Don't Piss Off Your Publicist | Pro Tips for Working with Your Publicist 

What book did you write?

can you suggest any good agents?

Same

Advice: before you sign a contract, send it to a lawyer. Have them ensure your getting the best out of it. Don't just read and sign or trust what any trad pub says, including the publicist. *I warn you from personal experience.*

@@oddeyes9413 Yes, but that's also what agents are for too. Good agents. Who cost less than a lawyer. Also, publishing contracts are a special thing. A general lawyer would probably not be the best to look at it (tho it wouldn't hurt.)

@@alwaysapirateroninace443 by the way... I’ve got a question. I don’t have a problem with a lawyer since my Uncle is a lawyer. My only problem is I’m from the Philippines and would want to publish a. Book in the US. How do you promote things? Held book signings? Or doing the contract thing overseas?

@@jasonyntig717 I'm not sure, but far as I know that sounds like stuff an agent does. And you can get 1 even if they don't live in the same country you do. Does that help?

@@jasonyntig717 also that's what your publishing company should do if you get traditionally published.

I don't think it made a marked or huge difference in terms of like... being given all the things, if anything my own willingness/ability to handle things on my own has meant often I've fallen into the trap of the publisher going "oh great you're doing things so we don't have to." But I do think it's been helpful in terms of my having the confidence, re: what's worth ROI (return on investment), having basic copywriting/promotional skills, and being able to read/understand my marketing plans (so I know what's a strong/sensible tactic and I'm not freaking out if I don't see a national print campaign haha). I'm able to be pretty chill/circumspect about marketing b/c I understand some of the ins & outs (especially, re: where not to waste money). But that said/bearing in mind... I don't even think I'm the best at marketing as an author-there are people I see who are SO GOOD at it and I admire them, which is partly a) my personality and b) personal bandwidth (ie: there's a lot... I'm just not willing/able to do).

It really runs the gamut, but some examples: blog tours are semi-common, and in those cases you'll often be asked to answer questions about your book, or sometimes write cutesy blog posts (5 Easter Eggs in BOOK, What inspired me to write BOOK, etc.)... and in fact those "cutesy" blog post things will often come up separate from a blog tour. Your publicist may ask you to create that kind of content for an online outlet. You may be asked to do a phone interview with a media outlet. To write book club/educator's "questions" guide for the book (that's a school & library request usually but may funnel through your publicist). With my current book, part of the booktube tour is my doing collabs w/ RU-vidrs (I agreed to do this). A few things that straddle lines with marketing: they may ask you to sign tip-in sheets (to sign first run copies of the book, though typically this is just leads), to sign book plates for a book box or book store promo, if you are selected for a book box you may be asked to write a letter to go in the box or annotate your book. Book tours are very rare nowadays--typically only leads get them, and even them, some pubs don't do tours for their leads (I was a lead on my first title and there was no book tour). It's a tick better now that things are virtual, so you may be asked to do a series of virtual events. Speaking of events, if you are one of their "event" authors (ie: they decide to pitch you/prioritize you for events), you may be asked to attend events either in person or virtually. More often they'll limit it to local events so they don't have to pay for travel, but sometimes if you're lead you will be pitched for events you'd travel to (and typically if THEY pitch you, they pay--definitely make sure your agent is on top of that). This is one of the important things to let them know up front: whether you are comfortable doing events, if you have any connections, etc. I LOVE events and so I always let my publishers know I'm 100% comfortable/confident being pitched/attending.

@@AlexaDonne Thank you for taking the time to answer my question!

Some advice: make sure to let a lawyer look at your contract with a publisher. Especially if they're a smaller press. I'm speaking from personal experience, just be cautious and have someone check it over when the time comes.

@@oddeyes9413 Thanks, good advice. Yes, I'm bit worried about contracts and such without a second pair of eyes looking at them because I have ZERO experience with such things! My day job is in a completely unrelated field.

Me too! I don't know if publicists have metrics, but I can say anecdotally... blog tours it REALLY varies. There was one blog in one of my earlier tours who just... lowkey forgot to include their review in the blog post. I checked it periodically over the course of a year... not a single comment of anyone noticing they never updated the post to include it (it literally had a line like "here is my review!" and placeholder text). Sooooo clearly if a blog has little to no traffic, I don't think it does much. But of course if a blog has a really loyal following, and then if that person also cross posts a review to places like Goodreads? Might help. Booktube... I think it depends on who the publisher partners with? I don't think paying the biggest channels to do generic promo (book haul features, etc.) does much b/c most consumers no longer make purchasing decisions based on the big channels--they look to smaller channels who express their actual opinions? I do have a booktube tour scheduled by my publisher (with a blog tour component as well) for The Ivies so we'll see :)

@@AlexaDonne Part of the reason I was asking is because I signed up for your book tour! 😋

@@DaisyXMachina Oh yay!!! I just got an email from the tour organizer and responded back with my availability! So I'm sure we will be formally connected soon :) (I don't know if I told them but I'll tell you: I'm very open to different ideas!)

It is author generated--they'll ask you for your final bio shortly before the jacket goes to print.

You shouldn't have to pay to be published. As far as I know that's a really big red flag saying that publisher is predatory.

It's pretty essential not to steamroll your publisher/publicist, re: making promises of copies to reviewers without checking with them first, because supplies are indeed limited and you don't want to interfere with their supply/strategy. Also if you're truly low tier, physical ARCs will be severely limited. So it's best to use your own ARC stock (which can be as low as 5 copies), thus you should be VERY circumspect, re: sending copies to people. I would only bend over backwards for a physical copies only person if they had a massive reach. Generally you will come across as overly pushy/stepping on their toes if you come in with a ton of names/having down outreach/made promises. Be circumspect.

@@AlexaDonne I see. Good to know and thank you for the advice!

You're scheduled to fly to a book festival tomorrow and there's an emergency that means you can't go. Your book is being dragged on Twitter. There are probably more, but most things aren't "drop everything now things"--a fire drill is pretty rare!

Lolll. Well look I am NOT against the casual forward so they are made aware of something and can address it separately. I prefer to do that so I can add my own commentary rather than BCC.

@@AlexaDonne Ah, a casual forward with personal remarks - an elegant method, truly an artist's choice!

It's different for every person but I can include: no on camera interviews (ie: don't pitch me for the Today Show lol... though man only relevant if you're a lead and a break out hit ha), no in person events/travel (ie: no book tour, no festivals), no content generation (writing a bunch of blog posts to be used in things like blog tours), etc. With that last one, you can specify: I will do interviews, but not writing free blog content. This is beyond publicity, but it can be yes or no to school & library visits.

@@AlexaDonne Thanks so much for clarifying😁