We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Krista Soukup. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Krista below.
Krista, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Early in your career, how did you think through the decision of whether to start your own firm or join an established firm?
My firm began because I read a really great book. I loved it. A book club friend knew the author and invited her to our book club discussion of the book, “Abercrombie Trail” by Candace Simar. As we discussed the book, the author mentioned their was a sequel. She had a homemade book mark and was overwhelmed by her new role as an author. Days later I kept thinking about what I would do to promote a book. Retail was in my blood after an eight year career and a degree in business and marketing. I called up Candace for a cup of coffee. I knew nothing about the publishing industry and since it was 2009, neither did anyone else. It was literary changing daily before our eyes with digital publishing and social media exploding. I began reading and researching everything I could about the industry and together, the author and I collaborated to find her success and develop her award winning author career. When I began pitching her book, I felt I better have a name behind it to appear professional. I named it Blue Cottage Agency, as I live in a blue cottage. It started as simple as that. No overhead. Just a business name and a laptop. As Candace’s success became noticed, other writers reached out for my support. The business model was right for me as I knew I didn’t want overhead and desired to work from home with a flexible schedule as I had four young children and was a single mom.
Krista, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Blue Cottage Agency represents and promotes writers, books and the literary arts as a whole. Relationships are of immense value to me, family, friends, community, and my clients. My clients are creatives and whether it’s fiction or non-fiction work, a writer’s world is vulnerable. The publishing industry itself is ripe with predators, with an interest in money and not the person. The author also has to be prepared for constant feelings of failure; rejection by agents, publishers and negative reviews. It is not an easy creative pursuit. It is, however, full of rewards, beautiful connections, and fulfillment. Not all humans are born with a passion to write, and if you are born with this, it is important to follow your own unique path. I meet each writer where they are and guide them forward to their next step. Once a writer publishes and puts their writing out for the public, they are a business with a product to sell, an uneasy place for most. We focus on the comfort level and the gifts each client has, there are many ways to be a successful author. I see each client as a relationship and understand that what they are doing is important to them.
One primary service I provide is one-on-one consultations. This is a time to really listen and understand what the barriers may be for a writer and provide sensible guidance to reach their goals. Authors sometimes need just direction and others need more. We provide the services we believe are in our authors’ best interest including book reviews, book tours, media outreach and social media.
I am most proud of the fact that my agency is built solely on referrals. With this, we can be selective about who we work with. Beyond quality of work, our biggest criteria when deciding to work with an author is if they are ‘nice.’ We are nice and we work with nice people, is our motto. We support authors in a multitude of genres with a national reach. We value the opinions of our authors and want to be trusted in our guidance, attaining a respectful collaboration.
Publicists have a bad rap for being costly with little results. We want big results within an author’s budget. We celebrate with each other our ‘micro’ wins at our monthly author zoom meetup, as these mini wins sometimes are the most meaningful and organically grow beyond what is expected. I remember hearing that if you are the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room. I’m always in the right room in the industry. Our authors always amaze me and I enjoy every moment supporting them.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
My time is not free. It took me years to place boundaries within my work to not give away my time and knowledge for free. This is 100% on me, I knew that, and it took me a long time to learn. I remembered meeting with a semi-famous actor from L.A. who wanted to write a book. I was so excited to talk to her. I met with her for an hour, answered her questions and discussed the publishing industry and offered her direction on her next steps. The conversation was too casual, more of a friendship level, with her pondering and not really listening. She saw little value in my advice as I had placed no value on it. I realized later that if I value my time, the client will value my knowledge. If they must sign up, schedule, and pay for a meeting, they take it seriously and are ready to listen and learn. To this day I get asked frequently “can we meet for coffee? I want to talk to pick your brain about publishing/books/my writing”. It is up to me to set the business model standard which in turn is beneficial to the client as they take it seriously. I am an expert in this industry and have successfully guided my clients for many years. My knowledge is my product and it is not free.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
The best source for new clients is current clients. My agency is built on referrals. When a client is satisfied and finds value in investing in our services, they tell their author friends. Our clients know we really care about them as a person. Even when a client is not in an active campaign, they are still part of our author community. Authors spend an enormous amount of time in isolation writing and reading and desire connection to others in the publishing industry. We honor and respect our authors and each other.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bluecottageagency.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluecottageagency/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlueCottageAgency
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krista-rolfzen-soukup-0038a841/
- Twitter: @kristasoukup
- Youtube: @bluecottageagency