A Day in the Life of a… Publicity Officer

Posted on April 30, 2008 in Uncategorized

What does an average day as a Publicity Officer for a small independent publishing house involve?

The first thing I do is check and answer my emails, and skim-read the headlines of all the major papers online to see if there are any big news stories that we can tie-in to any of our publications. Then my time is divided between planning and organising media campaigns, reading manuscripts, writing press releases, researching possible publicity avenues, talking to authors about their ideas, pitching story ideas, answering queries from journalists…

What do you like best about your job? Is it as glamorous as it sounds and do you get to meet famous authors and journalists?

It’s not always as glamorous as it sounds, but it is definitely exciting. I’m sure that opportunities to drink champagne with Gordon Brown or talk politics with someone from Big Brother do come along depending on which publisher you work for, but I haven’t had the pleasure yet. Saying that, I’ve been lucky enough to meet and speak to a lot of important people, who are incredibly well-known and influential in their particular fields, which is often more interesting. Oh, I did see Philip Pullman at an awards ceremony once but didn’t speak to him, does that count?

The thing I like best about the job is that no two days are the same. I can spend a quiet morning reading a manuscript and drafting a press release, then the afternoon running around like a headless chicken because I’ve had a call from This Morning who want to interview an author live the next day and they’re not answering their phone. I love having to think on my feet and the adrenaline rush of successfully pitching a story or seeing something you’ve set up in print is great.

What makes you feel like packing it all in?

Frustration and rude people. A lot of my work essentially involves being a go-between: putting people who want to talk in touch with people who want people to talk to. If expectations are running high, it’s very easy to disappoint someone if, say, an article gets pulled or one of our authors isn’t around to be interviewed. The flipside is that you really appreciate and work hard for the people who are understanding and know that sometimes things don’t always go to plan and an email or phone call saying thank you can make your day.

What are the wages like?

I think they’re pretty much on a level with other areas of publishing, the big difference is that you always have the option (or should I say temptation?) to leave the publishing sector and go into another area of PR which can be very highly paid.

So aside from PR, where can you go from here? What is the career ladder in publicity, and what skills do you need to do the job?

I think publicity is an amazing way to get an overview of how publishing works, so if you’re willing to put the effort into moving into a different area, this job will give you a really important foundation. To do the job well you need to work with people at all levels of the business, have a good knowledge of the market and be able to know almost instinctively what will sell and what won’t. Publicity departments change from company to company, so by moving around you have the chance to work on different sorts of books, in different-sized companies with a different approach to publicity. Then with more experience, there are opportunities to work freelance or even move away from publishing into completely different areas: charities or arts organisations or even Max Clifford-style celebrity public relations if that’s what you fancy.

In terms of skills, working in publicity you need a variety. Learning to work with people is probably the most important thing you have to do: selling a story, negotiating a publicity deal and smoothing ruffled feathers are often day-to-day tasks. Creativity and communication skills are also key, as is organisation and being able to keep on top of multiple projects simultaneously.

What would your dream job be?

Scriptwriter on Diagnosis Murder.

Interview with Laura Bell, Publicity Officer for Jessica Kingsley Publishers.