Our blog post for today is a guest blog written by Olivia Dunn, Publicist at Timber Press.
Book publicity is a little bit like a junior high dance. If both the author and the publicist are ready to dance, it can be a ton of fun and really successful. If one party decides to stay on their side of the gym and leave everything up to the other person, it can be dull and lifeless. As a book publicist, I always hope for the former, and with the publicity campaign for What’s Wrong With My Plant? (And How do I Fix It?) winding down, I thought it might be fun to explain what made the campaign so successful.
When I first met David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth of What’s Wrong With My Plant?, I was instantly struck by their willingness to do anything to help with the book’s publicity. Get up at 4 am Pacific time to do an East Coast radio interview on the phone? Check. Pack everything up and go on an 8 week West Coast bookstore tour? Check. Having authors willing participate in their book’s publicity is huge because no one knows the book better than they do.
After author participation, the second biggest piece needed for a successful publicity campaign may be the most obvious — it’s the media. Sometimes you have a book that clicks with the media and What’s Wrong With My Plant? was just such a book. If you haven’t seen the amazing praise for this book, check out the page on our site and read through it.
I could go on and talk about press releases and review copy mailings, media pitches and book tour organization, but that would probably get a little tedious. Let’s just say there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes in order to create a successful publicity “dance.”
In the end, though, it really comes down to having a book you believe in. One you can stand behind, and one you know needs to be in everyone’s hands. That’s what made working on What’s Wrong With My Plant? so easy — it’s a book I felt was important, and I had fun making certain that everyone else felt that way, too.
I may be late to the party, but I just received your book What’s Wrong with My Plant?”. It is the most amazing and I believe most useful book in my library now. So far this year I have struggled with Cabbage Loopers, Tomato Hornworms, Katydids, and now Grasshoppers.
If I had only known about this book earlier, I am certain I would have been able to diagnose and treat my vegetable garden problems much sooner.
Thanks you for making this information available and in such an easy to use format.
Steve
South Texas