How Early Should You Start Your Publicity Campaign?

Over the past 23 years, I’ve worked on too many book publicity campaigns to count. I’ve worked with authors who are published by traditional publishers, those with hybrid publishers and those who have gone the self-publishing route. While a lot has changed over the past twenty years, a lot has stayed the same. When it comes to understanding how far ahead of your book’s release you should start working with a publicist, there are a number of factors to consider.

Here are 4 questions to ask yourself to  help determine the best publicity timeline for your book. 

• What is your budget for PR?

Ideally, I’d love to start working with an author 6 months in advance. However, with many hybrid and self-published authors, they may only have the budget for a 8-12 week book publicity campaign. In these cases, I usually suggest that we start publicizing the book about a month ahead of time so that we can start to get the ball rolling as the book releases. 

However, publicity takes time. So if we start a month ahead of time, we are getting the ball rolling, but it’s extremely unlikely that we’ll be able to line up a number of PR hits for the week of the book’s release. The first month of a campaign is used to establish pitch angles and messaging, create a pitch list, pull potential book experts, and get those initial pitches out. Timing on how fast the media gets back to us, what their availability is for interviews, and when those interviews will go live are factors that just aren’t simply in our control. 

When an author has a larger budget, I do suggest starting as early as possible. If this is you, the good news is that we don’t need to charge a full retainer that far out. Instead, we’d customize a plan that is based on the resources we’ll need to reach the media each step of the way. 

• What outlets are at the top of your wishlist?

What types of PR are you most interested in pursuing for your book? And what outlets are top on your wishlist? If you’re a brand new author with zero publicity experience and without a robust social media following, it’s going to take a lot longer to build to bigger outlets. 

I’m working with a client who just got an article accepted at Fast Company – which  is huge for his book publicity campaign. But before we could even pitch the right editor, we needed to build his platform as he didn’t have a lot of publicity experience. We had to place articles in a couple niche outlets first, and solidify his platform with other media hits to use as leverage before we approach the bigger outlets. 

If you’re hoping to get huge media for your book, just keep in mind that there are no shortcuts. Publicity is like a ladder. You have to climb one rung at a time. We’re happy to stand beside you and support you the whole way up, but there are no shortcuts. 

• Are you planning to promote your book with bookstore events?

Many authors have a romanticized view of book signings. We think of what we see on TV shows and in the movies. Think of an author reading a part of their book to a room full of people in a swanky bookstore with a huge poster of their book, a signing table with stacks of books, and a line a mile long. If only. Sadly, it is very hard to get people to a booksigning if you’re not Stephen King (does he even do book signings anymore?) 

Still, if you have a lot of friends and family or business contacts in a specific area, it can make a lot of sense. It also gives your publicist more of a “timely” hook when reaching out to local media outlets for book coverage. 

But they are something to consider time-wise. The big bookstores schedule events 6 months in advance. So if you really want to hold a signing at an impressive store, you need to enlist the help of a publicist sooner than later (or start your own event outreach ASAP.) 

I’ve had clients come to me who want a signing the next month, or the next week (eeek), and it’s just not possible, unless they are extremely flexible on venues.

• Do you have a firm publication date?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that you want to make sure before you start working with a publicist that you have a good feeling for when your book is releasing. I’ve worked with authors (both traditionally and self-published) who have seen their pub date get pushed 6 months to a year from the original date.

So, if you start working with a publicist in January, and your book is supposed to come in May, but it gets moved to October, you’re on the hook for many additional months of paying a publicist than you anticipated. Not only that, but if you decide to “pause” with a publicist, it can be tricky to get that momentum back when bookings have already started coming in.

Sometimes it can’t be helped, but try and find out as much as you can about how firm your pub date it. 

Looking for help publicizing your new book? We’d love to help! Schedule a free call with us to chat about your goals and how we can help you reach them.