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Publicity Packages for Smaller PressesAugust 13, 2008 A small-press publisher just emailed me to say, "[This book's] publicity package was our first. Did it come across as professional? Interesting? Was there anything you think should be improved?" I dug up the book and the enclosures and sent back a paragraph of comments (six years of being paid to have opinions have gotten me very firmly in the habit of telling people exactly what I think when they ask for feedback), and then got to thinking about what I think makes marketing materials good or successful.It's difficult to make generalizations here, because there are so many potential audiences. I think any good publicity package takes the audience into account. In the case of the book mentioned above, I personally know both the author and the publisher, so I'm going to use publicity materials primarily as a reference for the book's ISBN, page count, and pub date. On the other hand, reviewers and reviews editors who aren't as deeply immersed in the world of genre publishing might not have any idea whether the author is well-known, the publisher is a vanity press, etc. Bigger publishers and imprints have an easier time of it, because they don't have to establish legitimacy. Most of them don't even bother with letters; they include all the pertinent bibliographic information on the galley cover or title page and let their reputations carry the rest. For small and independent presses, here's what I think goes into making a really solid publicity package. 1) Enclose two pages maximum. One is a cover letter addressed to a person, not a title. (Mail merges have been around for twenty years; use them.) The other is, in essence, your book's resume. It should include a brief description of the book, a brief description of the book's context (previous books in the series, review quotes), a brief description of the author, a brief description of the publishing company, the cover art (small and greyscale is fine, larger and color is better), and all pertinent information for people who want to review the book or order copies. You may want to rearrange this info depending on who the book is going to; you shouldn't need more than two or three versions. 2) Use the same format for every book. That way, those of us who just need some data can find it easily. 3) Set that data apart in some fashion. For example, in the cover letter, a little boldface goes a long way: Enclosed are two copies of Jane Doe's My Cat Loves Me More Than You Do (October 2028, $45.95, 480p, ISBN 978-0-0000-0000-0), the third title and first hardcover release in Jane's hilarious and popular My Cat fantasy-mystery series. The first My Cat book, My Cat Smells Like Feet (October 2026), received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus. New York Times bestselling feline fantasy author Joe Schmoe calls the series "a winner" and says, "Keep an eye on Jane--she's going places!" My Cat Loves Me More Than You Do is Pretty Pretty Publisher's lead title for fall/winter '28 and we would very much appreciate you considering it for review.That is, by the way, about as long as the cover letter needs to be. On the resume, put a box around the date, price, page count, and ISBN, or put them on a prominent separate line right under the title and author. 4) Make sure to mention the best way for booksellers and libraries to buy your books. You'd be amazed at how many books I get that don't include ordering information. Name your distributor, or give detailed contact information for the person at your company who handles direct orders, or both. 5) Don't quote people and publications that no one has ever heard of. Better to have no quotes than to proudly proclaim that even the author's mother-in-law grudgingly admitted that the book is pretty good. Likewise, be very, very wary when comparing an author to other authors or a book to other books. I've lost count of the authors who have been proclaimed "the next Tolkien" or "the next Robert Jordan". That kind of namechecking doesn't stand out; it's unimaginative and makes it look like there's nothing unique about the author or book you're promoting. This goes double for the children of authors or other famous people. Mention it briefly if at all, and then move on. 6) Don't include CDs, cover flats, folders, or other items that are bulky and likely to get separated from the galleys. Just enclose the two sheets of paper, folded so that when you paperclip them to the galley's front cover, they won't stick out and get crumpled, and the key paragraph is prominently displayed in all its boldface goodness. I'd love to hear other comments on this from the publicists, publishers, and reviewers out there. What's worked for you? What's fallen flat? Posted by Rose Fox on August 13, 2008 | Comments (11)
August 13, 2008
In response to: Publicity Packages for Smaller Presses Kaolin Fire commented: It's always good to see the other side of the fence, so kudos to the unnamed small press for asking, and kudos to you for responding (and extra kudos for sharing that with all of us).
August 13, 2008
In response to: Publicity Packages for Smaller Presses Kaolin Fire commented: (sorry about the lack of para breaks--apparently I needed to use HTML to divide them up as opposed to paired newlines :/ )
August 13, 2008
In response to: Publicity Packages for Smaller Presses Rose Fox commented: Kaolin: Yes, this interface doesn't do well with line breaks, unfortunately.<br><br>Emails in advance are great, and I encourage publicists and publishers to send them, but a delay of even a few days between email and book and I may not remember to put the two together. In addition, physical book resumes are useful for when the book gets passed from hand to hand, as you presumably hope it will.
August 13, 2008
In response to: Publicity Packages for Smaller Presses Sherwood Smith commented: This is enormously helpful. I linked in my blog--I've a lot of readers who are either involved in small press, or who are taking a lot of their publicity into their own hands. Thank you.
August 14, 2008
In response to: Publicity Packages for Smaller Presses Rose Fox commented: Sherwood: Thanks for the link and the comment!
August 14, 2008
In response to: Publicity Packages for Smaller Presses Steve Berman commented: Very good advice. Ahh, now if Lethe could only have enough lead-in time to submit to PW.
August 14, 2008
In response to: Publicity Packages for Smaller Presses Diane C. commented: Excellent advice...especially #5 and #6. When I had my book clubs I use to get a lot of review books from authors that would send CDs and folders. I hated that. Too much stuff. Just tell me what the book is about. Also emails from P.R. people are good. Kudos to you Ms. Fox for hitting it on the nail. Thanks for the free info!!!!!!!!!!!
August 14, 2008
In response to: Publicity Packages for Smaller Presses SusanKroupa commented: Good advice all around! I worked for some years at a library selecting and ordering books for various collections. The first thing I would look for in a publicity package was whether or not the book was from a vanity publisher--if so, I wouldn't waste my time unless there was a writing sample that surprised me by its quality. Next, I needed to know where to get the book and what kind of discount I would be able to obtain. I tried to support worthy books from small presses even when we couldn't get our standard discount (a big deal for us), but nothing would frustrate me more than to find a book that sounded interesting and then have to spend time trying to track down the ordering information.
August 14, 2008
In response to: Publicity Packages for Smaller Presses Rose Fox commented: Steve: That's something I hear from a lot of small and independent presses. You might want to talk with the folks running Tachyon, Night Shade, Norilana, and Golden Gryphon--just to name a few smaller presses off the top of my head who generally manage to get us either galleys or spiral-bound mss on time--and see how they make it work.<BR><BR>Diane, Susan: Thanks for the compliments! It's always interesting to hear from people outside my little reviewing niche; it never occurred to me that book clubs would have these problems too, but of course they do, and I didn't even know that libraries got discounts, but it makes perfect sense that they would. I appreciate you expanding my horizons a bit!
September 3, 2008
In response to: Publicity Packages for Smaller Presses Ella Curry, EDC Creations commented: Hello, this was a fantastic article! I emailed all of my clients and sent them the link. I was once a buyer for a major book chain, it surprised me that a ton of authors didn't know how to submit their work. This article was on point. I can't wait to see what you post next!
September 5, 2008
In response to: Publicity Packages for Smaller Presses Rose Fox commented: Ella: Thanks for the compliments! I'm glad you found the piece useful, and I hope your clients do too. Press kits can definitely be over the top, but I think a lot depends on the audience. Some people, especially those who prefer paper references to online research, may like having every possible pertinent item included in the publicity package. I would guess that most CD-ROMs and folders end up in the trash, though.
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