Skip the publicity agency, build a hybrid budget instead
Agencies run about $1,500 a month with a three-month minimum and no guaranteed placements or sales
Here's the math nobody at the agency pitch meeting mentions: $1,500 a month times a three-month minimum is $4,500 before a single podcast booking is guaranteed. You don't need to choose between that and doing it all yourself. Keep the high-leverage stuff — pitching, email lists, metadata — in-house, and save the outsourced budget for the handful of tasks that genuinely need specialized relationships or on-camera polish.
Why it matters to you: Authors weighing publicity spend can cut agency costs by running a hybrid model instead of an all-or-nothing contract.
This story ran in the Coral Wire edition of Thu, Oct 1 2026, when the Coral Index stood at 62/100 (Tailwinds building).
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- Alternatives to Expensive Book Publicity Agenciesbestsellerpublishing.org
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