Publicty Horror Stories

Happy Holloween. In the spirit of the season, Bella Stander is publishing Publicity Terror Tales over at her blog. They are well worth checking out and some are really scary as hell.

I've heard a few I could ad. Mostly concerning authors who have spent a lot of money hiring publicists. This is nothing against the men and women who work hard and put their heart and soul into their jobs.I know and really like many people in publicity. But publicity is a crap shoot. A total gamble. That's why I'm always talking about marketing not PR.  But I always say, spend your first $7500 on marketing, then add some PR. If you have $25,000 to spend on a book, put $15,000 into marketing then risk the other $10,000. I've learned this how? The hard way. Sure if the PR hits it can hit huge, but its still a gample.

I have my own little horror story. When  I self published my book on the web in 1998, I knew what I was doing was news for about a a half a dozen reasons I won't bore you with here.  I interviewed three top firms who all pitched great campaigns. I went with the one priced in the middle who had terrific creds. How did they do? Not very good. For $10,000 over 12 weeks all they got me was two column inches in a local rag.

About five months later, our relationship long over, my self pubbed ebook/trade paperback wound up actually making some pubishing history. At that point reporters started calling me. The story wound up in Newsweek, Time, NYT, NYMagaine, Reuters, AP and on and on. And right in the middle of those calls, came one from the publicist I'd hired all those months before who actualy had the balls to and suggest I spend $15,000 this time and try again.

"Now I can get you some press,"he said.

"At this point my dog could get me some, press,"  I said, thanked him and hung up.

I'm usually more polite than that but sometimes I can't help it.

Comments

[Lisa Haneberg]

Ditto for my first horror experience. It was my first book - I wanted to do everything "right." If only I knew then.... Spent about $18,000 on publicity - a well regarded NY firm. The ROI? Really terrible. And it was heart breaking, because that's a lot of money. I had convinced my husband it would be worth it, but it wasn't. I would have been better off buying $16,000 of my own books and getting them out there. Now on my 5th book, I would not even consider spending that kind of money on PR. The contacts I have made are what's most valuable to me in terms of getting the word out about my books.

[Tynisha]

This post is so very true. I thought that I wanted to be a book publicity. Quit my job and started my own company (idiot). Took on an unknown mystery writer with a huge helping of self importance and it has been the worst experience ever. Charged her $500 a month for three months. I had the contacts,the desire and tenacity, but really who wants to write about yet another mystery writer. So I started pitching author background and not the book. Minimal success. Fast forward, I know focus solely on marketing with this author and I'm having so much more success. The publicity part is never easy, but good marketing I've learned can garner some publicity.

[Joy Kennelly]

I'm a publicist who has promoted book authors, non-profits, documentary films, celebrities, and consumer products both for other agencies and on my own.

I understand the frustration of paying lots of money and getting little results although I personally have never done that!

What I recommend is not going to the bigger firms when you're just starting out because they will never have their main person who persuaded you to hire them actually do any of the work on your account.

As a result, you're left to deal with people who are much more junior and won't know what they're doing. Some may, but others are just out of college, don't have the relationships or the wherewithall to think creatively on your behalf.

If you're just starting out, choose an agency that's small like you. You will most likely deal with the principal who has had years of developing strong relationships with media, know what they're doing, and actually work on your account as their main priority.

I'm real picky over who I work with because I know not only is my potential client's reputation and project on the line, but also mine.

I'm really sorry to hear about your bad experiences, but please don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

Developing media relationships and industry contacts takes time. A good publicist can make that happen much quicker than anyone who's just starting out.

I always combine marketing approaches with how I do publicity because I agree with the author of this blog, it's more important to be a viable brand first and then do the publicity to announce it.

That's my two cents.