The Three Skills You Need: Children's Book Publicist

1. Can you tell us how you got into your current role, Publicity Executive at Bloomsbury Children’s?

I have always wanted to pursue a career in writing and have adored books and stories from a young age, so sought an English and Creative Writing degree at the University of Surrey. I had an amazing time at university but didn’t feel ready to jump straight into writing after finishing my degree and wanted to learn much more about the business side of how books made their way into the hands of readers as well learning what worked in the market. In the summer of my second year at university I decided to apply for a work experience position at Bloomsbury Publishing in the children’s marketing and publicity team, having nearly no knowledge of either marketing or PR work. I was very fortunate to get the short-term position and instantly fell in love with the feel of working in a publishing house and being at the heart of children’s books. Once I’d finished my degree, I then completed a further three work experience roles within various publishing houses before securing a full-time position back at Bloomsbury within the same department that I started my journey on – I even sit in the same lovely office room as I did during that first work experience placement! After working for several years as the department’s children’s publicity assistant, I was then promoted to publicity executive, which is where I’m at now.

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

As with most occupations, one of the most vital skills is communication: how well you communicate with your team, authors, agents and external stakeholders is the foundation of being a good publicity executive. Having confidence in how you communicate is important too. A big part of my role involves pitching authors and illustrators out to festival and event organisers, I will often have to present publicity campaign plans to other departments within Bloomsbury, and working collaboratively with individuals within my team also requires clear and confident communication every day. Furthermore, as a publicist a big part of growing within the role is learning to network (something I know many people feel reluctance towards but if you embrace it, it can be fun!) We’re always out at events in publicity and I’ve been to some really interesting conventions (YALC and Comic Con are a highlight) and sat in some really cool festival green rooms (Cheltenham - if you know, you know). However, it can be the relationships you form from networking in these spaces with librarians, journalists and even other publicists that can contribute in a big way when forming a successful campaign.

3. What is the second skill you need?

The life of a publicist involves juggling many balls in the air on a daily basis so expert organisational skills are an essential part of the role – my desktop is littered with sticky notes that I would be lost without! It also goes beyond keeping your emails under control (another skill worthy of this list), but also when we’re out of the office: being organised on tour with an author where they’re visiting multiple destinations, adapting to ever-changing travel schedules, add in lots of excited children and your head can start to spin a little. Working on multiple books at the same time also takes a lot of organisation. Depending on the size of the campaign, we can start working on the publicity for a book as far out as a year ahead of publication. Nevertheless, whilst I’m working on a press release acquisition for a big title that’s just landed in the schedule, it might also be publication week for another one of my books, alongside having an author for another book out on tour that week. It can be a lot to process all at once but having good organisation, planning ahead, adapting well to change, and a supportive team to guide me all help the wheels keep spinning.

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

The last skill I’ve included is empathy which, according to the charity EmpathyLab UK and key scientific research, we’re not born with a fixed quantity of and is something we can all develop over time (often through reading!) In any workplace, you’re going to come up against challenges and obstacles and empathy is never to be underrated especially in these uncertain times. The last few years have been some of the toughest many of us have faced and those feelings don’t just stay at home when you go to work. It’s so important to be a support for your colleagues, authors and even empathise with external stakeholder who you may not work with on a daily basis. In the publishing industry, we’re drastically trying to diversify both our publishing and our workforce and I don’t think this could be achieved without empathy. Finally, as a publicist I work with such an array of different people, including many young readers whilst out at events, and it’s so important for me that empathy is the first thing I bring to the table, always.

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

My first bit of advice would be to get work experience in any industry you can, you might already have a part time job, and look at how you can apply these skills in the role you’re in. All three of these skills are universal and transferrable to any job or workplace. Outside of the work experience placements I did in publishing, I had many part-time jobs growing up and whilst I was studying at university, all of them unrelated to publishing. In the interview for my full-time position at Bloomsbury, I spoke in depth about the transferrable skills I developed in non-publishing positions and I think it was many of the examples I gave here that secured me the role.

Grace Ball graduated from the University of Surrey with a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing, and has been working full-time at Bloomsbury Publishing for three years, starting as the Children’s Publicity Assistant and moving on to Children’s Publicity Executive last year. Grace grew up on Bournemouth beach, so misses the sounds of noisy seagulls in London; which she never expected. She is still pursuing a writing career, but given the speed at which she writes expects this will be fulfilled at a grand old age so will release her memoir simultaneously. Grace is passionate about saving the environment and hopes beyond all hope that she is still able to travel the world one day and visit all the beautiful nature and landscapes it has to offer. Grace can be reached on LinkedIn or Twitter @Gracee_Ball.