Using a book to leverage your long game.

What to do after an active book marketing campaign wraps up?

Well, our experienced publicists advise authors and publishers that book publicity is more than a sprint… it's a marathon. Media coverage and placements during the campaign are fantastic.?

Still, a truly successful campaign keeps up the momentum even after an active marketing program has concluded – the work done before and during a book marketing campaign sets the stage for continued success. There's nothing we like to see more than authors who come back to us to let us know the various ways our work with them has impacted their long-term success.

Recently, we received the following note of gratitude and good news from an author, Holly Maholm, with whom we worked more than six years ago:

"Back in 2015, I hired Smith to help me promote a book I was self-publishing at the time. It was Brave in Ribbons. As part of those promotional efforts, the publicist at Smith asked me to write some short (600-800 word) articles on various LGBTQ subjects (I am a transgender woman). She placed several of those articles with local publications across the country as a means to get my name out in front of the public as an author.

One of the periodicals that took one of my articles was GRAB Magazine, an LGBTQ entertainment bi-weekly published in Chicago. Then GRAB asked me to continue to write for them as their sort of 'staff transgender writer.'

So beginning in early 2016, I began to write articles of 800 words that are published under the byline 'Grab Holly.' GRAB'S print-run is 12,000 copies per issue.?

Well… I am still writing for them, five and a half years later! And now, I have published a collection of many of my articles in a book (available on Amazon) titled Offered Magic: My Life Among the Unicorns.

In September 2016, I wrote an article that shared the story of Holly (a completely fictional trans woman) who happened to meet a Magical Unicorn! Soon Holly was invited to meet all the other unicorns, and the story progressed from article to article for 126 episodes (from September 2016 to June 2021), recounting Holly's experiences with the unicorns and her LGBTQ friends.

'Grab Holly' has turned into a continuous, open-ended serial with ongoing characters, locations, events, and challenges. The series continues today, and it promises to continue for so long as the unicorns and I find fun and humor in our little town of Wellington. So that is my unexpected success with Smith Publicity – which I think would be a surprise even to the executive who helped me get my ' foot in the door' in the first place!"

Though Holly came to us to promote her book, which we worked with her to do successfully, the effects of her book marketing campaign were longer lasting and further reaching than she could have anticipated, and she is now a regular columnist. We are thrilled about her success. This is what we aim for!

#smithpublicity #CompanyCulture #Author #AmWriting #FutureofWork #Network #SalesPitch #Pitching #Speaking #Events #publishing #Bookmarketing #Speaker #Author