Congratulations, you’ve written a book! It’s pretty good, and you can’t wait for the world to read it. You even have a book deal, a publication date, a book cover – hooray! There’s a whole wide world of readers out there, and the next question is: how do you make sure they hear about this book and are encouraged to buy and read it?
There are some authors whose publishers offer up a nice marketing and publicity team, with eye-catching graphics and social media plans and a whole campaign to put their book in front of readers. But that’s not the case for everyone – in fact, it’s rarer than you might think. Publishers only have so many hands on deck, but countless amazing titles that need attention.
Hailey Dezort and Tom Flynn have a plan to make sure books and authors are getting the quality publicity they deserve. Paratext Publicity is the new venture they co-founded, a boutique literary PR and marketing firm dedicated to amplifying the voices of authors, publishers, and storytellers.
“In today’s multifaceted media landscape,” their website explains, “we blend traditional and modern approaches, including media placement, social media engagement, digital advertising, website development, promotion, and event management.”
Both Dezort and Flynn have the passion and experience to make Paratext Publicity work – friends for over a decade, the two are combining their skills in previous publicity and marketing realms, as well as the bookseller world, to offer their clients a holistic approach that ensures that every aspect of their public presence is meticulously crafted and aligned.
“I like to think about publicity as people talking about your book, and marketing is how you talk about your book,” Dezort explains from her hotel room in New York, where she is Zooming in from for our conversation. “My role is to help set up authors to best be able to discuss their book and find their audience.”
Do you follow your favorite author’s newsletter or Substack? Have you eagerly clicked on an essay of theirs in a literary publication? Maybe you’re always on the lookout for their newest Instagram post? Many of those authors probably have a good PR team behind them, helping them hone their brand and build their online presence.
“It can be so intimidating,” Dezort continues. “A lot of authors don’t know where to start, understandably so, because there’s a million things changing with social media constantly.” But Paratext Publicity aims to break down the barriers, offer guidance and clarity, all while staying true to the author and their authentic voice.
Flynn is proud of the work Paratext Publicity does across the board for their authors. One of their first clients, Alex Segura, has multiple titles published at different publishing houses. “We’re kind of functioning as the connective tissue across all those teams,” Flynn says from his home in Chicago. “We work directly with Alex and then relay information to each publisher so they can factor news and events into their own plans. It allows us to focus on an author’s work as a whole.”
Flynn came up in the Chicago bookselling world, starting as a buyer and manager of 57th Street Books and then helping Volumes Bookcafe get off the ground. During the pandemic, he joined up with the independent publisher And Other Stories to put his publicity skills to use, before officially teaming up with Dezort (who has her own extensive background in marketing from Kaye Publicity, working on titles like the uber-popular Fourth Wing) and launching Paratext Publicity in 2024.
“A lot of what I do, beyond knowing or having contacts at various outlets or knowing who to reach out to,” Flynn tells me, “is just communicating what the book is and what about it is of interest to this particular outlet. It’s hand selling, in a way.”
It’s clear Dezort and Flynn are doing this out of real dedication to the cause. “I love being able to talk about books that I’m passionate about, and being able to get them in front of the people that can help make a difference,” Flynn says, getting excited. “If you can convince someone at the New York Times that, of all the books that get sent their way, this one actually is worth it? You can potentially really alter the trajectory of a title. And that’s exciting.”
As they find success, Dezort and Flynn are committed to growing their PR firm in both clients and staff. Though they’re in the early stages, and new projects are still in the works, they have a clear vision for where they want this firm to go.
“I would love for Paratext [Publicity] to grow and then create a company that is able to then hire younger, creative people who are looking to break into the industry,” Dezort says.
“I think it’s really important to offer those opportunities, specifically in Chicago,” Flynn adds. “I mean, Chicago has a really great, thriving literary scene. It has, I would argue, the best bookstores in the country, but it doesn’t have a lot of the other components of publishing. A lot of that’s still very centralized in New York. I don’t want people to have to move to New York just to get into this industry.”
Before Dezort and Flynn have to go, I ask them about the meaning behind the name Paratext Publicity.
“That’s a fun story,” Flynn says with a laugh. “We were having a really hard time coming up with a name that felt right…”“I’m oddly into literary theory,” Dezort continues. “I read this book called Paratexts by Gérard Genette, a French literary theorist. It’s all about the liminal components that shape a reader’s experience. From a book’s title, to the cover design, to the epilogue, to the table of contents… paratexts refers to all of these aspects to this object that can shift the way that it’s being received in the world. I think that’s so much of what we’re doing with publicity and marketing. We are creating these different components that are going to shift the way a reader is going to see and know the book by. And I think that’s really special.”
