So you wrote a book - amazing. But the work’s not done yet. How do you get people to write about YOU and what you created? Publicity for books is a topic that Isabelle O’Brien of Allen & Unwin knows inside and out.

Despite swearing she would never go into PR, thanks to her mum’s own career as a book publicist, today Isabelle is the Publicity Manager at Australia’s largest independent publishing house.

I couldn’t wait to hear what this smart cookie had to say about getting media coverage for books, after I worked on the launch of the Farmer cookbook in 2018, a book that portrayed life for Australia’s farmers and also raised money for those living in drought. Having never worked on a book publicity campaign prior to farmer, I knew I got bluddy lucky with the incredible coverage I secured (it really pays to have a great product!).

 

In this episode Isabelle talks about the ingredients that go into an excellent book pitch, how far out she starts talking to media, and what her process is for researching which outlets might be interested in a book (hint: there’s a bit of social media stalking that goes on here!).

 

Isabelle also shares her advice for authors feeling nervous about media and introduced me to the term “bookstagrammer”, which sounds like the most fun job in the world but also a super valuable source of influencer love for authors out there.

 

Find Isabelle online

https://www.instagram.com/isabelleobrien__/

 

Find Odette Barry online https://www.odetteandco.com.au/hackyourownpr https://instagram.com/odetteandco https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr