by Sara Strohschein, Publicist & Social Media Manager at Karen Campbell Media, Inc.

Hi everyone! I’m a publicist and social media manager for Karen Campbell Media, which is a book publicity firm based in Muskegon, Michigan. It’s a small firm that includes me, my boss Karen Campbell, and one other co-worker. I love the small team environment though! Although I’ve been working from home since I landed this job in August 2020, it’s a very engaging job in the public relations and communications field.

Most of my job consists of working with authors who want to generate more attention and publicity for their new book. We’ve worked with authors like Darryl Strawberry, Holley Gerth, Mo Aiken (Isom) and many other New York Times Bestselling authors.

Once we create the initial publicity plan, then we work on the media materials. I’m in charge of creating and designing certain press kits for whichever authors I’m assigned to work with. Once I create a beautifully designed press kit, then it’s time to build a media list.

First, I need to create an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) media list using Cision. These are media contacts where we send out the advanced copy of the book to the contact and ask them if they want to interview the author prior to the book’s release date. After pitching the ARC list for a couple of weeks, then I need to create a final mailing list. This is where we send out the final copy of the book, requesting the interview for the author once again.

The next task: pitch, pitch, pitch! I write engaging pitches that will (hopefully) catch the media outlet’s eyes. Creating the perfect pitch and the perfect subject line is probably the hardest part of the job, but it is oh-so rewarding when you get a media hit booked.

I’m a publicist, but I’m also the social media manager for Karen Campbell Media. While I don’t run any of the author’s social media pages for them, every now and then they ask me to create graphics for them to use. But, I am in charge of the Karen Campbell Media Twitter account, Facebook page and Instagram account. I use our social media channels to share recorded interviews from our clients, news about our clients, and book-related memes.

Just like any other job in the communications field, every day is different. But that’s what I love about working in this field!