This month we spoke to Yassine Belkacemi of John Murray Press to get his views on the tricky business of book publicity.
Yassine Belkacemi
Yassine Belkacemi is a Press Officer at John Murray Press. Yassine got his start in British publishing in 2014 through Creative Access, a scheme set up to give paid internships in the creative industries to those from BAME (Black, Asian, Mixed Ethnic) backgrounds. Here, he worked in the John Murray publicity department as an assistant before being made permanent in 2015.
Previously, Yassine had worked at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management in New York City where he did everything from reading manuscripts to managing their self-publishing ebook program.
What does your job entail?
I work on a wide range of books as the JMP publicity team works across a number of imprints. Working on a variety of hardbacks and paperbacks it is my responsibility to get as much coverage as possible for each book. Doing this involves speaking to, pitching to and meeting up with journalists who work in print or online; meeting producers who work in radio or TV; as well as meeting bookshop owners and event organisers at various venues to see if our authors and books would work for their audiences. As well as working on my own list of books, I assist the Director of Communications at JMP with a number of her titles. I get to have a lot of fun, travel around to the four corners of the UK, meet a lot of interesting characters, work with some fantastic people in the media and see the widespread enthusiasm for books that exists in the UK.
The winning author and book instantly appeared on news broadcasts, various television stations, the front pages of newspapers, so the attention when they win is incredibly beneficial to the book and the author.
One of the books you’ve worked with, The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley, won the Costa First Novel Award! Congratulations! What impact do you think prizes have on bringing a book to the public attention? Do well-publicised books get prizes, or do prize-winning books get more publicity?
Thank you! It has been quite an adventure for The Loney and Andrew Hurley! I think certain prizes have a really big impact in bringing a book to the public’s attention. If you look at the Man Booker and Costa prizes in particular, you saw the respective winners of those prizes, A History of Seven Killings and The Lie Tree, jump into the bestsellers lists after the prizes were announced. The winning author and book instantly appeared on news broadcasts, various television stations, the front pages of newspapers, so the attention when they win is incredibly beneficial to the book and the author.
As for the impact that publicity has on the books winning the overall prize – I certainly don’t think publicity can sway the final decisions of a judging panel. Perhaps good publicity for a book can make it stand out when judges are considering the submissions for their longlists but if publicity does have an effect on prizes, I think it is an indirect one.
I had been telling people for months what an amazing book The Loney was but when Stephen King comes along and says it, then those people's ears perk up.
The Loney has some fantastic endorsements, including one from Stephen King. How important do you think endorsements are?
Endorsements are a big help, especially if you are promoting a debut author. They have the effect of validating what you as a publicist have been saying all along. I had been telling people for months what an amazing book The Loney was but when Stephen King comes along and says it, then those peoples’ ears perk up a little quicker the next time you mention The Loney, and the momentum starts to build. That said, some books won’t need endorsements as much as others due to their subject matter. For example, John Murray is publishing the letters of Roald Dahl in June and the biography of Elizabeth Jane Howard in the autumn and those books are able to stand on their own as the subject matter is so fascinating and immediately appealing.
What contribution is necessary from the author in publicising a book? How much do you expect?
I find that authors are very willing to help as much as they can with the promotion of their book. We usually meet authors or have a conversation with them early on in the publication process to talk them through publicity plans and it is in those preliminary conversations that we discuss if there is anything they do not want to do and also find out if there are things they are especially good at doing. Some are brilliant are writing features, others are wonderful public speakers. So, I think you need to work within the parameters of what would work for that type of book and what the author is able to do, but generally I have found authors to be proactive when it comes to publicity for their books.
How do you see your relationship with the authors and the books you work with?
It is definitely one that depends a lot on trust. The author is relying on you as a publicist to do the best job you can on gaining as much publicity as possible for their book, which they have put a whole lot of time and effort into writing. Another part of the job is explaining the media landscape to the authors, letting them know the processes as to how the media works. When we do our day-to-day jobs in a publishing house there is a danger that we assume that everyone we deal with knows the intricacies of the publishing process. This is obviously not true, so I think part of the relationship is to help the author understand what is happening and why in terms of publicity and making authors feel fully involved up to, during and beyond publication of their book.
if you try to work to a set formula and apply it to each book you work on it is unlikely you will realise the potential of that book
How important do you think publicity is to the success of a book? What are the most important elements – events? Features? Social media presence?
Naturally I’m going to be a bit biased and would like to think what I do for a living does contribute significantly to the success of a book. I guess the puzzle and question you ask yourself is what kind of story are you trying to tell with this book? What audience are you trying to reach? How are you going to make this book appeal to those producers or editors who will allow the book to reach that audience? Publicity gives a book visibility in some form or another whether it be reviews, features, radio interview, festival appearance, blog tour, Twitter Q&A and so on. Therefore, the elements that are most important to the success of the book change from title to title and author to author.
Some books demand that you get them serial in a national newspaper, others require you to get the author onto Radio 4, and there are some that may not have an obvious publicity route but I think this is where you can be pretty creative. I think if you try to work to a set formula and apply it to each book you work on it is unlikely you will realise the potential of that book, and with the media landscape changing you need to be adaptive to changing circumstances. The space for books in the traditional media such as papers, magazines, radio and TV is ridiculously competitive. There are so many books coming out each week that are of a high quality and interest that you need to be agile and aware of what other avenues you can go down. Many media outlets are diversifying their output and book publicists need to keep up with that in order to take advantage of exciting new developments that are happening online and beyond. Going by the people I work with in publicity they are some of the most progressive, inventive and resourceful individuals I’ve worked with. It is a very interesting area to be working in at the moment.
You’re a proud graduate of Creative Access. How did they help you get started in your career?
I owe them a lot for helping to get me into the UK publishing industry. To me, Creative Access highlights the need for increased diversity in creative industries and also provides an access point by allowing those of BAME backgrounds to have the economic means to enter these industries. I think when you talk about diversity in publishing, you are essentially talking about ‘access’ and how those from myriad backgrounds from different parts of the country can get into publishing. In terms of representation, the stats haven’t changed much in the last ten years and I think publishing as an industry hasn’t quite grasped what ‘access’ means. Some think it is the abolishment of the degree requirement when applying for vacancies. I am not so sure that means you are instantly opening up yourselves to a whole new and diverse pool of talent. I think if you want to be serious about access and diversifying your workforce in terms of ethnicity, class and regionality then you need to talk about socio-economic access as well, all these things are interconnected.
Creative Access is actually seeking new sources of funding at the moment, funding which I hope they find quickly. Creative Access has helped me and 499 other interns from BAME backgrounds be able to get a start in various creative industries and make it a viable career option because they offer the London living wage. From those interns who are placed at companies who work with Creative Access, 80% stay on in those companies (the rate is 85% in publishing). So clearly those from a BAME background have the merits and talent to succeed in these industries. What other initiatives are allowing this to happen in creative industries? Not many. You’ve got the Helen Fraser fellowship at Penguin and Profile offer an eight-week paid internship but by far and away Creative Access is doing the most to introduce those from BAME backgrounds into the industry. The hope is that this will become a self-sustaining model, as Creative Access graduates get permanent jobs, progress and become role models, they will hopefully be able to affect change more directly in their places of work. There is a long way to go, which will be even longer if there is no Creative Access.
as a publicist I know the realities of how hard it is to get coverage for a book so I would never hold it against a book
Do you, as a reader, judge a book by its coverage?
Naturally I am curious as to why particular books get wall to wall coverage, especially when it is a book I normally wouldn’t pick up. For example, the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante are something that I would never normally pick up or read, but there was a point last year where you couldn’t miss Ferrante and I was drawn to read those books to see what they were like, to see why they were so appealing to readers and booksellers. So, I suppose I do judge books a little bit by their coverage as I am interested to know what it was about that book that meant it got reviewed, or was spoken about on the radio, or was lauded on Twitter months before publication. But as a publicist I know the realities of how hard it is to get coverage for a book so I would never hold it against a book. As a reader, it is always nice to discover an unknown author, a book that seems obscure but by coincidence has found you, a book that you can’t wait to share with the world – the joy of my job is that I get to try to do that!
I work on a wide range of books as the JMP publicity team works across a number of imprints. Working on a variety of hardbacks and paperbacks it is my responsibility to get as much coverage as possible for each book. Doing this involves speaking to, pitching to and meeting up with journalists who work in print or online; meeting producers who work in radio or TV; as well as meeting bookshop owners and event organisers at various venues to see if our authors and books would work for their audiences. As well as working on my own list of books, I assist the Director of Communications at JMP with a number of her titles. I get to have a lot of fun, travel around to the four corners of the UK, meet a lot of interesting characters, work with some fantastic people in the media and see the widespread enthusiasm for books that exists in the UK.