With departments like publicity and marketing, how common is it for authors to pitch their own promotional ideas? Book publicist and marketing associate, as well as host of Smith Publicity’s All Things Book Marketing Podcast, Olivia McCoy, says it is not only common, but encouraged.
“We really lean on authors coming to us for ideas,” the publishing professional tells So Booking Cool. “We know the book space, we know the book community, we know the industry, but, authors—they know their target audience. They know their niche. They know their expertise, especially nonfiction authors who are in finance or business or memoir…I have no idea what any of that is like as someone who is not them, so we really do lean on the author’s expertise, the author’s experience, to educate what we’re doing to promote the book.”
McCoy’s career in the world of books spans more than five years. Even before they became a book publicist, book marketing associate, and book podcaster, one could say she was in the business of promoting books during her stint as a bookseller (that’s a lot of books, and that’s the point.)
Check out the full conversation to learn more about McCoy such as her recent enjoyable reads; the careers she once wanted; working at Smith Publicity; if there is any overlap between publicizing and marketing books and what those are; her Emily Dickinson collection; how she helps authors, especially debut ones, overcome their fears; the song she would love to see adapted into a book; whether she thinks books are better than their screen adaptations; and more! For more information, visit smithpublicity.com.