Five Questions to Ask Your Publicist (Patreon)

Recently, in a conversation with some other writers, someone asked for questions they should ask their publicist with regards to their upcoming book.
Since I’ve been both the person on the publisher side of these calls and the author asking the questions, this was very much in my wheelhouse.

And once I’d shared the list, I realized that many of you might also find it to be useful.

But first, a bit of extra context and explanation.
When working with a traditional publisher, be they a house in the Big Five, a small press, or somewhere in between, someone at the publisher should be your point of contact for publicity and promotion. Well-prepared publishers will schedule meetings to plan publicity several months ahead of publication, and some may have multiple meetings, one soon after the book is sold, another a few months before publication.

These calls/meetings are a great opportunity to learn what your publisher is planning to do for you AND to advocate for yourself and your book, to encourage them to do more and/or spend their time more wisely.

Some of the most important things you can do in a planning call/meeting with a publicist/publishing staff are as follows:

• Show your publisher that you’re dedicated and that you’re taking initiative

This can look like asking good questions, or sharing the plans you’ve already put into motion (applying for panels at conventions, brainstorming guest post topics, assembling a list of potential endorsement-givers, etc.), etc. As a publishing staffer, it’s easier to work with something than nothing. A publisher’s efforts are often most useful as a force multiplier, taking the author’s efforts and magnifying them.

• Figure out your publisher’s vision for the book 

If a publisher buys your book, it’s reasonable to assume that they have a vision for it – creatively and commercially. They’re thinking about who to target with their publicity efforts, what type of cover they’re giving it, what other books on their lists they want to cross-market with, etc.

Disclaimer: Each publisher’s process is a bit different, so you may be in a position where you’re talking to publicity staff separate from marketing staff. The division between those two disciplines is incredibly porous, and my professional experience tango dances all over that line. So I’m going to be talking mostly about publicity here but will always already bleed over into marketing when I talk about how to sell and promote a book.

The Questions

1) "Where are you focusing your promotional efforts? Bloggers, trade reviews, Booktube/Bookstagram, big name fans, booksellers, librarians, etc.?"

This speaks to the publisher’s vision for the book. Asking where they’re putting their focus shows both that you’re thinking about prioritization and vision AND you’re checking to make sure that the publisher *has* a focus. It’s important to raise the questions of focus and strategy and gives you the chance to get on the same page with your publicity efforts. Some books may present opportunities in different ways – a novel with a visual focus – magical painting, flowers with pheromone-generating nanites, may be easier to promote in a visual medium like Pinterest or Instagram. A book set in a bookstore may be easier to promote with independent bookstores. And even with the less obvious fits, the publisher may have stronger connections in one part of the book world and be planning to lean on those connections. But if they had those special connections you might not know about them unless someone tells you.

2) "What kind of promotional efforts from me would be most useful for supporting this plan?"

This tells the publisher that you’re a team player and prompts them to think about how best to use your time. It encourages them to work with you in discussing priorities and division of labor. They may suggest activities that are especially outside your comfort zone, but having clarity gives you a chance to decide where to spend your time and energy.

3) "Can I see/get access to the promotional diary/document to make sure we're not duplicating efforts?"

There’s almost no limit to the amount of effort that you can put into publicity. There’s always another cold call email to send, another tweet or blog post to write. Promoting a book can quickly come to feel overwhelming, like trying to fill a bottomless pit or trying to feed a pet that begs for food five minutes after being fed. 

< sidebar - OREO. You literally just finished eating. And you had a treat two hours ago. Just chill. Good dog. *scritches* >

Asking for access to a promotional diary/spreadsheet suggests that there *should be* such a document and lets you coordinate your efforts. If everyone involved with your book promotion keeps their activities updated in the sheet, it’s easier to stay abreast of the status of pitches and so on. If your publisher doesn’t use a promotional diary/spreadsheet, I’d encourage you to make one on your own with Google sheets or the like, and then invite your publisher staff with edit access so they can add their own notes. Again, taking initiative can be handy, and I even make promotional spreadsheets even for my indie releases when I’m just coordinating with myself. 

Another thing that having a central publicity doc/spreadsheet does is to create some accountability for your publicity staff – if weeks go by and there are no updates on the spreadsheet or to you about things happening that are supposed to be happening, you can follow up earlier in the process to make sure there aren’t any balls being dropped.

4) "Here are the events I was thinking of doing and conventions I was looking to attend. How can that add to your efforts and what type of support would you be able to offer for me in those events?"

Again, this is showing initiative and making a show of collaboration. You’ll want to share your local/regional/other connections with publishing staff, like whether you know the people at your local indie bookstore, whether you’re interested in going back to your hometown to do an event, which conventions you’ve attended before and could reasonably get a chance to do programming on in the future. It makes sense to ask your publisher for some input on promotional events, as ideally, they have experience with which conventions/conferences/types of events have been effective and have their own connections that can combine with your own. Numerous Angry Robot authors asked me about US-based conventions during these calls for their books - both US authors and authors from elsewhere (I was, after all, the only US-based staffer for most of my time at Angry Robot, and an active author in my own right).

If you’re in a position where your publisher wants to pay to send you to a convention/conference, it’s almost always a good idea to take them up on it. You’re in charge of your own time, but if the publisher is willing to front the money, it probably means they are very invested in your book and that they believe the event in question is one of the best ways for them to promote your book and you as an author. This is especially true with events like the American Library Association conferences, Book Expo America, BookCon, and/or any of the bigger Comic Cons (Comic Con International in San Diego, New York Comic Con, Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo, Emerald City Comic-Con, etc.)

5) "Here are the types of promotional activities I am most comfortable with. Where would those be best directed and how can we work together on that?" 

Be clear about your preferences and experience. If you already know that you love doing podcasts and hate doing convention panels, it’s good for your publisher staff to know that. The earlier they know what kinds of activities they can reasonably ask you to do, the better they will be able to adjust their plans.

If your publisher is asking you to do promotional spots/events/etc. that you’re willing to do but aren’t excited about, it may be worth trying to stretch a bit and do some of those things so that you can broaden your horizons and promotional skillset. So you could try going on a podcast for an interview even if you’re nervous, but you can ask the publicist to make sure the interviewer knows that you may be nervous, or you ask the publicist to book you on just the podcasts that they trust to make you more comfortable. It’s not uncommon, in my experience, to do some brainstorming and problem solving in order to find a happy medium between what an author is most comfortable with and what the publisher would like to see in terms of promotional activity.

More on Working with Publicity Staff

Nearly every publicity staffer I have met is overworked and underpaid. Some have more than a half-dozen titles to cover in a single month, and so they’re always going to be triaging and looking for ways to get the most done with the least amount of effort. It’s the only way they can keep their heads above water. These questions and my general advice are to keep those time pressures and expectations in mind so that you can help them help you. Putting in your own work means that they can work with you rather than starting from zero. Asking about plans and focus serves as a good reminder to cover the bases and to stay accountable with pitches, ARC mailings, etc.

Along those lines, do not be afraid to send follow up emails during the course of your book’s life – the ramp-up to release, launch month, and afterword. Your publisher is a business partner, so they are accountable to you just as you are accountable to them. It’s not unprofessional to send an email at the end of launch week or the week after where you both summarize your activity and ask what they’re seeing from initial responses. And if you’re working with an agent, you can definitely ask your agent to do some of that follow-up work and/or to help you gut-check when something seems to be going awry or you disagree with a choice the publisher is making or suggesting. 

As a former publishing staffer, I found it more useful to get batched emails covering several topics in one message vs. getting five emails over the course of the week (each requiring an individual response). This is another place where you can also just ask – “Would you prefer I send questions/follow-ups in batched emails or separate each topic into its own email? How often would you like summary emails from me during the month before/after launch?”

In Closing

As I said above, publicity can be really exhausting – there’s always more to do, and no one thing is guaranteed to create a specific level of success. That’s why it’s good to communicate early and often with your publishing staff, to set expectations and collaborate on the highest-percentage shots to take and places to use your time.

Best of Luck!