BBAW Guest: Lisa Roe, Online Publicist

(Book Bloggers near and far love Lisa Roe, so when she offered to do a guest post for BBAW about the differences traditional publicity and using book blogs, I was thrilled. I think you'll love what she has to say. Afterwards, be sure to check out her site Online Publicist and find yourself some books for review!)

My Resume:

*Outgoing and chatty (speaking at great length, whether you want her to or not)

*Asks questions (lots and lots of questions of varying length and relativity to a situation)

*Thinks a TO DO list is a list of things to be done eventually

*Follows her natural curiosity, even at the peril of not quite staying on task

And that’s what I have to offer. So: perspective employers! Take a number and get in line! Let’s face it, without all you lovely book bloggers, I’m one channel click away from chanting ‘Je-rry, Je-rry, Je-rry!’ and luring stray cats into my house.

In all seriousness, I cannot express enough appreciation for book bloggers and the work that you do. I am fanatical about books, as I know you all are! Prior to this position I created for myself, I worked as a traditional book publicist and let me tell you, many of the qualities of my resume did not exactly benefit my work in that world.

While I can’t knock the hard work of traditional publicists, let’s face it: it’s a glorified sales position. Cold calls, email blasts, pitch letters, and a dozen rounds of follow-ups. All this is done several months in advance of the publication of a title. The idea is to secure reviews for titles that will all hit around the time of the book’s publication. Now, when I’m the type of person that sometimes, just sometimes, absent-mindedly puts the milk in a cupboard instead of the fridge, keeping all of this straight was quite a feat.

Then, once everything is out, then the coordination of the campaign begins. There is an exhaustive list of items to maintain: reviews, interviews (taped or live), time zones, land line phone numbers, bookstore readings, book release parties, flights, hotels, transportation, announcements for events, getting people to show up at events…

Sound tiring? Back of hand on forehead, Scarlett O’Hara, ‘I simply can-not go on!’ sort of response? Well, the truth is, I loved it! I loved the work that I did and thrived on the pressure it created. I had charts and calendars and found myself in a whole new level of organization. I became bff with Excel and sticky, colored tabs. The only problem was that I missed the books.

The conversation on book content didn’t exist. Discussions were held mostly on the content in terms of who would be the best demographic to pitch to, or who should be avoided. How far a campaign could be taken (would it be of interest for national coverage?) and what connections the author had.

I was saddened by this, but had resigned myself to it as I felt the most important thing I could do was to get books into the hands of those who loved and appreciated them. And so I trudged on until I came across some book blogs and formulated a little idea for a business venture. ;-)

These days, I could not love my work more and can’t even begin to express the level of appreciation I have for what you do. Book bloggers are making a viable impact on the book publishing world and have allowed me to combine all of my loves into something that I have a difficult time calling ‘work’.

Instead of leaving voicemail after voicemail, begging to know if a book will be covered, I get to go along with you on the journeys of your lives. Through marriages, births, triumphs, hurricanes (safe thoughts to all of you currently in a strike zone!), good books, bad books, and mental health days, I am honored to be a part of your world. I am forever a champion and lobbyist for your work and am wishing you all the most amazing and wonderful Book Blogger Appreciation Week!

(I feel a giveaway coming on! Leave a comment relevant to this post for a chance to win a copy of Sisterchicks Go Brit! by Robin Jones Gunn)