If you are looking into publishing from the outside,
it helps to understand the different functions of the publisher’s
internal departments. The last few years has seen the inexorable rise of
the marketing department in ‘trade’ or general publishing. This is
part of the increasing dominance of publishing by sales and
marketing, as the more traditional editorial control has diminished.
Marketing
Marketing started out as a support role, focusing on
producing display material (ie things like posters and dumpbins to help
books sell in shops), arranging any advertising and usually producing
publishing catalogues. It used to sit alongside Publicity but was
usually more closely linked to sales. But with the rise of a more
market-led approach in publishing and in the wider world of retail
sales, marketing took on a new role. Marketing directors now have a lot
of influence over what is acquired by publishing houses, since they are
reckoned to be the arbiters of what will sell and how an individual
book can (or cannot) be promoted and sold.
Publicity
Within this new framework, publicity is still very
important, especially since budgets are tight and authors can often be
used for author promotion. Books are news and publishing comes in for
far more than its fair share of free promotion through exploiting their
news value in the press and media. The rise of the celebrity author is
largely due to the free publicity opportunities celebrities can command
through their availability. This is why, on big celebrity books, their
involvement is increasingly agreed and specified in the contract. But in
general a skilled publicist can get maximum coverage for the right
book at a relatively low cost.
Where does the money go?
But the big bucks go on marketing campaigns designed
to catapault expensive new authors into the bestseller lists, or to make
sure that the publishing houses maintain or increase their sales of the
company’s big authors. Book marketing has become much more
professional and effective in recent years, but the emphasis is now on focusing
on a small number of big titles. Most of the rest are left to make
their own way in the world, with perhaps a little attention from the
publicity department.
Sell yourself
What this means for the author is that you can’t
guarantee that your book will receive marketing support from your
publisher, although a budget and even a promotion plan is sometimes
part of the acquisition process. Most books will end up with no budget
at all and, if your book is one of them, it’s particularly important
that the publisher knows about any special contacts you may have, any
interesting angles raised by the book, or if you yourself might be
promotable in any way.
Local interest can be worth following up on, through
local media and bookshops. Don’t get yourself known as a complete
nuisance, but make sure you have handed over any information which might
help. Co-operate fully with the publicity department so that you can
as much attention as possible focused on your book.
Chris Holifield
