One of the biggest myths about traditional publishing is that a traditional publisher will take care of all of the marketing for you. In fact, I’ve heard numerous authors say that they are determined to get a traditional book deal, specifically for that reason.
“I don’t want to do the marketing. I want a publisher to do that for me.”
Well, dear author…I hate to burst your bubble, but…
Traditional publishers do a lot of marketing…but it may not be the kind you’re thinking of.
Traditional publishers know marketing is more than promotion.
According to Forbes Magazine, “Marketing encompasses every part of a plan to turn a prospective consumer into a happy and satisfied customer. It includes everything from market research to advertising.”
It goes on to describe the four Ps of marketing: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.
When most authors think about marketing their books, they only think about that last P - promotion. For example, social media posts, Amazon ads, book signings, interviews, and more.
But what about those other three Ps?
It turns out that product, price, and place are where traditional publishers put their marketing focus.
Product
This part of marketing starts the minute you submit your manuscript to the acquiring editor. Each publisher has to decide what books (products) they are going to offer their customers, and what those products will look like. Which illustrator will they choose? What trim size will they print in? What paper weight? Etc.
They know that no amount of promotion will help if the product itself isn’t stellar, so they have whole teams of people with decades of experience in the industry, dedicated to making sure they only publish the highest quality products.
The book acquisition and production process is where marketing starts, and traditional publishers put a LOT of time, money, and energy into this part of the marketing process.
Price
Based on many of the factors above, the publisher has to price the book so it will sell and turn a profit.
They have to decide everything from wholesale pricing to when to run sales or offer discounts. (You know that old trick of making a price end in .99 to trick buyers into focusing on that lower dollar amount? That’s marketing!)
Traditional publishers have years of experience that help them make these decisions to ensure the book can compete in the marketplace and sell well.
Place
Last, the publisher has to decide where a book will be sold and arrange to get it there. This is called distribution. It’s a huge part of marketing…and it’s often misunderstood or under-valued by authors.
Each season, the book buyers at big retailers have to stock their stores with books! So, where do they shop? In the catalogs of the country’s biggest publishers and their distributors. There, they can easily access a variety of books, that are reliably high quality. If your book is traditionally published, then it will be listed in those catalogs and therefore has a better chance of being seen and purchased by corporate buyers…which translates into wider visibility and coveted shelf space.
Many authors mistakenly assume that this wide availability is the result of publishers "promoting" the book to the public. The misconception is that customer demand drives retailers like Barnes and Noble to put a book on the shelf. But it’s actually the other way around. Being stocked in so many places is what (hopefully) leads to customer demand.
So, it’s really about the places traditional publishers sell (and the established relationships they have)…not the promotion they do.
Speaking of promotion...
Surely a traditional publisher will do SOME promotion? Right?
Yes! But again, it might not look the way you would expect.
Many new authors envision themselves traveling the country on a book tour or being interviewed on the Today Show. Unfortunately, that level of promotion is reserved for celebrities or authors with millions of fans already clamoring for their next book. For the average traditionally published author - even those with multiple book deals - national book tours and prime-time TV appearances are NOT the norm.
Here are some things traditional publishers do to promote the average author's books:
They will likely submit to various industry awards, as well as trade magazines that provide editorial reviews. Winning an award or getting a good review boosts their credibility as a quality publisher, but also helps to promote your book to retailers and customers.
They have sales representatives and teams who will promote certain books to distributors and retailers to try to encourage them to dedicate shelf space to that book and place wholesale orders.
They may post about the release of your book on their social media accounts and share it with their email lists. And they might also provide you with graphics to share.
They may provide you with a marketing or publicity team who will help you plan promotional events. But the key word is "help."
For the most part, traditional publishers tend to focus their efforts on the first three Ps…and lean heavily on the author to do most of the direct-to-customer promotion themselves.
The Bottom Line
Many new traditionally published authors are underwhelmed by the “marketing” efforts of their publisher. But, once you understand the true scope of the word “marketing,” it’s clear that traditional publishers really do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to marketing your book.
And while authors are expected to do a lot of the promotion, the behind the scenes work of a traditional publisher in terms of product, price, and place is what allows those promotions to work!
Comments