Here is what a typical day would be like if you had my job:
9 - 10:00 AM -- Come in, read through the morning papers. Clip out anything about your books or authors, and any relevant media news. Go through the general publicity email inbox, delete all spam, attempt to answer all questions and grant requests (e.g. Media wanting an author interview, reviewers asking for copies of books, people sending in their unsolicited manuscripts).
10:00 - Noon -- Do a publicity mailing. This consists of sending 100-200 books to important media people in TV, radio, and print. The mailing may take a while because: You need to have a list made of all the contacts and have them put on labels. You also need to write a press release to include with the book. Depending on the book, you may also need to include a tour schedule, reviews, or author information. Then, of course, you have the job of physically stuffing all the books in envelopes and getting them in the mail.
Noon - 1:00 -- Work on an author's tour. After scheduling events at bookstores, etc. you will need to make sure your author's plane and hotel reservations are in order. My company has a travel department who will make these reservations; I have to provide them with dates, times, and author preferences. This may sound easy--but often it's not, especially with authors who go on multi-city tours, or if you're working with someone who is very particular. I usually have to make and unmake plans at least twice before coming up with a schedule that pleases everyone. Oh, and you also need to be careful to stay within your budget.
1:00 - 2:00 -- Take lunch. Often this will be done at your desk because there will be more emails to answer, and reviews to read. Also, the reviews that you clipped from the papers this morning need to be entered into the computer, copied, circulated, then filed in the appropriate author file. You will also be pulling reviews from the internet (such as nexis.com) since you will not be subscribing to every paper, but you need to know what publicity your books are getting and where.
2:00 - 3:00 -- Work on bills. These need to be coded and approved. They also must be copied and filed. Each publicist must keep track of his/her own author's bills. (Hotel bills, bills for author photographs, etc.) This will probably be kept on an Excel sheet, where you can track your budgets. As an assistant, you will be responsible for your author's bills as well as your boss's.
3:00 - 4:00 -- Administrative work. There is a lot of stuff to be done in the office as well. Your boss will most likely have his/her AmEx card, and it will be your job to make sure that gets paid on time. Boxes of books will be arriving every day. It will be your job to shelve them, and keep the bookroom neat. You also need to keep an eye on supplies, such as the envelopes needed for mailings. It will also be your job to keep an eye on the supply of books and order more as needed. There will also always be copying and filing.
4:00 - 5:00 -- Send review copy requests. Although you are always sending mass mailings of books, people are bound to get left off your list. Also, many people "misplace" the books you send them, and they will need to see another. So they will write/email/fax you asking for copies. Thirty percent of the time, these requests are "urgent" and require that you send something overnight. I am always rushing to get things out the door last minute, since the mail pick-ups stop at 5:00.
So this is a "typical" 9:00 - 5:00 schedule. My job is technically a 9-5 position, though I can't remember the last time I left at 5:00--usually it's more like 6 or 7 and sometimes even later, depending how busy I am. The reason I put "typical" in quotes is because in publicity, this doesn't exist. Every day is different, which keeps you from being bored, but that also makes the job a challenge. Your main responsibility is to deal with people--and people are unpredictable. I allotted one hour here for planning travel, but sometimes this takes days. There is one author I'm working with now who is touring for about 8 weeks. She is not going to traditional bookstores; as a minister, she is taking her tour to churches across the country. I have spent hours and hours talking with her, her lecture agent, and the travel agent trying to get things straightened out.
Weather has also played a role in my job recently. When ice and snow pelted New York this week, we had one VIP author whose plane was grounded. I had to drop whatever I was doing to try and get him back home as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Of course, there are also meetings, which can cut into your day. Preparing for these meetings is also time-consuming. It's my job to type up the minutes, and if one of my books is on the agenda, I have to prepare what to say. These meetings can be very political, so it's crucial to say the right things.
It is also part of the job description to take around your authors when they come to the city. This is something I did last week with a VIP author (the same one who missed his plane). You need to keep on top of everything: staying on schedule, knowing where you are going next, keeping the author happy. This can be a nerve-wracking experience at times, especially when you have to contend with NY traffic. On this particular day, our car was rear-ended and we were nearly late to an appointment.
One thing I can say for sure--my days are full and rarely boring.
I apologize for not posting in a while, but this past week/week and a half has been crazy. My sister came to visit, which was a lot of fun. But it also meant it was time to play tour guide, so I didn't have time for much else. That's one thing about moving to New York--everyone wants to come visit! Which is good, for obvious reasons, but it's also stressful, given the tiny size of NY apartments.
