Thoughts: Relationships in SFF Publishing

SO – it turns out I completely suck at holding contests and then actually clicking the little button on Rafflecopter to draw a winner. Thanks for your patience! The winner is Meg Winikates!! Thanks for participating!

The main thing I wanted to talk about today is the ongoing conversation I’m seeing across Twitter, blogs, and podcasts about the relationship that reviewers have with various members of the publishing world – readers, authors, and other reviewers.

A recap:
SF Signal Mind Meld: The Evolution of the Author Fan Relationship
Rob Bedford and Justin Landon talk about it extensively on RocketTalk
Paul Weimer talks about why he can’t review every book on his personal blog

It was Paul’s blog post and a previous Mind Meld that ultimately inspired me to join this conversation. As a publicist, I typically stay out of the conversations that are going on in the SFF community unless I’m actively promoting my author or reaching out to reviewers and other media professionals, but this time I wanted to take a moment to portray my point of view on this as a publicist.

For those of you who aren’t all that familiar, the publicity department at a book publishing house attempts to get as much coverage of a book and/or author as possible. That means we’re writing press releases, reaching out to reviewers across all media platforms, establishing relationships with reviewers, coordinating travel and events, and just trying to do whatever we can to let people know that the book exists. This is different from marketing in that we are not purchasing any sort of advertising, we do not make promotional items (though we use them occasionally), and we don’t sponsor anything through publicity. We have a marketing department to handle all of that.

The most important part of our job is the relationship between publicist and reviewer. This is a process that takes place very much behind the scenes, and our efforts are meant to be invisible to the general public. I think that SFF publicity is vastly different from other kinds of book publicity because the community is more tight-knit, and there’s a lot of opportunity to interact with reviewers through social media. When I’m working on mystery/fiction titles, I don’t have nearly as much access to people reviewing my books as I do with the SFF peeps (I’m hoping to change that!). I also think that the genre community is vastly more enthusiastic about new titles as well. This is the thing I love the most about my job.

I love getting to know the reviewers and the authors. I love seeing all of the interaction on Twitter and through blogs. I also deeply appreciate that most of the reviewers I interact with are reviewing out of love for the genre and not for money. Most of them have full time jobs and full time families, but they always make the time to regularly interact with each other and with the readership to promote the books they love. I hope they never doubt their value to the community, and I’m excited to see more awards being given to these wonderful, dedicated people who make this community as unique and interesting as it is. Rob Bedford said that without publicists, you wouldn’t have much to talk about. I think that without reviewers, not very many people would learn about our books. It goes hand in hand, and I’m just really happy that I get to be a part of a vibrant community of like-minded people. I grew up always wanting to do something that helped people, and I can’t imagine doing anything other than getting to tell everyone about amazing books and encouraging more people to read. So, reviewers, thanks for all you do, and thanks for making my job such a great experience!

Publishing Talk – Tania Grossinger

I think we can all agree that I stink at blogging regularly. I’d promise to do better, but I don’t want to lie.

Click the cover to pre-order Jackie and Me

Anyways, I want to talk about a moment I had at work (I work for a small independent publisher located in the garment district of Manhattan) that really touched me. No, it’s not about science fiction or fantasy, but it is about dreams.

It’s not every day that you get to hang out with a published author for a couple of hours, and not many people can say that they get paid to do it. Today I think I experienced one of the highlights of my internship in publicity at a book publisher, and that was when I got to meet and have a conversation with Tania Grossinger. She was in the office signing copies of her forthcoming children’s book, Jackie and Me: A Very Special Friendship, and I was tasked with helping her label the envelopes for each book that was signed. Ms. Grossinger is a true gem. I had already read Jackie and Me because advance copies of it have been in the office for a while, and part of my job is to make sure these advance copies go out to book reviewers. The book is beautifully illustrated, and the story is a classic tale of being an outsider that I am pretty sure we can all related to on some level. While I was labeling envelopes, I got to ask Ms. Grossinger some questions about being an author and about her life in general. She’s a fascinating lady and a delight to talk to.

Pre-order Memoir of an Independent Woman

The first thing I learned about Jackie and Me was that the book idea was brought to her by our publisher when she was trying to sell an idea for a different book. Tania is proud of the fact that she is “one of two million of us Americans who are childless by choice,” so writing a children’s book had never crossed her mind. The idea came about because of her childhood friendship with baseball legend, Jackie Robinson, and the children’s book was born. Fortunately, she was able to strike a two book deal, and her other book, Memoir of an Independent Woman: An Unconventional Life Well Lived will be out in June. Her previous biography, Growing Up At Grossinger’s, gives insight into what is was like to grow up at a resort in the Catskills frequented by celebrities and historical figures while Memoir will be about Tania’s personal life and her reflections back on the choices she’s made. Ms. Grossinger hinted to me that there might be some controversial topics covered in her memoir, and as the former Director of Broadcast Promotion for PLAYBOY magazine, a travel writer, a book reviewer, and a consultant, I’m sure she has some very interesting stories to tell.

So, after many years working in media as a publicist and PR consultant, Tania Grossinger has finally realized her dream to publish her memoir. She described the project as near and dear to her heart, and she kept expressing how she couldn’t believe that it was really happening. Her delight over reviewing the final jacket copy for Memoir showed, and she just glowed as she personalized each autographed copy of Jackie and Me. She seemed in awe of being able to finally realize her dreams, and I felt so inspired to just sit and chat with her about publishing, publicity, and life in general. This is why I’m in publishing, and this is why I want to work in publicity. It’s all about the author, and it’s all about getting the word out about amazing stories and amazing people.