Help me help you
Yesterday, two people who asked for copies of books failed to include mailing addresses in their original requests. In other words, they wanted me to send them books, but I had to chase down their addresses?
For those times when book publicists do not, in fact, desire to jump through hoops to send out free books, here are some suggestions for bloggers and journalists to make the review copy request process more efficient. (Those of you in book publicity — feel free to forward these tips to all and sundry.)
Requesting a Review Copy of a Book / an Author Interview
Include:
— An electronic signature containing your snail mail and email addresses as well as a link to your organization or website. You may know a publicist well (and may know they have your contact information, but you never know when they may need to forward your message to someone else who may not know you from Adam).
— Your first and last names. Unless you want to be addressed as “Dude / Dudette,” signing “J. Doe” doesn’t help much. Many writers prefer their esignatures match their professional names — which in some cases may be something along the lines of “J. Doe” — but in that case, make sure to sign off with a first name so you can at least be addressed in some fashion.
And briefly:
— Explain why you are requesting a review copy of a book or an interview with an author.
— Include your deadline (or mention that you don’t have one).
— Provide some information about your media outlet or show and some circulation information. This can be empirical, e.g., “circulation of 72,000” or “30,000 hits a month” or it can be subjective, e.g., “most popular hunting and fishing blog in Montana.” Make a compelling case for yourself. (To make it easy for yourself — set this information as Autotext and simply insert it into each request. If you’d like to provide further details that you think are pertinent but don’t want them to bog down your message, link to the “About” page on a website.)
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Here’s a tip regarding author interviews: when I receive interview requests for backlist, i.e., not current, authors, I respond to the journalist thanking them for their interest and letting them know that I will forward their request to the author. This is the key: I do not forward the request. I am blind copying the author on my response. (I guess that makes me less than truthful if you’re prone to splitting hairs, but I can live with myself.) Doing this enables me to kill two birds with one stone — responding to the journalist and getting in touch with the author — which I need to do because time is scarce and I’m concentrating on current and upcoming titles.
This means that I’m not compensating for any shortcomings in the request: the author sees any and all typos and misspellings of the book and / or author name. It also means that if you don’t include a subject line, the author won’t see one. And lastly, the author won’t see details that are not provided. In other words, if you send in a one-line interview request with scant information about your media outlet, that’s all the author sees; while I will “fill in the blanks” for current or upcoming authors, I don’t have time to Google and / or trawl through our database for that information for every request for every author with whom I’ve ever worked.
In publicity, we often get email messages asking for the name of an author’s book publicist. Instead of simply asking for a publicist’s name, ask for the name *and* include the full request — you’re going to have to provide all the details eventually; get your ducks in a row from the beginning and speed up that process.
For (loads) more information about this topic, check my posts about the science of requesting review copies. (Yes — it’s a science, right up there with particle physics and microbiology.)
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Book publicists: what else do you like to see in review copy / interview requests? Bloggers and journalists: What do you always make sure to include in your requests?
Sending review copies of books to bloggers, Part III
The proliferation of book blogs has been incredibly beneficial for the publishing industry, providing those of us in book publicity with a new tool to promote books at a time when print publications have been forced to slash their books and arts coverage and providing readers with a wealth of information about books. But the evolution of the literary blogging community has raised a few issues that bear consideration.
In this recent Follow the Reader interview with reviewer Bethanne Patrick, who blogs at Still Life with The Book Maven and hosts The Book Studio, she explored the differences between what she defines as “professional” and “amateur” book bloggers. Many others have noted that not all book blogs are created equal, that some bloggers spend a considerable amount of time and care on their sites and others … not so much. I’ve never distinguished between “amateur” and “professional” in the past (although I do recognize “well written” and “not well written”!) but I imagine this will become a recurring issue as more people jump into the game.
Also, with a limited number of promotional copies of books at our disposal, the widening array of literary blogs means book publicists, now more than ever, must pick and choose who receives complimentary copies of books. Recently, one publicist — the recipient of repeated requests from a blogger who asked for dozens of books (yet failed to share a website) — sent in the following suggestions.
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First, reviewers — both for print and online outlets — are not guaranteed review copies. Publicists receive a limited amount of promotional copies to mail out at their discretion.
Secondly, depending on the book and the department, publicists may select reviewers based on the circulation and the overall reach and prestige of the publication (online or off) or of broadcast outlet. For online review sites we look for statistics including the following:
- Number of unique hits/page views per month for the blog, NOT the host site (like Blogger or WordPress or Blog Talk Radio)
- How often content is updated—daily, weekly, monthly, etc.
- How many registered users are on the site’s mailing list
- Alexa or Technorati ranking for the blog, NOT the host site
- User comments, i.e., evidence of a vibrant, interactive online community
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There’s very rarely any one magic number or cutoff for determining who receives books. Most book publicists recognize there are any number of factors that must be examined to determine a blog’s popularity, several of which are listed above. (It’s also important to note that book publicists hold print journalists to similar standards. There are, for example, a number of print reporters — from large, prominent organizations — to whom I never send review copies because they have a habit of requesting virtually all titles in a catalog, yet repeated Google searches reveal no reviews or author features.)
Publicists — what else do you look at when determining whether to send a review copy to a blogger? And bloggers — how do you toot your horn?
For more information about receiving review copies of books, you may want to check:
Sending review copies of books to bloggers
Sending review copies of books to bloggers, Part II
Media requesting review copies of books / trying to contact authors
When books walk
Yesterday I received two complaints from reviewers about books that failed to arrive (or, at least, there were two complaints I read. When you whip through dozens of book and author interview requests sent to your department’s general publicity email address each day, being able to forward a request to the correct publicist or department in a fraction of a second without even reading the message in its entirety — or at all, for that matter — is a handy skill).
One reviewer, who erroneously sent her request for another department’s book to me, wrote to inform me that since the book had not been received after two requests, that it was no longer under consideration for review. Fair enough. (Of course, it’s easy to remain unruffled when the bypassed book is published by another divison.) I pointed the reviewer to my company’s media contact page for future reference and went about my day. (For tips on how to effectively request books for review, check Why Haven’t I Received My Review Copies Yet? and Why Haven’t I Received My Review Copies Yet? Part II.)
The second complaint was about a book my department did publish. It’s possible the publicist didn’t get around to sending out the book initially (or that she decided not to send it out for a particular reason). It’s just as likely she sent out three copies of the book — and none arrived.
As lovely as it would be to blame the postal service / Fed Ex / UPS, these services have actually proven quite reliable when delivering to office buildings, which we’ve discovered on the many occasions when we’ve attempted to track down missing packages. Typically, books manage to make it across the country, only to disappear somewhere between a company’s mail room and an employee’s desk. Who would’ve thought books could walk?
Delivery rates to residences, from which many writers and editors work, is rather less successful since delivery services typically require someone to sign for a package. Although all package delivery services do offer signature waiver options, these are not always available to book publicists, which leaves us scrawling “No signature necessary!!!” all over the Jiffy bags in which we mail books and leaving us at the mercy of drivers who may or may not choose to follow our handwritten instructions.
Then there are the people who have receive their books but just don’t know it: many book editors / critics / producers are so inundated with books that just leaving the office at the end of the day requires an excavation.
And the last group of people who never receive their books are the ones living overseas. Somehow, mailing books to otherwise civilized countries often proves to be an utterly unsuccessful endeavor. I have no idea why, but I do know that my success rate for getting packages to certain countries is exactly zero.
And you thought mailing books wasn’t brain surgery …
The shoe’s on the other foot — what journos need to know about pubs
Journalists are always advising publicists to be familiar with their publications / shows / websites before pitching books. And rightly so. Our job as book publicists is to know who we’re pitching and how best to approach them.
But I think it’s only fair to ask that in return, journalists learn a little something about publishing houses. I’ve earned the right to complain about this — every day, I forward dozens of book and authors requests meant for other departments that were incorrectly sent to mine by journalists who don’t realize there’s a difference between a publishing house and an imprint. That Random House the imprint is different from Random House the company that consists of dozens of imprints (departments). That Vantage is different from Vintage which is different from Viking. That children’s and YA titles are handled by different departments than those that publish adult books. That Penguin Books, which only publishes paperbacks, is different from The Penguin Press, which only publishes hardcovers, both of which are different from (but part of) the company The Penguin Group, which is itself a separate entity in all but name from Penguin UK. Well that was a mouthful.
The most thorough way to learn about publishing houses and imprints is by searching individual websites. However, since this will likely take more time than anyone has, we can, happily, check Sarah Weinman‘s six-part post about publishing house imprints (Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins, The Penguin Group and Random House) on her blog Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind.
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Book reviewers: To make it easier to get your review copies, I encourage you to check my posts Why Haven’t I Received My Review Copies Yet? and Why Haven’t I Received My Review Copies Yet? Part II.
Book publicists: If you find yourself on the receiving end of numerous requests for books not your department’s, consider creating “Autotext” so you can quickly send journalists on their way while hopefully making them aware of the difference between imprints. For example, I have two lines of Autotext (there’s a character limit) that say the following:
This is a [department] title / author (different department). I am forwarding your message to [email address] and they can help you out with your request.
For future reference, you can check our site, [URL], and our Media Contact page, [URL], to find the correct departmental address for your request. Thanks.
Everyone: Please share this information with all and sundry. The better informed journalists are, the easier it is for them to get their requested review copies (and the more time it saves book publicists)!
Why haven’t I received my review copies yet? Part II
A couple book publicists commented on my Why haven’t I received my review copies yet? post from the other week and raised a couple legitimate issues that are would be worth clarifying for both publicity and media folk.
When advance copies of books are always in short supply, how do you choose who gets them?
First, I should probably define the oft-used but somewhat foggy term “advance copy.” This could cover anything from bound manuscripts to “vanilla” galleys (text but no pretty picture on the cover) to galleys (pretty much looks like a book but with a paperback cover) to ARCs (advance readers copies). I myself am still fuzzy on the finer points of advance copies, but basically, before finished books are off the presses, there are several early versions which are distributed to booksellers and the media. (Think of them as the beta version of the book.) For logistical reasons, publishing houses print a limited number of advance copies.
Those media venues that have long-lead times (trade publications, monthly magazines, some broadcast shows, book section editors) need books far in advance of the publication date. Beyond that, there may be some weekly magazines or even blogs that a book publicist wants to get in touch with sooner rather than later because of their reach / influence. Realistically, the greater the circulation / ratings / traffic of a media venue, the better the chances are of them snagging one of those precious few advance copies. (Sites like Alexa and Technorati can tell you how influential a blog is.)
How do you deny a review copy request?
This sounds odd — book publicists are, after all, constantly moaning about the dearth of opportunities for book coverage — but none of us have an unlimited supply of books to dole out. Often, the number of review copies available will vary from one imprint to another (and perhaps also from one title to another). If you’re uncertain about whether or not to send out a book, the safe bet is always to check with a supervisor or publicity director.
That being said, publicists and journalists should always keep in mind that no publishing house is ever obligated to send anyone an advance or review copy of a book (although, it is, of course, to our great advantage to send out review copies). Personally, I do try to fulfill all legitimate requests for my books, which begs the question: what is legitimate?
Most of the time it boils down to common sense. Are you still actively promoting a book? Does the focus and demographic of a particular media venue make sense for a book? We’re well within our rights to Google a journalist and ask why they’re requesting a book about X when they only seem to cover Y. Or query why the readers of A magazine would be interested in B. Or wonder why someone would need a review copy nine months after a book is published. There’s nothing wrong with saying a book is not available (or no longer available) for review — book publishing is a business and the bottom line is we need to try to sell a lot books, preferably not through the profligate use of free and review copies.
Reporters with a legitimate interest in covering a book are *always* able to make a convincing case; when people get nasty, it’s generally a sign they’re gunning for free books. As for those people who request every title under the sun, they pretty much get … nothing. (It’s inconceivable that anyone could legitimately use almost all the titles in a catalog — many journalists specialize in a certain subject area or a handful of areas and even book editors who cover a wide range of topics know they’ll never get to all books on a list.)
Book publicists and journalists — feel free to weigh in. What are your review copy request pet peeves? And what frustrates you the most about the process?
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As most of you know, I’ve been compiling a list of freelance book publicists and have been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to post the Excel spreadsheet containing the information. (The WordPress forums suggested converting the Excel file to an image file — not quite what I was looking for.) Then it occurred to me that I should perhaps read my own blog and try out Google Documents. So hopefully that will work and the list will be up tomorrow. (Feel free to comment if you have a better idea and yes, this is a reminder if you have not yet submitted your information but would like to do so.)
Media requesting review copies of books / trying to contact authors
In the past few days, a couple reviewers have written to comment / complain about the process of requesting review copies. Since this is an issue that causes some amount of grief for both reviewers and publicists, I thought I’d whip up a few pointers that can serve as a “How To” for reviewers and publicists can forward this information to anyone who might ask. Feel free to direct people to this post and / or you can bookmark it. Use the permalink which sends you directly to this post and not to The Book Publicity Blog in general: https://yodiwan.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/requesting-review-copies-of-books/).
Note: The following post applies to journalists, not necessarily to readers / the general public. Also, pretty much the same rules apply to contacting an author for interviews / appearances and requesting review copies of books.
Review Copy / Author Contact FAQs
Why don’t I hear back from publicists?
We do respond; we just don’t respond all the time for the exact same reason reviewers don’t always respond when we ask whether or not a book is being reviewed: we get too many requests.
More specifically, many — I would say most, among the requests I field — are sent to the wrong imprint. Once upon a time I used to respond to every single request, but I get upwards of two dozen a day and I simply don’t have time to get back to everyone. So I respond to the requests for the books on which I’m working and I simply forward on the rest. In other words, the best way to get a response is to reach the right person. (Publicists reading this post — consider shooting off quick responses to review copy requests: “On its way” or “Sure, will send.”)
Read on for information about how reach the right person.
What is an “imprint” and why is it so important?
Large houses like Random House, Penguin and others are divided into imprints — departments, really — that function autonomously. (At RH, the imprints famously bid against each other when buying books, so this gives you an idea of just how separately the imprints work.) Locate the imprint for the book you are requesting by checking the catalog, the publishing house’s website or an online bookseller’s site. Keep in mind — if you are looking in the catalog — that several imprints often share one catalog. (Don’t ask — I don’t understand this either.) It doesn’t mean the publicists work together (or even know each other).
Also, keep in mind that many publishing houses have eponymous imprints. So Random House the company has one imprint (among many) called Random House (or “Little Random” as those of us in the industry call it), Penguin Group the company has one imprint called Penguin Books and another imprint called The Penguin Press (with two different editorial and publicity staffs, mind you) and Simon & Schuster the company has an imprint (again, among several) called … Simon & Schuster. If you aren’t already spinning, some imprints have subimprints — the Crown group, for example (itself a part of Random House) is made up of Clarkson Potter, Crown Business, Three Rivers and other imprints I don’t currently remember. Yes. This is wildly confusing. (And I’m not being facetious.)
The best source I’ve found for navigating all the imprints is Sarah Weinman’s Publisher Imprint Report Card on her blog, Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind. This multi-part series will take a little while to read through, but it really helps you figure out all the imprints. Weinman tackles the largest, i.e., the most confusing, publishing houses: Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins, The Penguin Group and Random House.
Once you have located the book’s imprint …
Should I request a book by email? Fax? Phone?
Email your request unless you have been instructed to fax it. Most reviewers have stopped calling in requests — I used to get upwards of 30 review copy requests by phone daily as an assistant (yes, I counted after one particularly trying day), although this has now trickled down to maybe one every two weeks — which is good because it’s terribly inefficient having to listen to a voicemail for a fourth time to retrieve a name and full address.
Also, for a variety of reasons, calls are inevitably routed to the wrong departments and it’s much harder to forward a voicemail than an email.
So where can I find publishing house email addresses?
Google, but I’m listing the media contact pages of the biggest houses here. In some cases, email addresses are listed on these pages; in others you may need to navigate a little (or a lot) further to find them. Hey, I didn’t design these sites.
Hachette Book Group: Publishing Groups for a list of imprints or Media & Publicity
HarperCollins: Company Profile for a list of imprints or Publicity Review Copy for the publicity fax number
Macmillan: Contact for a list of imprints and contact information
The Penguin Group: About Us for a list of imprints and Media Inquiries for email addresses
Random House: Media & Publicity or Contact Us
Simon & Schuster: Divisions and Imprints for a list of imprints or Media Resources
What information should I include in my request?
Include the full title, author’s name, the publication date and either the imprint or ISBN (the 13-digit number on the back of the book starting with 978). This information can be found in the catalog, on the publishing house’s website or on the site of an online bookseller. The more information is provided, the more quickly a request can be passed on if it gets sent to the wrong person.
Also, if you’re requesting an interview, tell us some details we can pass on to an author — what is the story about? When is your deadline? How long do you need with the author? If you’re requesting an event / speaking engagement, about how many people do you expect? Who would sell books? A paragraph’s worth of information can make the difference between yes and no. (No PDFs with requests on letterhead, though — attachments can be hard for us to open so you can imagine what authors go through. I will freely admit that I have deleted attachments sent by media people when forwarding their messages — the latest just about five seconds ago — simply because I don’t have the room in my Mailbox to send a 5 MB attachment.)
You mean you can’t send us a book if we give you just the title and author?
We can, but particularly if your request goes to the wrong imprint / department, we have to check to see which imprint publishes the book and to whom the request should be sent. When we’re dealing with dozens of requests a day, any delay at all jeopardizes your request.
Each imprint has a unique ISBN “prefix” so we can tell by ISBN alone which department publishes a book (which is why I suggest including an imprint name or an ISBN). Within departments, books are assigned to publicists by month, so it helps for us to have a publication date.
If I send a request to a general email address (and assuming I reach the correct imprint) how do I know if I’ve reached the right publicist?
The person checking the general email address will pass on your request to the correct publicist. Many publicists do respond to requests for their own books (if they are not completely swamped).
Does anyone really check these general email addresses?
I can’t speak for everyone, but at my publishing house, yes.
Am I guaranteed to receive a book I request?
No. Review copies are given out at the discretion of the publicist / publishing house, but most houses are generous with most books they are actively promoting (in the months leading up to the publication of a book and in the month or two after publication).
How long does it take to receive a review copy of a book?
It will vary from department to department as well as on the publication date of the book you’re requesting. Most publicists try to send out review copies on a regular basis (yes, I’m deliberately refraining from defining “regular” here) and current books will be sent out more quickly than older ones. If you’re requesting a book far in advance of its publication date, you may receive a galley if one is available, or you may not receive the title until finished books are available.
If your request is urgent — including if you’re writing for a long-lead publication whose deadline is, say, six months before the issue date — make sure to let us know.
I’m confused about Children’s / Young Adult books — whom do I contact to request those titles?
Always contact the Children’s / Young Adult department of a publishing house regardless of the imprint. So a Viking Children’s book request should be sent to the Children’s publicity department, for example, not the Viking publicity department.
I’m doing a story about a book that has not yet been published and I can’t find much information about it. Whom do I contact?
If you can find a contact for the Corporate Communications department, they should be able to help you out; otherwise you may just have to guess. If you can’t find any information about the book on Amazon, the publicist won’t be able to either, so include as much information as you can find in your request. For example, if you read a tip somewhere, include the link.
I’m trying to reach an author published by more than one house. Which house do I contact?
Always try the publicist at the house that published the author’s most recent title. (If you are looking for a specific book, however, contact the house that published that book.)
I read about a book in the London Times, but the publisher is saying they don’t publish the book. I’m confused.
Because of various rights issues, we (American publishers) only work with books published in the U.S. Also, the same book can be published by one house here and another in the U.K. (or Canada or Australia). So first check the publishing house website (or Amazon site) for the country in which you are located — if the book is not listed, you will need to find the country in which it is published and contact that publishing house.
Why won’t a publicist give me an author’s contact information?
For privacy reasons, we don’t release an author’s personal email / phone / address (although you are welcome to look up this information on your own online). We will, however, pass on messages. Again, the more information a message contains, the better your chance of a positive outcome.
Why don’t publishing houses simply list publicists on their websites?
Logistics. Large houses employ 100+ publicists across dozens of departments who are working on thousands of books over three seasons each year. It’s simply not feasible to post — and maintain — this list. Authors, however, often list publicists on their sites.
What else can I do to ensure I get the books I request?
DO
— Make friends with publicists. A great way get a response (whether or not your request is going to the right person) is to know someone. This may not be as difficult as it sounds, particularly for reviewers covering certain types of books — there are only a handful of imprints / houses publishing graphic novels, for example, or mysteries, or Christian fiction. Still, I realize this is easier said than done, so here are some more tips.
— Use a specific subject line. The line that most quickly gets my attention is: [media venue] requests [title] by [author] (or [venue] requests interview / speaking engagement with [author]). If you are requesting several books at once, you can include the season in the subject line.
— Include an email signature with your full name, mailing address and website / link to your clips. If a publicist has to stop to ask for your information, you’ve just given them a reason to delay fulfilling your request. Even if you don’t know if your request is reaching the correct person, you can always ask for the request to be forwarded and when it is, that person will appreciate having as much information as possible.
— Include information about your station / site / publication if you think we may not be familiar with it. Information about circulation / ratings / hits is always helpful, as is information about accolades (official or not) — “Named best outdoors blog in the Northwest by XYZ,” for example.
DON’T
— Request every single book on the list every single season. This is the best way to ensure you won’t receive any. While we realize that many editors and reviewers legitimately have wide-ranging tastes spanning say, science to literary fiction, we can tell the difference between eclectic and greedy.
— Include attachments (including clips of your work) unless they have been requested. Even small attachments take a long time to open when we are accessing email remotely. Feel free to include links to your work, however.
— Use cutesy background designs in your email messages (spiral binding, winding ivy, etc.) These designs are interpreted as attachments which means these messages also take longer to open / can get caught in spam filters.
— Send your request to multiple blind copied recipients. You’ve just multiplied the amount of work we all have to do.
— Send your request to individuals without knowing who they are. The other day “I Love Lucy” sent a request to a number of people including the president of the company, the publisher of one of the major imprints and a number of directors. This is the equivalent of emailing Steve Jobs about a problem with your iPhone.
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If you are a reviewer or publicist and have any comments / suggestions, please let me know (either by emailing me or by leaving a comment) and I will update this post to address your questions / suggestions.
The Book Publicity Blog 