Saturday, August 2, 2014

Shanta Newlin: Marketing and Sales Panel

Shanta Newlin is Executive Director of Publicity at Penguin Young Readers Group., a division of Penguin Random House.

Her goal is to demystify publicity for us.

She starts with explaining that every author at Penguin gets a publicist.

What does the publicist do?

They are an advocate

They help you craft your message

They pitch you for media

They connect you with your audience at book festivals and schools

"You must see, hear or read about a book at least five times before you make a purchase."

How do you accomplish that in such a crowded marketplace?

They know the media - consumer, trade, parenting, genre and more…

and they reach out to festivals and schools to create events "so you can meet your fans."

It's great information!

The clincher that made her know being a publicist was the job for her?

Shanta was with Tamora Pierce at an event when a woman walked up with her young daughter and said to Tamora, "I'd like to introduce you to my daughter, Alanna." She had named her child after the main character in Tamora's "Song of the Lioness" books!



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