All publicity costs money.  However it is important to know the difference between publicity and advertising.  When approached by someone who promises to book you on a television program, radio show or in print, you need to be certain of their credentials.  Are they really publicists, or just advertising reps masquerading as publicists?  A freelance publicist normally works under a monthly retainer or a flat fee that they charge every time they place you onto a television show, on the radio and sometimes even if they get your name in print.  An ad rep is someone who tries to convince you — directly or subtly — to pay for exposure.  As a rule of thumb, remember: the transaction is considered advertising if you (or your publicists) pays to get you on the show or in the paper.   

Publishers spend all their advertising budget on the cash cow authors.  Ask any author who has published with a major house how many print ads their publisher ran to promote their book.  For every Stephen King, John Grisham or Toni Morrison, there are at least 100 authors with good sales histories that the same publisher has not spent a dime to promote.  Since most books do not make money for major publishers, few are willing to advertise.  When you see an ad in a national paper, magazine or late at night on TV, you can bet it was the result of a lot of arm twisting, pleading and begging by the author. 

In general, paying for advertising to generate book sales is never as effective as getting good solid publicity.  An intermediary with a popular NY radio show once told us that to book one of our rising star authors on the show, we had to cough up $500 and a bottle of Moet Chardon.  I countered with an offer of a dollar and a bottle of malt liquor.  The author never made it on that show but we did get on an equally effective competitor’s station and went on to land the author on Dateline NBC, HBO and many others.  It took a while to achieve but our patience paid off.  PR does not come overnight and comes in bunches.  Three hits in one week, then several cold weeks, then suddenly another flurry of activity.  Do you have the knowledge and persistence to achieve results? 

To have any measurable margin of success, you must get on television, radio and in print.  Great PR is achieved only when the author hires a seasoned professional to pitch your book, idea or expertise as the topic of discussion to a television producer, radio producer or newspaper journalist.  Alternatively, the author can take a media training session or hire a media coach to help make them ready to appear on camera.

Most print advertising in consumer magazines and periodicals is also ineffective.  Several years ago we spent many thousands of dollars for an eighth-of-a-page ad in a top newspaper.  The ad was run in the Sunday book section for 4 consecutive weeks.  We subscribed to Bookscan to measure the weekly sales impact of our ad campaign.  The book was relevant, timely and had broad audience appeal.  To our chagrin, the ads had absolutely no impact on sales!  We received no influx of emails, no new customers, our website statistics were flat — nada, zilch, nothing!   

A few months later we landed the author an interview on a top-rated NYC radio show.  The only cost was $10 to park across the street from the studio.  About 3 minutes into the interview, the DJ told listeners how much he loved the book.  For the next 45 minutes he proceeded to delve into the heart of the book with listener call ins fielded by the author, our web site went bananas.  We sold an average of 1 book every 20 seconds.  It took us 2 weeks to catch up with our backlog of orders achieved that day.  A couple of months later, the same book was featured on one of the top national television talk shows for about 20 seconds.  Again, the results were astounding!  We sold over 30,000 copies in about 2 weeks and landed on the New York Times Best-seller list. 

At Writersandpoets.com we use only seasoned PR professionals.  We focus on existing relationships with television producers, radio producers and journalists to get your book seen and known by millions.  Our authors have appeared on shows on the following networks and national dailies: ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall St. Journal, XM Radio, Clear Channel, Radio One, and many others.