30 Years in Book Publishing: What I've Learned
December 26th marked my 30th anniversary in book publishing. These are the lessons I've carried with me.
Happy Almost New Year!
I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday. I am terrible at relaxing, so I bought a watercolor workbook, paint, and some brushes. So far, I’ve painted two images, and I really like having a mindfulness activity. It rests my brain. I’m gearing up for a busy 2026: teaching, clients, one kid graduating college, and one kid graduating high school (then, in August, said kid will be off to college, but let’s not get into that right now), a trip to Aruba, and another trip to Italy (yay!).
As I hit the 3-year mark of running my own business, I’ve been reflecting on my time in the publishing industry. December 26th marked 30 years since I started my first job as a publicity assistant at Carol Publishing in Secaucus, NJ. My sights had been set on being an editor, but the jobs offered to me in the mid-90s paid between $9K and $15K. When I saw an ad in The New York Times (when they still had a Help Wanted section) that said, “Wanted: Publicity Assistant for small publisher. Must love pop culture and have a good sense of humor,” I immediately applied, which led to immediately getting the job at a salary of $24K. I was making more than most of my friends, but I also kept my hostessing job at a restaurant because I had bills to pay. The only reason I wanted to work in publishing was that I loved books. The rest, as they say, is history.
I want to share some things I’ve learned over the past 30 years. It’s not all rainbows and butterflies. If it were, it wouldn’t be book publishing.
Never start an email with an apology. Whatever you’re saying needs a set-up. One of my most famous emails to an agent began with: “No one sets out to fail a book.”
Sometimes, all the marketing money in the world won’t make a book sell if the cover and title aren’t appealing. I’ve seen an author spend $200K on marketing, and the book tanked. I said more than once that the cover and title were a problem.
Authors need a lot more emotional support than publishers think they do. Being a publicist is a lot like being a therapist.
Sugarcoating the truth about a publicity campaign does no good. We must be able to say, in the plainest of terms, “The New York Times is not going to review this book” without everyone having a fit.
A non-response is a “no.” If someone has completed 4-5 rounds of follow-up (I think five is excessive, personally), and they are not getting responses, take it as a “no.” It’s not a slight against a book. Instead, it’s a product of too many books and too few places to get them noticed.
Every author should know what their first printing is. There is no reason to keep this a secret. If you explain why a first printing is a particular number, authors will understand.
End-of-year book lists create a pile-up. What I mean is that, with every “best of” list coming out around the holidays, books published between January and March are not top-of-mind for consumers. Think about it: We are heading into a new publishing season, and people are still catching up on 2025 titles. Heck, they’re still catching up on 2024 titles!
Authors need to know their “why.” If you want to be published with the intention of being a bestseller, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. Getting on a bestseller list is a bonus. Some people will read your book. A lot of people won’t. Know the reasons why you want to write and get published without adding money or bestseller lists into the mix.
Most well-known authors have been practicing their craft for a long time. Now and then, I encounter an author who wants to be at a certain level right out of the gate, which rarely happens. Numerous authors at the top of the bestseller lists have quite a few books under their belt. Which leads me to the next.
Publishers shouldn’t give up on authors if their first book doesn’t sell well. I come from the days of publishing, when imprints nurtured talent. I fear those days are long gone, and if a book doesn’t sell over a certain threshold, the author is doomed. That’s not constructive because sometimes it takes three books before an author “breaks out.” Often, an incubation period is needed for debut books. I don’t feel like many publishers do that anymore.
It’s a bummer to put a lot of resources towards celebrity books. I can’t count how many times I felt bad because I was pulled away from a non-celebrity book to work on a high-profile crash book (crash = last-minute addition and expedited schedule). What bothered me about it was that I knew the celebrity book was a one-off, and I felt like other authors needed me more.
Community is essential. I spent a lot of years feeling like I didn’t fit in the industry. It wasn’t until I went out on my own in 2023 that I really found “my people” in publishing, and I am so happy I did. I also think I foster a community with this newsletter, which makes me happy. We all need a community, wherever that may be.
Authors should understand what they’re getting into with publishers so they don’t get blindsided when there is no publicity or marketing for their book. Often, small presses do not have a budget to promote books the way the big five do. Don’t get me wrong, I love indie publishers. It’s just that being a distribution client of, say, Simon & Schuster is not at all the same as being published by them.
Media is really that hard to get. For every book I pitch, there are probably about 200 others being pitched at the same time. One or two big media hits likely won’t make a book sell a significant number of copies, but getting those hits is a major feat. There were over 17,000 media layoffs in 2025, and more to come in 2026. Publicists try to cast a wide net, but, as I’ve mentioned before, some places don’t even make sense anymore.
BookTok is not a cure-all. In fact, I feel the influence of BookTok is slightly diminishing. Yes, it can still sell books, but it’s not selling them at the same volume as 2020-2021.
Relationships matter. At its core, publishing is still a business based on relationships. After 30 years, I still don’t know as many people as I’d like to or should. I hope to change that in the future.
Word-of-mouth still rules. Largely, people still find out about books from others. It’s about getting an author/book into places where momentum can grow. For example, booking an author on several podcasts that collectively give them a wider audience. It doesn’t always have to be the biggest or best podcast—slow and steady can win the race.
Publishing is a hard business. There were a few times when I almost left the industry. The most recent was 2018, when I interviewed for a corporate communications position at Accuweather. Burnout in this business is inevitable, and I wish publishers would recognize that. You can’t overload editors and publicists with work and possibly think they’ll soldier through without a dent in their mental health. That said, I’ve stuck it out because I saw a path for myself outside of working in-house. That hasn’t been easy, either, but the freedom is priceless.
No one knows what will work. This is the truth. The exceptions are annual bestselling authors and some high-profile books. These are acquired so publishers can make money. The rest of a publisher’s list is anyone’s guess. I usually know something is percolating with a book when I see it mentioned somewhere three times in a week. Certain stories really resonate with readers, and those are the books that usually become surprise hits. When I was VP of Marketing and Publicity at Running Press, we suddenly saw sales of the book You Are a Badass increase. No one wanted to cover that book, but indie booksellers liked it and were hand-selling it (shoutout to Tattered Cover). We decided to ride that wave and challenge bookstores. Whichever indie store sold the most copies after a particular timeframe got a cake and t-shirts that said, “You Are a Badass Bookseller.” Not long after that, the book was #1 on The New York Times’ Advice, How-To, Misc. bestseller list. It had been out for a year.
Things have changed a lot since I first walked into Carol Publishing, had a media list handed to me, and was told to call everyone on it to pitch a book. On the other hand, a great deal still needs to change in the industry, and I hope I’m around to see it happen!
END NOTES:
What I’m Watching: Palm Beach Members Only on Netflix. I came across this reality show yesterday and binged it. It follows a group of Palm Beach socialites through a season of events. All the women are vapid, but I couldn’t stop watching.
What I’m Reading: Alan Opts Out by Courtney Maum. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC, and I am loving it.
What I’m Listening to: Mostly British alternative music from the late 80s/early 90s.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Fourth-book author here, so much of this has me going YESSSS! I have been lucky on the whole but even so, It can be so difficult to squeeze information out of publishers. We're not babies - if our print run is small, most of us would rather know, and know why. And maybe what, if anything, we can do for a better result next time. And give us some context: what would a good /bad/indifferent sale for this book look like? I don't know anyone who's ever had an answer to that one. It leads to deluded expectations, especially among debuts; my heart sinks when I hear of one giving up their job on the strength of a decent advance, quite unaware that that is probably all they're going to get for that book, and if it doesn't take the world by storm, all they'll get full stop.
And don't get me started on how bizarre it is that this business gives the most money and attention to beginners, and then drops them if the debut isn't a hit. Again, I've been very lucky that my publisher has continued to recontract me but I've seen too many terrific writers get dumped after one or two books, which is when most of us are just getting the hang of it!
I enjoy your inside looks at book publicity, Kathleen. I've been on the author side of publishing for decades and so much has changed other than the one constant: Publicity is hard! And through the years I've seen that authors are expected to do more and more of it themselves. So those of us who still love making books just need to accept that. I wish you all the best in the new year ...