Welcome back everyone! Today we are going to discuss
the Marketing, Promotion, and Advertising departments of a publishing house.
Marketing,
Promotion, and Advertising
This department is responsible for any promotions
that the house pays for, i.e., the advertising in various media as well as the
creation of sales materials. They are responsible for marketing strategy and
coordinate efforts with the promotion art department. They identify the strong
audiences for individual titles. These responsibilities require them to work
very closely with the sales department and the advertising department to assist
in creating ads for individual or list titles.
The main objective of the Marketing Department is to
get the books in front of the consumer. To do this, they are involved in the
support of the book sales department in getting the books into distribution
channels (like bookstores) and, ultimately, in front of the customer. Since
advertising is also crucial in getting the book to the consumer, Marketing
works alongside the Advertising department.
The Publicity Department is distinct, in that the
main purpose of this department is to get the book in front of the media
(print, radio, television) in order to get it in front of the consumer. This
department also works at setting up book tours and signings. This department
will have a publicist who will develop a press kit (press release, bio, and any
supporting materials such as an author Q & A) and photo. Sometimes this
department will also provide electronic media blast emails to reach out to
editors and producers to gain their interest in the book.
So what does this all mean to the self-published
author who has to do all the marketing, promotion, and advertising themselves?
Well, I can tell you what it doesn’t
mean; it doesn’t mean it’s impossible. It means a lot of work, yes, but very
doable. Take notes from the big guys and tailor it down to your size and
budget.
First,
you have to understand what book marketing is.
In general, your main objective is to get your book
in front of bookstore buyers and book distributors, libraries, gift shops, and
any other channel, making sure your book is available and on display to the
consumer public.
Here are a few things you can do:
* Determine the potential
audience/reader for the book
* Determine the size of the
market for the book
* Determine the best strategy to
reach the consumer audience of interest
Once you have completed the above, next you move on
to creating your marketing plan.
You want to create any sales tools for your book,
such as a small poster, table cards, bookmarks, book cover cards, etc. and use
these to present the book to booksellers, wholesale distributors, gift stores,
libraries, and so on. Don’t forget your industry trade shows and regional independent booksellerorganizations.
Online ads are becoming more common, and are a
channel that you must use. Outreach to bloggers for a blog tour, an interview,
or a guest post.
Find your audience, get to know them, make friends
with them, and they will reward you with their loyalty. There’s no better
promotional tool than a happy reader.
It’s a road full of potholes, but the road is
passable. This is something you have to do. Learn to love it. It never stops.
I’m still marketing The Consequential Element each and every
day. I’ve just finished my second novel, Mists of Bayou Rhyne which is now
with an agent and in the revision process, and I’m about a third of the way
through my third novel, Where Demons Hide – a psychological thriller. I’ve
already begun the marketing development for those books. All three are different
genres, so I have to research three different audiences. Talk about work! But
hey, finding your niche is half the battle.
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Until next time, I wish you much success in all that
you do.
Dee
