Publishing Interview - Sam Eades

[Michelle]

Now for something a little different.. as we have people on here who are interested in the whole publishing process, as well as writers, I'm hoping to bring you a series of interviews from the world of publishing. First up, and bravely going first, is Sam Eades, from Headline...

 

 

Q. Hi Sam – can you start by telling us your official job title, and a little about what it entails?

 

A. So my official job title is “Publicity Manager”, and I am responsible for planning and implementing publicity campaigns for on average of 6-8 titles per month, through traditional and online channels. Ahem. Which is a fancy way of saying that the job includes: placing interviews with authors across the media (tv, radio, print, online), encouraging reviewers (traditional and online) to run reviews of the books during the run up to publication, pitching for author-written opinion pieces/features/articles/blog posts, pitching authors to literary festivals, libraries and for bookshop events and arranging all the logistics around that from travel to advertising material. I organise author tours, publication dinners, launch parties as well as our presence at big festivals such as Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. Effectively, I talk about Headline’s books and authors pretty much every second of every day whether by phone/email/face to face/on social networks externally (to media, festival programmers, booksellers, librarians, buyers, authors, agents and readers) and internally (to other departments). As a department, we work closely with our colleagues in sales, marketing and editorial from reading submissions to attending pitches for new authors. I also make A LOT OF TEA.

 

Q. How did you get into publishing, what sort of career path did you follow?

 

A. I did an English Literature degree at the University of Durham, and spent three years reading lots of books and going to lots of parties, which proved a fantastic foundation for a career in publicity. After graduating I spent months doing a number of work experience placements at various publishers, press offices and at a literary agency. Then I was very lucky to get a publicity assistant job at Transworld Publishers, where I spent 18 months as an assistant to the Publicity Director and two Publicity Managers before being promoted to press officer. You learn so much as a publicity assistant, you get to shadow more senior colleagues on high profile campaigns and really learn the ropes before taking on campaigns of your own. I then moved to Headline, and have been here three years in September.

 

Q. Is it something you always thought about – or were there other careers which ended up discarded?

 

A. I read a lot of crime fiction as a child and am very nosy, so did at one point contemplate a career as a forensic scientist/pathologist/hot shot DI before swiftly realising that a weak constitution would probably prevent me from scaling the career ladder.

 

Q. And if you could now have any job in the world.. what would you be doing?

 

A. I very much admire the musical talent of Olly Murs, and would like a job in his entourage.

 

Q. Back to reality.. what is the best part of your job?

 

A. The best bit of my job is simply convincing someone to start reading an amazing book, then the writer takes over and does my job for me. That sounds cheesy right? Cheesy but true! What is great about this job is that it is so varied, and allows you to be incredibly creative. An average day for me has included taking an 80 strong Glee Choir around London, convincing an ice-sculptor to make a 3 grand ice sculpture for free, successfully pitching an author to be a writer-in-residence on East Coast Rail and baking 12 authentic Elizabethan tarts for an event at a literature festival. Safe to say this job is never boring! Also, I really love putting together overly detailed publicity schedules and spend hours chatting to our travel agents. We are on first name terms, and I am attending their annual summer party....

 

Q. And the worse?

 

A. The hangovers. Joke!

 

Q. You can often be found on twitter – how important do you think the internet is when it comes to publicity?

 

A. Are you saying that I spend too much time on twitter and not enough time working Michelle? Joking aside, the role of a publicist is to let the potential audience for a book know that the book exists and is out, in the hope that they might buy it - and these days, this audience is online 24/7. Therefore a large part of my day is spent communicating with potential readers online through social networking sites, and pitching authors for interviews/features/blog posts etc on relevant websites and blogs.

 

Q. A while ago, word of mouth via book blogs seemed to be very important – do you think this is still so?

 

A. Bloggers are fantastic at getting behind a book, and convincing others to buy it, read it, and pass it on to their friends. I spend a lot more of my time monitoring what people are saying about the books and authors that I work on and it is great when a blogger bangs the drum for a book that I am working on. For example, there has been a real buzz amongst YA bloggers and authors about Tanya Byrne’s Heart-Shaped Bruise. The community has really rallied behind that book and not a day goes by when I don’t see someone recommending it online to a fellow reader. This reader to reader recommendation is really important, and shows how bloggers can generate online word-of-mouth.

 

Q. Tell us a little about you as a reader… what do you like reading, and who are some of your favourite authors?

 

A. I may have mentioned that I am a bit of a crime fiction buff... outside of the Headline massive, I love Jo Nesbo, Val McDermid, SJ Bolton, Tess Gerristen, PD James, Sophie Hannah, Nicci French... basically any book that has a dead body and a policeman in it. This year I seem to have read a lot of debut novels, and cannot rave enough about Tigers in Red Weather (made me want to drink gin out of jelly jars), Wonder (made me sob on public transport) and This is How It Ends (made me invest heavily in waterproof mascara). From the Headline stable, I’ve just finished The Dog Stars by Peter Heller which I absolutely loved. As someone who couldn’t finish The Road as it was a wee bit bleak, this was one of those books that made me glad to be alive. Sorry, did I mention that I have to talk about Headline books every second of every day?

[chesilbeach]

What a great idea to widen the interviews to the publishing world, Michelle. This was really interesting - I really enjoyed it! Thanks

[Michelle]

Thanks Claire - I have an editor lined up next.

 

If anyone has any particular questions, let me know, and I'll see if Sam can answer.

[Andie P]

Thanks for posting this Michelle, provides a lot of insight. I'm sure I have lot's of questions...I will get back to you! Can't wait to read the interview with the editor, what a good idea of yours Michelle

 

Andie P x

[Dori]

As someone who intends to work in publishing (someday - hopefully), I found this interview really useful and interesting! There are so many job titles in this area, as well, that sometimes it just gets a tad confusing for me... even after Googling it, most of the time an article isn't enough to make it clear what the position comes with. On the other hand, interviews are a lot more straight to the point, I think. Can't wait to read the upcoming ones.

[Parenthesis]

Great interview, Michelle. Interesting and informative. I'm looking forward to the entire series of interviews from the publishing viewpoint. It'll be beneficial to many to have an insight into the process and people that oversee a book from a manuscript to a reader's hand. All too often we pick up a book without giving an iota of thought to what went into getting that book to print and to the a discerning reader.