Author care and the precarity of publicists

From burnout to harassment, we dip into the muddy territory of author care and expectations on the literary publicist.

Representations of literary publicists in popular culture have long reinforced tainted perceptions of the profession. Everyone remembers Bridget Jones – who is portrayed in the books and movies as incompetent and constantly objectified by senior male colleagues. Expectations and responsibilities about the role are muddied and outdated.

New research aims to add clarity around being a publicist. Joining the research team, University of Melbourne PhD candidate Claire Parnell says that, ‘these stereotypical depictions are underpinned by what we found as a dearth of misunderstanding of what the role “publicist” actually constitutes, particularly in scholarly literature.’

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Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's National Visual Arts Editor. For a decade she worked as a freelance writer and curator across Southeast Asia and was previously the Regional Contributing Editor for Hong Kong based magazines Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. Prior to writing she worked as an arts manager in America and Australia for 14 years, including the regional gallery, biennale and commercial sectors. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Twitter: @ginafairley Instagram: fairleygina