If you like rejection, become a book publicist
I often remark that the perfect profession for someone with ADHD, is publicity. At any given time, in the book business, you have to store a shelf or two of books in your brain.
Have you ever heard jazz chanteuse, Diane Krall sing the line “I know a little bit about a lotta things…” from an old Peggy Lee song circa 1940’s? Well, instead of finishing that line with the written lyric, “but I don’t know enough about you,” it could easily end with “then I must be in the publicity department of HCI!” Much less musical, but so true.
No kidding. We are the quick studies. The mercurial minds that, when it comes to our work, go only so deep. Although we read every one of our assigned books from cover to cover (wink, wink), we skim off what we need to know and transform that information into clever talking points.
How could we do it any other way? When we represent doctors with diet books, for example, we couldn’t pretend to speak in sound bytes what took them years to master in med school. But we do create the perfect opening for them to tell their own stories. We whet the appetite of the reporter or producer and whenever possible, let the true expert take over.
It’s our job think quickly. Should our media contact not buy one book idea that we’re pitching, we need to quickly upsell them another. It sounds a lot like sales, doesn’t it? Well guess what…?
As for rejection, just today, one of my authors was turned down for a spot on CBS: The Early Show.
Why? Because, he was actually too good for the spot planned for this Friday, wasn’t local, and deserved more attention.
They’d be sure to use him in August.
Could they show his book anyway on the screen? Excerpt it on their website? They’ll see. That means no.
I’m shameless. But, you knew that already. If I’m going to be rejected, I’m not going down without a fight. Ask my friends at Publishers Weekly. Sorry guys, just doing my job.
You remember the Today Show post? Oh, I forgot to mention that the day it aired, it was pre-empted on the entire west coast by Wimbledon. Not to mention it was on the fourth “Kathy Lee” hour. (That would be in publicity terms, the inverse opposite to coveted drive time exposure)
See how delicate this business is?
Allright, have I talked you out of going into book publicity? Publicity in general?
Why we pr people are crazy enough to do this work day in day out, year after year is simple. We’re nuts. But we’re nuts about challenges. Nuts about excitement. Nuts about the books we’re selling, at least some of the time. And, the adrenalin rush of the big booking makes it all worthwhile.
It’s true that we can affect sales. We like to claim the big successes but aren’t above pointing fingers elsewhere when the publicity doesn’t work. Things like… it was bad distribution at the store level. What could we do?
Or as I like to put it, we are in the business of dragging horses to water but not necessarily making them drink. That job would fall under the jurisdiction of sales. Poor sods.
They are crazier than we are.
So moms and dads, when you’re observing that child of yours who can’t seem to sit still in class. Who talks a blue streak, is always into something, and flat out makes you dizzy, remember, there’s hope. Just feed him/her some books along the way, teach them to speak well, smile, and then — point them in the direction of PUBLICITY.
You might just have a natural.
out-of-season northern tree – just because I’m crazy
3 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
I follow you when you suggest that ADHD is helpful for publicity work, but where are the genetic markers for a love of rejection?
Is there a medical diagnosis I can cultivate that will help me cope with getting shut down repeatedly?
[...] Michael Chabon’s literary call to arms “If you like rejection, become a book publicist!” [...]
As a book publicist for TCI Smith Publicity, I laughed out loud at today’s entry!
You have just described my day: the rejection from the media, the blame we often take even when we secure respectable national press yet sales are low mainly due to shoddy distribution, and the ADHD of being an expert on completely different topics simultaneously!
Describing the FOURTH hour of the Today Show as “the inverse opposite to coveted drive time exposure” is classic–yet we still would take coverage for our authors there. My boss, Dan Smith, often says, “Publicists have no souls.” We are all shameless with our promotion
My thirteen year old daughter thinks I have the best job in the world (she is right as nothing beats the thrill when it all works!) but perhaps I need to get her tested for ADHD.
Keep writing Kim!