The Three Skills You Need: Book Publicist

1. What was your work experience before joining Head of Zeus?

Before I worked at Head of Zeus as a publicist I worked as an Assistant Librarian and as a Bookseller for Waterstones. I also created a book club for Salt Magazine, a Manchester based online culture magazine, which focussed on books written by Mancunian authors or set in Manchester. Other roles included being a supermarket assistant, waitress and music venue and science museum assistant.

2. How do you think these roles shaped you for your current position?

People skills are at the heart of all these jobs as well as the ability to think on your feet and prioritise tasks. Being able to talk to people is a really important skill in publicity. It is a job where you will speak to authors, journalists, bookshops, festival organisers and work as part of the wider SMP (Sales, Marketing, Publicity) team. My previous roles have also helped me to feel comfortable and confident emailing, video calling, and meeting with a wide range of people. In my Library Assistant job I ran book clubs, created displays, and put on events. This variety of tasks taught me time management skills that have been useful in this job. By this I mean I am able to prioritise tasks and balance my workload between everyday tasks, books a month away, and books 3-6 months away. In publicity you are often working to multiple deadlines so being able to plan ahead and balancing your tasks is important. The other things that my previous roles taught me was how to work independently, and knowing when to ask for help or guidance, and as part of a team.

3. What is the first skill you need to successfully work in book publicity?

The ability to communicate. Whether that is face to face, by email, or over the phone written and verbal communication is key. To organise publicity (i.e. reviews, radio interviews, interviews, guest posts, features, bookshop events) publicists mainly email. We also meet journalists and festival organisers face to face seasonally to pitch them the upcoming highlights of the season. Author calls are also something that is a regular part of the role. We meet authors many months before their book is due to publish to talk about what features they would be happy to write or be interviewed about (a feature is usually an interview type piece of writing in a national paper or magazine).

4. What is the second skill you need?

The ability to research is another key ingredient to this role. You are responsible for finding the best places for that author to be reviewed, featured, interviewed or do a bookshop event. I recommend immersing yourself in the kinds of publications your books would appear in as much as possible so you get a sense of how they cover books. This information can then be used to inform your work. A tip is to use spreadsheets to build up a strong contact list that is tailored to each book and each author. Research is also important because you want each email to be effective and a success, rather than being irrelevant.

5. Finally, what is the third skill you need?

A good organisation method to keep track of multiple deadlines. Spreadsheets are absolutely essential for keeping a track of who you have contacted and when, and the authors you are working on. Calendar reminders are also really useful to make sure you are covering all your deadlines. In essence the ability to plan in the moment and in the future is key, whether that is internally or on paper. For me, it’s paper all the way.

6. What advice do you have for publishing hopefuls looking to develop these skills?

• Practice makes perfect, so maybe practise or think about how you would divide your time to focus on a project/book coming out in one month, 3 months and 6 months. Take some time to really consider what kind of structure would work for you to be able to cover all the deadlines. Could be a colour coded calendar or could be designated days.

•  Practice sending emails as much as possible until you feel confident sending them and communicating clearly and effectively in them.

• Read and immerse yourself in the culture of publicity and start looking at national papers and magazines’ books coverage. When you start looking you may be surprised how many interviews in national papers have been organised by publicists, the tell-tale sign is the details of the interviewees' next book or album at the end of the article.

Ayo Okojie has been Publicity Executive at Head of Zeus (an imprint of Bloomsbury) since January 2022. This is her first role in publishing. Ayo works on the Aria list which includes commercial fiction, historical fiction, saga, and romance. Before becoming Aria’s publicist, Ayo was a Waterstones Bookseller, Assistant Librarian at Brighton College, and the book club host for Salt Magazine.