Life as a book publicist – interview with Ana McLaughlin
Publicist and anthologist Ana McLaughlin
Ironically, I’m not sure that book publicists (or PRs) get enough publicity for the very important job they do getting books on readers’ radars! So I’m super happy today to have an interview with Ana McLaughlin to share with you. She has worked in book PR since 2001. She’s also a published author herself and has a wealth of experience to share about this very important part of the sales-marketing-publicity triangle…
Please can you tell us how you came to offer the services you offer to authors today?
I started work as a Publicity Assistant in 2001 and since then have worked both in-house and freelance on pretty much every genre of book: fiction both commercial and literary, non-fiction of all kinds, children’s, lifestyle, cookery, health, gardening, activity books, business books – you name it!
You have two different, quite distinct jobs - one as a poetry anthologist, the other as a PR specialist. How do you juggle the two different sides of your work life?
With my publicist’s hat on I work as Campaigns Director at Quercus in a job share with the marvelous Elizabeth Masters. I’m evangelical about the job share as a way to work genuinely part-time – I have in the past worked four days a week with a five-day work load but a four-day pay check, picking things up constantly on my day ‘off’ (toddler wrangling.)
I’m now in-house for two days a week, leaving me the rest of the week for fitting freelance editing, writing and speaking around my smallish children.
What are your favourite parts of your work?
I love finding ways to tell a book’s story, whether in face to face meetings or in written pitches. Identifying what will grab editors and producers – and ultimately readers – is the part of publicity I find the most fun and creative. And of course, when a reader tells me I’ve led them to a new favourite book, that feels amazing.
And your least favourite?
It is so disappointing when a book doesn’t get the attention we hope for because competition for review slots is so fierce. As publicists we will pitch for many, many opportunities for every book we work on, but sometimes a title isn’t picked up for coverage despite lots of work having gone into the campaign. This never gets any easier – we are so invested in our books and authors.
When should an author start working with their publicist?
How early a publicist will begin work on a campaign varies – it tends to be earlier for fiction than for non-fiction as we’re more likely to have a full manuscript for a novel earlier. I’m already working on books that will be published in 2025 (look out for Life Hacks from A Little Alien by Alice Franklin, you heard it here first!)
Long lead magazines and opportunities like Radio 4 readings or literary festivals are often working many months in advance, but newspapers and broadcast outlets can turn an item around incredibly speedily.
How many books might a publicist be working on at any one time?
Again, this can really vary. Typically we might have three or four titles publishing in a month, but we will be working on books coming out over the year ahead at the same time.
Many of our repeat authors are on the road all year round, so we organise logistics for events, help with promotion and stock and monitor ticket sales. In addition, we’ll be reading submissions and meeting with potential authors as part of the acquisition process.
What are the biggest misconceptions that authors have about publicists?
Publicity involves a lot of pitching, and I think sometimes authors assume that if they have received five pieces of coverage, their publicist has only approached five outlets. In fact, to achieve that level of coverage we will usually have flagged a book to at the very least dozens and usually hundreds of contacts, most of whom don’t respond – even to decline – because editors and producers receive so many pitches it’s impossible for them to reply to them all.
“Don’t be afraid to send clear, brief bullet points outlining talking points, features related to your book you could write”
How can authors get the most out of their experience working with a publicist?
Do give your publicist all the information you can about both you and your book in good time. Most publishers will have an author questionnaire which will gather all this in one place so filling that in with plenty of detail is so helpful. If there are contacts you have – for example with local bookshops, libraries or groups, or in traditional or digital media – do flag these.
Don’t be afraid to send clear, brief bullet points outlining talking points, features related to your book you could write and relevant anniversaries or dates that might be good pegs for coverage. Although your publicist will have specific expertise on approaching different outlets, nobody knows your book better than you.
Do be clear about your boundaries, flexibility and skills. If the idea of giving a public talk fills you with dread, make this clear. If your book is about parenting, but you don’t want to provide photographs of your children to media, say so (I did this when promoting my anthology of poems about motherhood, Night Feeds and Morning Songs – but I did get a photograph of my children and I out walking taken from behind in case a publication wanted to use it.)
Do be realistic in your goals and research the kinds of places you could expect books like yours to appear. It’s unlikely Newsnight will interview an author about their historical bodice-ripper, or Good Housekeeping cover a in-depth history of the model railway…
And the same advice applies as it would with any working relationship: respond to communication in a timely fashion, meet deadlines, be pleasant and make sure you’re organised (I have had authors completely forget about national radio interviews!)
“You don’t have to be a publicist to pitch yourself – but make sure that you are not doubling up on efforts your publicist is making on your behalf”
Do you have any tips for authors looking to publicise their own books?
Lots, and I give talks on this regularly! Think about the networks and connections you can build even at a local level both offline – libraries, bookshops, festivals, groups like the U3A or WI, local radio and press – and online, through social media if this appeals. See what other authors writing in your area are doing (Pro tip: don’t look at the headline acts if that’s not where you are – yet!) and network with them as much as possible.
You don’t have to be a publicist to pitch yourself – but make sure that you are not doubling up on efforts your publicist is making on your behalf. Most active pitching by an in-house publicist will be in the time leading up to and just after publication, but there is lots you can do to get your book out there after this initial flurry of activity.
Tell us something surprising about being a book publicist!
I have done some quite weird things in the course of my job, including ferrying grouse carcasses to Crewe for a cookbook feature (worried all the way I would be called upon to pluck and gut them – which fortunately, I wasn’t), touring northern bookshops in a coach with Brendon from Coach Trip, dressing my colleagues up as zombies, spending an evening frantically completing adult colouring books, corralling five hundred excited school children for a celebrity school event, being interviewed on national television and radio and reading my embarrassing teenage diary to a packed pub.
I’m not sure any of those would have been on my list of expected activites when I applied for my first job…
Ana McLaughlin has worked as a publicist since 2001 for large corporate and small independent publishers and freelance. She is Campaigns Director at Quercus in a job share now. She published her first anthology in 2009, under the name Ana Sampson, and has published twelve anthologies since then with various publishers including She is Fierce and Gods and Monsters: Mythological Poems - so she has been both sides of the publicity fence!
You can find Ana’s newsletter here and her website here →
