Do You Really Need a Publicist for Your Book? | Ep. 47

Does hiring a publicist guarantee book sales? If you’ve ever wondered what the difference is between marketing and publicity... and whether you need both... this episode is for you. Many authors assume their publisher will handle book promotion, but the truth is, “you are your best marketer.”

If you want to launch your book successfully and get the visibility it deserves, this episode is packed with must-know insights. Host Allison Lane breaks down what a publicist actually does, when you might need one, and why marketing is the umbrella under which all book promotion strategies fall.

Learn how to take control of your marketing and set yourself up for long-term success.

🎧 Listen now and take charge of your book’s success.

What You’ll Learn:

• The key differences between a publicist and a marketer (and why it matters for your book).
• 3 essential marketing decisions you need to make before hiring a publicist.
• Why publicity alone won’t sell your book... and what to focus on instead.

Resources Mentioned:

• Free guide: “3 Steps to Your Successful Book Launch” https://www.lanelit.com/launch
• Join Bestseller Launch School → https://www.lanelit.com/bestseller-waitlist
• Send Your Questions for the Next Episode. → Click the link in the episode description.
• Have a question or request? Email me at allison@lanelit.com 

Timestamps:

01:36 – Who’s responsible for marketing your book? (Spoiler: It’s you!)

02:49 – What does a publicist actually do?

05:53 – What a publicist won’t do for you (and why it matters).

07:55 – 3 steps to DIY your own publicity before hiring a pro.

09:40 – The biggest mistake authors make with PR... and how to fix it

Share this episode with an author friend who needs a visibility boost. Let’s get more books into the hands of the right readers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vqrhpTJ_dI 

Your book launch is your chance to build your visibility and grow your audience. In the Bestseller Launch School guided program, I'll show you how to get buzz before your book hits the shelves, master pre-orders and early sales to get attention and keep sales going long after launch day. Live trainings start April 30th - June 11. Grab your seat now: https://lanelit.com/bestseller 

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Transcript

Allison: 1:34

The whole purpose of publicity is to reach the people who need your message and your book. Hey there and welcome back to the Author's Edge, the podcast that helps you navigate the world of marketing and branding and publishing. And keep you from immersing yourself and drowning in a sea of overwhelm. I'm Allison Lane and I'm here for you. Today is another Thursday Q& A episode. These are shorty episodes where I answer your questions that you send in. Maybe you didn't even know you could ask me a question, but yes, you can. And here's how, go to the episode description at the very top. It says, send me a text, and then you click it. And then, you send to me a text with your question. It's that easy. So, at the top of the episode description, it says, send me a text and you can send me a text and I will answer it. Yes, I will. Today's question is sent in by Debra. Hi Debra, who also sent me a text and I got it. So, here's the question. What's the difference between a marketer and a publicist and do you really need both? Ooh, good one, Debra. Thank you for this. And if you're new around here or you're thinking, Oh my gosh, my launch is coming up and my publisher is telling me I need a publicist. You don't need to do anything. But you're probably wondering who's responsible for getting my name and my book out there. Isn't it the publisher? No, it's not. It's a bummer, but you are your very best marketer. You are your marketing director. Marketing and publicity sometimes seem to overlap, but they don't. They are not overlapping. Marketing is the umbrella. Publicity is part of marketing. They are not equal and overlapping. So, before I tell you whether you should invest in one or both or none, let's define marketing and publicity. Publicity is about getting earned media coverage. A publicist works to secure articles and interviews for you. Industry mentions, this boosts your visibility. Publicist is a strategy to boost awareness of you. It's one of many strategies that boost awareness. It's one of many strategies that boost awareness inside of an overall marketing plan. That's why marketing is the umbrella and publicity is one activity inside of marketing. Okay. Marketing also includes paid ads, promotions, events, email, newsletters, speaking engagements, SEO, website development, branding, design, collateral, marketing materials, giveaways, social media, it includes everything. Publicity is one of those things. Okay. So, a publicist's job is to get you media coverage which is fantastic. If you need an extra set of hands and you think there's so much media coverage, I need a publicist to help me. Awesome. You should know that a publicist comes at a cost and the usual cost is anywhere from three thousand to seven thousand a month for a two month minimum. The thing is, the publicist is going to ask you for a bunch of marketing tools and decisions before they can get going. And if you have not stepped into your role as your very best marketer, you can do it now. Here's what they're gonna ask for, and here are the things that a publicist will not do for you. They're not gonna create your website, your headshot. They're going to ask you, what webpage do you want me to drive to? What social media do you want me to drive to? Where's your marketing bio? And the photo that I should use to represent you. Those are all your decisions and your responsibility. And they sound more intimidating than they really are. That's why I like to teach people how to do this for themselves so that they can put together their bio inside of an hour instead of lamenting and writing something that really isn't marketing first. You know, it's a big issue with bios is that they read like autobiographies and they're not supposed to be. So, a marketer's job is to develop your plan, but since you're the marketer, you get to develop the plan and what success looks like for you. It might be that you need to define which media are priorities for that publicist because they don't know. They don't know where your audience is or what your audience cares about. They're not writing your speaking points for you so that you can stay on message or provide a really good mic drop moment. They're not giving you speaker training. The other thing a publicist isn't going to do that is your job is to gather the resulting article or podcast interview and put it on your website, put it on social, write a blog about it, create a video about the experience of prepping for your interview or traveling to your event. It's your job to do all that. And that's why I think before you hire anyone, you should decide what's important for you. And how you're going to make the whole process simple and easy. This is what I teach in my bestseller launch school and provide people all of the tools that you're going to be able to. And this is what I teach in my bestseller launch school, because I don't want you to hire a creative branding designer so that you can spend 3, 000 developing your palette. That is not a good use of dollars or pennies. Instead, that's within my bestseller launch school of here's how to decide and take 20 minutes and make a decision because there's always an easy way. And that's my job is to give you easy tools. Publicity isn't going to do all of that for you, you're going to. So, do you need both? Probably not. The first thing you need is a marketing plan. And to have a marketing plan, you need to know what the options are for activities. And then, how to make decisions about those activities. For instance, if you know you want to be on podcasts, you have to decide which podcasts are going to reach your audience, not which podcasts do you have contacts too. That's not the criteria. The whole purpose of publicity is to reach the people who need your message and your book. So, you got to go where they are, even if you're not, you know, maybe you're not, maybe you don't read that magazine. But your readers do, so you've got to focus on the podcasts that your reader's listening to. The articles that your readers also read. And also you know, the events they go to. Ideal scenario is that budget is no obstacle, and you could outsource everything. But it's not realistic because that's not how the world works. So, before we wrap up, here are three quick action steps for you. Step one, define your goal. Define what you want the end result to look like. If the end result and the measure of your success is building awareness. Maybe you need a publicity plan and maybe your publicity plan includes a publicist, but maybe it includes using my templates and joining my bestseller school or working with someone to teach you how to pitch. Step two, start small. DIY your own publicity by pitching, you could guest blog or you could test some of your content on social and see what sticks and what is engaging. Step three, if you hire someone, choose a publicist for their credibility and how they have kept other clients from going for quantity over quality. Quantity is not helpful in publicity because a few strategic decisions can help you reach the people that you need to reach. And then, use the result in all of your marketing, which again, that publicist is not going to be posting on your website for you. It all starts with you. That's the answer and that's a wrap for today's episode. If you found this helpful, make sure to subscribe to this podcast. It helps the algorithm show the podcast to other people who are pursuing their same result that you are. They want to get their book into the world. They want their journey as an author to be easier and simpler and more fun. And it should be, and it can be. Make sure to subscribe. Leave a review and share this episode with someone in your accountability pod. And if you don't have an accountability buddy, Ugh, you know what? I'm gonna make a mental note. I'm gonna do an episode about accountability pods and accountability buddies and what to expect and how to make them work for you. Remember, if you have a question, send it to me, go to this podcast episode description, click send me a text and send that text to me. Or you can email me, obviously. I'm at allison@lanelit.com, and you can check out all of the services I provide, they're all on my website at lanelit.Com. Thanks for tuning in to the Author's Edge. And until next time, keep building your author brand, keep growing, keep boosting your visibility. You are a big effing deal.