Today, Norm Goldman Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com is excited to have as our guest, Yen Cheong, Assistant Director of Publicity of Viking and Penguin Books. Yen is a graduate of Yale with a degree in history and while attending Yale she wrote for and edited the Yale Daily News.

Good day Yen and thanks for participating in our interview

 Norm:

Could you tell our readers something about yourself and how you became an Assistant Director of Publicity with Viking and Penguin Books?

Yen:

I actually started out at a large public relations agency, working on a pharmaceutical account.  It was horrible, not the least because I have no background in science (or interest in promoting drugs to doctors).  I left and then spent a couple weeks scanning the Classifieds section of The New York Times (which was how we rolled in the days of yore).  That’s how I ended up at Viking Penguin -- as a Publicity Assistant -- 10 years ago and I worked my up.

Norm:

What does a director of publicity do and what education and/or training do you need to secure this position?

Yen:

As an assistant director of publicity I schedule author tours and try to book interviews for authors / reviews for out books.  That’s the 10-second answer.  What that involves is knowledge of the media (newspapers, magazines, blogs, TV and radio shows) so I know who to pitch what books as well as of bookstores (and geography for tour planning purposes).  No training is necessary --you learn everything you need on the job -- although a love of reading, writing and the media is required!

Norm:

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your work?

Yen:

What’s most difficult for me about book publicity is not hearing back from journalists I pitch.  This is a pretty common scenario -- for anyone in public relations -- simply because there are way more publicists than there are journalists and journalists can either work on their stories or they can respond to us, but they pretty much don’t have time to do both.  (And book bloggers, who often hold down full-time jobs while writing about books in their spare time, probably have even less time to deal with publicists.)

Norm:

How many books do you normally promote a year?

Yen:

Probably 25-30 books a year.

Norm:

Is it easier to promote and market non-fiction than fiction? What are the differences, if there are any?

Yen:

It often is easier to promote nonfiction simply because the vast majority of radio and TV shows are news shows.  And on the print end, you can pitch a parenting book to a parenting reporter, but there’s no “literature” reporter to whom you can pitch a novel. The proliferation of book blogs, though, has certainly increased the opportunities for fiction.

Norm:

How does the process work when you promote a new author?

Yen:

Publicists typically start working on books four-six months before the publication date.  First we send out galleys and arrange author events (local and, if applicable, in cities across the country).  Then over the next few months we follow up with print, broadcast and online media (locally and nationally) to schedule interviews and reviews.

Norm:

During the past several years or so have you seen any changes in the way publishers publish and/or distribute books? Are there any emerging trends developing?

Yen:

Ebooks, certainly.  That’s something that’s emerged only in the past few years.  That landscape will no doubt continue to change as new reading devices are developed and as publishers try to resolve piracy issues.

Norm:

Do you feel that writers, regardless of genre owe something to readers, if not, why not, if so, why and what would that be?

Yen:

I think writers should be writing something of interest to readers, but you could say that everything is of interest to someone and it’s just a matter of finding the right audience.

Norm:

Do you set yourself daily, weekly, yearly goals? If so, what are some of your goals?

Yen:

I don’t set specific goals for myself – I do as I’m inspired.  But one large goal would be to try to increase efficiency in the publishing – and more specifically in the book publicity – business.  For example, publicists and journalists used to use the phone a lot to get in touch.  (Remember: email only came into use a little more than a decade ago.)  These days, though, it can be a waste of time to try to work out complex details over the phone when it’s easier to see them written down in an email message.  (I’m not suggesting that we don’t use the phone at all – it certainly has its uses – but I am saying we should always consider and use the most efficient method of communication.)  Or, publicists deal with a lot of media contacts that are stored in databases.  Sometimes, authors will provide us with a list of contacts – in Word or in an email rather than in a database file.  This makes about as much sense as writing a book in Excel.  We’re all busy people – if we’re careful, we can save each other time.

Norm:

How do you use the Internet to promote company’s books?

Yen:

We work with bloggers to solicit reviews and mentions of our books and interviews with our authors.  Also, social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and sites like Good Reads and Shelfari provide our authors with outlets through which they can connect with readers.

Norm:

How do you select your book reviewers and what do you expect from reviewers insofar as their reviews are concerned? As a follow up, have you had any downfalls or negative experiences working with reviewers? If so, how did you handle it?

Yen:

I wish we could select our book reviewers – it’s more that they select our books!  It’s a simple case of having a lot of books and not many outlets in which to promote them.

As far as reviews are concerned, I just hope that reviewers read books carefully and provide objective assessments of them.  It also helps when reviewers have experience reviewing similar types of books (since it’s hard to debate the merits or weaknesses of a book when one is not familiar with the genre).

I haven’t had any negative experiences working with reviewers (although as a publicist, I work more frequently with editors rather than with individual reviewers).

Norm:

Where can our readers find out more about you and what is next for Yen Cheong?

Yen:

I blog at The Book Publicity Blog and you can also find me on Twitter.  I’m not really sure what’s up next for me (I suppose that’s where the goals might be of use) but I do hope to continue my involvement the publishing / book publicity / future of publishing conversation.

Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors.