I see ... a PR firm

I hired a public relations firm.

While my publisher will provide some PR for The Price of Safety, they have many authors and, to be honest, unless my name is Stephen King, or JK Rowling, I’m mainly on my own. That’s the state of publishing nowadays. (A seven-time-published author informed me that his publisher, Random House, doesn’t do any marketing or PR for him.)

After I decided to hire a PR firm, I asked an author friend for a recommendation. To protect me from lawsuits, I will call the firm he recommended “David Smith Agency”. I looked them up and found them with only a little difficulty. Per their website, David had been a publicist for eons, having been the head of PR for a three-letter media company before starting his firm. They provide marketing/PR for books, movies, and TV, have quotes from various clients, a long list of media companies they work with, etc. It looked great. So, I emailed David, told him my friend (let’s call him Jack) recommended me, and a few days later we talked.

I had a list of questions and a bundle of excitement.

David was…tepid. Distracted. Borderline disinterested. I wondered if I’d woken him from a nap. Whatever was going on, it surprised me. I know I was an unknown—but I was a potential client. And he knew Jack! (On that note, when David and I first got on the phone, he asked, “Who did you say recommended you?” When I said Jack’s name, there was a confused grunt of an answer. I later learned why.)

After the call, my bundle had wilted. But the guy was connected, said he was going to send me his “new author packet”, and we would talk again.

PR firms can run from $3,000 to over $20,000 for 3-6 month contracts. His packet, a 3-month service, was on the very low end. We talked again, and while he sounded slightly less sleepy, it still wasn’t to a level anyone would describe as “enthusiastic”. He did say he really liked my story idea and asked for a copy, but after that phone call, my concern grew.

It was almost a month before I heard from him again. When I did, it was in the form of a contract he emailed me. As I replayed our conversations, I became uneasy. This guy seemed to have the skills and connections I needed, and he came recommended. But something wasn’t right.

I searched for top PR firms for authors. After some research and a few emails, I had a call with Marissa, the president of JKS Communications (now Books Forward). Holy positive experience, Batman. Marissa was engaged, upbeat, and interested in me and my novel. She’d researched my website, read the blurb about The Price of Safety, asked me questions about my motivations, influences, interests, suggested ways to publicize the novel—and then later in the conversation added suggestions based on what she’d asked at the beginning of the call.

I’m not oblivious. She was trying to convince me to use her firm. But she sold me. David didn’t. If he couldn’t try hard enough to act interested to someone who might pay him, how would he act when he represented me and my novel? JKS was more professional, more comprehensive, and seemed a better fit. They were more expensive than David, so it was a bigger commitment. I would be relying almost solely on them to get The Price of Safety into people’s minds.

Giving him one more chance, I searched David’s firm online, digging deeper…and noticed how hard it was to find anything about his firm. There was one article from 2012 or 2013. That was it. Seriously? A PR firm that doesn’t promote itself? I then found a second article, but it was about the passing of one of his people. I pulled up his website and googled the individuals listed in the “Meet the Team” section. After David, his number two guy was the one who passed away. Over five years ago. The #3 person in his company passed away last year.

David had dead people on his webpage.

After I discovered this, I signed the contract with Books Forward.

I emailed David to thank him for his offer but I was going with another firm. His response was terse: “Thanks for wasting our time.”

I let Jack know what happened. He was stunned—and before I finished my story, he told me to use someone else. He hadn’t actually worked with David, but he’d been approached by him regarding Jack’s own book. He had no prior experience with David—and wasn’t going to now.

As far as Books Forward? While we’re just four weeks in, I couldn’t be happier. Not only do they have a great plan cued up, Jackie (my publicist) has been enthusiastic, professional, and fun to work with. I cannot wait for the results.

Best of all? No dead people on their website.