Comments on: Are there book publicists who will work off a percentage?

By: Joss

Joss — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:55:59 +0000

I don’t know if there are any, but I’m not sure why anyone would agree to this. Publicists can never guarantee results for a client. So, if your book ends up being a complete flop, how will the publicist get paid? They put in a lot of their time, hard work, and expertise, now they’re not going to get paid because their contract stated that they’d only get paid if your book brings in profits - which it didn’t. Doesn’t that seem like a bad idea to you? Put yourself in their shoes.

Read this article by an author. This is along the lines of what you’re asking, and she gets asked this every single week. Maybe this will help you put things in perspective about what you’re asking and why it’s unreasonable and why no one will do this:

http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2010/08/you-cant-get-something-for-nothing.html
References :

By: Wesley B

Wesley B — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:31:59 +0000

Not any good ones.

Publicists are paid to mitigate YOUR risk, not to take risks of their own.

They usually work on fees and contracts. If you were wildly famous and the book was pretty much guaranteed to make money perhaps you’d find one, but otherwise, be ready to pay a set fee for a specific period of time (in hours, weeks, or months).
References :

By: mac

mac — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:09:59 +0000

A publicist usually has a set two-month contract and you could renew it, but the minimum length of service is two-months. You could get a publicist for around a $1,000 a month. A good publicist could hook you up with media from LA to NYC. Unless the client is a proven quality no legitimate publicist would work off of a percentage fee because a flack uses his or hers contacts in the field. Anyway all of the big NYC publishers have top notch publicists, who mostly throw book signing parties. Many small publishers can’t afford full time publicists because of restricted budgets. You could try doing your own publicity yet it’s a lot of work and folks who don’t know you won’t talk to you. Yet you could try doing it yourself.
References :
worked pr

By: RedStar

RedStar — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 02:37:59 +0000

No. Publicists work for a set fee, not a percentage.
References :
I used to be a publicist.