How to Market Books

Marketing planning is a structured way of looking at the match between what an organisation has to offer and what the market needs.

As we considered in Chapter 1, marketing is usually centred on the goals and requirements of the customer, so thinking about the market and what they need or desire should be firmly developed before refining the kind of products and services to be offered. On a practical level, the publishing industry has long been accused of being product-orientated rather than market-orientated, tending to commission the product and then think about to whom it will sell, and the reasons for this have been explored within Chapter 3 on market research.¹ The user of this book, however, is more likely to be charged with the presentation of a specific product or service to a particular group of people, and this chapter is constructed accordingly.

Whatever your starting point, you need to be really clear about what your organisation is trying to achieve through marketing: to launch something new; raise the profile of an existing product; probe and eventually break into a new area of publishing? The best marketing is grounded in a clear understanding of the product or service in question, the target market and the wider situation in which you are operating. Only if you have this understanding will your copy be relevant and personal, and your marketing seen by those who need to read it in order to buy. Much research and thinking is needed before you decide on how best to allocate your efforts.

This means finding out all you can about the product or service you are to promote. Who is the author/provider of content: bestselling or unknown; always published by your house or new to the list; available at the time of publication for interviews or not; with other material in circulation? Look at the title. For example, Confessions of a Celebrity Minder will give you an idea of the content.

You will find that the delivery dates in contracts are not always kept by authors, and be wary of commencing work on a title if there is not yet a manuscript in-house. Even if the content is already with you, there will not be time to read every title for which you are responsible; the number of titles you have to look after will dictate the amount of time you are able to spend on each one. For example, a major new English scheme brought out by a primary education publisher should be examined in detail. If you have ten monographs a week to promote, looking closely at them all will be impossible and you will have to rely on what those commissioning the work have said about their reasons for doing so. Even if you don’t have access to the manuscript, talk to your editorial contacts to gain more information. Not everything of relevance finds its way from one department to the other.

Most publishing houses have an evolutionary cycle of forms, altered product details passing on to second- and third-generation versions of the original. As you look through these you will acquire an understanding of the title and how it has developed. At one stage in the cycle (perhaps with the ‘presentation’ form or ‘A’ form, the name varies from publishing house to house) it will have been brought before a formal marketing/editorial meeting and approved. Some titles are made available as an ebook first and then a decision on subsequently printing a run of copies will depend on how well this sells. If there is to be a printed run from the outset, the anticipated totals for the first- and second-year sales will have been made. These are your targets.

If there are still unanswered questions, ask the book’s editor about contacting the author. Be prepared; ensure that you have read all the information the author provided about their work before you ring. It’s irritating for an author to spend valuable time filling in a questionnaire only to be contacted by a marketing person who has clearly not read it. It may also be helpful to get the author to check your promotional copy. Similarly, the author may be able to help with testimonials or suggest individuals who might give the book a recommendation that you can quote in your marketing materials. The recommendation of one expert will be worth more than what you can think of to say.

Of course it can be daunting to ring an acknowledged expert on a subject you know little about. But just because you don’t fully understand the subject matter of the product does not mean you are an inappropriate person to handle its marketing. Indeed, you may even do a better job if your understanding is incomplete, because you are forced to take nothing for granted, and to ask basic questions: who is it for, what does it do and so on. In many ways, this puts you closer to the target market and allows insights into how best to position your product.

By now the project should be starting to come alive. Start refining your thoughts by answering the following questions about the content you have to promote:

• Why was this author or content creation team commissioned? What is special about them?

• How worthwhile is it for the customer to invest in a relationship? What else is on offer to develop the relationship?

Market research, whether formal or informal, should have been of fundamental importance to the commissioning and development of your company’s products and services. You now have to find the groups of people who need what you have to offer before you think about how to persuade them to buy.

What kind of people are they? Is the purchaser likely to be male or female; are there socio-economic indicators or area bias, and can these be related to the methods and media you choose? External help can be brought in here; for example, database and software companies can now offer very sophisticated socio-economic analysis of mailing lists. This is mostly done by postal or zip code analysis but can also draw on additional information such as the examination of house name or first name of householder.

Try to read publications the market has access to, both general interest and professional, and to meet some of the market. Can you go along to a professional meeting or annual conference? Once there, observe what goes on. Gathering this kind of information will help you to decide on the right promotional approach.

What needs does the market have? How will this product or service improve people’s lives? How much will they benefit? How much do they want it or need it?

– Who is the product for? Who will buy it? Who will benefit from it? Are they the same person?

Actual benefits, key features the customer expects, e.g., features, attributes and design.

Augmented benefits, additional benefits that add value to the core benefits, e.g., guarantee and after-sales service. This can be presented in diagramatic form, see figure 6.1.

• Actual benefit: colour of casing; softness; hardness of lead; with a rubber on the end; weight in the hand; brand and style.

Then consider a product’s ‘positioning’. This is the emotional relationship that the would-be consumer has with your product and your brand. It is their perception of what your product stands for, based on the impression created by the words you use, and the image you create through design and promotional format. This psychological positioning can be created by linking to existing consumer perceptions, e.g., ‘the new Ian Rankin’, ‘the English Patricia Cornwall’, ‘the right wing John O’Farrell’.

Marketing does not take place in a vacuum and in order to establish realistic and appropriate marketing plans, the wider environment must be considered. This can be broken down and analysed in various ways.

How an organisation (or individual) makes decisions is initially influenced by its own internal environment: its structure, objectives and resources. Next, its micro-environment consists of forces close to the organisation that affect its ability to serve its customers and over which it may have some influence. Examples may include the way in which it has conducted relationships in the past and hence the existence of latent goodwill, or strong established local relationships with retailers who have a long history of stocking and promoting merchandise.

The macro- (or external) environment involves larger societal forces that affect the whole of the micro-environment and over which an organisation or individual is very unlikely to be able to exercise influence. Macro-influences will include the wider business economy and events that affect all such as the weather or national sporting events that impact on the general mood.

Useful mnemonics exist for considering the forces at work. These include SWOT analysis and PESTLE, both of which are worth considering in more detail.

A SWOT analysis looks at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organisational (or individual) position. Strengths and weaknesses are internal, specific to the individual; part of the past and present micro-environment. Opportunities and threats are external, deriving from outside circumstances; part of the present and future macro-environment. Figure 6.3 lays this out in a diagrammatic format for a new fiction imprint.

Bear in mind that the weaknesses of your marketing position may be beyond your control or inherited. For example, have potential customers previously had bad experience of your delivery methods or turnaround times? Is there resistance to your packaging, such as how easy is it to open/post/recycle and how environmentally friendly? How ethical, diverse or generally likeable is your organisation? What is its brand image? What holding organisation/bigger firm are you part of? Are there any hidden ownerships, dodgy products or previous alliances?

PESTLE is a similarly useful strategic framework for thinking in more detail about the external influences within the current environment and those most likely to influence. It stands for a series of forces that need to be considered. Namely:

• Political factors might include local and national governmental policies and in particular any international agreements that are either established or pending. Within publishing, countries featuring in the news may spark demand for associated backlist titles.

• Economic factors may lead to alterations in income, prices and savings – and hence the market’s ability (or otherwise) to afford to buy. Overall market health and optimism may be affected by government policy on taxation, interest rates and national debt. Within publishing, the expansion of budget airlines and the development of airports as locations for shopping have boosted the number of customers available to airport bookshops, although the leasing of such outlets to chain stores means a more limited range of choice is being offered.

Establishing objectives for marketing sounds deceptively simple (e.g., national media interest in a first novel; bestseller status by Christmas). The wiser approach is to think about where you want to be – or what you want to achieve – and then break it down into smaller quantifiable steps, ensuring that objectives are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-related).

Establishing objectives that are too ambitious or within a time frame that is unrealistic will demotivate; on the other hand, setting objectives that feel realistic and also mutually stretching may encourage everyone forward, particularly if the stages are achieved and celebrated. So instead of national media interest, a more useful objective might be to obtain positive features in two women’s magazines by the end of March.

An organisational strategy is the long-term policy of an individual organisation accompanied by a broad understanding of how it can be implemented in order to be achievable. Marketing strategy can generally be divided into deciding where an organisation wants to concentrate its efforts, the segments that are most appealing, and then the process of targeting an approach to them through appropriate positioning of the organisation and its products to its market. It should include consideration of ‘what business are we in?’ (often presented as a mission statement), an awareness of priorities within that area and of the assumptions made, including that they may not be correct. This definition of the business we are in also defines the competition.²

And so finally we come to what may be most recognisable as a plan; the practical implementation of strategy through decisions about how best and when to allocate resources to ensure objectives are met.

There may be different methods of doing the same thing – veterinary physicians, for example, may be reached by a mailshot sent to all veterinary practices, a space advertisement in a publication that is widely read by the group or a blog on a website they frequent. Increasingly social media is used to widen awareness; Twitter and Facebook are both influential and cheap. All are different methods of working towards the same goal, and the choices will depend on a range of factors from how often the market needs to hear from you in order to make a buying decision to the budget available.

Increasingly, a variety of overlapping methods of reaching the market are used, in a staged process. For example, for a high-priced product, with a strong anticipated sales level, there might be an initial email with a link to the organisational website, the subsequent despatch of a printed brochure and then a phone call to the customer to take an order (if the number and permission to call have been given). For mass market products the sequence might be a series of online messages with additional promotion via social media.

The plan will normally be a compilation of different marketing methods, based on understanding of how the market can best be approached.

A good starting point for a marketing plan is to make a list of all the standard promotional boosts received by every product published by your organisation. Not only will compiling such a list give confidence, it will also be useful when you have to speak to authors or agents about promotion plans for a specific title. (Often these standard promotional processes are so familiar that they are easily forgotten.)

If the task of setting up these procedures is yours too, the following ideas will be helpful.

Nielsen 3 and Bowker⁴ accept information on forthcoming published titles and then make it available to others who need to know. Take particular care in how you describe your product as allocating it to the wrong category (e.g., healthcare instead of medicine, which means it would be seen by the general public rather than medical professionals) can mean the intended market miss being informed. Pay attention to how the market for this product or service may construct an online search for related information and be sure to include key terminology in your description (this is called ‘search engine optimisation’, see Chapter 5).

Once a title has been decided on, unless there are strategic reasons for keeping quiet (you do not wish to let your competitors know what you are doing), then information will usually be added to the organisation’s website. This will include basic title and author details, an outline content, expected price and publication date.

This is usually in the form of a single sheet (sent by email and also available in printed format), includes all the basic title information and is sent out 6 to 9 months ahead of publication (see Chapter 5).

Most general publishers produce two 6-monthly catalogues (spring and autumn); others produce a new titles list three times a year or even quarterly. Academic and educational firms usually produce a separate catalogue for each subject for which they publish. Catalogues generally appear 6 months before the books featured are due to be published, and are available in electronic and print format (although there are moves in some sectors to make them electronic only, see Chapter 5). Sections of the catalogue may be updated and emailed/mailed regularly.

Are there any standard features in which all your firm’s titles are listed? For example, are there standard space bookings for the export editions/on the websites of the trade or professional press?

Your production department can arrange for extra book jackets and covers to be printed. If you have these stamped on the back with price and publication date they can form useful display and promotional items.

• social media. All kinds of publishing houses, even the highly academic, are increasingly active on social media to create relationships with their customers and promote sales (see Chapter 9);

• governmental and other relevant organisations; for example the British Council promotes titles from UK publishers abroad;

• professional organisations and trade bodies. If, for instance, you are producing a title on writing, there are many organisations that would-be writers can join, and each has a list of useful published material on its website;

• web retailers such as Amazon and Play, particularly if you can encourage purchasers to use the mechanisms provided for reviewing what they have enjoyed. Many offer referral marketing (‘People who bought this also bought’);

• relevant associations and groups (many have websites that list recommended publications);

• appropriate media and press to stimulate features or the demand for review copies (see Chapter 10).

The marketing manager of one major academic publishing house found that 95 per cent of its sales were achieved through such intermediaries.

The checklist above can be applied to all marketing planning. To make your ideas specific to individual situations and products, a number of considerations need to be thought through before you start.

Deciding on whether to produce an email campaign, a cheap two-sided flyer or set up a bespoke website is often where many marketing action plans start. It’s a much better idea to allow the decision on format to grow out of an understanding of the market and the product. For example, given absolute creative freedom to change format and words of an existing direct marketing piece you would be lucky to put up your response by more than 0.5 per cent. You’d probably be far better off reviewing the distribution of your materials, thinking through the product benefits in fuller detail or coming up with a new offer.

What are the best media through which to convey your promotional message? Should you use email, press advertising, posters, cinema, television and radio advertising, direct mail, display material, public relations, stunts, free samples? All are elements of the promotional mix, tools at your disposal.

Let’s take press advertising as an example. Which magazines and journals does your target market read? Consult the author’s publicity form and note where they suggest review copies should be sent. Talk to editorial and other marketing staff. Do you know any members of the market personally? If so, ask them what they think. Make a shortlist and look up the rates in a commercial directory or the magazine’s advertising website. If they are within your budget, ring up and ask for sample copies as well as details of the readership profile (useful ammunition when the publication starts pestering you for a booking and you want a reason to say no).

Before you make the decision to pay for space, consider whether it could come free. Is there an associated website or chatroom? Could you start a discussion about the subject of your book? Alternatively, is the magazine looking for editorial copy? Might it run something on your product as a feature article, perhaps offering free copies for readers to write in for?

If you decide to advertise, how can this be incorporated within your wider marketing plans; for example, how can attention be directed to your advertising spend via social media; can copies of the publication be available to your reps for distribution to key accounts? Do you plan to take a single space or a series? If there is one magazine or paper that reaches your target market, you will probably get better results from taking a series of advertisements, perhaps featuring a different product benefit each time, rather than spreading the same message over several different magazines. If you go for a series of adverts you should get a discount.

Planning too far ahead can be as bad as leaving too little time; it only allows everyone the chance to change their mind and the project to go stale. Responding and rising to the occasional need for marketing copy in a hurry is good practice, but in the long term this may block clear thought. Even if you are desperately short of time, try to let the copy sit overnight. What seems very amusing at 5.30pm may appear merely embarrassing at 9am the next day.

A budget considers the resources needed to achieve the plan: money, time, staff, etc. It should be related to the costs of reaching the market and the response needed in order to make this worthwhile. An estimated profit and loss for each campaign will usually be supplemented by consideration of the best possible/worst possible/most likely outcomes (Chapter 4 looks at costing marketing campaigns in more detail).

It’s worth noting that the actual budget is deliberately quite low down the list in terms of planning order, simply because too early consideration can limit your thinking; there is often a separate way of reaching the market that costs less.

• How much will the market pay and how will they pay? If they are buying for the organisation they work for, how much can they spend on their own account without having to get a second signature to approve the purchase?

• At what point will you break even? How many do you need to sell to cover your (a) marketing costs and (b) your contribution to the organisational overheads? You could do some break-even analysis by running ‘what if’ scenarios on spreadsheets.

There will be those on whom you rely to execute a plan and those who need to know what you are doing in order to help the process

A common reason for plans failing is that insufficient resources have been allocated, and time and energy of colleagues are as important as money. Make a detailed list of the resources needed to implement your plans and discuss how these will be delivered before you start work – not at a crisis point. Draw up a timeline for who is responsible for what and when. Try to spot double bookings; the planned allocation of a part-time member of staff whereas in reality a maternity leave or leave of absence means the staff likely to be available will already be at full stretch. Try to consider early the various skill sets of the individuals involved and whether there are any gaps.

There is a range of other people you need to involve in what you are doing – and you will get the best effects if you consult them during the development of your plans rather than just inform them of what you have set up.

If you are going to fulfil the orders within your organisation,⁵ your marketing materials should offer an option for direct supply and hence feature your website, email address and telephone numbers. Ensure these are ready before any marketing materials are finalised and consult those who will handle the orders. Whether your distribution is handled in-house or by a third-party organisation, passing all your planned promotions to a colleague in customer services will win you friends and expose you to the feedback they regularly get but seldom know how (or to whom) to pass on. Similarly, does the website manager, organisational receptionist and those staffing incoming calls know what you are offering? If you set up an ‘out of office’ on your computer, have you really briefed those nominated to speak on your behalf on what to say? If calls come through to your department, has everyone who might answer your phone been briefed? Persuading other people to answer your telephone or deal with your ‘out of office’ emails can be difficult. Try offering an incentive, such as a points systems resulting in chocolates or wine for every order taken in the department. Leave a basic list of prices or details of the current promotion for all to consult when you are not there.

Seeing a plan through to fulfilment imposes the need for monitoring and measuring the outcomes: breaking it down into manageable chunks, allocating responsibility and noting progress against what was intended. The monitoring needs to be regular and rigorous, but need not necessarily be formal – perhaps just organising a check-up meeting among all those involved once a week, and then having an action list afterwards so everyone is clear on the priorities. With monitoring need to come controls – formal arrangements for who is commissioning spending and committing future relationships, but also alerting points at which triggers will indicate more extreme action is required. These systems are best established before a campaign is launched rather than halfway through.

If there are particular circumstances that mean a project should not be evaluated against normal organisational monitoring procedures, these need to be highlighted early. For example, a publishing house may be working with a major client who sees distribution of a key resource to the student market as a long-term investment, and is supporting this development by paying all the development costs. Such a project might result in few recordable sales, the normal measure of publisher effectiveness, and hence risks being read inappropriately by management not informed of the project’s wider aims – or where the associated income would be recorded.

1 What are you trying to achieve and by when? What are the management expectations for this product/campaign? These are vital bits of information that will shape everything you do.

2 What is the product and how does it work/compete/improve with other solutions?

4 What is the organisation doing already? What standard promotional processes will take place, that you can benefit from, to get this product better known?

5 How, in addition, can you reach the market? Make a list of all possible vehicles including those you could not possibly afford (because you may be able to think of other means to achieve the same thing).

6 What budget is available? Is there any possible overlap with other titles, which means that budgets can be pooled and wider marketing gained for the backlist?

7 Which parts of the communication mix will you use? What other mechanisms do you have at your disposal (such as free and negotiated publicity)?

8 What can the author/content supplier do? Who else can you encourage to be an ambassador/enthuser?

9 What are the key dates and can these be formulated into a schedule? What must you have done by when?

10 Who must you inform about what you are up to, for both pragmatic and political reasons? Those you are relying on to handle resulting orders (customer services) as well as those dealing with feedback or even possible flack (PR staff) need to know what to expect, and you should always keep your line manager informed.

Case study

A marketing plan for the 5th edition of Inside Book Publishing by Giles Clark and Angus Phillips, by Samantha Perkins⁶

Publication date: 30 June 2014

HB: 978-0-415-53716-2

PB: 978-0-415-53717-9

HB: 978-0-415-53716-2

PB: 978-0-415-53719-9

RRP: £75.00, £24.99

Size: 246x174mm

Extent: 350pp

Initial print run: 2,000

The definitive text for all who need to learn about the publishing industry.

Publishing Training Centre

Primary market: Publishing Studies and Media Studies students.

Secondary markets: other newcomers to the industry, authors, publishers.

Figure 6.4 Cover for Inside Book Publishing, fifth edition. Courtesy of Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group Limited.

About the book

Inside Book Publishing is the classic introduction to the book publishing industry and has established itself as the bestselling textbook, becoming a staple of publishing courses and a manual for the profession for more than two decades … The book provides excellent overviews of the main publishing process, including commissioning, product development, production, marketing, sales and distribution (from the AN).

The website, www.insidebookpublishing.com, supports the book by providing up-to-date and relevant content, as well as offering research and news on the publishing industry.

Updates (from the AN):

The 5th edition has been updated to respond to the rapid changes in the market place and contemporary technology.

• Now more global in its references and scope. While based on the UK model, updates including international case studies and a globally relevant introduction make the book more suitable for international markets.

• The book explores new tensions and trends, including the rapid growth of ebook self-publishing and purchasing, and the breaking down of conventional models in the supply chain. And there is a greater coverage of digital and digital business models.

• The internet is now viewed as the primary channel to market for 5th edition.

• The book has been completely rewritten, particularly the marketing chapter.

• Abstracts have been added to chapters.

• New illustrations have been added.

About the stable it comes from

Part of the Routledge List – a range of high-quality resources for this market

Inside Magazine Publishing, Turning the Page, How to Market Books (Dec 2014), Inside Journals Publishing (Jan 2015), i.e., part of a strong list with an identifiable brand within a specific and developing discipline of Publishing Studies.

Competing titles

The Professionals’ Guide to Publishing, Davies & Balkwill (Kogan Page)

Routledge’s book is more clearly aimed at those taking a qualification in publishing and offers much more detail, particularly in digital publishing (from the AN).

The authors

Very strong team; one publisher and one academic – hence covering both markets.

Giles Clark: co-publishing adviser at the Open University and very well connected within publishing.

Angus Phillips: former publisher with OUP, now director, Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies. Former chair of Association for Publishing Education and well connected in industry and academia.

Target market

Publishing and media students (UG and PG levels)

Size: 2.5 million UG and PG students in UK in (2011–12)7

UG students make up 77 per cent and PG 23 per cent⁸

The cohort of those studying publishing has tripled in size to 1,370 students in 2011–12, almost half of whom are postgraduates.⁹

Age range: 18–24 = 61.7 per cent

24–29 = 12.1 per cent

30+ = 26.2 per cent¹⁰

Spending habits:

• Outgoings have increased, but social spending is down since 2012.¹¹

• Spend £22 per month on books,¹² up £2 from 2012.¹³

• Four in five worry about money.¹⁴

• Students are brand loyal.¹⁵

• While the majority of the UK’s undergraduate students are now using ebooks, none are yet relying on them as a primary source of information. Print continues its hold as a key resource for at least two-thirds of students.¹⁶

• 88 per cent of undergraduates still use printed books and lecturer handouts … 48 per cent of students using printed books obtain them mainly from the library – more than double the amount buying them new or second-hand.¹⁷

There is little information on the spending habits of postgraduate students, but anecdotally they are inclined to spend more heavily on resources to support their course, particularly if they are using postgraduate education as a route to a career change.

Science and technology students

Skillset reports that 36 per cent of publishers believe that the biggest challenge facing the industry is a ‘lack of relevant skills within emerging workforce’.18 Publishers are increasingly looking for candidates with backgrounds that aren’t in arts and literature: ‘The industry’s continuous digital progression has increased the need to recruit individuals with a much more diversified set of skills.’¹⁹ While journal and academic publishers are increasingly interested in students with a background in science, the industry as a whole has a skills gap for technology and business-minded students.

In 2013, 47 per cent of graduates were working in non-graduate positions,²⁰ with 13 per cent unemployed.²¹

Many students take a topic that interests them but don’t necessarily want to follow normal career paths for that topic, or change their minds. While others may find it difficult to find a job in their discipline with decreasing funding and stretched budgets.

Working in publishing offers graduates the opportunity to work with their specialist subject, just in a different industry.

Other potential users

These could include:

• those who want a career change (currently more likely with recent redundancy/job loss);

• those moving into the industry from other creative industries (e.g., coders, app developers);

• graduates who do not want to do a Master’s/PhD;

• those without graduate training, although most publishers now require degree-level education.

Many of these are likely to go on a publishing training course. It is also likely that they would consult a career adviser, recruitment agencies and relevant websites/blogs for advice on how to get into the industry.

Self-publishers/authors

Digital developments have led to authors being increasingly involved in the publishing process as social media, author websites and blogs have made the author’s brand and platform more important than ever as they are now in direct contact with their readers everywhere. ‘Self-published titles have grown by nearly 60% in 2012, and in 2013 it showed no signs of slowing.’²² These authors are increasingly ‘working hard to educate themselves like never before’.²³ Phillips reported good feedback about the book from self-publishers.

Publishers/lecturers

The combination of new updates and its position as the publishing textbook will be appealing to established publishers who want to keep up to date with what their new recruits know. For the same reasons this will also be of use to lecturers in other creative or technological industries as: ‘More and more publishers are outsourcing to freelancers for help with editing, proofreading, illustrating, indexing and graphic design.’24

Market reach

• Publishing and other mentioned students can be targeted directly through lecturers who can recommend the title or put/keep it on their reading lists.

• Booksellers.

• Relevant newspapers and magazines.

• Websites and blogs for authors, self-publishers, publishers, careers advisors and recruitment agencies.

Current trends and affecting factors

• Reduced marketing budgets because of the recession and industry changes.

• Library funding cuts.

• Ebooks.

• Phillips reported that Waterstones keener on non-fiction as less affected by ebook sales.

• The recession will likely affect company and customer spending for the next few years.

• The rise of self-publishing.

Rights and international

‘Around a third of UK Publishers’ sales are exports’ (Clark and Phillips 2014: 9).

Routledge have ‘a dedicated international sales team’, with offices in Europe, Singapore, India and China. This should be exploited as much as possible.

Korean translation and edition for China this year.

Target the CIVETS (Columbia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa).²⁵

Recommendations

The following recommendations aim to provide maximum market reach at as low a cost as possible:

Table 6.1 Table of marketing plan recommendations. Courtesy of Samantha Perkins

*‘Understanding Book Publishing’, Publishing Training Centre, www.train4publishing.co.uk/courses/online-training/understanding-book-publishing (accessed 20 April 2014).

**Textbook Companion Websites. Routledge, www.routledge.com/books/textbooks/companion_websites/ (accessed 20 April 2014).

Additional notes

• All communication with channels to market should be individually targeted and persuasively written.

• Should encourage others to write reviews (e.g., Amazon) or publicise with social media whenever possible.

• Really push the idea of it being core/foundation text for publishing to attract students (and others) who are on increasingly tight budgets.

• Discuss marketing plan with the rights department and adapt the recommendations to international markets.

2 For further exploration of this area see Michael E. Porter’s five forces model of competition (1980, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, New York: Macmillan) and discussion since.

6 MA Publishing 2013–14; this was submitted as an assignment within the ‘marketing’ module, for which she received a distinction. @sam_publishing.

15 The Beans Group (2012) ‘Student Spending Report’, http://tbg.beanscdn.co.uk/ems/reports/reports/000/000/012/original/student-spending-report.pdf?1355871237 (accessed 20 April 2014), p. 7.