Paul Bogaards, who resigned at the end of 2021 as executive v-p and deputy publisher at Knopf after a long career, has started Bogaards Public Relations LLC.
In making the announcement, Bogaards said the creation of BPR will enable him to get back to something he missed as he climbed the Knopf corporate ladder - supporting individual titles. “I have always loved the architecture of title publishing. Taking the work of a writer, helping to identify an audience for it, and then figuring out a way to access said readership. Title work requires creativity and savvy and a measure of grit. With the launch of BPR, I’ll be able to help authors in both a granular and a big picture way once again,” Bogaards explained.
Joining Bogaards in the new venture is Stephanie Kloss who headed the advertising and marketing department at Knopf during Bogaards' time there and who worked together on many campaigns.
.PBR’s initial client roster features both people Bogaards worked with at Knopf as well as those from outside of the PRH orbit.
Among those who have signed on are Robert Caro, who Bogaards worked with at Knopf for more than 30 years and who, Bogaards said, will have "an eventful 2022;" the estate of Joan Didion Estate for which BPR will look to keep the late writer’s work “front and center with readers.;” the Sonny Mehta Fellowships in Creative Writing, which Bogaards described as a “labor of love” for his mentor and friend; Clémence Michallon, whose thriller The Quiet Tenant will be published by Knopf in spring 2023; authors Dani Shapiro whose Signal Fires is due out from Knopf in October; and Tertulia, a new company that Bogaards said, is “working to solve the riddle of book discovery.”
In addition to launching his public relations firm, Bogaards, known as one of publishing’s last outspoken personalities, will be writing a publishing newsletter on Substack. The newsletter, Bogaards said, "will be a celebration of our genteel profession, with possibly a few takes that will make industry execs uncomfortable.”
