What is Authoright?

 

Authoright is the leading author services company. We provide excellent and affordable editing, cover design, website design, marketing and publicity services for both self-published and traditionally published writers.

 

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What is book marketing and publicity?

 

Marketing and publicity are techniques that assist in the promotion of a new book, designed to help spread the word about its publication, raise its profile (along with its author’s), generate reviews, establish feature articles, interviews and reviews in the mainstream and niche media - across print, broadcast and online outlets - and to ultimately generate visibility and book sales. Book marketing tends to focus on more behind the scenes preparatory work - putting together a marketing plan, crafting the right text and metadata for a new title, building media lists, sending out newsletters - whereas publicity is the front of house stuff; contacting journalists, placing articles, arranging radio and TV interviews.

 

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Can I do my own publicity?

 

There are lots of things that authors can do in order to help promote their books, but largely speaking, publicity is out of the realm of possibility for most writers. Publicity is a specialist activity and involves having access to extensive media contacts. Journalists are not used to dealing with authors directly, they expect to deal with a professional contact, usually a publicist, when it comes to considering new titles for review or feature. 

 

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I want to promote my book but I also want to remain anonymous. Can I do that?

 

Yes you can. There’s no question that we live in an image-driven world and readers certainly like to be able to see and identify the author behind their favourite book. But Authoright always aims to balance giving the right professional advise with meeting the specific requirements of its clients, so if a writer wishes to remain anonymous we will respect that and write around it. There are lots of reasons why an author might choose to remain anonymous, but anonymity isn’t always essential to maintain completely. Some writers will remain completely hidden form view; others might adopt a pen name but be happy to share photographs and participate fully in the promotion of their book. There are some very obvious drawbacks with writing anonymously - such as if you’re writing about a real story that happened to you but don’t want to be identified - and it’s important that the author understands these, as they may put some journalists off connecting with their story. 

 

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If you’re promoting my book for me what do I need to do to help?

 

The best thing you can do as a writer when it comes to supporting the PR activities is to be as flexible, timely and forthcoming as possible. Your publicist will be setting up interviews, arranging articles for you to write, working to opt features about you and your book, organising blog tours; they will be giving specific briefs by their media and blogger contacts which they will communicate to you. It’s also best to follow your publicists instructions to the letter because they are designed to help you; so if you’re asked to write a 1000 word article on the themes in your book for a newspaper, don’t send them 4500 words on what inspired you to write it - it will be automatically rejected by the newspaper because it is what they’ve asked for. Deliver what is asked of you as promptly as possible and if you’re in doubt about something, check with your publicist first. Promoting your book should be fun!

 

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Can I meet my publicist?

 

Yes of course, should you wish to, although the majority of our meetings with clients take place over the phone or via Skype or Facetime, as this tends to be most convenient for everyone concerned. 

 

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Can I call you everyday for an update?

 

Publicists spend a lot of time on the phone and on email, and they can often be waiting for answers from third parties - journalists, producers, bloggers - before they can update their clients. Most will also be working with other clients at the same time. Authors are always welcome to get in touch, but most publicists will prefer to be contacted by email first, and should a call be in order, they can they schedule a time to speak.

 

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Can you guarantee me media coverage of my book?

 

Publicists and book marketers are influences not enforcers. Our role is to pitch the books, stories and writers we work with in creative, dynamic and engaging ways, enabling journalists and reviewers to connect with the books we’re promoting and have the opportunity to feature or review them. But the final decision will always lie with the journalist, blogger or reviewer; regardless of how passionately we might feel about a book, and how aggressively we pitch it to our contacts, if they do not share our interest then we cannot force them to cover it. We don’t trust any publicity or marketing firm that says you can guarantee results, because you unequivocally cannot. 

 

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Will I only receive rave reviews?

 

Publicists and book marketers are a professional conduit between writers, the media and readers, working hard to generate reviews and features about the books they are representing. But we can never guarantee how a book will be received. If a reviewer doesn’t enjoy a book that we have taken them then they are quite entitled to write an honest review; it would be inappropriate for us to try to coerce them into writing something other than how they felt about the book. However, most of the reviewers we work with a very generous and respectful of the books they review and will often decline to post or print their review if it is negative, rather than sharing a poor rating. 

 

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Will I have to meet with journalists for interviews or photoshoots?

 

Nowadays, journalists are largely time-poor and deadline-heavy, so email is often the best form of correspondence for them, enabling them to manage multiple stories and features simultaneously. Many of our author’s interviews with the media are conducted by email or phone rather than in person. For radio and television interviews in-person interviews are much more common, or may require the author to travel to a studio nearer to their home, in order to be interviewed in ‘as live’ conditions. Often newspapers will ask us to send photographs of our author for them to use - an author headshot is standard but if the book is of a personal nature additional images may be requested. If the newspaper or magazine wishes to create its own images, they may arrange a photoshoot with the author. 

 

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I’ve never been interviewed by a journalist before - can you help ease my nerves?

 

Of course! A first interview can be scary - especially if it’s a live radio interview - when you’re talking about something as intimate and important as your own book. We can help with media training tips to help our authors to relax, deliver warmly and confidently in the interview, and make the most of what can be a terrific opportunity. 

 

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Will I receive a fee for my interviews?

 

We often hear about people being paid for interviews by the media, but it’s actually quite rare these days and tends to be the preserve of high-profile interviewees or those with a very commercial, newsworthy or controversial story to tell. If, however, you are promoting a book, you are being given a free platform by the media from which to publicise your work to their thousands - or even  millions - of readers. We also now live in a content-rich world and, as such, there is a lot of competition for space. To demand a fee in return for an interview would be to loose the promotional opportunity altogether.

 

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What is serialisation?

 

Occasionally, a newspaper will feel that a book is strong enough for them to option to run a section of it in print. They may ask permission to use a serial - a page, an edited section or even a series of chapter selections on one day or over a number of days, so that their readership can read parts of the book. This is called serialisation.

 

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What is exclusivity? 

 

Sometimes, if a newspaper or magazine really wants to secure an article or interview first, before its rivals, it will ask for exclusivity. This means that they want to run a feature piece or interview before anyone else in their industry. There are often levels of exclusivity; sometimes it will be total, other times across one media platform such as print or broadcast, or it could simply be that a magazine asks us not to approach any of its direct competitors with the same story. Securing an exclusive for an author usually translates into a larger piece of media coverage with one particular outlet (such as the Daily Mail or the Huffington Post) and once they have had first dibs and run their article, other media outlets can have their shot at producing their own version of the story.

 

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Can you give me the contacts for journalists so that I can call them myself?

 

Absolutely not! Our media relationships are very important to us and it would breech both data protection regulations and industry best-practice if we were handing out journalists phone numbers at will. Authors in publicity will always be informed as to the media contacts we’re in touch with on their behalf, but contacts cannot be shared. Occasionally journalists will opt to share their numbers with an author - through their publicist - but it’s usually just to help manage a meeting for an interview. 

 

I have 2000 copies of my book in storage. Should I mail them out to lots of journalists for you?

 

Please don’t. Journalists are busy people and they receive tonnes of unsolicited mail - via email and in the post - most of which usually goes straight in the bin. We make sure that our media contacts want a particular title before we send it to them, so that when it finally arrives, they can’t wait to start reading it.

 

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Do you do advertising?

 

No, advertising is a separate discipline altogether and usually an extremely expensive one. Only very large publishers are able to advertise their books, on public transport and through bricks and mortar book shops. However, we are sometimes offered more affordable advertorial and online advertising opportunities which - if reasonable - we will always offer to our authors should they wish to take advantage of it, although it would not be covered by our publicity campaign fee. 

 

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Do you publish books?

 

Yes we do. Authoright’s publishing imprint Clink Street Publishing aims to offer authors the best of both the self published and traditionally published worlds. 

 

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Does Clink Street publish everything?

 

No, Clink Street is semi-selective. If a book needs a lot of work and the author isn’t interested in improving it, if the book is offensive, or if it contains libellous material, we won’t publish it. We want to publish well-written, commercially viable books professionally and to support them with extensive promotional activities.

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When do you pay royalties?

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We pay royalties twice a year i.e. every six months. 

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Publishers receive sales information and sales revenue from retailers in arrears. As such, we have two accounting periods in any given year being May-October and November-April. For the first period, we will send out royalties in the following February and for the second period we will send out royalties in the following August. In each, case on or by the month end. 

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Statement processing is a very busy period for any publisher. Please don't chase us on when the statement will arrive during the month they are due, if for any reason you haven't received your statement by the start of the following month, please email us at info@authoright.com. 

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Do you return materials you are sent?

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In short, no. As is typical with any publisher ​or literary agent, we can't be responsible for material that we are given by clients or prospective clients. We don't return manuscripts or synopses that are sent in, or other supporting material. Please do also refer to our Submissions Guide, which can be downloaded from this website. Please note: it is essential that you do not send us the only copy of your manuscript! We would recommend to any author that you retain both electronic and printed copies. We would also recommend that you ‘back up’ your electronic copies on a regular basis. We cannot be held responsible for lost or damaged materials under any circumstances. 

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