YOU ARE IN MY BRAIN! I have been at this for 30+ years myself, and still feel so many of the things I did when I first started. Publicity is hard and getting harder, and no one other than another publicist truly understands. THANK YOU for this post and your efforts to demystify the publishing process.
Such a terrific post that can relate to any profession. "Don't wait until burnout to take time off" -I'm guilty of waiting for sure. Thanks for sharing!
This is such a great article. As a first time author, I had no idea what publicists really do or what to expect. I really appreciate seeing the human side of publicity. I mostly appreciate your vulnerability so others that are feeling the same know they are not alone.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Kathleen. This is an important piece. I feel exactly the same way and I am also in business for myself. I needed to read this today. I could have written it- but it wouldn't have been this good. There is so much pressure and anxiety -- from the authors, the agents, the publishers. And that feeling of not being acknowledged by the journalists and editors. It's a terrible feeling. Thank you for the advice to take a break. I feel seen. Enjoy your vacation. You deserve it.
Great advice for just about any working person. I can see this advice working well for fundraisers as well! They go through more 'no's' when asking for money, which is why I had a very hard time doing that work. I always felt personally rejected. Pitching a story is similar. Coming up with that perfect lede that will hook them in was always key. Nowadays, as you say, journalists are overworked and understaffed, I'm not sure a good hook will even do the trick. I'm wishing you a happy, restful week. Go and enjoy yourself. xo
Such great insight - thank you! So helpful for me as an author to understand a publicist's role and to be patient with all of the effort I don't see. Enjoy the warm climate.
Ahh I miss my days in publishing. As a "local media escort" I always dreaded the question "Is my publicist doing a good job? I'm not on (fill in the most popular show) and other authors are" Of course I always assured them that you were, indeed, doing a great job. But sometimes it was hard not to mention that their book wasn't very good.
I hope you are well. I hope you take care of you because selfishly your voice is important to me. And I'll bet to a lot of others. Take good care of YOU!
Kathleen, you've done such a great job articulating your self-doubts--and how you manage them. Great advice for almost anyone who feels they're skirting failure. As an author with some PR background, I know all about the "crickets" after a well-reasoned, heartfelt pitch!!
I am a publicist in a different creative industry, and I must co-sign this. We have all the responsibility and very little of the power, which is guaranteed to breed intense anxiety. The more authors, artists, and other creatives understand how all this works and, importantly, feels, the better they can work with us and get the most value from that positive collaboration.
Exactly. One author recently sent me a list of "PR ideas" from a friend of hers and it was a laundry list of publications and bookstores from the New York Times to addresses of local B&N stores. As if it never occurred to me to send the book to the NYT for review (where less than 1% of all books sent to them are reviewed) or that just knowing that a B&N is around the corner means that store will automatically book my author and the half a million other authors publishing in the same calendar year. Sigh.
It’s weirdly comforting to me to see that there are publicists out there who do take their work seriously and who feel some responsibility. Because my only experience with a book publicist was the one who emailed me two weeks before launch to ask me what I wanted her to do with the ARCs—she had never bothered to send them out to anyone, nor to do any other work on behalf of my book. She just… didn’t. The book flopped, my career tanked, and I’m still trying to out the pieces of my ruined professional life back together. In fairness, the publicist wasn’t the only one who half-assed (or less) her job. It was a miserably awful experience with that publisher, from top to bottom. Not one single, solitary thing was done correctly or effectively on behalf of my book. Just a whole bunch of f***ing around with a care in the world for how it would impact my career. And this was a well-respected editor at a major imprint, not some back-alley operation. It certainly made me much more cynical and cautious than I was before. I now actively avoid selling my best work to the Big 5. They get my cast-off, half-assed, non-serious work and I’m self-publishing my best work now. Once bitten, twice shy.
I’m glad to know that now! I sincerely thought that publicists just didn’t care. It’s strangely reassuring that I just had the bad luck to land a publicist who didn’t care, but most take their work seriously and understand that the fates of authors’ careers can hang on the work they do (or don’t do.) which just increases the pressure, I’m sure! Anyway, my focus is now on figuring out how I can compete for the major awards I would like to win as an indie author, since the publishing industry has proven to be mostly disappointing to me. Somebody has to be the first self-published author to land a Pulitzer. Maybe it’ll be me. lol!! I feel like I am much more likely to get close to that goal on my own than by trusting it best work to the Big 5 ever again…
This is terrific advise for pretty much whatever you do for a living.
YOU ARE IN MY BRAIN! I have been at this for 30+ years myself, and still feel so many of the things I did when I first started. Publicity is hard and getting harder, and no one other than another publicist truly understands. THANK YOU for this post and your efforts to demystify the publishing process.
A great perspective for those authors who don't know much about the publicist's job, and a helpful reminder for those who think they do.
"Those who think they do" = every author ever ;)
Such a terrific post that can relate to any profession. "Don't wait until burnout to take time off" -I'm guilty of waiting for sure. Thanks for sharing!
This is such a great article. As a first time author, I had no idea what publicists really do or what to expect. I really appreciate seeing the human side of publicity. I mostly appreciate your vulnerability so others that are feeling the same know they are not alone.
Thank you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Kathleen. This is an important piece. I feel exactly the same way and I am also in business for myself. I needed to read this today. I could have written it- but it wouldn't have been this good. There is so much pressure and anxiety -- from the authors, the agents, the publishers. And that feeling of not being acknowledged by the journalists and editors. It's a terrible feeling. Thank you for the advice to take a break. I feel seen. Enjoy your vacation. You deserve it.
Great advice for just about any working person. I can see this advice working well for fundraisers as well! They go through more 'no's' when asking for money, which is why I had a very hard time doing that work. I always felt personally rejected. Pitching a story is similar. Coming up with that perfect lede that will hook them in was always key. Nowadays, as you say, journalists are overworked and understaffed, I'm not sure a good hook will even do the trick. I'm wishing you a happy, restful week. Go and enjoy yourself. xo
Such great insight - thank you! So helpful for me as an author to understand a publicist's role and to be patient with all of the effort I don't see. Enjoy the warm climate.
This is such a gentle essay with much compassion and tips for long term sustenance!
Ahh I miss my days in publishing. As a "local media escort" I always dreaded the question "Is my publicist doing a good job? I'm not on (fill in the most popular show) and other authors are" Of course I always assured them that you were, indeed, doing a great job. But sometimes it was hard not to mention that their book wasn't very good.
I hope you are well. I hope you take care of you because selfishly your voice is important to me. And I'll bet to a lot of others. Take good care of YOU!
You are amazing and so generous. Thank you for all you offer in this space.
Kathleen, you've done such a great job articulating your self-doubts--and how you manage them. Great advice for almost anyone who feels they're skirting failure. As an author with some PR background, I know all about the "crickets" after a well-reasoned, heartfelt pitch!!
I am a publicist in a different creative industry, and I must co-sign this. We have all the responsibility and very little of the power, which is guaranteed to breed intense anxiety. The more authors, artists, and other creatives understand how all this works and, importantly, feels, the better they can work with us and get the most value from that positive collaboration.
Exactly this.
Exactly. One author recently sent me a list of "PR ideas" from a friend of hers and it was a laundry list of publications and bookstores from the New York Times to addresses of local B&N stores. As if it never occurred to me to send the book to the NYT for review (where less than 1% of all books sent to them are reviewed) or that just knowing that a B&N is around the corner means that store will automatically book my author and the half a million other authors publishing in the same calendar year. Sigh.
I so get it. Been there.
It’s weirdly comforting to me to see that there are publicists out there who do take their work seriously and who feel some responsibility. Because my only experience with a book publicist was the one who emailed me two weeks before launch to ask me what I wanted her to do with the ARCs—she had never bothered to send them out to anyone, nor to do any other work on behalf of my book. She just… didn’t. The book flopped, my career tanked, and I’m still trying to out the pieces of my ruined professional life back together. In fairness, the publicist wasn’t the only one who half-assed (or less) her job. It was a miserably awful experience with that publisher, from top to bottom. Not one single, solitary thing was done correctly or effectively on behalf of my book. Just a whole bunch of f***ing around with a care in the world for how it would impact my career. And this was a well-respected editor at a major imprint, not some back-alley operation. It certainly made me much more cynical and cautious than I was before. I now actively avoid selling my best work to the Big 5. They get my cast-off, half-assed, non-serious work and I’m self-publishing my best work now. Once bitten, twice shy.
I’m very sorry to read this. There are a lot of us who do care, and take an author’s career seriously.
I’m glad to know that now! I sincerely thought that publicists just didn’t care. It’s strangely reassuring that I just had the bad luck to land a publicist who didn’t care, but most take their work seriously and understand that the fates of authors’ careers can hang on the work they do (or don’t do.) which just increases the pressure, I’m sure! Anyway, my focus is now on figuring out how I can compete for the major awards I would like to win as an indie author, since the publishing industry has proven to be mostly disappointing to me. Somebody has to be the first self-published author to land a Pulitzer. Maybe it’ll be me. lol!! I feel like I am much more likely to get close to that goal on my own than by trusting it best work to the Big 5 ever again…
Ugh, my autocorrect is en fuego today.