Thank you for recognizing the 'hidden' work publicists do! For many of us at independent presses, PR is one role among many held by one or two folks. I tell authors, For every Yes there are a hundred Nos.
Chappell Roan also speaks very well to dudes in their fifties! 🙂 This will be my 30th year of making a yearly mix tape of new music for friends (I still burn a dozen CDs around Christmas time), and listening to her album was a revelation. I believe she will be on SNL soon, so she's on her way to super stardom.
1. As a book influencer, a printed ARC is so much better because I can snap a photo of something, versus sharing a photo on kindle doesn’t look as nice. And even on stories, I don’t think you get the memorability/touchpoint of seeing the cover when I’m sharing a B&W photo of the art.
2. That said, I have a couple pet peeves with printed ARCs:
a. I really don’t need a box of accessories/extras… it won’t make me more likely to share a photo of a book I don't already want to read. In all but the rarest cases it’s the same types of “extras” over and over and makes me feel guilty about the waste. (Although Netflix has done a few that are so over the top and make me share for their book to film adaptations.)
b. I really don’t like getting unsoliceted ARCs (and sometimes even get them in duplicate and triplicate… I think my record is 4 of the same book).
3. Anecdotally, I've also noticed that frequently when I'm mailed ARCs they come overnight or 1/2-day ship. I feel like this is a big area where mailing costs could be cut. I rarely need a book urgently and have such a huge pile I'm not starting it right away anyway.
Also, I love the idea of group tours. And it eliminates the need to source a conversation partner, and you can develop chemistry with your group members on the tour and might make for more fun conversations.
Hi Becca, thanks for your thoughts. Mailing costs are ridiculously high for publishers. I am someone who pitches first and then sends if requested. I don't think a box of stuff is a great idea because, as you said, it is wasteful. The whole process needs to be reimagined.
Totally get that the tchockes are wasteful. And, they are an effective way to telegraph to media, booksellers and influencers: this is an important book!
Every media/influencer has told me they don't pay attention to fancy mailers or promo, but I can't help but thing they work subliminally. People are people and shiny objects are attract.
It could be! I do notice which ones get the fancier treatment even if I don't care to read the book. But, then again, if I don't share it, how much does that matter? I don't know the answer, but could be valuable for booksellers or trad media who are curating beyond their own personal tastes.
I review nonfiction books (and write them) and I wish publishers wouldn't send me unsolicited paper ARCs since I'm not always gonna read them. But what I really want is e-galleys that play nice with my kindle. Some publishers have great formatting, but a lot send pdfs that are print galleys with huge margins that wind up reading like they're 8pt type when I open them on my ereader. It's painful to read and it makes me put off the book!
Hi Leah, I totally agree. I don't know why publishers haven't figured out a better way for digital ARCs to work with Kindle. They are afraid of piracy, but there must be a way.
Totally get that and... it's a toss up on the publisher side. We can save money and spend time pitching and sending requested ARCs to individual influencers and media, or we can spend money and save time sending them out unsolicited to likely reviewers. We have so little of either it's tough to make the call.
I always enjoy your posts, Kathleen, and find them very helpful.
You mentioned group book tours. This is something I’m planning with a friend of mine, who shares my peculiar demographic: We are both Australians who moved to New Orleans and work to end the death penalty and mass incarceration. Our books will be published within months of each other in 2025, hers from Penguin and mine from Random House.
I’m the scriptwriter for a graphic version of Sister Helen Prejean’s Dead Man Walking (the brilliant illustrator is Catherine Anyango Grünewald), and my friend, Sophie Cull, has written a book with Calvin Duncan, who spent 28 years in Angola for a crime he didn’t commit and. While imprisoned, he turned himself into an Inmate Counsel with a monumental reputation. Sophie and I are planning to do a joint book tour, including a homecoming one in Australia, and we also hope to do events here in the US with Calvin and Sister Helen (who has been on a three decade book tour since Dead Man Walking came out). Catherine lives in Sweden, so we’ll have to see whether she can join the gang!
I've worked on mostly children's books and visual books, and tell my authors all the time, you're not only competing with every other book published, you're competing with BLUEBERRIES.
Holiday Gift Guides were always huge campaigns for us. One year we had a placement in the holy grail of HGGs: Oprah's Favorite Things.
Do you know what else was one of Oprah's Favorite Things? Five pounds of organic blueberries.
Every book in the world published that year was competing for a coveted spot with a bag of blueberries.
When that failed to sway them, I showed them the pictures of the photos I took in the book room at the Boston Globe and the book editor's offices at Entertainment Weekly (RIP) and Parents (RIP) It looked like the last scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark or Citizen Kane. Books as far as the eyes can see....
And, it's not only authors who don't appreciate or understand how hard getting publicity is, we fight in-house for recognition as well.
I once read a novel in which the main character was a mid-level book publicist at a mid-level house who said, "I have a long list of mid-level authors who firmly believe that the only thing standing between them and literary super stardom is my incompetence."
The struggle is real, but when it works there's nothing better. They don't call it a publicity "hit" for nuthin'
This was a really interesting read, thank you. If you do start hosting virtual events, I would be terrifically interested. My book, The Magpie’s Guide to Montalcino, was published on 1 September and I am always looking for ways to reach new potential readers. Fine wine, Tuscany, Italian lore… what’s not to love?
Amazing info Kathleen. Any author 🍀 enough to work with you better be putting you on a pedestal. I am a career publicist/biz owner/author and can vouch that no client ever understands the work behind the placements.
Thank you for recognizing the 'hidden' work publicists do! For many of us at independent presses, PR is one role among many held by one or two folks. I tell authors, For every Yes there are a hundred Nos.
One day last week I sent 50 pitches and got one "yes." It's demoralizing.
There have been times I've been thrilled to get a "no." Mostly what you get is crickets.
Chappell Roan also speaks very well to dudes in their fifties! 🙂 This will be my 30th year of making a yearly mix tape of new music for friends (I still burn a dozen CDs around Christmas time), and listening to her album was a revelation. I believe she will be on SNL soon, so she's on her way to super stardom.
A few thoughts on ARCS:
1. As a book influencer, a printed ARC is so much better because I can snap a photo of something, versus sharing a photo on kindle doesn’t look as nice. And even on stories, I don’t think you get the memorability/touchpoint of seeing the cover when I’m sharing a B&W photo of the art.
2. That said, I have a couple pet peeves with printed ARCs:
a. I really don’t need a box of accessories/extras… it won’t make me more likely to share a photo of a book I don't already want to read. In all but the rarest cases it’s the same types of “extras” over and over and makes me feel guilty about the waste. (Although Netflix has done a few that are so over the top and make me share for their book to film adaptations.)
b. I really don’t like getting unsoliceted ARCs (and sometimes even get them in duplicate and triplicate… I think my record is 4 of the same book).
3. Anecdotally, I've also noticed that frequently when I'm mailed ARCs they come overnight or 1/2-day ship. I feel like this is a big area where mailing costs could be cut. I rarely need a book urgently and have such a huge pile I'm not starting it right away anyway.
Also, I love the idea of group tours. And it eliminates the need to source a conversation partner, and you can develop chemistry with your group members on the tour and might make for more fun conversations.
Hi Becca, thanks for your thoughts. Mailing costs are ridiculously high for publishers. I am someone who pitches first and then sends if requested. I don't think a box of stuff is a great idea because, as you said, it is wasteful. The whole process needs to be reimagined.
Totally get that the tchockes are wasteful. And, they are an effective way to telegraph to media, booksellers and influencers: this is an important book!
Every media/influencer has told me they don't pay attention to fancy mailers or promo, but I can't help but thing they work subliminally. People are people and shiny objects are attract.
It could be! I do notice which ones get the fancier treatment even if I don't care to read the book. But, then again, if I don't share it, how much does that matter? I don't know the answer, but could be valuable for booksellers or trad media who are curating beyond their own personal tastes.
I review nonfiction books (and write them) and I wish publishers wouldn't send me unsolicited paper ARCs since I'm not always gonna read them. But what I really want is e-galleys that play nice with my kindle. Some publishers have great formatting, but a lot send pdfs that are print galleys with huge margins that wind up reading like they're 8pt type when I open them on my ereader. It's painful to read and it makes me put off the book!
Hi Leah, I totally agree. I don't know why publishers haven't figured out a better way for digital ARCs to work with Kindle. They are afraid of piracy, but there must be a way.
Totally get that and... it's a toss up on the publisher side. We can save money and spend time pitching and sending requested ARCs to individual influencers and media, or we can spend money and save time sending them out unsolicited to likely reviewers. We have so little of either it's tough to make the call.
I always enjoy your posts, Kathleen, and find them very helpful.
You mentioned group book tours. This is something I’m planning with a friend of mine, who shares my peculiar demographic: We are both Australians who moved to New Orleans and work to end the death penalty and mass incarceration. Our books will be published within months of each other in 2025, hers from Penguin and mine from Random House.
I’m the scriptwriter for a graphic version of Sister Helen Prejean’s Dead Man Walking (the brilliant illustrator is Catherine Anyango Grünewald), and my friend, Sophie Cull, has written a book with Calvin Duncan, who spent 28 years in Angola for a crime he didn’t commit and. While imprisoned, he turned himself into an Inmate Counsel with a monumental reputation. Sophie and I are planning to do a joint book tour, including a homecoming one in Australia, and we also hope to do events here in the US with Calvin and Sister Helen (who has been on a three decade book tour since Dead Man Walking came out). Catherine lives in Sweden, so we’ll have to see whether she can join the gang!
That's really cool! I am very familiar with Sister Helen Prejean. Good luck to all of you!
I've worked on mostly children's books and visual books, and tell my authors all the time, you're not only competing with every other book published, you're competing with BLUEBERRIES.
Holiday Gift Guides were always huge campaigns for us. One year we had a placement in the holy grail of HGGs: Oprah's Favorite Things.
Do you know what else was one of Oprah's Favorite Things? Five pounds of organic blueberries.
Every book in the world published that year was competing for a coveted spot with a bag of blueberries.
When that failed to sway them, I showed them the pictures of the photos I took in the book room at the Boston Globe and the book editor's offices at Entertainment Weekly (RIP) and Parents (RIP) It looked like the last scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark or Citizen Kane. Books as far as the eyes can see....
And, it's not only authors who don't appreciate or understand how hard getting publicity is, we fight in-house for recognition as well.
I once read a novel in which the main character was a mid-level book publicist at a mid-level house who said, "I have a long list of mid-level authors who firmly believe that the only thing standing between them and literary super stardom is my incompetence."
The struggle is real, but when it works there's nothing better. They don't call it a publicity "hit" for nuthin'
This is great. I really like the lock idea . . .
Thanks Kathleen 💅
This was a really interesting read, thank you. If you do start hosting virtual events, I would be terrifically interested. My book, The Magpie’s Guide to Montalcino, was published on 1 September and I am always looking for ways to reach new potential readers. Fine wine, Tuscany, Italian lore… what’s not to love?
Amazing info Kathleen. Any author 🍀 enough to work with you better be putting you on a pedestal. I am a career publicist/biz owner/author and can vouch that no client ever understands the work behind the placements.
Thanks great work and wonderful inputs