This week, JJ and Kelly talk to Mallory Hayes, a book publicist! She answers a few questions about publicity and gives some advice. Also, once again, EVERYTHING IS STILL HAMILTON. Stay tuned to the end for bloopers where Mallory and JJ attempt—very poorly—to rap.
Show Notes (TL;DR)
The difference between marketing and publicity is that marketing is coverage you pay for whereas publicity is coverage you don't pay for (e.g. ads fall under marketing, pitching for reviews in publication is publicity)
Publicists have media contacts that an author may or may not have, and can leverage their contacts to get their authors more or better exposure.
We covered some promotional stuff in last week's podcast!
When in doubt, ASK! Publicity can differ from imprint to imprint, house to house, publisher to publisher. You never know until you ask.
Promotion/publicity generally starts about 6 months before publication with ARCs or galleys going out, ramping up as you get closer and closer to publication. Don't start too soon, or else people will forget.
The number one thing you should not do: respond to reviews. Just...don't do it.
What We're Reading/Books Discussed
If Hermione Were the Main Character of Harry Potter (A.K.A. Hermione Granger and the Goddamn Patriarchy)
A Harry Potter Where Hermione Doesn't Do Anyone's Homework for Them at The Toast
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen
Big Magic, The Signature of All Things, and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
On Writing by Stephen King
Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer (which Sooz recommended on PubCrawl!)
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (A.K.A. J.K. Rowling)
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
The Little Stranger, Tipping the Velvet, and Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Creative Endeavors
Mallory is writing a YA novel!
Kelly and JJ are gearing up for NaNoWriMo (add us at bookishchick and sjaejones, respectively)
Some more NaNoWriMo tips
EVERYTHING CAN BE FIXED.
Fixing is easier than creating from scratch.
Write and DON'T LOOK BACK, DON'T LOOK BACK.
6. Ask A Book Publicist! With Mallory Hayes