When it comes to book publicity, particularly nonfiction, Nissen Public Relations in Summit, New Jersey is one of the best around. Founded by Rob Nissen in 2000, the boutique agency has served many new and well-known authors.
Cutting through the clutter and hiring the right publicist is critical in book publishing. Producers of the Today Show and Good Morning America met at a recent conference and reported receiving an average of 75 books a day from authors and their publicists. Making the cut is where Nissen excels.
Clients
A few of many books and clients Nissen has publicized include “Worse Than Watergate” by John Dean, “The Gold Standard” by John Krzyzewski ()Coach K) and Jamie Spatola, “How to Relax Without Getting the Axe” by Stanley Bing, “Dark Ages America” by Morris Berman, “Cruel and Unusual” by Mark Crispin Miller, “The Educated Child” by William Bennett, “Common Sense on Mutual Funds” by John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group, “You, Inc.” by Harry Beckwith, “Customer Loyalty Guaranteed” by Chip Bell, and “I May Not Get There Without You” by Michael Eric Dyson.
Leadership
Nissen gained his expertise by successfully working as a book publicist for several major publishers. He began his career in 1995 at Random House, where he managed publicity campaigns for their nonfiction authors. From there, he moved to John Wiley & Sons as a senior publicist and worked on publicity campaigns with current affairs, business, and history authors. That success took him to Business Plus/Grand Central Publishing, where he administered their nonfiction imprints as publicity manager before leaving to launch his own agency.
Most of Nissen’s nonfiction focus has been on business, workplace, careers, politics, health, and lifestyle books, and author publicity. His deep experience has enabled him to get his clients coverage in just about every major national media outlet like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Others include CNN, Inc., Associated Press, NPR, Fast Company, USA Today, MSNBC, the Today Show, CNBC, Fox Business, Investor’s Business Daily, Fast Company, Vox, and Forbes.
Other Services
In addition to publicizing authors and nonfiction books, Nissen leverages his expertise to offer a variety of other services, including author branding, media outreach, and content creation. This includes securing more speaking engagements, forum and panel appearances, media exposure to target audiences, content distribution, and audience engagement to raise profiles and for the branding.
Nissen specializes in targeting its clients with the right audiences. The agency’s outreach and assistance to authors extend in helping get exposure on blogs, podcasts, social media, webcasts, and other panels and forums. And on content creation, the firm will work with authors on their other needs by creating blog posts, articles, and social media content in addition to its work on press releases and pitch letters.
The result of Nissen’s efforts has not gone unnoticed. By expertly targeting and getting his clients exposure and recognition on the appropriate media, many have gone on to be on the bestselling book lists of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek.