In this extract from her article for the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook 2025, freelance book publicist Hannah Hargrave reveals how it’s never too early to start work on your PR strategy.
How can authors help with PR?
Whether hiring a professional or not, authors play a significant role in a successful publicity campaign. If you are self-publishing, invest your time and money in making sure your book package is right. Only well-edited books with strong covers will be considered seriously by reviewers.
In addition:
Work with your publicist. It’s vital that you develop a trusting relationship with them. Publicists are incredibly hard working, often putting in many hours behind the scenes. As experts with a wealth of experience and good relationships with journalists, it’s a good idea to listen to our advice – even if it’s not what you want to hear.
Manage your expectations. Ask yourself the difficult questions: why should a reader care about your book? Why would an editor select an extract from your book or request an article from you over any other writer? Have you seen a book like yours reviewed in The Times?
What stories do you have to tell beyond ‘I’ve written a book’? Consider how to create additional content beyond reviews. Is your book inspired by anything from your own life, for example? Journalists are interested in compelling human stories, and if your story isn’t timely or interesting, it’s not going to be strong enough.
Develop your online presence. Journalists will make a judgement on a book’s potential by the size and activity of an author’s audience. What do reviewers see when they visit your website? Do you have an active and engaged social media platform that shares valuable content?
Unlike advertising, where there is a clear return on investment, it can be difficult to quantify the results yielded by PR. But if you’re going to go to the trouble of writing a book, it makes sense to create a plan to get it into the hands of readers. A freelance PR will use their experience, connections and knowledge to separate your book from the thousands of others hitting the bookshelves. By harnessing the power of PR, you can target theaudiences who will ultimately buy your book.
Hannah Hargrave is an award-winning publicist who worked in-house for Little, Brown Book Group, Ryland Peters & Small and the BBC before going freelance. Recent clients include Summersdale (Hachette), Duckworth Books, Virago, Darton, Longman and Todd, SCM Press and Deixis Press. For more information, visit: www.hargraveprandevents.weebly.com. Follow her on X/Twitter @HannahHargrave8
Comments