Should You Hire a Publicist?

Planning the launch of your book? Hiring a publicist can be expensive.

It can cost you anywhere between $8,000 to $25,000 to hire a publicist.

Despite costing a lot, a good book publicist can take you places you’re afraid AND unable to go on your own. Many media outlets, literary festivals and awards do not accept pitches from authors. Only direct pitches from a publicist can get them through to you.

Novelist Lisa Braxton compares hiring a publicist to getting married; a special occasion you wouldn’t mind spending money on because of how special it is to you. This shift in perspective made every PR dollar spent promoting her book The Talking Drum during the height of the pandemic, well worth the expense.

Here’s how hiring a publicist helped Braxton:

• A review in the Boston Global Newspaper.
• A half page spread article in her hometown newspaper the Connecticut Post, along with an interview featuring a picture of her with the book.
• Ranked among the Top 6 Books You Need to Read this Summer in Ms Magazine, Bustle, and Debutiful.
• Put together a 37-city blog tour (which had to be done virtually due to the pandemic)
• Features with several book influencers who do podcasts.
• Got her book within the former first daughter Jenna Bush’s radar and was one step away from getting featured in “The Today Show.”
• A spread about her in the Writer’s Digest Magazine.
• And a lot, lot more.

So, should you hire a publicist?

We like Lisa Braxton’s approach to hiring one. If your book launch is something deeply personal, and of course if you can afford it, hiring a publicist will be plenty worth it.

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