Nissen Public Relations: Agency Profile

Originally published December 2020. Updated September 11, 2026.

Nissen Public Relations is a boutique book publicity and author-branding firm founded in 2000 by Rob Nissen, headquartered in Summit, New Jersey. The agency specializes in nonfiction book publicity: business, workplace, careers, politics, health, and lifestyle, and has worked with bestselling authors, debut nonfiction writers, academics, CEOs, and thought leaders, securing coverage in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, NPR, NBC, CNBC, ABC, Forbes, Fast Company, and Time.

Founding and background

Before launching Nissen PR in 2000, Rob Nissen built his publishing-publicity career inside major houses. He began at Random House in 1995 managing publicity for nonfiction authors, moved to John Wiley & Sons as senior publicist for current affairs, business, and history titles, and later served as publicity manager for the Business Plus / Grand Central Publishing nonfiction imprint. He launched the agency to operate independently across the nonfiction publishing market.

Specialties

Nissen PR's practice centers on book publicity and book marketing strategy for nonfiction authors. Services include media outreach (print, online, broadcast, podcast), author-platform building, content creation, speaking-engagement positioning, brand development, and long-term visibility campaigns. Business-book publicity is the agency's signature category, and the firm is regularly named among the leading book PR firms in industry roundups.

Notable authors and placements

The agency's roster has included Tony Hsieh, Stanley Bing, Lois Frankel, Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K), Robert Sutton, Daniel Levitin, Sanford Weill, Michael Eric Dyson, John C. Maxwell, Liz Claman, John C. Bogle, John Dean, Harry Beckwith, and Henry Paulson, alongside a wide range of business leaders, consultants, academics, and CEOs. Placements have included The New York Times, NPR, NBC, CNBC, ABC, Forbes, and Fast Company.

Market position

Nissen PR is one of the longer-running independent book publicity firms in the United States, with 25+ years of continuous operation. It sits in the boutique-specialist tier of the agency market: small in headcount, deep in domain expertise, and has been cited in 2025 industry rankings of the leading book PR agencies. For broader coverage of the boutique-specialist segment, see EPR's PR Firms Directory.

This profile is part of Everything-PR's PR Firms Directory, the continuously updated index of communications agencies covered by EPR.