And no we don't just fanny about with press releases thank you
It is a truth often acknowledged in the world of work that working in Publicity is essentially fannying about with press releases. I have to admit, I thought that too once. I would look at all the other areas of publishing and think: Well Editors have it hard because they have to read hundreds of submissions and go through every sentence with a fine tooth comb; Marketers have to be on the ball, always alert and in the know about the next best trend and Sales have to sell books - sometimes extremely difficult books - and also have to stand in front of people during presentations which is just downright frightening. Publicity, on the other hand, was just a job that involved being forward-facing, smiling from ear to ear and being chatty and bubbly. I thought you could blag your way through with a wink and a confident sentence. But I didn't know quite how much and how hard publicists's worked until I joined the world of Publicity.
At the end of March, I started working at Hodder & Stoughton in the Publicity department where I assist with campaigns for Hodder, Coronet and Sceptre. So far I've been working there for two months and I've had the reality check and shock of my life.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore my job. There is a reason why I enjoy staying until 8pm, why I enjoy talking to authors about their work and why they write and what gave them that lightbulb idea. But that doesn't mean it is any less hard. Most nights I come home exhausted. I have no energy to cook and just, quite frankly, want to change into my PJs and drink tequila. You are always thinking on the job, constantly. And connecting your work emails to your phone is always a big no no. You have to make sure the author is happy, your bosses are happy, your colleagues are happy. You have to try and squeeze 48 hours worth of work into a 24 hour day.
But not many people are aware of this. And as much as I love the Bridget Jones film (it is one of my all time favourites), people do have a misconception about the effort and lengths Publicists have to go to to get the coverage and author satisfaction that they want. If it's not ringing and ringing the press about another wonderful book you have, then it's updating author schedules, sending out review lists, doing invoices, clippings, phoning bookshops: the works. Everyone's jobs are stressful in their own way, but Publicity is more stressful than meets the eye. I think most just think we handle the stress better because we smile through it (when really we're ugly crying inside).
There are a lot of things in this world that are judged before they have a chance to show themselves for what they are. And though Publicity, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting (and the best) aspects to publishing, I can say this with a hand on heart, that this is the hardest, maddest, most rewarding, most stressful, most incredible, most fun job you could have.
*mic drop Obama style*