publicity

Marketing vs. Publicity

Publishing Departments

Publicity can often be confused with marketing as they both deal with many similar issues: selling a book!

While considering what kind of jobs in publishing work best with your skill sets, it’s essential to understand the difference between marketing and publicity, as the two departments work on different tasks. While marketing and publicity can be two separate teams in a big publishing house, they typically work closely together, while many smaller presses may combine these two departments into one team.

In layman’s terms, marketing handles paid promotion, while publicity handles earned promotions and events.

Publicists…

Their goal is to generate buzz and credibility by getting others to talk about the book.

  • Develop publicity plans (outline of promotional strategies)
  • Create press releases
  • Conduct media outreach (pitching books to newspapers, blogs, magazines, podcasts etc.)
  • Secure interviews & build relationships with journalists, influencers and reviewers)
  • Social media calendar management
  • Coordinate book reviews
  • Collaborate with the publisher and author
  • Work with the author to develop their online presence
  • Track media coverage and reviews

Publicists often reach out to literary magazines such as The Paris Review, Tin House, and Granta for features/coverage of their authors.

Marketers…

Their goal is to increase book sales by creating awareness through paid and planned ad campaigns.

  • Conduct market research and analysis
  • Draft marketing plans
  • Establish and position a unique brand identity for the book and author
  • Monitor and analyze the effectiveness of marketing tactics
  • Create promotional materials
  • Send newsletters and manage email marketing lists
  • Budget and report ad campaigns and expenses
  • Identify the target market for the author and book
  • Collaborate with sales to determine the best distribution tactics to reach the audience
  • Manage digital advertising (like Google ads, Amazon Ads, Instagram Ads, etc.)

“I still don’t get it. Are they separate departments or the same thing?”

Here’s what publishing professionals have to say…

Carla Gray, Director of Marketing at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

“Marketing is nothing without publicity. The two teams work closely from the launch of the book through its publication.”

Lydia Hirt, Marketing Director at Riverhead Books and Viking Books at Penguin Random House

“Marketing and publicity are two oars on the same book boat. We work incredibly closely together and collaborate along the way—ultimately toward the same goal of bringing books to readers.”

Summary

In large publishing houses, publicity and marketing may be separated into two departments that work closely together. In smaller presses, they’re often combined.

Publicists build the buzz by pitching to media, arranging events, writing press releases, and helping authors to grow their audience.

Marketers plan ad campaigns, analyze changing markets, build brand identity, and manage outreach through digital platforms and newsletters.

As publishing professionals put it:

Marketing and publicity are “two oars on the same boat” meaning each role is distinct, but they work together, rowing in the same direction.

Publicity

Publishing Departments
Image from Max Pixel CC0 Public Domain

Publicity also has a few different roles ranging from Publicity Assistants to Junior and Senior Publicity Executives, Directors and Managers. 

The Publicity department is the department that arranges for events such as book/ author tours, book signing events, book readings etc. Publicists will often reach out to newspapers, magazines, radio stations, websites, bloggers etc. in order to promote their books too. Often, publications will notify the Publicity departments of companies before certain best-seller lists with their respective books are published, so that the publicity departments can generate buzz or create events in order to further promote their books. Essentially, the Publicity department takes what the editorial and marketing departments provide them and uses those to conduct promotional outreach and generate publicity/hype around products. 

Marketing vs. Publicity

Reflect & Consider

  1. How does publicity differ from marketing, and why are both neccesary in a book’s promotional plan?
  2. How does timing play a role in publicity efforts, especially when it comes to best-seller announcements or media coordination?
  3. How might relationships with media outlets and influencer shape the success of a publicity campaign?
  4. Why might in-person events like book tours and reading be more impactful for certain audiences or genres?
  5. Can you think of a time when you heard about a book through an interview, an article, or an event? How did that affect your interest in the book?