Matt Staggs is the founder of Deep Eight LLC, a publicity agency focusing on speculative fiction. Formerly a marketing director for a publisher specializing in cookbooks, Staggs decided to combine his life-long passion for the written word, his obsession with sci-fi and fantasy, and his background in marketing and psychology in a concentrated effort to bring up-and-coming writers to new audiences. 

In this month’s Horror World interview, Staggs leads us through the long and winding path that led him to start his own agency, the importance of social media and digital publishing, and the reasons why writers – with the exception of a few – need a publicist behind them.

HW: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background in writing and the publicity business.

MS: My own life has been no different. I've always had a deep and abiding passion for the written word, having discovered quite early the power that language can have. It can move people to the greatest heights of kindness and send them plummeting to the darkest depths of hatred. It can help us to understand our own world a little better, or take us away from that very same world for a little while.

It's a form of immortality, too. Greek philosophers are still educating us today. We're still thrilling to the tale of Beowulf. Shakespeare walks among us even now, 400 years since he breathed his last breath. Language structures the way we think, who we are, and what we can ultimately be. If there's a form of real magic in this world, it's in the written word.

I've enjoyed writing quite a bit my entire life, but more than that, I enjoy discovering a new author, and I'm not the kind of person who can keep quiet about it. When I look back on my past life, it seems that I've been inextricably caught in some sort of current that pulled me toward book publicity. I've done stints as a journalist, reviewer and PR guy in various and sundry capacities, but books have always been the one area where all of this came together.

Years ago, you left your job as director of publicity and marketing at Quail Ridge Press and started Deep Eight LLC. What was the reason for going out on your own?

Wow. Where to begin? Like most people these days, the journey I took toward my chosen career was a rather circuitous one with a lot of false starts, dead ends and detours. I think we're long past the point in history where people choose a career at a very early age and then stick with it until retirement. I was no different. I bounced around from thing to thing like most young people do.

I actually started out in college working toward a BFA in painting, and after a few very colorful run-ins with some professors who felt that they had the sole universal formula for identifying what was or wasn't art, I ended up dropping out of school for a year to think about what I really wanted to do. I read a lot of books, listened to a lot of music (I was working at a music store at that time) and just generally contemplated where I was going and what this world had in store for me. I mean this exactly how it sounds. In some ways, I was a very passive person, then. I was afraid to actually take the world by the horns. I've gotten better now.
Anyway, I ended going back to work and majoring in publicity and...actually, that's a joke. I went back to school and finished a BS in psychology with a fine art minor. My interests have always leaned toward the humanities, and I thought that understanding how people think and why they do the things that they do would be a useful pursuit.

Although even then I was still interested in books and marketing, I lived (and still live) in Mississippi, and the Internet was still a few years away from being useful. Nobody had heard of social media yet. I had to think about what I could do here and now, or so I thought. I had plans on getting out of school and becoming a counselor or psychologist, and even played with joining the FBI as a profiler for a few years. Remember when that was the big thing? The X Files was popular. So were Thomas Harris's Hannibal Lecter books. There was a cottage industry devoted to this. I was reading a lot of books by John Douglas and some serious criminal psychology texts by Dr. Stanton Samenow.

Anyway, I ended up marrying my long-suffering and faithful girlfriend (now wife of almost 14 years!) Meg, and moving back to my hometown of Clinton, Mississippi. I ended up getting a job at a state psychiatric hospital working with young men who had been committed to treatment by court order. The plan was that I would work the day shift at the hospital and attend a Master’s-level counseling program at a local private college. I had managed to gain a place in their very small program.

Well, this didn't last long. The state hospital gig was a nightmare. There was constant fighting on the unit, and I'm no fighter. I couldn't take the stress of getting up at five every morning and going head to head with a bunch of angry, hormone-driven young men - many of whom had committed rapes, murders and more before their commitment -  all day. After about a year I got a job working at a private psychiatric hospital for mostly voluntary adult patients. There was violence there, too, but it was much rarer and likely to be handled in a more professional manner. The only problem was that this was on the evening shift, and the Master’s program I was in only offered classes during the day. I dropped out, but always intended to go back. I never did.

After about five years I had an opportunity to go and work for a start-up culture and entertainment magazine. I started volunteering there and eventually my writing talent encouraged them to hire me for full-time employment. I had a blast interviewing local politicians, touring rock stars and other interesting personalities, but it was too good to last and it went down after about a year, largely due to financial mismanagement and chicanery by a local businessman who has since become somewhat infamous for this kind of thing. I ended up moving into a position with Quail Ridge Press, and worked there for a couple of years or so, and I think that this was what you were originally asking about, right? Anyway, we largely dealt with cookbooks and regional publications, and although I did quite well for the company, my heart wasn't in it.

I ended up taking a position at a local weekly newspaper, where I worked my ass off for about a year. I was the only full-time writer, and wrote almost every single piece in this weekly newspaper, from the sports column, to police report to city hall meetings to interviews with senior citizens. It was very hectic, but I learned a lot of things very quickly. I think I also ended up losing about 25 pounds due to the stress. Around this time I had started blogging seriously, running a few different website including a horror one called Skull Ring (the URL is up, but it has been bought by Russian pharmaceutical spammers now). I started interviewing authors and writing reviews, and developed a very good reputation for being supportive of up-and-coming talents. I learned a great deal about how the public relations end of the market worked from my interactions there.

Meanwhile, I had parlayed my journalistic experience into a job at a stage agency working in their public relations office, and for the first time in my life I had some of my private and personal interests starting to come together. I became very interested in the history and psychology of public relations (see? There's that psych degree!) and started volunteering my services toward helping some of my favorite writers. If you're following along this long, you should notice that I've gotten almost everywhere by being ready and willing to volunteer to do stuff in order to learn a new trade. It's important, kids. Anyway, I was volunteering, helping writers like Jeff VanderMeer - a dear friend to this day - and others, and as word got around that I was pretty good at this kind of stuff people started offering to pay me for my services, and thus, a journey of about a decade came to this point. All of the weird stuff I had done that I thought didn't really matter kind of paid off in the end. I founded Deep Eight LLC a couple of years ago, and have been pretty much busy ever since.

Why did you decide to specialize in fantasy, science fiction and horror? Did you see a particular niche there that needed filling?

Yes, that is indeed a niche that needed filling, but I should also stress that I specialized in these things because they're part of my personal DNA. I love fantasy, science fiction and horror. I play Dungeons & Dragons. I can quote Night of the Living Dead verbatim. I'm obsessed with the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I have a d20 tattoo on my bicep. I've watch the Star Wars trilogy so many times that I sometimes dream about it, and I can talk your ears off about werewolves, vampires and worse. I know and love this world. I enjoy operating in it, but not everyone can. You can't fake an interest. People sniff it out. It's an irony that the stuff that got my ass kicked in high school now makes me a success today. Praise be to the Internet. The Geeks have Inherited the Earth.

Tell us a little about what you do for your clients.

Develop core ideas about how we might market their project and from there determine who might be most interested and how to reach them. That's the biggest part, really. It's about finding your audience, and I think that I'm pretty good at that.
Some specifics might include developing lists of reviewers, writing copy for press kits, scheduling interviews, reaching out to media, designing contests and one-off promotions. The job can really vary from title to title, but at the end of the day it's about finding that right audience. 

Authors are flocking to social media like Twitter and Facebook to build awareness of their projects, but is that enough? Do you think most people maximize the use of these outlets?

Nothing by itself is enough, but using Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms is becoming a near mandatory aspect of any successful media campaign. The problem is learning to use it well. I've seen folks on Twitter make every single Tweet about their book. “Buy my book. Buy my book. Buy my book.” It's irritating, and it turns people off. You've got to be authentic, personable and honest. But like I said, you've got to remember that this isn't enough in itself. You'll still have to beat the bushes approaching reviewers, scheduling interviews and other things. 

With things like Facebook and Twitter so prevalent, user-friendly and affordable, what can you and other publicists offer writers that they can’t do themselves?

Well, for one thing, most critics think that it's odd when authors approach them themselves. I'm not saying that this is right or fair, but it's just a fact. Also, Twitter and Facebook won't do everything for you. You're still going to have to get your title in front of mass audiences, and that's where your critics, interviewers and assorted media come in. Sure, there are exceptions to the rules, Scott Sigler or Mur Lafferty, for example, but even those folks benefit from exposure beyond Tweeting and podcasting.

Also, writing and publicity are two different fields. Just because you're good at one won't mean you're good at the other. Publicists have experience and they usually know what works and what doesn't. As always, there are those exceptions. Jeff VanderMeer, for one. That guy is a double threat: a writer and a savvy marketer. He's brilliant, but how many Jeff VanderMeers are there in this world?

In looking over your client list on your website, I see some top names like Peter Straub and mixed in with some up-and-comers. How does your approach vary between names that already have some recognition, and names that are looking to build an audience?

Audience building. A lesser known author is going to by necessity have to start at the lower ends of the publicity ladder, slowly building his or her relationship with readers one small interview or review at a time. Needless to say, you're probably not going to get a review in TIME with Lev Grossman if you're a first-time author, but we may be able to help you begin to build toward that eventuality, snowballing bits and pieces of publicity until your name becomes ever more recognizable. 

Likewise, you’ve worked with big publishing houses like Harper Collins to small presses like Underland Press. What are the differences in working with the two? Is it easier to work with the resources of a large publisher, or the enthusiasm and attention that small presses bring to their work?

I really wish that there was a set answer on this. I've worked with good publishers and bad publishers, big and small. Both offer their own unique challenges. I like working with both, really.

Now that digital media has become such a large part of the conversation when it comes to publishing, what are your feelings on it? Is it something you encourage your clients to do?

I'm a huge advocate and fan of digital publishing. I love my Kindle, and have every e-book app I can think of on my iPhone. We're in an interesting place in history, right now, and I think it's going to take a while for it all to work itself out. People are afraid of getting ripped off, and I can totally understand that. Many fans assume that their favorite writers are wealthy and can afford to take a hit when it comes to their royalties. It's just not the case. They're working stiffs, just like you and me. There are a few rotten apples out there, but I think most readers are honest people and want to support their favorite writers, especially when it's easy and affordable to do so. I am a strong believer in offering online excerpts and that sort of thing, but I think you should be aware that if you're giving your work away in its entirety, then you are taking a considerable risk. So, yes, pursue digital editions, but do it in a way that's safe and will compensate you for your hard work. That's fair. 

You’ve published some fiction yourself. Tell us a little bit about your own writing – are you still writing fiction, or has running Deep Eight pushed that to the side?

I love writing fiction, but I'm just not that good at it. I occasionally have a piece or two go up at Monkeybicycle, The Harrow, and a few other places, but I'd much rather these days be on the "reader" end of the spectrum. The exception is non-fiction writing. I love writing essays and feature pieces and interviews. You can catch me online at SUVUDU every day. 

As a publicist, I imagine you have a project or two going that you’d like to share with our readers. So, floor’s open…what are some projects coming from your clients that we should be on the lookout for?

I actually have three very, very big projects right now, but sadly, I'm under non-disclosure agreements. Let's just say that all three are with authors you'll very well recognize, but it may be for things that you're not familiar with them for. A novel from a scientist? A collection of essays from an established scifi author? A New Media author preparing to take over print in a very big way? That's as far as I can go.

Actually, though, there is something that your readers could help me with. I'm working on doing a blog tour (essentially several scheduled interviews over a set amount of time) with speculative archaeology writer Graham Hancock. It's to promote his new novel "Entangled." I'd love to hear from any bloggers out there who would love to interview Graham. There's a free book in it for them! Email me at mattormeg@gmail.com.