PUBLICITY

Book PR is an essential element in getting your book in front of its readers – but how exactly does it work, and what can you do to make the most of it? As her debut novel is published, top-flight book PR Becky Hunter explains how publicity works – from the inside – and advises you how to create opportunities for exposure.

Becky Hunter

When I first decided I wanted to work in publishing, I assumed I wanted to be an editor. I remember sitting in a restaurant with a friend, floundering because I had no idea what I wanted to do, and thinking, well I like books, maybe I should work in publishing? I applied for a few editorial jobs, didn’t get them (was convinced my lack of English degree was the reason, which it probably wasn’t), and then had a mini breakdown about the fact that I was never going to become an editor and my dreams were dashed. Ah, the benefits of hindsight…

Because, as it turns out, there are a whole host of jobs in publishing – something I was unaware of in my early twenties, when I first decided this was the industry for me. I didn’t even know what a book publicist was, until I started working as one. And I’m still not very good at summing up, in a quick, two-sentence reply, what a book publicist does, when people outside the industry ask what my job is. Because it is so many things. It is writing press releases. It is coming up with feature ideas. It is pitching authors for radio interviews, it is trying to convince a reviewer to review this author’s book, as opposed to the many others that are published in the same month. It is organising events and schedules, it is meeting journalists, it is (occasionally) going to parties in high heels. It is making sure you are there for the author and that you listen to their ideas, that you support them before an event or interview, that you read the short stories or features they write and help them craft the idea into something the editor will be happy with. It is building and maintaining those relationships. And it is more than all that, too, depending on the day!

A lot of the time, a debut author will be surprised that they have a publicist. I’ve had conversations with many new authors where they wonder what it is a publicist does, and what they are expected to do, as the author. It is something that can feel a bit closed off, until you are thrown into the deep end. But usually, if you are traditionally published, your publicist is the person you will have the most contact with, after your editor – and sometimes, depending on the book, the person you will talk to the most, out of everyone in-house. So it’s an important relationship!

It was luck that I ended up as a PR assistant at Transworld, one of the divisions of Penguin Random House, for my first job. I’d done work experience at a children’s publisher, working in the sales department, and it’s there that I figured out that becoming an editor wasn’t the only way ‘in’. So I applied, I had my interview, I talked about how much I loved Sophie Kinsella, one of their authors, and they took a chance on me. Ten years later, and I’m still working as a publicist, and I’ve worked with some truly fantastic fiction authors, including Shari Lapena, Harriet Evans, Cathy Bramley, Jo Thomas, Karen Hamilton. I’ve launched debut authors, worked on brand crime and women’s fiction, and worked across both celebrity and non-celebrity non-fiction. I also do some editorial work now and then, but the bulk of my experience is in PR. And – Ihave a book coming out. A book with my actual name on it, something that feels impossible to believe, after years of championing other brilliant authors. One Moment is published by Corvus Books this month, and so now, I am beginning to understand what it feels like on both sides of the fence…