Ripped off by a Publicist?

By Kim Dushinski - Jun 01 , 2007

As the old saying goes, if I had a nickel for every time I heard a publisher say they had a bad experience with their publicist, I would be sitting on the beach somewhere sipping margaritas. Alas, there is no one handing out the nickels.

Sadly, there are still just as many dissatisfied publishers and authors. While I do agree that there are rip-off artists out there and a few just plain lazy publicists, I would say that the majority of these disappointing experiences stemmed from a handful of sources.

1. The publicist took the client on when the client should have been turned away.

There are several reasons a book will be taken on by a publicist when it shouldn’t. The biggest one is that the publicist needs the business and the client is ready to sign. It takes a very noble person to turn down a signed check when the best thing is to say, No thanks. Maybe the niche is not exactly what the publicist handles, but they have a decent chance of making something happen for the book. So they take it.

Another version of this scenario is when the book is not really likely to get much media attention, but the client is literally begging to be helped. Sadly, this happens all the time. Authors in particular are so invested in their book that they simply can’t hear that publicity won’t work for their baby. The publicist knows that the client is going to pay someone to do this work, so it might as well be them.

2. The client has completely unrealistic expectations of the publicist and/or publicity in general.

Frankly, this is the most common situation. I’ve heard people complain that their publicity “didn’t sell any books.” Well, that is because publicity is not supposed to sell books. It is supposed to bring awareness of a book’s existence, and then the rest of the sales model should take over. If the books are sold online, the website needs to be top notch. If the books are sold in bookstores, they need to be on the shelves – everywhere. Publicity does not sell books. Not alone anyway. It plays a huge role in the whole marketing campaign. It is NOT the whole campaign, however.

Clients often have the idea that their publicist is going to orchestrate their entire marketing campaign. Their distribution will be coordinated, advertising placed, direct mail campaigns launched, websites built, a book tour arranged, and they will be booked on radio, TV, and featured in print. Nope. Sorry. Publicists get publicity. Period. Unless they specifically tell you they are doing anything else, they are not.

3. The client insisted on a certain pitch.

The role of a publicist is to sell a story to the media. The media’s job is to get their audience to engage with that story. Publicists all across the globe are creating wonderful pitches that will captivate the media. Their clients are often insisting that these pitches be changed, thereby rendering them useless to the media. Since the client has the final say, the pitch is changed. When it doesn’t work, the client blames the publicist for it not working. Vicious cycle.

4. Not investing enough in publicity.

Getting publicity is not cheap. You will either invest your own time, blood, sweat, and tears, or you will hire a publicist to invest theirs in exchange for your publicity budget. Many times, a client will complain that their publicist ripped them off because they didn’t get enough placements. Sometimes this is a valid complaint, and sometimes it is a factor of not investing enough money or time to make it happen.

Next week’s column: 7 Ways to Get Your Money’s Worth from Your Publicist.