Page Four with Nazarea Andrews, Publicist/Co-owner Inkslinger PR

Welcome to Write to Read podcast, a page in the life of an author. I'm Liv Macy, and these are my pages. Page four happy new year. I did take last week off. And so there was no episode. On Monday, January 1st. I am so excited to bring conversations around my laptop today. With the Saudia Andrews, who is my publicist and PR Xtrordinair. Today's bit of randomness is too. Check on your author, friends. Make sure that they're okay. Some of them are perfectly fine and still need to be drug out from behind their desk. They may need to see the light of the sun for a little bit. And. It's a lonely business writing is definitely lonely. No matter. How many online friends you have, no matter how much support you have at home. It is still lonely. So just reach out, make sure that they're okay. We have reached the beyond the blurb segment of the podcast, which is one of my favorite parts of the show. Here I can have the best of both worlds to give my listeners the opportunity to hear about books that may otherwise not have crossed their path and also to give authors a space to share their book on a wide platform for zero cost. But unfortunately it comes with a caveat. There's just no way that I can read every single book that has been highlighted. Or ensure that the authors or the works aren't problematic or offensive. I simply don't have the time. And as such, I must say that I do not endorse any of the books within this show. However, I do hope that you find something amazing. Happy reading. Hi, my name is Ashleigh King. I am a gay romance author. I'm excited to share with you my debut holiday short story, Five Below, which was actually released on the 16th. Five Below is a heartwarming second chance opposite to track holiday tale featuring characters named Warwick Adler and Thomas Lane. This story originated as a Wattpad co write about six years ago and has undergone extensive Extensive rewriting over the past two years to become what it is today. Warwick and Thomas were once a couple, but circumstances forced them apart due to the interference of questionable family members. However, fate brings them back together at an airport just days before Christmas, sparking a chance for them to reconnect. Five Below is a project that I am incredibly proud of, and I am thrilled to finally share it in the world and have other people be able to read this project that I consider complete. Hi y'all, I'm Becca Turner. I write closed door contemporary and sweet historical romances. Thanks for joining me here today. I'm going to tell you about Cowboy Kind of Hooked, my new release that's coming out on January 16th, 2024. It's the eighth book in my Only An Okie Will Do series. Bullfighter Chance Nash's life takes a turn when he meets Isla Michaels. Little does he know that Isla's hiding her heart and a secret. As the romance blossoms, she grapples with the weight of her past and with the choice that could alter her future. Will love lift the shadows of her childhood or will prodding from her mother and brother carry her in a different direction? Cowboy Kind of Hooked is the tale of love, family legacies, and choices that will shape Chance and Isla's destinies. Hi, my name is Sue Langford. I have written 44 novels as of today and I'm here to talk about my book It's called White Sand Romance. This one is book 3 in the Charleston series. This story is Has a little bit of millionaire romance. It has a little bit of friends to lovers It has a little bit of second chance romance and a little bit of small town all mixed into one book This one is the story of Lily and Emerson It's obviously a love triangle, and not one that was a really great love triangle. Zack is absolutely head over heels in love with Lily. Except for the fact that Emerson has known her longer than anybody else. He's been in love with her since they were 15 years old. Actually 14 if you ask him. He has a chance to finally get her back in his life. And When she actually says yes, everything goes insane. Zack loses his marbles. Emerson buys his business out from under him just to get rid of him. Lily has a difficult time regardless, but she is so happy when she finally makes a decision. The question is, does she choose Emerson or does she choose Zack? We all know Zack is a horrible person. He's not the nicest guy. The millionaire, okay, he has money. But guess what? So does Emerson. And Emerson actually has double. So actually, it's not just a millionaire romance. It's a billionaire romance. No, he doesn't have the attitude. No, he doesn't have the, I'm better than you. He has, I just want to be with you. It doesn't matter what we have to do to do it. He's the kind hearted guy that normally nice guys finish last. But in this, he doesn't. He actually has a chance to get the love of his life back. So this is a little bit of sappy romance. It's a little bit of everything. But this one also has spice in it. That you totally would not be expecting at all. Uh, the old author update section. Hmm. Uh, you'll be happy to know. I have been writing. So progress is good. But I am most excited to talk to you about. Not talk to you about share with you. That I have been invited. To awesome con. In Washington, DC, March 8th. 2024. It will be there all weekend. And of course it is. The season for events and book signings and Comicons, and I am all over the U S this year. I believe I am at. I want to say 13 events. It's a lot. Uh, I'm going to. I think I'm thinking I'm going to be a little burnout. Uh, but at the end of the year, But there's literally nothing better than meeting fans and readers and signing books. And. Interacting and talking with you all. So I'm thrilled. To be in Washington, DC. This episode is brought to you by. Well, if you guessed live Macy, you would be correct. Still. Me myself and I. I'm. Not thinking I'm going to get any kind of paid. Sponsorship for quite some time. I should probably. Do a recording. And upload it here, but I, I kept them use myself. In this little spot here. Everybody's humor is different. No judging. But if you'd like to have. An advert here. And you would like to pay me for it. Please let me know. You can go on to live macy.com. And there are Google forms there. Along with, if you want to have a book spotlight. Or if you want to be interviewed. Uh, if you want to have updates on. What I'm doing. Or podcast information. You can follow me. My handle is live Macy author. On I missed every social media platform. And of course I have my website, which is livmacy.com. And now please join me for a conversation around the laptop. Hi Nasadia. How are you today? I'm good. How are you? I'm doing well. So I invited you here to chat with me because I wanted to, not only because I like to learn things, but I think some of our listeners would be really interested in hearing about like Inkslinger and what you do. Okay. Yeah. So I'm a publicist and co owner at Inkslinger PR. We are a literary PR firm. Um, and that means that we tell people about books. Kind of a wide ranging, um, service. My parents are like, what do you do? And I'm like, everything, whatever my clients really need me to do. But we work on release launch for clients and managing their careers, advertising and backlist, just making sure that our clients and their books are positioned in the best way possible to be successful. Wow. Okay. So that's, that's like a lot in one. One introduction. Yeah. Okay. So, uh, I, I mean, I love the idea of like managing an author's career. What does that look like? Like as far as like, are you over here going, you need to do this, this, and this, or are you, you know, is it, sometimes it is exactly what I'm doing. Um, it really depends on the client and there isn't a one size fits all for, well, at least at our agency, there isn't a one size fits all, um, service. What we do is very tailored to where that client is and what they need and what kind of style they want to have with us. Like some of my clients, I talk to once a month and I tell them, Okay, this is what I'm going to be doing this month. And they tell me what they're going to be doing this month. And then we both go and do our different things. And we check back in at the beginning of the month. And that's great. And then there are other clients that I meet with once a week. And um, So we go over, you know, everything that you're doing and everything that I'm doing and where we are in various projects, you know, if we need to pivot and it does allow that kind of relationship allows for, um, more management, a closer look at your career and, um, changing things if something is not working, we're able to pivot more quickly. So actually I feel like your business model is. It's very closely aligned with authors in general, because I think every single author is so different. Every path that they take is different. Every um, choice that they make is different from someone else's. So yeah. Yeah. That's great that, that you're able to do that. Um, actually I feel like all of publishing is like that, not just author. It is. I mean, I've been in the industry for a while and nobody is alike. Nobody's path takes the exact same steps. Um, I mean, I've worked with so many authors and they're, they're all on a very unique journey. And so how we get to where they're trying to go and where they're trying to go can change too. Like your goals are going to be different than, you know, my next client over's goals. And that's okay because what you define as success and what each individual defines as success is a very personal thing. Like knowing what that is and then helping a client reach that is at the end of the day what I'm trying to do. So do you recommend authors kind of already knowing what their success goal is before they hire like your firm? Or is that something that you guys like to try to help, you know, figure out? I think that, um, it can work either way. A lot of times I've got people who come to me and they're like, I don't know what, what to do. I don't like, I just know that what I'm doing isn't working. And I'm like, okay, so, and then we, we sit down and we figure out, okay, where do you want to grow? Like, what do you want to see? What are metrics of success? Whether that be, um, social media followers or newsletter subscribers or how many releases they want to have every, every year. Um, those are all things that's. The author and I can control and, and achieve. So, um, when, when I'm asking a client, Hey, what are your goals? What do you want to see yourself in a year or five years? Then I can help them figure out, okay, here's the plan for how we're going to get there and create little steps for, for reaching those goals. And sometimes a client comes to me and they're like, I have a five year plan. And I want you to help me get there. I'm like, okay. And I can work with either one. It's just a matter of, you know, where a person is, but their, their career is in just direction. Okay. So my question then is, is like, how, how much does personality come into play with things like that? Like, because I, I imagine, you know, like reading is subjective, right? So, and everything in this industry is subjective. Like, do you think you said like the success goals for everybody is different? Is that like a personality thing or have you noticed, like, is that just. I think yes and no, because there are, I'm not going to be the right publicist for every author and every author is not going to be the right client for me. Um, it's one of the reasons that Ink Slinger is, I think we have a process for accepting new clients and we've got them to make sure that we're going to be able to be passionate about their work and that it's something that we can get behind because. Like this is our job, but if I'm not passionate about a client's work Then i'm not going to be a very good advocate for that client's career and so I can honestly say I adore all of my clients. Um, And I wouldn't want to work with somebody that I don't like And there are there are a lot of people that I do like that i'm not working with and that's that's also Normal, um, because like I said, i'm not going to be the right publicist for every author It's not just that every author is not going to be the right client for me And sometimes I've worked with clients in the past and we've, you know, figured out that they've got a great, great backlist and, um, upcoming titles, they're, they're fantastic authors, but for whatever reason, we're just not working together the way that both of us would like our styles aren't. Meshing very well. And when that happens, it's really disappointing for, for both of us, I think, because it's, it's frustrating when you're working with somebody and you want it to succeed and it's not working, but I think that's, I think that's normal too, in the industry. You're not going to, you're not going to, you're, you're sometimes going to run into a cover artist that doesn't get your vision for the book and what you want that, that cover to look like, or an editor who just isn't getting your style and editing the book the way that you think it needs to be told, like the story, the way it needs to be told. I think it's the same kind of thing. um, With finding a publicist. Not everyone is going to fit perfectly. And that's okay. There's a lot of us out there. Yeah, no, I agree. I think definitely on all fronts, I think that it's really important to have anyone that's part of your team has the same, If not the same necessarily vision, because I think those can be kind of like massaged a little bit and maybe aligned a little bit more, but I think that if they're not, yeah, they're not passionate about you and your work and, and, and vice versa, like if I'm not passionate about like my PR person or, you know, then you don't, you're not as open minded and you're not willing to, uh, not do what it takes, but kind of willing to accept some of the things that maybe come in, Okay. Yeah. Or don't want to do. You know. I think there's like, it can erode the trust and authors, um. And it's hard to trust someone right off the bat when you don't really know them. Exactly. There's that. But authors are also, I mean, y'all are creative people. You're writing books for a living and telling stories and that's a very creative endeavor and you put a lot of yourself into the story and so you're protective of it and trusting somebody to shepherd that in places where maybe you can't go. is a really hard thing for a lot of people. I think that's one of the reasons some of my clients are very, you know, they want a lot of interaction and hands on and updates. And that's completely cool because I totally understand, I totally understand why that is because, um, because I did publish for a long time and I get where you're coming from, I understand the neuroses and the control aspect of something that is very close to you. And I try and I tried very hard to make sure that my clients are comfortable and know that, you know, when I'm guiding your career, I'm doing it to the best of my ability and so that you are as successful as I can make you. Yeah, because both of our success, Kenneth. Hinges on us being successful in what we're doing. As silly as that statement is, it really is true. Like I, I can't be successful if you're not successful and vice versa. Like that, they go hand in hand. Um, yeah, it's so funny to me how much before I was an author. And really kind of delving into the writing community, how hand in hand all the moving parts kind of have to go, um, and how, yeah, you have to have a team that, that you trust and you admire and you're willing to work with and, and, um, kind of hash things out too. Like that, that's another thing. Like you have to have the ability to not argue, but like kind of be able to discuss things or, um, see other sides of things that you, you know. I think going into. A relationship with a new client is something that I like to be upfront and honest about is that I'm going to be very upfront and honest and I'm going to push back when I don't think that you're making the right decision. Like my job is to present to you options and avenues and maybe you haven't thought of or maybe you have thought of and you've decided aren't the right one for you. And if I disagree, I'm going to, I'm going to ask you why. And at the end of the day, it's your career. I'm just a tool. That you're using. And that's great. That's what I'm here for. But because I've been doing this for so long, sometimes I've watched, I watch authors making decisions that I can say, Hey, if you make this decision, this is what's going to happen down the line. So I'm going to advise you very strongly not to. I'm part of why you hire me, why people come to, to publicists like Inkslinger PR and others. Um, it's because we do have expertise. We've been doing this a while. This is our job. This is all we do. And so part of the relationship is not just me trusting my clients and being passionate about their work, but my clients trusting me and my expertise, even when they maybe don't always understand it and like asking me, Hey, why are we doing this? Because sometimes because I've been doing this for a long time, it doesn't occur to me that I need to explain why we're doing a thing that we are doing. Yeah, well, I think it's, I think you have a wonderful thing going on there at Inkslinger. Uh, my experience, of course, with you guys has been great. Um, and, uh, I, I definitely think it's important, um, what you guys, what you guys like kind of represent and stand for. And how you, like how you conduct like the relationship and the business aspect of it. Uh, so for someone, for example, who either is looking for, uh, PR firm of their own, or is just now kind of delving into, uh, maybe, maybe ads are too much for me, or maybe the marketing aspect is too much for me and they're looking for what, besides like the things that we've already discussed, like what should they be looking for in a good PR firm? Or what, what are the. The things that they should run from. I always tell people, run from anyone who promises you sales. As wonderful as that would be, that's not something that a PR firm can promise. At the end of the day, we can position a book as best as possible. We can put it in front of as many people and eyes as we possibly can and get it, you know, arcs in the hands of readers, but we can't make people buy something. If we do our jobs right, then hopefully they are. Um. But I do say, yeah, I don't guarantee sales. I think that looking for a publicist, you should definitely have a good vibe, you know, have a consultation with them and figure out what kind of style they, they have with working and whether or not there's somebody that you think you can work with. I've had conversations with so many potential clients and walked away thinking. Yeah, I think that would be a really great person to work with, but I've also had potential client conversation that I walked away and, and knew that it wasn't going to be a good fit. And fortunately they knew that too. So it wasn't a conversation that we had to have, but that's, that's a really important aspect. A PR relationship with a client should be long term. It's ideally something that you're going into, going to be working with this person six months, a year, two years. Longer, we have clients at Inkslinger who've been with us for almost the entire time I've been here. So you're going to be working with this person for a long time. You want to make sure that there's somebody that you can get along with because you can't. It's going to be miserable and counterproductive. I think that during that consultation call, going over, you know, what are their specialties? Like, what do they represent on a daily basis? And what do they enjoy reading? Because that's important too. You want to make sure that they have experience with your genre. And then just like, what do they do? Because like everybody, everybody has a specialty. I'm very good at Facebook ads, but very upfront about the fact that. Amazon ads are not my specialty. I'm getting better at them every day, but they're not my specialty because they're just not something that I've done a lot of and I wouldn't want somebody to come to me and be like, hey, I want you to write Amazon ads and that's all I'm going to ask you to do. I'm going to tell you, I'm probably not the girl for you because I'm not, that's not my specialty. So going into a relationship with a clear idea of, you know, what this person does on a daily basis, what they're good at, is a really good idea because you want to make sure that you're hiring somebody who's right for the job. Yeah. No, I, I, I completely understand why that would be a problem. Um, I mean, just like us, we're not able to do all the things really well. I mean, nobody is, uh, so yeah, making sure that your team is specializing in the things that they're really good at is hopefully the most successful way to reach success, um, and the probably the least frustrating, I would think. So how can, I mean, I'm sure it's really hard in the space of a consultation to accurately portray that. Um, your, your, your goals and, and make sure that they're all aligned. If you have to, you know, break away from a firm or it's no longer working for you, how, how do people do that? How does that affect them or you guys? When a client is leaving us, because it does happen, it's, you know, they let us know, they give notice and let us know, Hey, we're going to be going in a different direction and. Then when I'm personally losing a client, I want to sit down with them and figure out, okay, in this last couple of weeks that we're together, what can I do for you that will position you best on your own? Because, um, because this is a business. And I adore all of my clients, but I'm also aware that business models change or in the end of the month or at the end of the year in December, a lot of people change up their business model in December and decide, okay, what am I going to be doing in 2024 that's going to be different than what I did in 2023 to change the results that I'm seeing. And. While they're doing that, like, how can I help you be successful on your own? I had a conversation with a client who's not leaving me, but, but we had this conversation recently about the relationships that I have, but that I also want her to foster because, because while I adore working with her, if she ever does leave and go on her own, I want her to still have those relationships and those connections. So that she can continue utilizing them and continue growing in her career. Um, so, I think that's incredibly professional of you. Thanks. Um, I try. I do, like, because at the end of the day, while I want to be the best publicist that I can be and as successful as I can be for my clients, I also know it's a business. You guys are running a business just as much as I am, and you have to do what's best for your career, and I'm hopeful that that continues to be me for my clients, but when it's not, I don't take it personal, I just give you the tools that I can so that you can continue on your way. I think really anything in the, in the publishing industry, you cannot take personal, like you can't take feedback or, you know, reviews personally or any, any of that stuff. I feel like authors have the thickest skin. We have to. To be successful, you really need to have a very thick skin in this industry. Yeah. Okay. So, as far as like, uh, do you guys offer referral to other PR places? We do not refer to any other PR firm, and that's a policy that dates back from before I was a co owner to the original founder and owner, JP Simone. There's a lot of different agencies out there, and some are great, and some are new, and we don't, we don't recommend any of them because we just never have. We recommend, um, other services, like cover artists and editors, um, and graphic designers, but not, not PR firms. Are you guys accepting new clients? We are. We are accepting new clients, and you're welcome to email me. Okay. Bye bye. Do you have more clients based on referrals, like, or is it just kind of an open call type of thing, or, um? Honestly, our clients come from a lot of different places. Some come from referrals. Some come from just seeing, um, I'm pretty active in various author groups, um, or social media. A lot of people get referred to us by their publisher. Um, we've worked with a lot of publishers over the years and, um, because of that, you know, when they're telling their, their authors, Hey, you need PR, a lot of them send them over our way. Um, so it. It's just kind of, they come from everywhere. They all come from everywhere. And that's great. I mean, there's a lot of word of mouth about Aislinger, um, I think because we've been in, we've been around for so long. That's awesome. Anything else that a listener might want to know or that you think is, if you had like one nugget of information that you'd want to pass along. Nugget. Or something that they definitely should know. I have a nugget. I have a nugget. It's a marathon. It's not a sprint. You're not going to have overnight success. It doesn't matter what platform you think is going to offer that. I know a lot of people love to talk for that overnight success, but I read somewhere recently that every author seems to put in about 10 years of hard work before they like, make it, quote unquote. And it doesn't matter if like they make it at the beginning of their career and then have like a 10 year bold rooms, or if they're doing really great and then have like a break in the middle of doing really great again, everybody's got to put in their time and do their, you know, pay their dues. Um, but you just gotta keep going. You gotta, you gotta have a plan and you gotta stick to it. Um, like you don't go into a marathon without a plan for how you're going to, you know, get through those 26. Miles, you don't do something like that without a plan and you're not going to have a successful career in publishing without a plan. So you know, find somebody who can help you make one and stick to it. The whole, this is a marathon, not a sprint, I swear, is like the bane of every author. I know. I know. Like no one wants to hear those words. I have to um, like I was writing a client earlier this morning before, before we met, I was emailing him and I'm like, okay, so I know you don't want to hear this, but we do this thing. It's going to take some time. And I need you to like, trust me. And I feel like so often that is something that nobody wants to hear. It does take time. At the end of the day, that's like, it takes time. Writing a book does, building social media does, building your audience does. Um, just getting to where you want to be in publishing is going to take time. So like, settle into the long haul, trust your publicist, and go write another book. You get the fun job. That might be debatable. You're right. Same. As a writer, I agree that that might be debatable. Yeah, this actually reminds me of what you were saying earlier of one of my favorite quotes of all time. And I have no idea who wrote it. And this was a quote I had discovered probably like in middle school, high school years was, um, advice is what you ask for when you already know the answer, but wish you didn't. Yeah. And I feel like that applies so much to this industry. Um, I, I kind of like, I used to love that quote now. I'm like. Dang it. to hear. No, thank you. I hear you. But it's true. I mean, I love that. I love that book. That's great because it's very, very true. Yeah, it is. Uh, so for any listeners, what, where can they find you? Are you guys on social media or websites or? Yes. Um, our website is www.eatsingerpr.com. And that is also our social media handle on everything, Inkslayer PR. And I personally can also be found as Savia Andrews on everything, social, Facebook, um, Twitter. Does anybody use Twitter? Twitter and, um, TikTok, but I don't actually use my TikTok except to watch videos that my kids send me, so. That's kind of where I'm at with Twitter. I, I, I'm, I'm still hanging on and I pop in every once in a while, but. I keep hoping it'll change back to what it was. I think those days are over. Yeah, I think it's fine too. I keep waiting to figure out, like I'm watching to see what's going to take its place. Like I know there's blue sky, there's threads and all that. And I'm like, I'm not committing to either of those until I know which one's actually going to be a thing. Yeah, because it's spawned a lot of like off the wall type social medias as well that are kind of not really legit, I don't think, uh, and have some security issues and stuff. So, yeah, I. I mean, I, I'm also joining, I haven't joined blue sky just yet. But I am in threads and I keep venturing in and, but I, I have this preconceived notion that it's going to look like Twitter because that's what they kind of build themselves as. Yeah. Uh, and, and I keep popping in and going, no, no, this is not Twitter. Well, like I said, we'd been around for a while and I have watched so like we started with Facebook and then Instagram came along and Twitter and, and I'm just like watching and. Quietly dreading having to learn social media platform because only. Yeah, I'm just getting behind a TikTok. So yeah, but I'll be around where, wherever that settles. Well, good. Cause I like, I like chatting with you. Yeah. Me too. Well, thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you for having me. I value your time and your expertise. Thank you so much. Have a good day. You too. You make this rather snappy, won't you? I have some very heavy thinking to do before 10 o'clock. Industry information, or basically, my opinions, my choices, my knowledge passed on to you. And remember, every author and every story is different. Let's talk about marketing in this episode. Not marketing as a broad statement, but just. One of the many paths that. Marketing can look like because marketing can definitely not be discussed in one episode or 10 or even a hundred. And even if I discussed one type of marketing, I still couldn't do it in probably a hundred episodes. But one of the things I wanted to just point out that not everybody considers and I 100%. Realize that this is a privilege on so many different levels. But. One of the things that people overlook is book signing events, whether that's Comicons or, um, book conventions or. Like Kraft or shows or flea markets. Um, really anywhere that you can set up. A table. And sign your book and sell your book. Don't overlook that aspect. Because. People really like to see the author people really value having a signed book. And that can be a way of spreading. Your name? And your brand and your book around. So just consider it. I know not everybody. Is able to, not everybody is, um, in an area where there can be those kinds of events. And I know not everybody is capable of talking to people. That often that up close in that personal. But I just wanted to make sure that. This was just something I feel like is overlooked a lot. So don't discount. Book signing events. Thank you for listening. If you'd like to follow me, my handle on all social media platforms is Liv Macy Author. You can also sign up for my newsletter at livmacy. com to stay up to date on things like new releases of the Right to Read podcast. This is the end of a page in my author life.