ALL ABOUT PR column
by Theresa Meyers
Escorts for Authors
I’d like to let you in on a little secret. Most authors who hire PR firms and do book tours don’t do them alone. They have escorts.
Now before you roll your eyes and think I’m talking about buff, shirtless men who’ll go out to dinner with you in a strange town, let me explain. Author escorts are professionals who know the media of their city and can get you there on time. Often, they’ll even book the media for you or at least provide you with a media list of people you can contact to secure interviews and they’ll take you for drop in signings at all the local area bookstores.
All of this isn’t cheap, of course, and rates usually range from $200 for an eight-hour day to $300. Some charge mileage or fees for booking media on top of that. But talk about an investment that is well worth the dollar! What good would it do you to schedule an interview with CBS This Morning or Oprah if you got lost on your way there and missed it entirely?
When should you consider an author escort? Anytime you travel and can book interviews with the media or multiple booksignings, consider an escort. As I said, they know the media in town and can probably tell you in advance that it will take you X number of minutes to reach television station B from newspaper interview A. This can be invaluable for scheduling multiple interviews and book signings during a day (which you always should to make the most of your visit to a city). They will arrange for transportation and can pick you up from the airport or hotel. They then take you to each appointment and wait for you so that they can take you to the next. Not only will this alleviate the stress of driving in a strange town while maintaining a schedule, it will also give you time to think your next interview through or mentally psyche yourself up for the next booksigning. Without this downtime in between, authors can burn themselves out very quickly. They can also give you advice on restaurants or be a saving grace and get takeout for you.
Weather you are just visiting family for a vacation or on a book tour, making the most of your time in any place can be a boost to your publicity efforts. One word of caution. Make sure you publicize your stops in advance! It won’t do you much good to hold a booksigning if no one knows you’re coming!
But back to escorts. While there are escorts who specialize in their own city, there are others who can “network” you as well and organize several different escorts when you are visiting multiple locations on a book tour. Rather than give you a list of escort names for different cities (which I can if you call me), let me tell you about Emily.
Emily Laisy (pronounced lie-zee) is owner of one of the most connect author escort services I know called Authors Promotion Network. She can help you find an escort in virtually any city. She smart, polished and professional and can tell you in the blink of an eye what you need to know. (Just the kind of person a PR professional loves!) You can reach Emily at her office in Maryland by calling 800-861-1235.
While escorts aren’t a necessity, they are definitely an asset. For the extra money you can save yourself a lot of time, headaches and frustration. And who knows, I may be wrong, there may be some who are buff and will even go shirtless if you ask them to!
