Elizabeth Psaltis - Marketer
A 23-year publishing marketing veteran, I work with publishers and authors on strategy, social media presence, ads, and content creation.
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Overview
I am a marketing veteran with 23 years of experience, corporately split between Penguin (now Penguin Random House) and Simon & Schuster. I’ve been a member of teams launching fiction careers (Ruth Ware, Dorothea Benton Frank), growing brand-name authors (Tom Clancy, Patricia Cornwell, Nora Roberts, Khaled Hosseini) and promoting cultural touchstone books (Alexander Hamilton, The Help, Still Alice).
I customize collaborations to be either long-term or short-term, developing and executing complete marketing and promotional campaigns as well as working with authors and publishers on a per-project basis. I partner with authors at a variety of stages in their projects, from a meticulous review of a proposal before it goes out for acquisition consideration (whether or not you have an agent already), to developing an overall marketing strategy with you (timelines/schedules, audience brainstorming, outreach ideas).
I regularly work with authors on their social media presence, and that consultation work can take the form of helping you determine your tone and voice, extensive content/post creation, audience growth ideas, and platform tips. I also routinely prepare social media advertising--writing tagline/headlines/text, determining targeting, simple designing of the ad image if you don't have access to a graphic designer, and overall guidance (please note, though, that if you are seeking someone to run multiple simultaneous ads in your Facebook Ads Manager account week over week, you'd be better served by engaging a full-time digital advertising agency).
My outreach projects include researching opportunities, preparing pitch content for, and conducting the extensive outreach and follow-up involved in pitching authors and their books to influencers, bookstagrammers, experts, conferences, and book festivals. Depending on the author's needs, I do perform limited pitching to bookstores for author events and consignment opportunities, and limited media outlet pitching (though please note if you are seeking a blog tour set-up and/or extensive review attention from the media, a dedicated book publicist--rather than a marketer like me--is who you are looking for).
Some other specific services I offer include: writing from scratch or reviewing back cover copy and retailer /product description copy; consulting on packaging/cover design and book title brainstorming; Amazon keyword audits and brainstorming; writing reading group guides for book club promotion or discussion guides for academic purposes; writing press releases and marketing collateral copy (fliers, postcards, e-newsletters, and more); suggesting ideas for boosting your book’s discoverability on Goodreads; sharing what you should ask your publisher to do for you and what you should do yourself; and helping you navigate the timing, terminology, and idiosyncrasies of the book publishing world. Before working with an author or publisher, I consult with them on how I might be most effective in partnering on their book.
I prefer to begin work with authors and clients at least a few months before their target publication date. Thank you!
I customize collaborations to be either long-term or short-term, developing and executing complete marketing and promotional campaigns as well as working with authors and publishers on a per-project basis. I partner with authors at a variety of stages in their projects, from a meticulous review of a proposal before it goes out for acquisition consideration (whether or not you have an agent already), to developing an overall marketing strategy with you (timelines/schedules, audience brainstorming, outreach ideas).
I regularly work with authors on their social media presence, and that consultation work can take the form of helping you determine your tone and voice, extensive content/post creation, audience growth ideas, and platform tips. I also routinely prepare social media advertising--writing tagline/headlines/text, determining targeting, simple designing of the ad image if you don't have access to a graphic designer, and overall guidance (please note, though, that if you are seeking someone to run multiple simultaneous ads in your Facebook Ads Manager account week over week, you'd be better served by engaging a full-time digital advertising agency).
My outreach projects include researching opportunities, preparing pitch content for, and conducting the extensive outreach and follow-up involved in pitching authors and their books to influencers, bookstagrammers, experts, conferences, and book festivals. Depending on the author's needs, I do perform limited pitching to bookstores for author events and consignment opportunities, and limited media outlet pitching (though please note if you are seeking a blog tour set-up and/or extensive review attention from the media, a dedicated book publicist--rather than a marketer like me--is who you are looking for).
Some other specific services I offer include: writing from scratch or reviewing back cover copy and retailer /product description copy; consulting on packaging/cover design and book title brainstorming; Amazon keyword audits and brainstorming; writing reading group guides for book club promotion or discussion guides for academic purposes; writing press releases and marketing collateral copy (fliers, postcards, e-newsletters, and more); suggesting ideas for boosting your book’s discoverability on Goodreads; sharing what you should ask your publisher to do for you and what you should do yourself; and helping you navigate the timing, terminology, and idiosyncrasies of the book publishing world. Before working with an author or publisher, I consult with them on how I might be most effective in partnering on their book.
I prefer to begin work with authors and clients at least a few months before their target publication date. Thank you!
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Cooking, Food, Wine, & Spirits
History
Fiction
Literary Fiction
Mystery & Crime
Romance
Science Fiction
Women's Fiction
Work experience
Marketing Consultant
Self-employed
April, 2018
–
Present
(about 3 years)
Running EHP Marketing, guide authors through their publication with an insider’s and marketer’s perspective. Review, edit, rewrite, and advise on book proposals and supplementary documents for authors seeking a publishing deal. Advocate and negotiate on behalf of authors and their books for speaking engagements as well as media and influencer attention. Build social media platforms and advise on advertising opportunities.
'Working with Liz feels like being rescued for a first-time author. With her insider knowledge of book publishing, she's not only an amazing resource and guide to navigating the bewildering and overwhelming task of book promotion and marketing, but she's also a tremendous comfort.' –Huda Al-Marashi, author of First Comes Marriage
Marketing Director
Simon & Schuster, Gallery Books Group
December, 2012
–
December, 2017
(about 5 years)
Projects ranged from books by celebrities such as Amy Schumer, Derek Jeter, and Tiffany Haddish to building the fiction careers of authors including Ruth Ware, Lisa Genova, and Iain Reid. Oversaw advertising planning and execution, and strategized social media content, scheduling, and advertising. Expanded an in-house vertical from a blog to include a branded podcast, YouTube channel, online fan convention, and brand ambassador team. Coordinated special events and brand activations; initiated and directed out-of-house partnerships.
Marketing Director and Advertising & Promotion Director
Penguin Group (Now Penguin Random House)
August, 1998
–
December, 2012
(over 14 years)
Marketed 800 to 1,000 books annually for several company divisions, many of them New York Times bestsellers. Authors and books ranged from Ron Chernow (Alexander Hamilton, the inspiration for the Broadway show Hamilton) to Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner) to Tom Clancy to Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse series, the basis for HBO’s True Blood) to Patrick Rothfuss (The Kingkiller Chronicle series, currently being adapted by Lionsgate). Responsible for advertising planning for industry and consumer audiences, promotional materials for bookstores and consumers, social media identity creation across several channels, convention coordination, and video production.
Projects
Working Whole
Projects included writing back cover copy and retailer product descriptions; suggesting BISAC codes and Amazon keywords; writing author bios of various lengths; preparing an author Q-and-A, text for a press kit, and shareable images for social (designed by another talented Reedsy professional); establishing a NetGalley account and associated promotions, and brainstorming speaking engagement topics for the author as well as article/op-ed ideas. I also successfully pitched a few of the author's articles for media pick-up, and continue to perform outreach for in-person appearances, already resulting in a confirmed engagement.
The Angriest Angel trilogy by Christopher Halt
For this self-published trilogy, I conducted a review and prepared suggested revisions for the books’ product copy, author bio text, and keywords on retailer sites. I advised on the author's professional Facebook page's elements and posts, and consulted on the content and design of the author’s website. Additionally, I worked with Goodreads to have the trilogy correctly listed and updated on that community site, and prepared best practices and activities for the author related to building his presence there, including a giveaway. We also discussed opportunities with BookBub and review-building strategies.
This Is How I Save My Life by Amy B. Scher
Projects with this author have ranged from research, outreach and follow-up with medical and holistic experts (resulting in book blurbs, recommendations, and postings) to conference, speaking engagement, and partner research and media pitching, including podcasts, online, and print.
The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer
For Amy Schumer’s #1 New York Times bestselling humor essay collection, I oversaw a huge variety of promotional efforts (e.g., sweepstakes, temporary tattoos, photo ops, national advertising, custom videos for retailers, radio promotions, and more). We also conceived of a few interactive, fan-engagement custom website experiences for the book. I worked with a partner company, Southern Made, to build this out, and ran the creative, liaison, and approvals process on my side. One of the sites we built together generated the user’s own fake memoir title, complete with a 3-D book cover image, in the style of Amy’s book. The site created custom image assets that the user could then share on their own social media platforms, which also featured Amy’s book, in essence pairing the user’s imaginary memoir with Amy’s on a virtual bookshelf. This was a fun interactive promotional piece in the spirit of the book. We coordinated with Amy's social team and webmaster to ensure a coordinated release of this interactive site.
First Comes Marriage by Huda Al-Marashi
For this debut memoir, I consulted with the author regarding her goals for promotion the book, and we talked through certain items she should request of her publisher and when, how to best distribute advance reading copies of her book, and best practices for her social media platforms. I prepared social media posting content ideas, wrote a reading group guide/discussion questions, guided her through setting up her Goodreads profile, and reviewed press materials at her request. I also conducted a targeted influencer outreach campaign (identifying targets and pitching her book to them) and prepared advertising copy and target lists for an extensive Facebook advertising campaign.
Portfolio (13 selected works)
Alexander Hamilton
Ron Chernow
A New York Times Bestseller, and the inspiration for the hit Broadway musical Hamilton!Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow presents a landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father who galvanized, inspired, scandalized, and shaped the newborn nation.In the first full-length biography of Alexander Hamilton in decades, Ron Chernow tells the riveting story of a man who overca... read more
The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo
Amy Schumer
#1 New York Times Bestseller "Amy Schumer's book will make you love her even more. For a comedian of unbridled (and generally hilarious) causticity, Schumer has written a probing, confessional, unguarded, and, yes, majorly humanizing non-memoir, a book that trades less on sarcasm, and more on emotional resonance." —Vogue "The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo is an alternatingly meditative, sexu... read more
The Woman in Cabin 10
Ruth Ware
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER FROM THE AUTHOR OF IN A DARK, DARK WOOD Featured in TheSkimm An Entertainment Weekly “Summer Must List” Pick A New York Post “Summer Must-Read” Pick Included in Summer Book Guides from Bustle, Oprah.com, PureWow, and USA TODAY From New York Times bestselling author of the “twisty-mystery” (Vulture) novel In a Dark, Dark Wood, comes The Woman in C... read more
The Help
Kathryn Stockett
The #1 New York Times bestselling novel and basis for the Academy Award-winning film—a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t—nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, who’s always taken orders quietly, but lately she’s unable to hold her bitterness back. Her f... read more
Still Alice
Lisa Genova
From New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Lisa Genova comes the definitive—and illuminating—novel about Alzheimer’s disease. Now a major motion picture starring Oscar winner Julianne Moore! Look for Lisa Genova's latest novel Inside the O’Briens.Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she’s a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard ... read more
Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood, Book 1)
Charlaine Harris
The first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series that gave life to the Dead and inspired the HBO® original series True Blood. Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Bon Temps, Louisiana. She's quiet, doesn't get out much, and tends to mind her own business—except when it comes to her “disability.” Sookie can read minds. And that doesn’t make her too d... read more
Roomies
Christina Lauren
From subway to Broadway to happily ever after. Modern love in all its thrill, hilarity, and uncertainty has never been so compulsively readable as in New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren’s romantic novel.Marriages of convenience are so...inconvenient. For months Holland Bakker has invented excuses to descend into the subway station near her apartment, drawn to the captivating mus... read more
“A mosaic mystery told in vignettes, cliffhangers, curious asides, and some surreal plot twists as Raffel investigates the secrets of the man who changed infant care in America.… It's a fascinating historical footnote, compassionately told.” —NPRA New York Times Book Review New & Noteworthy TitleWhat kind of doctor puts his patients on display?This is the spellbinding tale of a mysterious doct... read more
"A heartwarming and inspiring story that will change the way you look at life" (Vikas Swarup, New York Times bestselling author of Slumdog Millionaire), about a fiery young woman's heartbreaking and hilarious journey that takes her from near-death in California to a trip around the world in search of a cure. With an updated vaccine record and her neurotic, but loving Jewish parents in tow, sav... read more
First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story
Huda Al-Marashi
A candid, heartfelt love story set in contemporary California that challenges the idea of what it means to be American, liberated, and in loveWhen Huda meets Hadi, the boy she will ultimately marry, she is six years old. Both are the American-born children of Iraqi immigrants, who grew up on opposite ends of California. Hadi considers Huda his childhood sweetheart, the first and only girl he's... read more
The Russian Debutante's Handbook
Gary Shteyngart
A visionary novel from the author of Super Sad True Love Story and Little Failure.The Russian Debutante's Handbook introduces Vladimir Girshkin, one of the most original and unlikely heroes of recent times. The twenty-five-year-old unhappy lover to a fat dungeon mistress, affectionately nicknamed "Little Failure" by his high-achieving mother, Vladimir toils his days away as a lowly clerk at th... read more
American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures
America Ferrera
From award-winning actress and political activist America Ferrera comes a vibrant and varied collection of first person accounts from prominent figures about the experience of growing up between cultures.America Ferrera has always felt wholly American, and yet, her identity is inextricably linked to her parents’ homeland and Honduran culture. Speaking Spanish at home, having Saturday-morning-s... read more
Binge
Tyler Oakley
Pop-culture phenomenon, social rights advocate, and the most prominent LGBTQ+ voice on YouTube, Tyler Oakley brings you Binge, his New York Times bestselling collection of witty, personal, and hilarious essays.For someone who made a career out of over-sharing on the Internet, Tyler has a shocking number of personal mishaps and shenanigans to reveal in his first book: experiencing a legitimate ... read more
Elizabeth has 18 reviews
Professionalism
Professionalism
Quality
Quality
Value
Value
Communication & Punctuality
Communication & Punctuality
I loved working with Liz--she was the ultimate professional and really knows book marketing. She introduced me to so many unknown methods to get my book seen and read and worked so well communicating with my publisher as well.
Liz was incredibly patient with me (someone who didn't even know what "metadata" meant in regards to book promotion) and she taught me all the basics and then helped me...
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Elisheba Haqq-Stevens, October 2020
Elizabeth is brilliant. I truly have enjoyed our collaboration and have learned a great deal about marketing from her. She is generous with her time and knowledge. If you are looking for an experienced professional, that goes above and beyond, Liz is an excellent choice. Highest recommendation and I would love to work with her again in the future.
Matthew McReynolds, October 2020
Liz Psalter added greatly to the marketing for my book. She is knowledgeable, creative and diligent. She helped me organize an effective campaign, made excellent suggestions for the back cover text, searched far and wide for me for avenues to promote the book, and, in general, exercised good sense in use of limited resources. I would recommend her without hesitation to anyone who wants to mark...
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Neal Robbins, June 2020
She added so much value in that short hour. She knows a lot and had so many great ideas.
I like her personality and will definitely hire her in the future.
Elizabeth D, April 2020
Professional and helpful. Thanks, Liz.
Dennis H, March 2020
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Shannon Donnelly
Strategy-focused digital marketing professional with 8 years of experience working at Random House, HarperCollins, and Macmillan.
Minneapolis, MN, USA
