new book out, and the only way I got to interview him was because he came to Outwrite to do a book signing. We had a lot of local LGBT authors and we ignored them because they had no readership and we didn't want to waste the ink and a writer's time on stories that had little reader interest.

Prides aren't going to give you free space to promote your books other than open mic events. The old Outwrite bookstore in the center of Atlanta's gayborhood required an author who could reliably draw 75 people to their event before booking a signing or a reading. I know the people who run the writer's track at the Decatur Book Festival and even with that connection I won't be able to speak there the first year my book is out.

Also, it's rare for unknown memoirists to merit any attention with their first book. Everyone has a story, and a lot of people write them down and publish them. Having an unproven house doesn't look good to a lot of editors and writers.

The other thing that you don't seem to have a profile in the community. I've read your query, and you don't seem to have a history of advocacy with the community. The LGBT community can be very much, "What have you ever done for me?" and it doesn't sound like you've been a public advocate for the community, and the community doesn't know you.

To me it sounds like you want to be Jazz Jennings, because she does all of the things that you say you want to do. The problem is Jazz is compelling because she's current, she's the future, she became well know because she was an advocate first. She was the youngest person ever diagnosed with GID, and that captured the nation's attention leading to her book deal and TV show.

What I'm say if is if I were still a journalist it would be very difficult for me to pitch you to an editor. Had you been one of the first public advocates for transgender individuals, like pre-2000's, you'd be a very easy sale for example. But it sounds like you're unknown, don't have a social media platform, and don't have a public history with the LGBT community, which is going to make your book a difficult sell.

My best advice would be to forget spending money on publicists and spend that money on attending prides. You're money would be much better spent, in my opinion, going to Prides, selling books by hand and meeting people. That's the best way to reach a broad cross-section of the LGBT community. Get yourself a booth, invest in quality printed promotional material, some attention getting chachki's and meet people face to face and unabashedly sell your book.

All of those things you want to do like speaking in feminists spaces are great, but that's the candy that established writers get, and you have to earn that candy.
 
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Sadly true. Just the mere fact that Ellora's Cave put it out would keep me from reviewing it or even considering it for review, and I'm a nobody. You'll very likely do better if you write, publish, and promote a completely new mms...somewhere other than EC.