New Year, New Features for Publishing Confidential & KMSPR

What's happening with the newsletter and my company this year!

Now that we have mostly settled into 2024, I’m letting you know what’s happening with Publishing Confidential and my company this year. As always, thank you for subscribing. I never take for granted that without you, there wouldn’t be a newsletter.

Publishing Confidential’s new features for paid subscribers:

• Book Therapy: Starting this Friday, January 12, I will offer Book Therapy to paid subscribers. What does that mean? The newsletter will go out every Friday with the subject line “Book Therapy Thread.” In the comments, paid subscribers can ask me about book publishing, marketing, publicity, etc., and I will answer throughout the day and weekend. It’s my version of “Ask Me Anything” to educate people about publishing and discuss issues you have in your journey as an author. As much as I want to respond to every comment on the free editions I send out, it is time-consuming, so I am using Fridays as a specific timeframe to address paid subscribers. I’ll still respond to comments on free editions, but if you have questions that fall into the categories above, become a paid subscriber!

• What I’m Buying: The gift guide I compiled was so popular! Paid subscribers will receive an email every other week with a compilation of things I’ve bought, loved, or are contemplating buying. This is purely for fun and a bonus to being a paid subscriber.

• A complete newsletter once per week: The past month has been a bit hectic, so I fell behind with paid posts. Starting this month, paid subscribers will receive one full weekly newsletter to guide them through certain aspects of book publishing. Think of it as Publishing 101 (and 102, 103…).

• Note to free subscribers: A free edition of the newsletter will still go out once per week and will cover issues the publishing industry faces. Look for topics like what the publishing industry can learn from Netflix, why retail trend reports are essential, and more. I also hope to fit in some interviews with publishing people and authors.

New Services from My Company

• You can check out a list of my services here.

• Substack 101: This is a 90-minute (or less) consultation for people thinking about starting a Substack or needing a jump start in understanding how to build their audience. Much like you’d talk to a literary agent about a book idea, we will discuss your content ideas and how they will land with readers. We will also discuss how to promote your Substack best.

• Payment Plans: If you are an author with a limited budget for PR and marketing, I have good news. I’ve tested payment plans for a few months, and it’s working out great. This is different than having me on a retainer for a monthly fee in that it truly caters to authors who hire me for specific parts of a campaign and need to spread out payments instead of a big lump sum. I know book advances are low, and hiring an outside person for PR and marketing can be a strain so I can offer this solution. This is geared to authors published by small-medium presses.

• Mentoring: Do you have under five years of experience in book publishing? Do you feel like you would benefit from having a mentor? This offering requires a short application and will be limited to 5 people every three months. This is how it will work: If you are interested, email me (my contact information will be at the bottom of this newsletter) to inquire about the program, and I will send you an application. If accepted, I will schedule weekly or bi-weekly individual 45-minute Zooms with each mentee for three months. If I get 15 applicants and accept all of them, I will give different start dates to three groups of five people. Here’s what we can discuss: how to ask for a raise and promotion, how to “manage up,” when/if you should start searching for a new position, best practices for communicating with authors and executives, how to handle conflict in the workplace and any other career questions you have. There is no fee, but it is on a first-come-first-serve basis and contingent on your application.

VERY IMPORTANT!

If you have suggestions for newsletter topics, please send them to publishingconfidential@gmail.com

If you are interested in my services, interviewing me on podcasts, or mentoring, email my business account at kathleen@kmspr.com

I realize we are on various platforms, but my business email is the fastest way to get a response from me. I hardly ever use Twitter. I chat with my friends on Instagram, and I am not great at looking at my inbox on LinkedIn. Facebook filters message requests from people other than my friends, so sending me a business inquiry there is not a good idea.

Where you can find me on social media:

Threads, Instagram, and TikTok: @kathmschmidt

Thank you!