Specifics
This. Plus, the reviewer discussed what happened during a conversation between herself and a representative of your company--a conversation that she took part in. I would say that is personal experience and she has every right to review her personal experience with your company.
Since personal experiences vary, it would help if you would address the specifics of your disagreements with what she reported.
I was asked to provide specifics, so here they are. My intent was not bully anyone; when my company -- which has a terrific reputation in the publishing industry -- is called scam artists and extortionists, it is very upsetting. Again, if someone wants to comment on our book marketing services and how effective we were at promoting a book -- I welcome it. When someone who never even hired us writes a review like this, personally, I think it's ridiculous. Specifics are below. Thank you.
"Unfortunately there are a great many scam artists in the book trade. Having been in PR for over thirty years in Hollywood, I thought I knew all the tricks. But Smith Publicity takes the cake. I recently considered engaging them in the promotion of my new book and sent them a precis and six chapters to read."
There are real scam artists in the book publicity business, and I’ve helped expose one in particular who was literally ripping authors off for big money. He was a total fraud. To put my company in this category is absurd.
When I was connected to Corinne Liccketto, who heads up sales, I first asked if she would be the "go-to" person in all my future dealing. She told me NO, that after she analyzed my needs, they would ASSIGN me someone from their staff.
I’m not sure what is wrong with this. Would you prefer she lie to you?
This was their first mistake, as I had spent months trying to find the right person to work with, and I didn't want to be passed along and have to start my conversation all over again.
Besides, a working colaboration with someone you find who is intuned to your work, has a certainly of purpose. Plus her answer was a coded reference that I would undoubtably be passed along to a subcontracting independent promoter who may not have been in the same state and city, let alone the same office.
A “coded reference?” How could this person know the internal operations of a company with whom she has never done business?
Secondly, Corinne had not read one sentence of my manuscript and had no idea what I needed or any game plan based on my book and the audience they would be trying to reach.
How could you know that Corinne had no idea of your book’s topic and audience?
Then I asked about their services. I was told that I would have to sign an agreement of a four month contract at $3200.00 a month (which is exceedingly steep in comparison to the major show business PR firms that I have worked with for over 35 years) and it had to be paid up front.
Yes, we do in fact charge for our services. Again, am I missing something here? If we are too expensive for a particular person, that’s understood.
I was also told that they would need 75 books for reviewing purposes, to send out before the book was released. So I asked for a list of some of the reviewers they had submitted to in the past. 60 names showed up on a nebulous Emailed proposal of their operation's procedures, including 30 publications I knew would have no interest in even opening my books, let alone review it. My fictiontome has nothing to do with Business Week, The Economist, Home and Garden, Sports, Auto Repair, Car and Driver, Parent Magazine, Epicurious.com, Reuters.com or a foreign, eastern radio and television station.
What you were sent was a sample of what we use review copies for, and why we request them. A detailed list customized for a particular book is prepared only when we prepare a proposal.
Additionally, they wanted me to fill out a personal questionaire and give them composed press releases for their early campaign!!
We do use an Author Questionnaire, one which clients routinely compliment. The press releases …we rarely use client-provided press releases in an active media outreach campaign, and moreover, we never ask for them, so this is just flat-out wrong.
Why was I going to pay them their steep fee and then also have to do their work. When you hire PR, it is THEY who are supposed to generate such copy, not the author.
Again, the only time we ask authors to write anything is during byline article pitching. Does anyone on this forum actually think we would have authors pay us and then make them do the work?
Thereafter, I was told that they would also require an additional 100 books for continuing reviews after publication, to be sent to their New Jersey outlet, plus $1000.00 to pay for them being shipped to the reviews. (There was already the cost of shipping the books to New Jersey from the publishing company who would print them.)
Yes, we need books in a book marketing campaign; it’s one of the essentials. I have no idea what “$1,000 to pay them for being shipped” means.
When I suggested that we comprimise and cut the list of who they sent thing out to back, and only target publications that had a connecting interst in what I was writing, she grew insolent and termagant. I asked to speak with the owner, Dan Smith, but was flatly denighed. He was too busy to discuss anything and took no interest.
Corinne is quite good at her job, and I’ve never known her to be “insolent and termagant” when dealing with prospective clients. There’s simply no reason to. Either the prospective client chooses to use our services, or doesn’t – why would Corinne get angry?
Did I tell you I was too busy to discuss anything with you? How do you know whatever level of interest I took in your book? How is that possible for you to know? Again, simply not true.
The short of it is, they are miles away from being professional, and do they care about the qulatiy of the work they represent. When a company claims they are very selective in the material they publicize and yet haven't read anything of it, they are only interested in finding someone with enough money they can extort. Not only would I never recommend Smith Publicity, I would tell everyone TO DEFINITELY LOOK FOR A MORE REPUTABLE COMPANY WHO IS HONEST AND DOESN'T HAVE SECOND AGENDAS.
I’m not even sure what this paragraph means. We “extort” people? Seriously? We’ve been in business for 18 years and have promoted over 2500 books. In an industry in which a company survives and thrives based on reputation, if we “extorted” people we wouldn't be around.
What is our second agenda? We only have one agenda – provide quality service to authors.
