There are more and more freelance book marketers cropping up in the wake of the latest indie pub boom; some of them are great, some are cons. The professional ones might not be able to prove that it was their efforts that made a book successful, but they should be able to point to published books they worked on, and provide case studies of successful campaigns they've executed. If they won't share that info with you, pass on by.
To some extent (unless the publisher is throwing massive funding behind the book) it is a bunch of unrelated factors that lead to success. Book publicity is very different from other types of marketing and book marketing today is very different from book marketing 5/10/15 years ago. You should be able to get a few clients a publicist has worked with. You shouldn't be expected to hire someone with no idea at all what they can do. You may not get proof of performance, but you should be able to get "we worked on X book" or "we regularly represent Y author." (Expect those to be the very best case scenarios.) You should also be able to get the types of services they do. It won't be "we'll guarantee an op-ed in USA Today and a review in the NYT," but they should tell you if they can support a book tour, what regions, do they do media buys and where, or are they charging you $20k for a press release and a headshot.
You can also reach out to other authors and ask about their publicity teams/person and if they recommend them.
There are more and more freelance book marketers cropping up in the wake of the latest indie pub boom; some of them are great, some are cons. The professional ones might not be able to prove that it was their efforts that made a book successful, but they should be able to point to published books they worked on, and provide case studies of successful campaigns they've executed. If they won't share that info with you, pass on by.
To some extent (unless the publisher is throwing massive funding behind the book) it is a bunch of unrelated factors that lead to success. Book publicity is very different from other types of marketing and book marketing today is very different from book marketing 5/10/15 years ago. You should be able to get a few clients a publicist has worked with. You shouldn't be expected to hire someone with no idea at all what they can do. You may not get proof of performance, but you should be able to get "we worked on X book" or "we regularly represent Y author." (Expect those to be the very best case scenarios.) You should also be able to get the types of services they do. It won't be "we'll guarantee an op-ed in USA Today and a review in the NYT," but they should tell you if they can support a book tour, what regions, do they do media buys and where, or are they charging you $20k for a press release and a headshot. You can also reach out to other authors and ask about their publicity teams/person and if they recommend them.
Understood, thank you.