The secret of success: From Posh to posher

Victoria Beckham - aka Posh Spice - didn't exactly sneak into Dublin last month. She sang her new song on The Late Late Show, talked to Pat Kenny about everything from her footballer husband, David, to fashion, and the following day she arrived at Easons on O'Connell Street, Dublin, to sign copies of her book Learning to Fly.

Her mainly young fans had started queuing at 7 a.m. to get a glimpse of the celebrity author and, by the end of the day, 1,000 people had turned up and 400 books had been sold.

Michael McLoughlin, an Irish publicist acting on behalf of Victoria Beckham's publisher, co-ordinated the successful PR exercise. "When it comes to getting publicity, we would look at every book and every author and work out an individual strategy," he says. "Victoria Beckham is a celebrity, so a TV appearance and book signing worked."

A more literary book, a novel for example, would be treated differently. The publicist might pitch the idea to an arts programme, such as RT╔'s Rattlebag, and perhaps suggest an interview to the editor of the Weekend section of The Irish Times.

"In the case of a literary novel, for example, we could go for a reading in a book shop, and that could generate maybe 30 or 40 sales on the day, which would be as good, relatively speaking, as the 400 sold at Victoria Beckham's signing."

A publicist plans the publicity for a book up to nine months before publication date. In the crowded world of book publishing, the idea is to generate a buzz about the author or the book.

All the PR activity tends to be concentrated into a very short space of time around the publication date. So key bookshops are approached to try to ensure a good display for the book, the author makes him or herself available for interview to several press, radio or TV programmes and literary editors are given the book for review.

"No matter how much media attention we get for a book, the very best sort of publicity is good word of mouth," says McLoughlin. "The book has to be good - it has to stand on its own legs."