Texas Book Festival Case Study

Breakaway PR represented the Texas Book Festival (TBF)  in 2024 to promote its renowned annual event in November. Our key objective was to increase awareness in Central Texas and beyond by  the festival’s events and authors via targeted media, influencer mentions and community partnerships. 

TBF wanted to build a larger presence – and attendance – among the area’s Hispanic community, so Breakaway built a designated media list and influencers along with translating the release into Spanish. We ensured that TBF had Spanish-speaking spokespersons available for pre and on-site media opportunities. 

As soon as featured authors were selected, Breakaway PR worked closely with the TBF team as well as the authors and their publicists to develop customized media pitches and secure interview opportunities. We built, or put more focus, into geo-targeted media lists that reflected the authors’ Texas hometown or home base.

Tactics include influencer relations, earned media, community partnerships such as with the Greater Austin YMCA, and enhancing media sponsorships. We secured coverage in outlets ranging from People Magazine and the Texas Standard to San Antonio Express news and Citycast Austin’s podcast. Breakaway’s outreach resulted in 87 placements on the local and national levels resulting in a total audience of 658 million with an estimated 1.94 million views and 1.21K social shares as of January 2025. 

Nearly 31,875 attended the two-day event featuring more than 275 authors. The three featured author sessions were sold out.