Author and publicist Kathleen Y’Barbo is a member of the Public Relations Society of America, Author's Guild, Romance Writers of America, and American Christian Fiction Writers. She has secured interviews with radio, television, and print media for clients at Hatchette, NavPress, Integrity, Broadman & Holman, and Barbour Publishing, to name a few. In addition to her skills as a publicist, Kathleen is also a best-selling author of more than thirty novels, novellas, and young adult books. In all, more than 750,000 copies of her books have been sold in the US and abroad.

I first discovered my love of books when, at the age of four, I stumbled on my grandmother’s leather bound set of Encyclopedia Britannica. Letters became words, and words became stories of far-away places and interesting people. Eventually I learned that my love of story could carry me off to places far beyond my small East Texas town. Then I hit the road for real, earning a degree in Marketing from Texas A&M before setting off to such locales as Jakarta, Tokyo, Bali, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore. Finally, though, the road led back home to the United States. My journey through the world of books and writing continues in the work I do for the clients of Books & Such Literary Agency as the first – to my knowledge - in-house agency publicist in CBA.

Why, you might wonder, does an agency have a publicist when almost, if not all, publishing houses have their own? When Janet Grant, founder of Books & Such Literary Agency came to me with the idea, I wondered what my role would be. What I’ve found is that while my sole purpose is to elevate the standing of the agency and its clients, that purpose is achieved in several ways.

More often than not, my job is to assist the client in understanding what his or her house will be doing for a book campaign and to fill in any gaps between what is needed and what is budgeted. Sometimes that means I do a part of the campaign such as press releases or blog tours, while other times I am the sole publicist working on the book. Why, you might wonder, do I end up doing all the work on a book when publishers have a budget for this sort of thing?

Remember that the average publishing house’s publicist is likely working several dozen books at once, and that is a conservative

estimate. This means his or her attention will be spread across a number of books. By contrast, the agents and clients of Books & Such Literary Agency get my undivided attention. I am, in essence, their #1 cheerleader. Often a publisher is willing – thrilled – to hand over the responsibility of seeing that book campaign from concept to release.

In addition, I also act as liaison between the press and the agents as well as their clients. When one of our authors or agents garners an award, I get the privilege of shouting it to the rooftops. In the year since I’ve been at Books & Such, I’ve told the world about such varied things as Genesis winners, Christy nominees, and our own Wendy Lawton being named ACFW Agent of the Year. Just this morning, I began working on a press release celebrating the fact that Bookies Cynthia Ruchti and Cheryl Wyatt have been elected President and Vice President of American Christian Fiction Writers.

Thus, I’ve been blessed to work with and for amazing clients and agents who represent the very best Christian literature has to offer. And to be given the privilege of publicizing the best of the best? Who could ask for more?

Thus the girl who only dreamed of books now is thrilled to tell the world about them. Nothing is more fun than letting the world know about great books and talented authors. The agents may disagree, but I think I’ve got the best job at Books & Such. I know I wouldn’t trade the work I do for anything.

Not even a shopping trip to Singapore.