As I said in my most recent post,
my agent provided a lot of pre-publication advice for my debut indie book The Song of Orpheus, helping me find a copy
editor, a formatter, a cover artist, and a book designer. She’s providing
assistance in post-publication, as well. Publicity and marketing takes expertise, and I have very little expertise in that area. So I decided to hire a publicist.
I’ve used publicists twice in the past and haven’t been too happy
with them. There’s no way to measure results, so I don’t know if they were
effective, but honestly, I don’t think they did anything I couldn’t have done
myself. (Which isn't all bad; I didn’t
—
and don’t
—
have time to beat the bushes, so having them find outlets saved me time. But I wanted more than time-saving, so I kept looking.) When I met and liked, and then heard good things about, a third publicist, I
asked Lara to check out her company. Her report was very positive, so I signed with
JKS Communications to spread the word about Orpheus.
I’ve been really, really happy with JKS. They’ve
dug up all sorts of opportunities I would never have thought of and didn’t know existed,
and they’re quick and responsive when I have questions or issues.
Of course, I have to pay for anything to do with publicity
and marketing, including the fee to JKS. I told them how much I had to spend, and they
tailored a campaign around that. I’ve also paid to send books to reviewers; for
a paid review in Kirkus (more on that in the next post); for a launch party
with beautiful and delicious cookies, wine, etc.; for travel/lodging
at events.
 |
| Hand-decorated cookies from Dulce Desserts! |
Is it expensive? Yes, but it’s part of
the cost of doing business and I know it’s what I have to do.
Next post: More on the business side of indie publishing
No comments:
Post a Comment