Guest Interview with Kathleen Schmidt
Have you heard of a digital surrogate? Guest Kathleen Schmidt explains and gives us the download on Marketing & Publicity
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NOT SO SECRET AGENT SWAP!
Welcome to a very special edition of Not So Secret Agent, where I am featuring my first guest interview with none other than Publishing Confidential’ s Kathleen Schmidt!
Kathleen is a book publishing strategist and Senior PR and Marketing Consultant who runs her own firm. Unafraid to have big ideas, speak her mind, and shake things up, she has an all-around fresh take on everything book publishing.
Kathleen introduced me to the concept of a “digital surrogate,” which, according to her, is when someone “with robust followings helps an author promote their books.” She goes on to say, “In more complex terms, digital surrogates are other authors, publishing adjacent people, or friends/family who are online and are willing to help promote your work.”
Guess what?! We are promoting one another’s work today. I am a featured guest on Kathleen’s newsletter this week too! Go check out my interview on her Substack HERE.
We cover:
How I know when proposals have the “It” factor.
Does social media matter?
How often to follow up on your agent query.
The “perfect” project…
and more!
I am a HUGE Kathleen fan and was honored when she agreed to be one another’s Substack Swaps.
I could go on and on about why you should subscribe to her newsletter but I will keep it brief and suggest you read the following posts:
On to the interview!
1. What is the difference between marketing and publicity? How has this changed in the past 5 years?
In the simplest terms, the difference between marketing and publicity is paid versus earned media. For example, ads are paid, media is earned by publicists pitching editors, etc. The lines have now blurred due to social media. Many publicists, including myself, work with authors to build social media communities. Technically, that is marketing, as is outreach to influencers.
The publicity landscape is not what it used to be. There are fewer places to pitch, more books published, and too many publicists trying to capture the media’s attention. I am probably shooting myself in the foot by saying this, but marketing is becoming more important than publicity. The modern version of marketing is authors defining, connecting with, and expanding their readership. Social media makes that possible. If an author doesn’t want to be on social media, I suggest they find “digital surrogates.” These people have robust followings and will post about your work. I am a digital surrogate for some of my clients and friends and am happy to do it.
2. What is one unexpected thing you do for authors you work with?
I am always surprised by how often I coach authors through the publishing process—even when they have agents. I have no problem doing it, but people receive really bad advice, and I find myself, more often than not, gently guiding people away from many things they think are good ideas but won’t work for various reasons. Many authors are still convinced that reviews sell books, which is not the case. I try to steer them away from that line of thinking and more towards connecting with their audience, which many authors do not know how to do!
3. Do press releases matter?
They don’t. People get hung up on press releases, and while yes, they should go out with an ARC or book mailing, it’s an email pitch that matters. Press releases are great for announcing an acquisition, new venture, or something newsworthy. I’ve worked for people who wanted me to send a press release about a book hitting the NYT list. No one cares about that. Additionally, if a press release is sent digitally, there must be a strategy behind it. Why are you sending it? What is the email subject line? What results do you want from it? A pitch is different than a press release. If I pitch a journalist or producer, there must be an angle. Press releases often regurgitate the description of the book with blurbs. Is that interesting? I don’t think so.
4. What tech or admin tools couldn’t you live without?
Oh, my goodness. I live and die by Calendly. I don’t have an assistant (yet), so my schedule gets unruly. Calendly allows me to send links to people so they can schedule Zoom calls with me when we are both available. I use Muck Rack and Podchaser, which are media databases that are key to my day-to-day life as a publicist. I use Stripe for invoices. I am about to sign up for a virtual bookkeeper. In my personal life, I have an app where I can schedule laundry pick-ups, and that has been life-changing.
5. Can you share a story about a book campaign you thought was super smart and why? Bonus points if it is a cookbook!
I’ll give credit where it’s due: many cookbook authors are great on social media—but you already know that! Rachel Dodes, co-author of The Memo, has been creating memes of celebs (old and young) reading the book in particular movies or show scenes. I think it’s clever. The book is getting a lot of attention because it is high-concept fiction, which tells us something: original, fun stories get people talking, as do titles.
I am also fascinated by the rise of self-help books on TikTok. Today, I watched a TikTok about a book called The Inner Work. Not only was someone reading from it, but I could buy it from the TikTok shop. Seamless experiences are so important to consumers today. So, it is easily accessible information for bettering ourselves or making sense of the world. Two books are in the series, and they are self-published Amazon bestsellers.
If a mid-sized platform author (with under 100k followers across platforms) is debuting a single subject cookbook that retails for $19.95 and has $2,000 of their own money to invest in M&P, what are three ways they could invest that money?
Schedule a couple of consultations with someone who does PR & Marketing to review goals and discuss what the author could do independently.
Explore newsletter advertising. You’d be surprised by how inexpensive it is, and it goes into people’s inboxes, which is valuable.
Find someone who can book podcasts. Podchaser does this, and it does not cost more than $2,000 (I think). Publicists like myself will also take on projects like this to pitch podcasts.
***Not So Secret Agent Side Note*** The Podcast Team also books podcast tours for $2,750/monthly retainer for a min of a 4 month commitment.
7. Picture this: publishing goes through a reckoning and decides to contractually commit to a minimum of $15,000 for every single book it publishes across all genres. What do you think the impact would be?
The impact would depend on how the publisher spent the money. Still, a budget like that for every book would help discoverability (maybe some targeted ads), allow them to pay for an outside publicist (not all of us charge $30K per campaign), and give marketing and publicity some wiggle room to send authors to events, conferences, create printed ARCs, etc. It would change so much for many authors who receive little to no publisher support.
8. How far out do you book for book campaigns? Are you taking on new clients?
I’m still receiving inquiries for the fall, and I consider them on a case-by-case basis because September is around the corner. For other books, I am looking ahead to 2025 and 2026.
9. Where can people connect with you? Can people hire you for a one-hour consult, and how much does this cost?
My business email is kathleen@kmspr.com
My website is www.kmspr.com (it needs updating)
A 60-90 minute consultation is $350, and we review a lot of information. Sometimes, authors don’t need to hire someone; they need a consultation. If someone pays for a consultation, and then hires me for a campaign, I deduct the consultation from my fee.
I hope you enjoyed getting a window into Kathleen’s work and the ways it may help your own cookbook and writing process moving forward.
Have a great idea for another Not So Secret Agent Substack Surrogate? Drop your ideas in the comments. I have a few other fun interviews coming your way!
***save the date*** Paid Subscribers have two opportunities for Not So Secret Agent office hours:
Thursday July 11th from 3-4pmET and/or Tuesday July 23rd from 10-11amET
Come with questions, come to listen, and come to learn from what other people ask!
This is not a time to formally pitch me but you are welcome to come with ideas for general feedback.
You are welcome to attend both times. I am hoping that based on your time zone and mine, and the chef/caregiver/writer/culinary instructor/etc. job you may have, that at least one of these two options works for most of you.
Thank you for reading, sharing, and subscribing!
Sally
To attend, see below:
Thursday July 11th from 3-4pmET
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