How to Partner with a Publicist
This past February when I spoke at the San Francisco Writers Conference I told the attendees that as logical as it would seem to start with a publicist when you have a book that’s about to come out, it’s actually advantageous to do so well before then.
Let’s address the elephant in the room right there.
I can see how this probably brought the majority of the attendees to the conclusion of, “Of course he’s going to suggest that. The sooner he gets to start working with someone the sooner he gets paid.” There, I said it.
That, however, by no means is the motivation for saying that. Honestly. And anyone who knows and/or has worked with me would tell you that I’m speaking the truth.
The fact of the matter is – as evidenced by a client I’ve been working with since we met in July 2022 at the SFWC, even though his first book is still being written – we get a head start on getting to know each other and becoming used to working with one another.
But the real advantage is that the publicist gets a huge head start on becoming intimately familiar with the subject matter he or she will be promoting when it does come out.
In other words, imagine taking the approach where you hire a publicist because you have a book coming out next week. See? Now you already know what I’m going to say. Yikes. Talk about having to play catch up!
I spoke at the Experienced Writers Retreat in October 2018 in Las Vegas, a writer there caught my attention, they invited me back to speak again one year later, and she has been a client of mine ever since. Did I mention that her first book is coming out this December? That’s right, four years after we met. But when you hire a publicist, you’re not just bringing someone in for a drive-thru approach. Meaning, it’s not, “You start next week, the book comes out a week later, I want you to promote it for six months, and then please drive ahead to complete the transaction (and the relationship).”
You are a brand. Your book(s) is(are) one of your products. The publicist is promoting all things John Doe or Jane Doe (insert your name here).
The client I got from SFWC over a year ago and the writer from Las Vegas – and heck, for that matter, another client who hired me in 2022 thanks to SFWC but only this past January saw her first book come out – are folks that realized there’s work to do even before your first published work sees the light of day.
But I left out a word there. They all realize that there’s work to do together. As a new client comes on board, I always say that, “I look forward to working for and with you.”
Remember that your publicist is on your team. This is not an adversarial relationship. He or she is on your side. So, you do have to do exactly that – work together.
Hiring a publicist is not a case of exhaling and saying, “Okay, now I can sit back and relax. (Publicist’s name) can take over and do all the work from here.”
Even though my agency is called Now Hear This, I still always say that my name is on it. That’s why you don’t put your feet up on the desk and put it on cruise control. Yes, you now have a publicist onboard, but you’ve got ideas, you’ve got tasks, you’ve got wants – and your name is on all of this.
Ask your publicist, “What do you need from me?” Be clear about who’s doing what so that there are no assumptions, in which case neither one ends up doing what the other thought was already being taken care of.
Oh, and remember the drive-thru analogy from earlier? I once turned away a potential client (a performer, not an author) because before we ever even came to an agreement on working together, they already were asking how they would get out of the deal if they so chose. That wasn’t a great attitude to have going in and left me little confidence that they were fully invested. When you hire a publicist if you’re already wondering, “How long do I have to keep him/her around for,” you’re off to a bad start and need to take a step back and hit the refresh button on your perspective. After all, don’t you owe it to the book, not to mention all the time you invested in writing it and other professional services you likely enlisted? Your book will be on the shelf indefinitely, so why put an expiration date on promoting it?
Case in point, I have a client who put out a book in 2016, she has written nothing new since then, and we’re still promoting it today.
Now, at the same time, remember that – whether we like it or not – the same people you try over and over to contact for various opportunities just are more likely to respond to an agency (a publicist) than they are to you. I have said that it’s because they’d rather hear from ten Now Hear This agencies than a hundred indie authors. Additionally, perception is reality, right? They feel that you’ve been pre-qualified, so to speak, since you’ve got someone contacting them on your behalf.
So yes, sometimes you do need to step back and let the publicist do what you hired them for, meaning, if you suggest to them, “Can you try to book me for this,” and they say, “Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll send them a pitch,” then don’t get impatient and send a pitch of your own too.
And unless you’re a New York Times bestseller, err on the side of saying Yes way more than you say No when your publicist brings you opportunities. It’s good to get the reps, it’s all potential social media fodder, you might get other opportunities out of it/them, and oh yeah, you just might sell some books.
If all of this has made you think of even more questions about having a publicist work for you, that’s terrific. It means that your wheels are turning on how it can benefit you to have such a professional working alongside you. Contact me and let me give you some answers so you can keep looking ahead.
Bruce Wawrzyniak
Now Hear This
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