This month’s Industry Insider interview is with Julia Hlavac, the Publicity Manager for Sleeping Bear Press/Cherry Lake Publishing. I met her (digitally speaking) when I used the Sleeping Bear Press title Write On, Irving Berlin last month as the Education Activities source text. I quickly realized that Julia had a lot to offer, as you’ll see below!
As a Publicity Manager, Julia works closely with affiliated authors and illustrators to garner them media attention, book reviews, as well as organize events at bookstores, conferences, libraries, and schools. She also manages the Sleeping Bear Press social media accounts. Prior to joining Sleeping Bear Press, Julia worked as an Academic Program Specialist at the University of Michigan’s International Institute organizing events and external programs.
Website: www.sleepingbearpress.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/sleepingbearpress
Instagram:@SleepingBearPress
Twitter: @SleepingBearBks
RVC: You’re pretty new to Sleeping Bear. What about them attracted you?
JH: Not having worked in publishing before, I have to say that what really attracted me was the opportunity to work in public relations. They were specifically looking to build up the company’s social media presence and work with bloggers and influencers to promote books, which is a fairly new way of publicizing products and one that I’m really interested in.
I appreciate the creative freedom this job offers, while still working hard to drive the mission of our company (“Great Books for Children!”). I take it as my responsibility to make sure that all of our authors and illustrators are actively representing us through their events and via social media outreach. I love the idea that collaboratively—not just across the U.S. but even internationally—we’re building this brand together.
RVC: Let’s get down to brass tacks regarding something I know many writers are confused about. What’s the easy-peasy way to understand the difference between marketing and publicity?
JH: Publicity is the way in which a company, author, or illustrator is portrayed in terms of identity and brand. It’s very focused on connections. Publicity can be good or bad, and it’s never guaranteed.
Marketing is paid placement.
RVC: What don’t most authors get about marketing?
JH: That we’re doing so much of it! There’s so much going on behind the scenes and within the industry, even if you don’t immediately see or hear it. Our marketing team works extremely hard to make sure that our company name and book titles are out there. We’re promoting our products to great lengths!
RVC: What don’t most authors get about publicity?
JH: We think about what type of publicity the book will get even before we agree to acquire the manuscript. That includes considering market trends as well as who might buy the finished product and how similar books have been received in the past. It’s really important to think about what makes this book different from any others that are out there.
RVC: Is the “No publicity is bad publicity” idea a real thing?
JH: Speaking specifically to the publishing world, yes, no publicity is bad publicity. We want people to know about our titles and the fantastic talent behind them.
RVC: What are the top three things an enterprising picture book author can do to help you do your job?
JH: The top three things are:
- Be proactive. We have an ever-growing list of books and for each one, we have an author and illustrator. If an author/illustrator reaches out to me with an event/media/conference they want me to help them arrange, it’s much easier to get things done swiftly than for me having to personally research it for each of them. Of course, I devote quite a lot of time to working on getting them media attention and lining up events, but if they come to me with ideas, things move much faster.
- Have an active website and social media presence. I always tell my authors/illustrators that I’d rather they be actively engaged on one social media platform than moderately engaged across three or four. I think it’s important for our authors/illustrators to have websites that represent them and act as portfolios. The reality is, most of our authors/illustrators work with more than one publisher. So, if you look on our website and see that they have one book, but in reality, they have published 10+, that information needs to be accessible when you Google their names. Same with social media—I tell our authors to think of it as free advertising. For those who have an active following such as Clayton Anderson, Devin Scillian, and Kayla Harren (to name a few), it’s such an easy way for their networks to spread information about a new release. Even for those who don’t have thousands of followers, a few retweets from the right people or organizations can make all the difference when it comes to promoting their books.
- Call me! We live in a very digital age, but my colleague suggested I arrange calls with all of our authors/illustrators releasing new books when I started the job. By doing that, I learned so much more about each of them than I ever would on a couple of email exchanges. In publicity, it’s important to know how comfortable our authors/illustrators are when it comes to presenting, school visits, interviews, etc. That’s the type of info you only figure out after having conversations, yet it’s so crucial for me to know that in order to do my job well.
RVC: Let’s circle back to social media. Which ones have proven most successful for your authors? What are you hearing?
JH: Our authors seem to be the most comfortable with Facebook, because a lot of them are the most familiar with it. I think Facebook is great for announcing events and new book releases. Twitter is quick and easy, but you have to be on it constantly since it’s so fast-paced. Personally, I think Instagram is the best platform because it’s more visual and creative, which works well for promoting books.
RVC: Lightning round! Since you work at a press with “bear” in the title … favorite picture book about a bear?
JH: The classic—Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?
RVC: A picture book that you think would make a GREAT feature film is …
JH: Our title Memoirs of a Goldfish.
RVC: #1 song on your playlist.
JH: “Delicate” by Taylor Swift. (sorry, not sorry!)
RVC: Best late-night snack when curling up with a good book?
JH: Trader Joe’s dark chocolate sea salt almonds.
RVC: Favorite non-picture-book writer?
JH: David Sedaris. (Jeannette Walls is a close second though!)
RVC: Three words that describe what a successful PR person + PB author relationship should be.
JH: Collaborative, Communicative, and Effective!
RVC: Thanks a bunch, Julia!