Holly Watson PR specializes in national and local publicity campaigns primarily for adult fiction and non-fiction books, as well as select children’s books. We have an especially strong background in books on science, health, history, food and creative non-fiction as well as on literary fiction, mystery and crime fiction. With two decades of experience working with major publishing houses including National Geographic Books, Viking Penguin Books, Liveright / W.W. Norton & Co., Harper, Oxford University Press, Red Hen Press, and Princeton University Press, HWPR is also the primary publicity contact for Akashic Books and Felony & Mayhem Press. Note, we do not generally work on self-published titles.

HWPR has created campaigns and events for a wide range of bestselling, award-winning authors, such as Patti Davis, Paul Freedman, Heino Falcke,  Sergio Troncoso, adrienne maree brown, Hell’s Backbone Grill, Ziggy Marley, Bonnie MacBird, Jared Diamond, T.C. Boyle, Terry McMillan, Ruth Ozeki, Michael Pollan, David Allen, Stewart O’Nan, Irvine Welsh and many others.

HWPR is an expert at building your platform:

  • Media: Booking national and regional broadcast, print and online media, as well as niche-specific radio, podcast and blog interviews. Examples of recent media bookings include coverage in print/online outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times Book Review, The Chicago Tribune, The LA Times, The Seattle Times, Lit Hub, Crime Reads, Salon, Psychology Today, Scientific American; TV shows including The Today Show, The Doctors, KTLA Morning News, WNBC News 4 NY, KATU TV AM Northwest; Radio Shows and Podcasts including: NPRs Marketplace, NPR's Fresh Air, KCRW Southern CA, KERA TX, Wisconsin Public Radio, Jefferson Public Radio OR, Coast to Coast Radio, Sirius XM Radio, Book Society Podcast, Brain Candy, The Daily Stoic, The Downtown Writer's Jam, Gastropod, Heritage Radio Network, Parallax Views, and Weird History.

  • Crafting your Message: Whether you are an author with a new book, or a publisher launching a new imprint or expanding to a new market, HWPR can help you launch your brand: tailoring press materials, creating content for book club kits and websites, placing original opinion pieces, and telling your story across a variety of platforms.

  • Events: HWPR has a thorough understanding of events planning and strategy and strong relationships with independent bookstores, large lecture venues, and book festivals nationally. She has an especially strong relationship with West Coast venues since she has been based in her native California for the last 18 years.

  • Book Awards: Holly managed book awards submissions at Viking Penguin for 15 years and has an encyclopedic knowledge of hundreds of awards.

 

"Holly is the very essence of what one would want a publicist to be: precise, optimistic, cheerful, brilliant and persuasive.  I owe a large part of my success to her efforts and look forward to working with her in the future."

--T.C. Boyle, bestselling author of Drop City, When the Killing's Done, The Women and many more

 

"Holly Watson was my publicist for many years while she was at Viking/Penguin.  I found her to be a very effective publicist, easy to work with, on top of scheduling details: every author’s dream of an ideal publicist."

-Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Collapse, and The World until Yesterday