Book Marketing

Although I began my graduate study of publishing convinced that my editorial eye would never wander, I looked up from my Chicago Manual of Style only to discover I enjoy the creative challenge of marketing and publicity—the task of telling each book's story. I’ve come to agree with Gabriel Zaid that to publish is to contribute to the cultural conversation, and my mission in every marketing campaign I undertake "is to shape that conversation and give new meaning to readers’ lives simply by helping them find the books they need to read.” At Ooligan Press, I’ve had a hand in every aspect of book marketing as I’ve worked to develop and execute traditional and transmedia marketing plans for multiple titles.

The book business demands marketing savvy at all stages of the publication cycle, especially at Ooligan, where we make up for the limited resources of a small press (like access to Cision or ALA mailing lists) with diligent hands-on research. I’ve logged countless hours investigating comp titles, media outlets, blurbers, reviewers, literary awards, potential partners, and special sales events to promote both our front- and backlist titles. As you’ll see from my design work, I have experience creating sales kits, collateral, and social media content across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and our Ooligan Press blog. In my book marketing coursework, I created a comprehensive marketing campaign for a current bestseller—Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me—within the constraints of a non-Big Five budget and pitched my book as the season’s lead title at a mock sales conference. I complimented this traditional approach to book marketing by designing Ooligan's #BooksintheWild campaign based on my study of the principles transmedia marketing, which new media scholar Henry Jenkins defines as cross-platform storytelling that invites networked audiences to engage with content by actively circulating “spreadable” media. And indeed, my book marketing education and experience has taught me that as a publishing professional, my mission is to make my books more spreadable in the conviction that "just a few thousand copies, read by the right people, are enough to change the course of the conversation, the boundaries of literature, and our intellectual life.”

Between the World and Me Marketing Campaign

I designed this comprehensive marketing campaign for Ta-Nehisi Coates’ recent nonfiction bestseller as my WR563 Book Marketing capstone project, planning a traditional print and web campaign as if I were launching Coates’ book as the spring season’s lead title with the budget and resources of a large-to-midsize press. My marketing campaign includes a tipsheet outlining the book’s positioning and key sales points as well as detailed plans for consumer promotions, a website, direct-to-consumer emails, social media outreach, sales materials, and advertising media-buys. I wrote original advertising and catalogue copy as well as a press release and pitch letter for the journalists and reviewers identified in my media pitch list, and I planned a multi-city author tour and book launch event aimed at leveraging my budget to make Coates’ book the bestseller it has become.

Books in the Wild Transmedia Marketing Campaign

I applied the principles of transmedia storytelling and marketing best practices to create this comprehensive plan for a community service event and coordinated social media scavenger hunt aimed at building engagement with Ooligan Press' young adult outdoor adventure novel. The transmedia marketing campaign I designed includes a partnership proposal with REI as well as area high schools and nonprofits. Based on my audit of REI's existing social media presence, I drafted a corporate sponsorship pitch letter to REI and used my research to create a best practices guide to soliciting event sponsors that Ooligan's Marketing Department has since adopted as a training resource. Together with my reflection on the transmedia theory that informed my campaign strategy, this portfolio of step-by-step plans for a small-press transmedia marketing campaign inspired Professor Kathi Inman Berens to memorably comment, "I'm not wearing socks anymore because you’ve knocked them off!"

Small Maneuvers Marketing Plan

I collaborated closely with my project team to develop this marketing campaign for our second-time author’s young adult novel. Our marketing plan includes a tipsheet informed by our market research identifying the book's target audience, main and crossover markets, comp titles, and key selling points; a list of media outlets, partner organizations, and bookstores to pitch; proposed promotional materials and sales kit collateral; and potential book tour events and partnership opportunities to promote the book up to and after launch.

Siblings Marketing Plan

I collaborated closely with my project team to develop this marketing campaign for our debut author’s short fiction collection. Our plan includes a tipsheet informed by our market research identifying main and crossover target markets, comp titles, and key selling points; an audit of the author’s social media platform and potential marketing resources; a list of media outlets, academic programs, and book stores to pitch; a cross-platform social media strategy; links to our sales kit, marketing copy, and collateral; and proposed book tour events and partnership opportunities to pursue to promote the book up to and after launch.

Partnership Pitch Letter

Based on the best practices I developed for pitching a corporate sponsor in the course of my "Books in the Wild Transmedia Marketing Campaign” research, which Ooligan’s Marketing Department has since adopted as a training resource for future students at our nonprofit teaching press, I drafted this letter to Stumptown Coffee pitching a potential mutually beneficial partnership aimed at promoting Ooligan's Siblings and Other Disappointments to our shared target audience of Pacific Northwest coffee addicts.