Publicists get inventive to boost debut authors during 'tough' lockdown

Resourceful publicists are having to be inventive to launch debuts as the lockdown rumbles on and shops remain closed, with many ramping up their social media output and external partnerships to create a buzz and boost sales.

With so much retail going online, the absence of knowledgeable booksellers who can handsell titles or open their shops for events has led to fears new voices are being lost among the big name authors and releases.

“It’s definitely tricky to get debut authors noticed at the moment, especially those without a large marketing budget or sales focus,” said Millie Seaward, senior publicity manager for Sphere and Dialogue Books. “We can see this from recent sale charts - they are dominated by big brands and established authors.”

She explained: “One of the things we have been trying at Dialogue Books over the past year is improving our owned channels - including a radical overhaul of our Instagram account - making it actually work for us by including more direct calls to action to buy and encourage sharing of photos of our books to create a community feel. This means that readers will, hopefully, consistently see a stream of images, reviews and content for our debut authors, without having to see it in a bookshop. We developed Dialogue Book Lounge, a series of Instagram Live interviews between our authors and our editorial director Sharmaine Lovegrove to encourage visibility during this period.”

Seaward said she was particularly excited about forthcoming work with Fane Productions, broadening the reach of Dialogue Book Lounge with a major focus on debut authors. She said: “The fact that Fane are dedicated to promoting debuts within their events structure shows that there is a market out there for new voices - we just have to work to find it.”

Canongate publicity director Anna Frame admitted breaking out debuts was “tough at the best of times”, but particularly during the pandemic. The publisher has been working to the strength of its authors, putting Mrs Death Misses Death writer Salena Godden onstage in her own home-made theatre while focusing Kerri ní Dochartaigh, who had no stable wi-fi, on written features and phone interviews for her book Thin Places.

Frame said shops, many of which have been offering click and collect or delivery even while closed to customers, were still important too. She said: “As so often, independent booksellers have also been heroes throughout this, and we’ve found huge success working with our authors’ local indies to provide a channel for dedicated and signed copies. West End Lane Books sold over 100 copies of Terri White’s Coming Undone by publication day last summer, while Newham Books continue to race through copies of Mrs Death Misses Death as fast as Salena can sign them. The impact a few key supporters can make can’t be overstated.

“We were also delighted that J R Thorp was picked one of the Observer’s 10 best debut novelists of 2021 for her debut Learwife. We hope that this platform combined with the lessons we’ve learnt from our lockdown campaigns will mean we can weather any challenges that the autumn throws at us by the time Learwife publishes in November.”

At Vintage, publicity director Joe Pickering said his team had been looking at new methods of breaking out debut literary fiction since the pandemic began.

He said: “We’re making a virtue of our wealth of debut voices this year, and orchestrating more digital initiatives to present these books collectively to consumers, retailers and journalists in an online world. We’re producing Vintage podcast episodes dedicated to debuts, doing more early proof giveaways on social media, and making them a focus of our virtual showcase by commissioning videos, which we’ll then also be able to use across our Vintage channels - that content will have a trade and a public life.

“Generally speaking, the Vintage brand channels are helping audiences discover new writers, with increased investment in video, online events and our podcast. Those videos have asked a lot of our writers, particularly the debut ones, and they’ve been amazing: working remotely with our team to capture videos of themselves at home. We’re investing in putting digital proofs in front of more influencers, plus even higher-spec physical proof packages to select key contacts. We’re building anticipation by creating timelines of pre-awareness moments, such as proof giveaways, promoting key press and releasing early extracts. And more podcast advertising and sponsorship, alongside strategic brand partnerships, are helping us reach networks of potential readers keen to discover the best new writing.”

Kate Green, head of PR for Picador, said that with bookshops closed and the challenge of making emails to journalists stand out, she switched her focus for Neema Shah's Koloko Hill to online supporters, culminating in a special invitation-only virtual event on the eve of publication last week.

She said: “The collective voice of the supportive online community around Neema has thrown her novel directly into the spotlight for a broad audience across social media platforms. This community includes fellow writers, book bloggers, influencers and instagrammers as well as NetGalley members. While Neema has put in the time to thank all reviewers, support other authors and put further content out there that interests her, I've been able to galvanise more interest as glowing reader reviews have been shared.”

Even a big new thriller such as Abigail Dean's Girl A has required a “relentless” push from the team at HarperFiction. Head of PR Felicity Denham explained: “Many of our early plans for Girl A, particularly around trade engagement and proof distribution last spring, were scuppered due to the pandemic, so we focused on very targeted and personal approaches and an incredibly iconic proof design to recruit those all-important early media champions. .

“The New Year was an important milestone, ensuring we had a stream of PR moments from early January through to publication to drive pre-orders and maximise visibility. The 2021 previews were key in that sense, and we secured a clean sweep of these - helped by a continuous drip-feed of early buzz and endorsements to the media. We worked relentlessly to secure those big-hitting PR pieces on publication that would reach consumers, drive conversation and power the Amazon chart position and sales: BBC Radio 4’s 'Woman’s Hour', a profile interview in the Guardian and inclusion in the Observer’s coveted New Voices feature.”

The support of booksellers was also key, she said, adding: “Despite Waterstones being closed for the majority of the campaign, high street retailers were always in our thinking, and we targeted booksellers when we could and got head office on board. We offered Waterstones our first event with Abigail Dean - the launch event with Emma Gannon which had a great audience. Indies have been key for events and that all important hand-selling, and we have an indie tour lined up for Abigail, kicking off with Griffin Books on 25th January.”

A lack of physical events has also hit children's authors, but some publicists have also been able to harness the power of online for their debuts. For Cat Weldon, a background in scriptwriting came in useful for the team at Macmillan Children's Books.

Publicity manager Sabina Maharjan said: "To launch Cat Weldon’s debut middle-grade series How to be a Hero during a time where we weren’t able to do physical events, we worked closely with gatekeepers and bookshops to place the series in the hands of the middle-grade community. With the topics of Vikings and Norse mythology being on the KS2 curriculum and Cat’s fun and accessible text we were able to utilise her background in scriptwriting and children’s theatre to create virtual events and workshops themed around the story to get the series recognised with the target demographic of readers and drive conversations with children at home.”