Bubbles of Interest: An Interview with Independent Publicist Whitney Peeling

On the vexed question of "Should I hire a freelance publicist for my book?" plus further proof that it pays to be kind.

On the long list of anxiety-inducing questions for book authors is whether or not one should hire a freelance (or “independent”) publicist to support your publication. To be clear, if you are published by a trade publisher (that is, you’re not self-publishing), you will be assigned an in-house publicist whose job it is to secure media coverage for your book and set up events. (For more on how this works, check out my interview with Michael Goldsmith, Senior Director of Publicity at Doubleday.) An independent publicist is one you hire yourself to provide additional support for your book. On the plus side, this can get you more publicity, and who wouldn’t want that? But the minus is that the best independent publicists don’t come cheaply: their rates range from $20-$50K per book, depending on the scope of the campaign and the publicist’s experience level.

Because of the expense involved, I almost never tell my authors, “You must hire a freelance publicist!” I don’t think it’s at all mandatory for a successful publication. I’ve also known authors who hire an independent publicist and get very little return on their investment. While I can’t tell what you should do, I can make you better informed in your decision-making, which is why this week’s guest is Whitney Peeling of Broadside, one of the very best publicists at one of the very best book publicity shops in American publishing. I worked with Whitney in her freelance capacity on my clients Clint Smith’s #1 New York Times bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award Winner How the Word Is Passed (along with her business partner, Michael Taeckens) and Linda Villarosa’s Under the Skin, which was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction (among other accolades). We first met when I was a publicity assistant at Houghton Mifflin and Whitney was a Senior Publicist; she was just winding down her campaign for Eric Schlosser’s megabestselling Fast Food Nation. (She was also trying to launch her side hustle as a “dance motivator,” the person you hire to get the party started at your next festive celebration. She subsequently decided to focus her natural exuberance on the promotion of books.) All of this is to say, Whitney is very, very good at her job and comes with decades of wisdom and experience.

Not sure if this one is for you? Read on if you are interested in learning more about:

• Why might you hire an independent publicist?

• And when should you hire one?

• What should you look for in a publicist?

• And how best can you work with one to make the most out of your investment?

Yours with thanks,

Alia

❦

Why do authors hire independent publicists? And when should an author consider adding someone to their team?

When I ask prospective clients why they’re looking to hire an independent publicist, the answers range from, “I think my book has the potential to reach a lot of different kinds of audiences and I think it would help to have someone working with me to make sure there’s a consistent effort to reach all” to “I worry I’m going to have so many questions for the in-house team – it would ease my mind to have someone working alongside us both.” Sometimes they feel that more could have been done for their previous book, or they might say that a friend recommended they hire someone. I think some authors also realize that it takes time and bandwidth to go back to contacts repeatedly and creatively, in-person or otherwise; to change a pitch/approach as the environment changes around us; to chase new contacts in the ever-evolving world of book media; etc. They respect their in-house team and see the value in having additional help.

My colleagues at Broadside and I (as well as our closest peers who handle full campaigns) are typically booked up at least six to eight months ahead of time, if not more like a year. I would encourage authors, if you're interested in working with an independent publicist, to start reaching out more than a year ahead of time.

Often, when I have an author who wants an independent publicist, it's because the publicity isn't going well. And we are, say, two months ahead of publication. Is there any reason to think about trying to hire a freelancer at that point, or is that just money down the drain?

There is no magic date by which you should have heard good news or else all is lost, but outreach by your publicist to top editors/writers/producers should be underway once galleys are ready in order for a book to be seriously considered for different kinds of print and other long-lead coverage, and that outreach should continue - as there is news to share – right through pub date.

But let me just say this: we often get a burst of interest around when the galleys are available. We often get a burst of interest when we're sharing a great pre-publication piece, when we're sharing a starred review, a truly exceptional blurb—say, by someone who never blurbs and it's just beautifully written—or an excerpt. Those should all elicit little bubbles of interest: "Send me the book. I want to consider this for X, Y or Z."

If you aren’t hearing that those things aren't happening, it doesn't mean your publicist is not doing their job (they’re likely moving a lot of levers behind the scenes and want to undersell -- not reveal every bit of interest -- in hopes and over-delivering). There’s also a rolling series of deadlines to consider, and unfortunately, all of them seem to be fluid when the outlet wants to make an exception. There are a handful of outlets and individuals—some of the major podcasts, monthly magazines, frequent freelance reviewers, even some weekly magazines— that can request materials or begin to set schedules six to eight months or longer in advance. Many of those same outlets and individuals can make final decisions within the last month before publication date. And of course there are lots of outlets that need a lot less time with material. It can be totally nerve-wracking.

There are very select cases, where there might be some massive news hook for instance, and it's worth bringing someone on to handle something very targeted. But if you’re thinking of hiring someone to do a full campaign two months before publication date, I would have some questions for that author.

What might those questions be?

Well, maybe just one: can you clearly identify your top goals so that a publicist can help you understand which - among them - are possible?

Most print editors need material far in advance to find reviewers and to consider a book for any most anticipated lists and other kinds of coverage, so if those editors are approached in earnest only two months before pub date, your chances of getting that kind of coverage are slim. Even major online outlets need materials far in advance. So you’re probably looking at a really targeted campaign. Maybe you can work with someone to help you place a few pieces online or in daily papers (OpEds or personal essays), which could get the attention of other kinds of media. Or you could work with someone to pitch you to radio and shorter-lead podcasts. But your expectations should be in check about traditional coverage.

It often happens to authors that there’s not total clarity on how coverage for a book will look two months out. It is a delicate time for authors. Will I land that NPR interview? Will X or Y person review the book? What advice do you have for authors to evaluate how well their campaign is going?

I think that the hardest thing for authors (or any of us) is not getting feedback. It’s one thing to learn that the New York Times Book Review isn’t reviewing your book despite having the material in plenty of time and knowing your publicist has met with them and pitched the book directly; it’s another to not know if they ever got a galley or not hear back from your publicist after you’ve asked a couple of times if one was sent.

When authors and publicists are really in touch and the communication is on from before the galleys are ready, I find that these kinds of questions -- "Is anything being done?" or "Have they gotten the book in the right places?" or "Why am I not getting coverage?" -- don't tend to come up. Because they just have that sense of what's being worked on and where there's movement.

I would say: if their department has a good track record of landing major media, then they likely know how to get the media’s attention. Your publicist may be up against a difficult news cycle, and may need some fresh talking points. Are there a few brief notes you can share that could be folded into a follow-up note to editors/producers?

If you are an author and you want to hire an independent publicist, what might you ask the person you’re thinking of hiring?

So much of it is about chemistry, just like anything else. Does the person seem to get your book? Are they asking you good questions about your project? Are they curious about you and what else you've published? Do they seem to understand your goals?

It's so similar to the advice that I give to people when they're talking to agents. I think that people sometimes think of agents as "who's the fanciest agent I can get," and that is not determinative of a good relationship at all or who will do right by you. It's so much more about the match.

Totally. But I think it would be important to ask how much time they can devote to your project, because some publicists—we tend to work about a year in advance, but some publicists may put a cap on three months, or six months, or whatever it might be. Ask what’s included in that time frame. I think it's also important to ask them how they work with the in-house teams. Listen very carefully to the response, because it's so important to me that the in-house publicist not only be tolerant of my involvement, but supportive of it. I'm a firm believer that nothing good will come from a divided publicity team.

If an independent publicist makes it sound like they generally perceive the in-house publicist as someone who can be controlled or ignored or pushed in any way, that's a red flag in my opinion.

Can you explain why?

It suggests that the publicist either doesn't understand how publishing works and doesn't understand the key point that it has to be collaborative, or just may be generally territorial and not willing to share information. As a result, both publicists may go after the same things and annoy the media. It's just not helpful. It's not productive.

The infrastructure of the book exists at the publisher. That's where the books are going to be sent from. That's where you have to report back that publicity is coming, so they can tell the sales team, so they can then share news with sales to share with accounts. That's where reprints happen. That's where awards are submitted to. It’s hard to have a successful publication with it just being run out of somebody's apartment.

Exactly. And you want the in-house team to be engaged with the project. When they go into their marketing meetings, you want them to know what's going on. If the teams are divided, it's just not a practical way to work.

Can you give an example of an author that you really enjoyed working with because they were a great partner in the publicity process?

I will single out Aaron Robertson [author of THE BLACK UPTOPIANS]. I just worked with him and the amazing team at FSG (shout out to Rose Sheehan there, who is also wonderful) last fall. Full disclosure: Aaron is an editor and works in book publishing, but I think there are lessons from his participation in the publicity campaign that could be replicated by anyone.

First, he's just a lovely person. Ours is a small world and news travels fast. It helps to be kind! Aaron is also a good literary citizen and really did his homework. His author questionnaire was thorough and thoughtful (I can’t tell you how many authors don’t fill theirs out or do so in a cursory way). He had pages and pages of ideas about other writers who've written about the idea of utopia from a variety of perspectives and reviewers who had covered other books wrestling with this topic.

I think what happens a lot of the time is that writers will just have this punch list of ideal readers—well-known reviewers or outlets. But Aaron would list a name and then say, "I'm thinking of this person because of this book they wrote four years ago," or "I'm thinking of this person because I saw them on a panel and they were engaging with this particular issue, which is a big part of my book." His ideas were smart and specific. And we could draw on those notes when reaching out to people.

He also offered to write notes to galley recipients here and there. A short paragraph to a favorite host in the vein of "you did a show recently on X, Y, or Z, and it has reshaped how I thought about this or that idea.” In other words, it wasn’t a sales pitch. Just a genuine effort to connect with people at a time when we're all so overloaded with impersonal emails and cold calls.

It’s important for authors to discuss these kinds of ideas with their publicist. In some cases (very rare cases) it might make sense for an author to go directly to someone (if, say, they're best friends with a writer in the media landscape). In the vast majority of cases, it’s better for your publicist to pass it along. Just have a conversation about who you know or who you want to reach and your publicist can help you strategize.

One more thing to note: Aaron’s book, THE BLACK UTOPIANS, was also beautifully written; it had a great jacket; he was writing on a topic that’s been approached in all these different ways but no one had done exactly what he’d done before. People forget that all those components are important, and it's always a collaboration between departments. If you just have one of these elements, I think it's very, very hard. Or if you only have one individual or one department really focussing on the book, it's very hard to have a literary success. It requires marketing to step in and be nimble and spread the word and come up with great graphics on social media and all this kind of stuff. It means that the galleys have to be ready on time. So many components have to work together.

Is there anything you'd like to share as parting advice to authors about to enter their publicity season?

I guess I’d say: think about all of this stuff as far in advance as possible. Before your book comes out, educate yourself about the publicity process. How many books is the New York Times Book Review actually reviewing each week vs. how many books are published each week? How many authors like yourself are being interviewed by Seth Meyers? Which popular podcast hosts seem to be obsessed with the topic I’m writing about?

Maybe hire an independent publicist to do a consultation with you so you can think about what your goals are (is an excerpt really important to you? Do you have ideas about an original piece or two they might help you place around pub date? Is there a dream reviewer you want to be sure every effort is made to reach? Are there campaigns for comparable books you really admire?) and how best to communicate that to your publicist and what the timeline would be.

Make sure a publishing meeting with your team gets scheduled before galleys are available, and talk to your agent about how best to prepare for that. Fill out your author questionnaire!

Tell your in-house team about your existing connections and offer to send personal notes or lean on your people directly and see what your publicist thinks.

I think the authors who have the most satisfying publishing experiences are the ones who arm themselves with lots of real information about the process beforehand.