Oct 13 2008
How will your publisher market your book?
I haven’t come across any interesting publishing news in the past few days so I turned to a very reliable source for publishing tidbits, Joe Wikert’s Publishing 2020 Blog, the most popular blog about book publishing without contest.
Joe addresses authors who question what a publisher does to promote and market books when they’re released. “The answer is likely to be something no author wants to hear.” Joe is right, and it’s a question editors don’t love to hear either. As Joe points out:
These days, marketing is frequently limited to placement in the publisher’s catalog and on their website as well as a product page on each online retailer’s site. Many titles benefit from e-mail blasts and other focused initiatives but few are promoted in major magazines and newspapers, for example.
Some publishers are able to do more like send a dozen or two dozen advanced copies to media who might enjoy or be interested in the title or coordinate with the author to set up book signings. In rare cases, especially when the author is well-known, the publisher can help get them on radio or TV shows.
It all depends on the author.
Author platform is king. If you’re an author with an enormous mailing list, an extremely popular website/blog or someone who speaks in front of tens of thousands of people every year publishers will climb over each other to sign you to a project.
This is also very true. That’s something you’ll want to bring up with the publisher because it is mutually beneficial. I know a book we recently published sold well above our expectations due to the amount of traffic the author’s website gets everyday. Those website viewers also happened to be book-buyers, big time. Keep these things in mind if you’re writing or publishing your book. Always know that you are your best cheerleader, and you can’t always depend on the publisher having the resources to give you the best PR.
