Introducing the team at LitPR 

 
LitPR has proudly worked on more than 650 campaigns since 2012. We've seen the rise of indie publishing, audiobooks and ebooks sales shoot through the roof, and of course, a global pandemic. Year after year, we are passionate about spreading the word about the latest must-read books - from horror to cookery, romantasy to historical, memoir to YA, self-help to picture books... we've seen it all! Built on the 24+ years experience of NCTJ-qualified journalist, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, fully-trained PR expert Helen Lewis, LitPR is a team of hard-working, friendly, creative individuals bringing a combination of more than 100 years experience to every unique campaign. 
 
LitPR specialises in working with indie authors - helping them to establish their author platform, build their brand, and connect them with their target readers in a strategic and optimised way. The team has experience of working with self-published debuts through to New York Times bestsellers by the 'big 5', and on campaigns for authors around the world. We love to work with authors, however they're published, as they're so passionate about what they're created, and keen to learn!
 
Helen Lewis is also the co-founder of The Diverse Book Awards, Ink! Publishing Services and Hashtag Press with award-winning author Abiola Bello. A publishing entrepreneur with extensive experience of working in - and with - the media, with insider insights into the workings of the publishing world, LitPR is so much more than a book marketing / PR agency. As a caring, empathetic, hard-working team, we understand the need to elevate brilliant books above the HUGE noise, and we know that each book and author deserves a bespoke service and strategy, and a helpful, friendly and knowledgeable team around them. 
 

 

Helen Lewis – CEO & Founder 

Back in 2004, Helen Lewis left a full-time role at Reuters to pursue a freelance journalist career; by 2006 she had founded www.foodanddrinktowers.com, a hub connecting food and drink PRs, brands, retailers, producers, chefs and journalists. Inspired by the amazing start-up brands she was interviewing for her foodie features, Helen gained a PR qualification and began a PR business - first in food and drink, then moving into food books and finally, in 2012, officially opened the doors to Literally PR bringing together the food, drink, book and business PR divisions under one umbrella. Helen is an award-winning entrepreneur (Inspired Achievement Award, Kent Women in Business, January 2017) and has been a finalist in the Great British Entrepreneur of the Year Award two years running (2015 and 2016). Literally PR was named 'Most Outstanding Boutique Publicity & Marketing Agency 2018' by SME News, 'Leading Boutique PR & Marketing Agency in the UK 2020 - SME News' and 'Best Publishing PR Agency 2020 - UK' in the Southern Enterprise Awards. In 2021, we have won 'Publishing PR Agency of the Year' in the Innovation & Excellence Awards. 

Helen is a single Mum to Ellie and Macy, and is passionate about inspiring girls and women to make their dreams a reality through hard work and passion. 

Favourite Books - I read hundreds of books every year for work so my not-so-secret love is listening to self-help, positive and inspirational audiobooks!

Favourite Foods - Cheese. It's always cheese.

Favourite Drinks - An ice-cold glass or three of Viognier white wine or a classic G&T!

helenlewis@literallypr.com 

 

 

Diana Ashlee – Head of PR & Marketing 

Diana has more than 25 years experience in the marketing profession and prior to that, a career in the media sales industry. She worked for various media owners particularly in radio and press before moving into the travel industry where her interest in marketing was sparked. 

Diana's marketing experience has focused on working for blue-chip company P&O Ferries across various areas of marketing  for the UK and Europe, such as brand proposition, PR, customer retention and acquisition, sales promotions, commercial strategy, media buying, agency management and budget delivery. 

Diana has also worked on the Creative and Media Agency side, where her creative mind and experience was fully utilised. Building strategies and campaigns from the idea concept, to creative briefing and supply of final assets as well as negotiating costs and placement with media outlets.  

Diana is highly self-motivated and professional in everything she does, as well as being enthusiastic, innovative and bubbly, a must for any good PR person. She has very strong people, communication, negotiating and networking skills that will bring huge benefits to our clients. Diana had a small career break to have her two children and freelanced on and off during this time, then back into full work mode! She is very well established in her freelancing and within the Literally PR Team and loves working with our clients. 

Favourite Books: The Davinci Code and Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, and Wild Swans by Jung Chang, loves a good summer beach read as well! 

Favourite Foods: Tapas and Italian Food.

Favourite Drinks: Wine and Champagne.

dianaashlee@literallypr.com 

 

 

Rachel Knight – Social Media Manager  

Rachel specialises in supporting our clients with their social media activity as part of their PR campaigns - this could be by auditing your existing social media accounts and providing tips and advice on next steps, providing 1-2-1 advice and support through a PowerHour, putting together a social media strategy for you or actually running your social media channels for a set period of time. 

Rachel graduated from the Digital Mums Advanced Diploma in Strategic Social Media Marketing in March 2019. She has subsequently worked with a number of small business and individuals to support them with their social media. This is through a combination of training, consultancy and management of their social channels. 
 
Prior to specialising in social media Rachel spent over 10 years working in media relations, public affairs, stakeholder relations, events and publications in a range of health-related organisations. 

Favourite Books - I like to read when I'm on holiday, so anything that is an easy beach / pool read is right up my street.

Favourite Foods - It's so hard to pick my favourite food, I love most things. Friday nights are usual steak, an Indian takeaway or fish and chips.

Favourite Drinks - I love my coffee in the mornings and am partial to a glass of red or two at the weekend.

rachelknight@literallypr.com 

 

 

Kay Kett – PA to Helen Lewis and Admin Manager 

Kay worked in the insurance industry for 15 years, working her way up to secretary of the Claims Manager.  

She moved to the North East for her husband’s work, and then worked in retail until having her two boys before moving back to the South. 

She took a career break for a few years then worked part-time to work around the boys in the local school kitchen. 

She has worked for Literally PR for around four years now and loves it.  

Favourite Books - Not got just one but I love Harry Potter.

Favourite Foods - Curry, Italian, crisps. I just love food.

Favourite Drinks - Wine or gin, and coffee. 

kaykett@literallypr.com 

 

 

Hollie McDevitt – Publicity & Marketing Manager  

Having worked in the world of publishing since 2020, Hollie is an ambitious, friendly and driven PR who has freelanced for a range of publishers across a wide variety of genres, and loves nothing more than creating buzz around an author’s book and drumming up lots of fabulous publicity. She loves working with the fantastic team at Literally PR and all of our wonderful clients.  

Like everyone at Literally PR, Hollie has always had a love of books; from writing stories and borrowing far too many books from the library as a child, to gaining a First-Class Honors degree in English Literature in 2019, reading has always been her passion. When she’s not curling up with a cup of tea and getting lost in the pages a novel, Hollie also loves to travel, having visited over 50 countries and 6 out of 7 continents.  

Favourite Books: Far too many to choose from, but to name a few - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. Oh, and pretty much everything by Oscar Wilde!  

Favourite Foods: Literally anything sweet. 

Favourite Drinks: Earl Grey, or red wine. 

holliemcdevitt@literallypr.com

 

 

Maleeha Mir – Publicity & Marketing Manager  

Maleeha is a publishing freelancer, with experience working on social media, PR, marketing, comms, and events within the world of publishing, arts, and culture and has worked as an author support for underrepresented writers. She is very passionate about representation and inclusivity in the publishing industry and was previously deputy chair of the Society of Young Publishers in London in 2020. 

Maleeha is an outgoing, friendly, and determined PR with a deep love for stories and believes in the world-changing power of books. She loves meeting new people, learning new skills, and sharing the latest books and trends in publishing on her social media. She has cultivated her skills in communication, research, and networking that will bring great benefits to our clients. She has been freelancing since her time at university and has experience working at one of the largest trade publishing houses in the UK. She is now concentrating on building and maintaining her freelance career and loves working with the Literally PR team and our clients. 

Favourite Books: Ember In The Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, One of Them by Musa Okwonga, Vox by Christina Dalcher and Rose Water by Liv Little (to name a few!).

Favourite Foods: Fish and Chips and any sweet pastries! 

Favourite Drinks: Turkish tea, hot chocolate, and pink lemonade. 

maleehamir@literallypr.com

 

 

Becky Smith – Relationships Manager  

Becky originally trained as an accountant where she worked for over 20 years before turning her hand to working in PR.  She is always creating spreadsheets to monitor and record all of the hard work the team does on the various campaigns to ensure that we never miss an opportunity.  She will sometimes not be able to help herself and will dip back into the accounts side of the business when needed. 

Initially neighbours with Helen, they have been steadfast friends for over 15 years and love working together.   

Becky looks after the online book review tours, as well seasonal gift guides, competitions and contacting influencers and organisations to endorse and support our authors.  There is no-one she won't contact to support our authors, including Davina McCall, Jennifer Saunders, Barack Obama, Mike Jagger or Jimmy Mallett to name a few. 

Becky loves building a community around Literally PR with the reviewers and bloggers that we regularly work with. It's even better when we host events to actually get to meet them in person. 

Favourite Books: I'm a Potterhead through and through. I will eventually get JK Rowling to review one of our clients' books! 

Favourite Foods - Chocolate buttons are my absolute weakness. 

Favourite Drinks - I do like a nice cold glass of Prosecco every now and again. 

beckysmith@literallypr.com 

 

 

Lisa Goll – Head of Community 

After eighteen years producing marketing and events for book publishers, arts organisations and media, Lisa Goll now works for herself with writers as an event organiser, publicist and writing coach. Since leaving full-time work, Lisa spends the majority of her time these days as Boss Lady at London Writers' Cafe, where she arranges and hosts an array of writing workshops, masterclasses and socials for her community of more than 4,000 fiction writers. Lisa has worked with emerging, professional and published writers of all kinds since 2006 and her passion for talking books, storytelling, tall tales and great myths is limitless. Follow her @LisasShare and @Ldnwriterscafe or connect with her on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisagoll/) 

Favourite Books - Such a tough question! But probably, under duress I would vote for Persuasion by Jane Austen, Then by Julie Myerson and The Choice by Edith Eger but according to Goodreads I've read a few thousand others.  

Favourite Foods - Bring me all the sushi.  

Favourite Drinks - Red wine.

lisagoll@literallypr.com