Making a Book Step Five: Sales, Marketing, Publicity: selling the book

The Read’s fifth in a series (of seven) suggested by a bookseller, who told Booksellers New Zealand: “I'd like to see a series of articles about how a book is made.”

Booksellers: here’s the part where you enter the story.

The publisher has scheduled the book for release in a certain month. Now the reps are in store, selling the next big thing.

Sometimes that’s easy, as the next Lee Child is the new Lee Child with a guaranteed following until the market gets tired of the character or another one supplants it.

Reps can be a bookseller’s best friend, especially the guys and gals that have been working for the same publisher and selling to the same booksellers over a period of time. They’ll know what the personality of your store is, what your customers are focussed on, and suggest titles that you may have overlooked which might do well.

Early reading copies are an important part of the publisher to bookseller sales strategy at this point.

But before they hit your store, the sales and marketing teams at home base have been working out strategies and promotions to make it all run smoothly. Two new major New Zealand cook books released the same month by the same publisher? No, releases are staggered so one doesn’t cannibalise the other.

There’s not the same control over the release of overseas titles which may be determined by UK or international markets.

Promotion plans are hatched at major off site meetings the relevant teams have once or twice a year. Publishing has to ensure that Sales are as enthusiastic about the titles as they are, and sales and marketing must communicate that enthusiasm to the bookstore, and then to the customer.

Sales cycles are mostly eleven a year – January and February double up. Major promotional periods are Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and the real monster, Christmas. (The teams work at least four months before the book is in store, so their work begins even before a local title goes to the printer.)

Two publishers, Random and Hachette, go to extra lengths to communicate their Christmas lists to stores, holding road shows in major cities for all the sales staff at local bookstores. These are popular with bookseller’s staff, and a good way to get product knowledge directly to the person behind the cash register.

The job of marketing is to get behind the sales team to reach goals, says Becky Innes, Marketing Manager for Random in NZ. Marketing are the ones with the advertising and promotion budget, some of which is spent on co-op marketing with chains and independent booksellers, particularly catalogues.

For advertising, “The positioning of the author and book dictates the placement,” says Becky, as for different titles you are targeting distinct audiences.

IMAGE: Random is going to use Auckland's Link Bus screen advertising to reach the youth market for the new Christopher Paolini title out in November.

Cookbooks are “A joy to promote...” especially when you have a local author, Becky reckons.

IMAGE: Jo Seagar has a 5000 strong base on Facebook which she uses to post videos of demonstrations and engage her audience. Jo’s new book is Italia – her first book about Italian cooking.

With Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, a quirky title with a big international buzz the team knew would benefit from handselling, she offered reading copies via The Read, and received many requests from store staff.

Becky feels there is still a place for advertising in traditional media, but is excited by the options online media offer for the future.

Publicists have long been an important part of book marketing, but are “The ones without the ad budget,” as Penguin Publicity Manager Raewyn Davies ruefully notes.

The job of publicists is to get free editorial exposure for books over all media, TV, magazines, daily and community newspapers, radio and websites.

IMAGE: A story this week that ran in the Otago Daily Times about Alexa Johnston's new book, What's for Pudding? Printed newspaper stories now often get a second life online.

The increasing centralisation of media and the reduction in book review space might be regarded as a negative, but for these women one door closed is merely an invitation to open two others...

The first goal of the publicist is to get a good regional spread of media. “But you really only have one chance at pitching to media in a way they’ll take it up,” says Raewyn.

Also, the media are competitive, so if one TV program takes a story but then another one approaches the publicist, she had better be up front right from the start. “Some stories are big enough that everyone wants a piece, or other times an angle can be exclusive, but you have to be honest about a potential conflict so the media can decide for themselves.”

However, publicity “Is not a one size fits all approach. There are some books you know the NZ Herald or Sunday Star-Times would never give coverage, so you perhaps rely on radio stations instead. You need to decide your targets for each book.”

The backbone of all publicity is the sending of books for review. Above and beyond that are the personal contacts with media to alert them to story possibilities or author interviews relevant to the title. Excerpts may be provided for publication.

Author tours are another publicist’s tool, used appropriately. This can pick up local media interviews with an author or celebrity visit that would not otherwise happen.

Raewyn has just finished a tour with Allyson Gofton for Country Calendar Cookbook where the 22 events were well attended, the biggest she has done for some years.

Other sure fire crowd pullers: sports stars! Timing is everything too – if a release happens on the day of a major news event it may disappear without trace.

Plus publicists are always looking for the angle that will get their book media exposure.

Robin McKenzie’s Seven Steps to a Pain Free Life got huge exposure on Close Up last year... and this translated to major increases in sales at bookstores.

Publicists have to like the thrill of the chase – landing media exposure that will pay off. As Raewyn says, “What the publicist does to promote books changes every hour!”

Next week: distribution.

Article written by Jillian Ewart, writer for The Read.