Hiring a Publicist

[C.B. Haight]

I am seriously considering hiring a publicist. Though, it makes me nervous, because I am not fully sure what to watch for. How am I to know a solid efficient firm from a fraud that will take my money and do me little good? I have heard horror stories on this. My book is going to be released next month, and I am concerned that I have not tapped the pre-marketing strategy to its full potential. Does anyone have advice on this subject that could help me find a good firm.

[Saima Agency]

Hello C.B.,

How are you? A month before publication is a little late to be planning publicity -- for example, with blog tours, bloggers are so booked up it's often prudent to begin pitching them 3-4 months ahead of the launch date. However, you could conceivably plan a blog tour to take place a few month after the publication. Regarding trying to get print publicity, as in print mags, they have a lead time of up to 6 months. Your best bet is looking for online publicity, which can include a blog tour. Please visit our PR company's site at http://saimaagency.com to learn more about what we do. Thanks!

Best,

Diane

www.SaimaAgency.com

[C.B. Haight]

I got your e-mail and love the idea of a scavenger hunt I will consider it this week. Thanks

[Tamelia Tumlin]

Hello all,

Excellent points. Some very good advice on here. I"m trying to find ways to market my books as well, but it is hard to find the right blogs and the right audience for specific genres. My latest novel is a Christian romantic suspense. I put together a blog tour on my own which will start August 12 -20. Finding the Christian blog sites was  challenge, but I found a couple who could feature me. I have 9 stops (including a my own blog for the final stop) and I'm planning  e-book give aways at each stop as well as a couple of Amazon gift cards for the end of the tour. I have author interviews, guest blog posts and book review lined up, but I don't know of anything else I could do. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm giving away 25 copies of the book on Library Thing in hopes of generating some other reviews.

www.tameliatumlin.com