Caren Johnson Literary Agency

By Catalina Alvira

(Note from Caren: Be sure to check out the first post here before reading this awesome post.)

I work for a publicity and marketing firm that specializes in arts & entertainment clients. It’s a new world for me, and it’s fascinating to witness the parallels that exist between the publishing industry and the PR/marketing industry.

Publicists “pitch” feature story ideas to newspaper and magazine editors in much the same way that agents “pitch” their clients’ books. Advertising reps generate advertising budgets and campaigns in much the same way that publishers generate advertising budgets and campaigns for their book releases. Marketing executives coordinate with printing & distribution companies to disseminate marketing materials in much the same way that authors market their own book readings through fliers and postcards. And at my company, we’re always brainstorming new promotional ideas—2-1 deals, discounts; contests; partnerships with other organization for free give-aways—in order to come up with fresh, inventive ways to generate word-of-mouth “buzz” about our clients and their events.

However, despite the similarities, I quickly learned that each department at my new job—publicity, advertising, marketing, and promotions—has very specific responsibilities that aren’t interchangeable.

For example, don’t ask a publicist about advertising rates. Don’t ask a marketing exec about how to pitch to a magazine editor. And don’t ever ask an advertising rep to brainstorm creative ways to get the word out for “free.” Free? Advertising reps are used to dealing in increments of thousands. “Free” isn’t in their vocabulary.

So whether you’re discussing promotional ideas for your book with your publisher’s publicist, or you’re considering hiring your own publicist, it’s important to understand the distinctions between PR, ads, marketing, and promo. And even if you’ve resigned yourself to the homemade “do-it yourself” marketing campaign, I hope you’ll follow along.

Once we’ve hammered out the differences between PR, advertising, marketing, and promotions, I’ll be dishing out some specific trade secrets in my next blog posts – specifically for all you renegade guerilla marketing fans.

Public Relations – PR is the catch phrase for “dealing with the press.” Most publicists are exclusively interested in gaining press coverage for their clients in the various media outlets: newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV. This is free coverage—articles that staff reporters and freelance stringers write about you—the debut author—in their magazines and newspapers. Newspapers and magazines are always hungry for fresh story ideas. It’s the job of your publicist to “pitch” to these media editors as a means of gaining free press coverage for you and your book.

Most publicists have established relationships with the same newspaper/magazine editors and TV/radio producers. Much like agents, who pitch the same publishing editors over and over, publicists pitch to the same newspaper editors and radio producers over and over. Maybe it’s a feature article with a great photo and the perfect tie-in (see more about “tie-ins” in my earlier post). Or maybe it’s just an inside blurb. Either way, PR is the art of getting media coverage—and getting it for free.

In the next blog post, I’ll cover specific ways that you can generate your own grass-roots PR campaign, including who to pitch at your local newspaper, the “art of the pitch,” and the importance of a stellar author photo.

Advertising – This is an easy one. Ads.

Advertising reps develop effective advertising campaigns on behalf of their clients. Advertising reps know the exact price—net and retail—of every print ad in every size in every newspaper and magazine in their market. They can tell you the spread in price between a black and white 2” listing in the Chicago Tribune weekday edition versus a 3” x 5” listing in color in the Chicago Sun Times Sunday edition. They know which radio spots to run during which hours of the day in order to reach the appropriate demographic. They know how to develop online campaigns for half the cost of print campaigns. And they’ll be the first ones to tell you that TV advertising is way out of your budget.

Media buying is big business. Advertising agencies get a commission on every ad placed, and they usually work with advertising budgets in increments of thousands. And that’s on a weekly basis. That said, it’s a fascinating time right now in the advertising industry. The internet is literally wiping out Goliath print conglomerates like the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times by stealing away its readers and its advertising dollars. Now, more than ever, even poor little authors with shoe-string budgets can create effective advertising campaigns all on the web. Next blog post, I’ll give you some tips on how to create your own advertising campaigns with a few hundred dollars—and in some cases—for free.

Marketing – Marketing focuses on reaching intended demographics through targeted strategies. Advertising is one form of marketing. But marketing also involves the production and distribution of fliers or posters to specific locations and organizations. It can also include email or mailing “list” rentals, which allow you to obtain the contact information (email and mailing addresses) of a specific group of a desired demographic.

If you’re printing fliers and dropping them off at local coffee shops to market your next literary reading, you’re already engaged in a marketing campaign. Next blog post, I’ll give you some creative tips on other guerilla marketing techniques—as well as ways to effectively market yourself on the internet.

Promotions – Promotion can be a broad term that encompasses all of the above. But usually, promotions deal with marketing a product through rewards, discounts, rebates, and free give-aways.

2-1 ticket deals. Half-priced products if purchased before a deadline. One-day sales. Charity events with tie-ins to client’s events. Contests in which the winner receives an all-expense trip to Cancun. All examples of promotions.

The good news is that you don’t have to cough up a free trip to Cancun to get people chatting about your new book (although it never hurts). If you’ve got a blog and some free time, there are tons of creative promotions you can offer to help generate “buzz”.

But that’s all in my next blog post… stay tuned.