How you can get a good freelance book publicist

A book publicist can help your book reach the right media. Remember that you will be paying a book publicist, so make sure that they do a proper job. Good freelance book publicists tend to have connections with the media. But before you decide to hire anyone, it’s a good idea to ensure that they understand the book and its objectives. You can discuss your goals for the book and make sure they can help you to achieve these goals. This article discusses how you can get a good freelance book publicist. 

Identify your target audience

There is a good chance that you already know your target audience even before you wrote the book. The audience refers to a group of people who can find your book useful to read. You need to make sure that you have a more specific audience. 

For example, there are many books on business, but if you write a book on why business owners need to garden, then you may have less competition. And, the book can help the readers do the gardening.

After all, many people usually read nonfiction books because they believe they can benefit from them. Therefore, you need to know what your book is offering and its target audience.

Figure out the results you want

Once you decide to hire freelance book publicists, there should be some goals. Firstly, you need to know what you desire the results of your freelance book publicist to be. You also need to have your objectives. For instance, you can choose to get more clients, make money, and many more. 

A good book publicist may want to know your goals before accepting the project. In most cases, they may want to know how your book will satisfy the needs of your readers. 

If you have reasonable expectations from your book, then you may have realistic goals. These goals can include gaining a certain number of new customers, getting coverage in a specific industry publication, and many more.

Decide what you want from a book publicist  

When you have your goals, then you need to come up with a second set of goals. These goals are what you want the potential book publicist to do to advance your book.

Ideally, you need to have goals for the book publicist, such as featuring in print media, doing podcast interviews, getting book reviews, and appearing in certain publications.  

Also, you need to figure out the type of media coverage that can assist you achieve your personal objectives. You should note that big media outlets can sometimes not help you the most. For example, if your goal is to get new customers in your local area, then national media is not a good option. 

In conclusion, working with a good freelance book publicist is a good idea. But before you hire one, you need to make sure that you have your goals and the publicist’s goals. In this way, it can be easier to take your book to another level.

You should have a mindset to work with a publicist

You need to be ready to learn how to take your book on the market. Publicity and good marketing is a team effort, so it means you are part of this team. Many publicists look for authors who are ready to do some things themselves and they need to be realistic. 

For instance, if you are a first-time author without a platform and need your book to be a movie, many publicists cannot meet this expectation. Publicity and marketing is a process and it can sometimes take a while to see the effects of a publicist. Traditional media coverage is competitive and has limited options, especially for self-published books.

Traditional outlets, such as radio and print have shrunk while there has been an increase in the number of published books. The authors who work well with a book publicist tend to understand how much they need to do to market their books. 

You should remember that publicity focuses on finding, identifying, or targeting the audience to purchase your book. Therefore, you should be familiar with your audience and have in place your platform. In this way, when you decide to get a publicist, they can have somewhere to start from like websites, social media, and other tools that can help them connect with the target readers of your book.

Build momentum before hiring a publicist

There are many things you can achieve by using digital media. This means you have to learn the social media platforms that target or potential audience uses. Besides, you must know the different languages of social media. This can help you to understand how best to reach your potential buyers and even have an idea of the right audience to market and what they use for entertainment.

You can be a good author by understanding your target market better than anyone. Some books can have crossover appeal, so you need to decide and focus on your potential key market. One of the major things that a good publicist can do for you is to assist you understand who your audience is. If you are clear and focused on your target market and objectives in reaching them, then there is a better chance of reaching a larger market.

Part of understanding your audience is knowing your competitors or authors who also reach the same audience you intend to reach. Also, you need to read anything in your genre. And, if you like the books, you can use social media to talk about them and connect with the authors. This means you should develop a relationship with the authors so that you can talk about their books. These authors can become your supportive community in future when you write your book. 

You should remember that every publicist tends to work differently and there are various things that are needed in a publicity campaign. As a result, the costs of a publicity can vary depending on the type of services offered by the publicity.

For instance, if you are a first-time author without a platform and need your book to be a movie, many publicists cannot meet this expectation. Publicity and marketing is a process and it can sometimes take a while to see the effects of a publicist. Traditional media coverage is competitive and has limited options, especially for self-published books.