How to Market Books

All definitions of marketing agree on the importance of the customer, and in order to approach them in an appropriate manner – to be able to identify the products, services, offers and marketing messages that are most likely to appeal to them – it’s vital to understand who they are. This chapter therefore offers a more detailed exploration of several markets that are particularly important to publishers.

For those working in some areas of publishing, without a specific background or understanding of the market, this may initially feel difficult. We will therefore begin with a few general principles before moving on to examine some particular markets in more detail.

• Begin with an enquiring mind. Whatever your level of understanding, and however specific the area you are now approaching (e.g., medicine, dentistry, engineering), you need to begin with curiosity. All marketers need to be fascinated by their customers: the range of products they buy; how they choose; how and why they need them and through what means they pay. It’s your job to be interested and involved rather than think how unusual or odd they are.

• Find out all you can about them. Read the publications and blogs they read and examine the websites they frequent. If they have meetings, national or regional, try to attend one; observe them in action and watch how they behave. Look out for general trends: how do they speak to each other; what do they wear; can you generalise about their demographics; how diverse are they? Even if the subject of professional interest is completely new to you, what tone of voice is used in the correspondence or vacancies sections of the forums they use?

• Approach with caution. Observe rather than speak; store away information to fuel your understanding of the group you are required to work with and note key words in order to reflect them back later on. Bear in mind that, lacking information to the contrary, the market will probably assume you care as much about their profession/specific interest as they do. Say little until you feel you can contribute without letting the side down:

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.1

• Feel confident. You bring objectivity. Lack of experience, provided it is managed in an appropriate way, can lead you to ask the right questions about products and services and how they benefit the market, avoiding the peril of assumption that may have fuelled past approaches and led to lost sales. There is a real danger that the reasons the publisher or author gave when planning to offer a product or service may not be the same as those relied on by the market when deciding whether or not to purchase. Your insight in exploring such gaps may be really valuable.

Case study

The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook (Bloomsbury) has been published annually since 1907. It offers a compendium of names and contact information for those wanting to get published or sell their work, and a range of relevant articles from key figures in this field. It is also a book that gets widely used within publishing houses, the names and address sections providing a valuable, and regularly updated, address book for anyone wanting to contact the media or find new professional contacts. Publishers, however, tend not to read the articles – being fully involved in the profession, they do not need to read about how to find an agent, or how authors can best manage their marketing. Year-on-year the book has expanded in size and, in order to keep it to a manageable length, the publishers were considering which parts of the book could be trimmed. Before doing so, they commissioned some market research into how the book was used.

A questionnaire was included in all titles sent out from the publishers’ warehouse and lodged with booksellers willing to cooperate, and who could be persuaded that this was not an attempt to get people to order directly. The conclusion was that the main market (writers) liked to read the articles and did so long before they got around to using the contact information in order to target those who might help them get published. In other words, the main reason the publishers found the book useful was not the same as that of the market.

Finding the general reader

When approaching specific professional markets, it’s relatively easy to understand your audience – you locate the relevant professional journal or forum, observe what’s going on and start building your knowledge. More general markets are much more difficult to understand – members could be anywhere.

The advance information produced by publishing houses often lists the target market as the ‘general reader’ or sometimes their more cultivated counterpart, the ‘educated general reader’. To start with, it’s a very unspecific term, and the segmentation of markets into smaller, more manageable groups through demographic analysis or lifestyle stages may include general readers in every category. How can we be more precise?

This book will be available worldwide, so providing specific and local guidance to markets close to every reader is impossible. It’s therefore important to emphasise the value of keeping track of what is going on in society as a whole, of remaining observant. You need to remain alert to a variety of different viewpoints, and the number of people they represent; to move beyond your own comfort zones and assumptions.

It’s important to consult a variety of websites and blogs; to read a range of different newspapers and magazines; to watch and listen to a variety of television and radio stations – and above all to listen to people talk about the concerns they have. Watching soap operas or observing which major films are coming out (and which ones are successes) are effective ways of keeping track of current trends in society and learning to interpret them. Growing older can help too – provided we are stimulated by change rather than resistant to it – our ability to spot what’s going on around us, and newly emerging markets, becomes more acute as a wider range of things happen to us. So remain alert to what is going on in your life, and in those around you, how the experiences feel and what opportunities you spot for presenting published content in the process. As generalisations, and to get you started, here are a few current trends:

• Shortage of time. Time famine is established worldwide, and various forms of rage are now itemised as proof of how much we hate waiting (‘road rage’, ‘trolley rage’ and now ‘car park rage’). To get more done in the time available we multitask, often with several screens in front of us at the same time: texting while talking and surfing the web while chatting online. This does not mean that everything has to be achievable super-quickly, but if you are going to ask for an audience’s time, make it sound like an experience they can justify, both to themselves and their wider circle of influencers/responsibilities.

• Desire for better experiences – in friendships, relationships, conversation – often fuelled by a belief that these are our right. A desire for deeper, more fulfilling encounters often seems to be accompanied by restlessness; a greater desire for things to be better, yet a reduced tendency to work at them to make them so – or blaming/suing others if we are less than fully satisfied.

• Optimism. There is a big appetite for stories that distract, lift and show a positive spin on life, hence the many popular formats through which celebrities can announce their relationship/baby/marriage/new life after divorce with lavish pictures and supportive text.

• Curiosity. We like to read about ourselves – or those we can assume represent us – in publications that highlight the oddities of everyday life; disasters that have befallen people, how it feels to live through a situation or dilemma we may later face too.

• Competitiveness. This is now imbued into all levels of society, from stories of children being given additional academic tuition to help them pass exams earlier and earlier into their lives to beauticians offering better outcomes through a variety of procedures. Advantage is purchasable and reading about it expands the understanding of options.

• Brands. As society becomes increasingly international, there is increasing demand for badges that signify specific attributes (style, money, membership) and work across national and cultural frontiers.

• Respect. The internet coaxes the individual into relationships, offering us attention, understanding and an idea that our individual needs will be met. This spills over into how we expect to be treated in our daily lives and fuels intolerance and resentment if we feel we are not being treated as we should be. Our decision to move on if we don’t like the prevailing tone of voice can be instant (think how speedily we leave websites that get it wrong) and young people are often quick to claim that they have been patronised.

• Concern about the environment. This is growing very fast, steered by environmentalists, encouraged/blocked by politicians and championed by children, who are putting pressure on the generations above them.

All these trends create opportunities for promoting and selling products and services, and published products can be strong beneficiaries. But marketing messages need to be made specific and relevant to anticipated audiences, so it’s important to think through the market characteristics and the benefits they are likely to be looking for from the product or service you are developing and where it might be convenient to buy. There will usually be many options. So, for example, a home subscription to an online encyclopaedia could offer:

• A reliable and constantly available support for your children’s homework, answering questions you cannot (shortage of time).

• An authoritative research tool to ensure you are able to quote reliable information to those who may look to you for a professional opinion (competitiveness).

• A fascinating distraction (optimism, curiosity).

• To mark the owner’s home as a place that values quality (brand).

• Ease of access. Installation of the product has not required trees to be cut down, delivery lorries to pollute while offloading, or new storage solutions (concern for the environment).

The messages you choose will depend on the markets you are approaching, how big they are and how busy; how much extraneous noise you have to rise above in order to be heard. You need to consider the vast range of alternative distractions on offer that were not (or not widely) available 10 years ago. For example, people spend time and money on the internet, talking to others, information seeking and in online games, and the customisation that is now available for viewing and listening means they can make a personal timetable rather than be forced to rely on the broadcaster’s schedule. In response, remind them how reading feels: the one-to-one personal engagement with a mind they admire or story that engrosses them.

In addition to remaining alert to customers’ interests and buying habits, it’s a good idea to build their appreciation of what you offer, to understand your brand. Tell your customers a story and they may buy into it, feeling they have discovered something worth supporting. Tell them how you came to establish the firm, say what you did before; even better if you left a corporate lifestyle to publish or sell what you care about as quality of life and work–life balance are issues that many can relate to. The stories you share may spread quickly – it used to be believed that customers required years of good service before they would start recommending a supplier, but recent research 2 has shown that there is a strong taste for the new and enthusiasts tend to pass on the name of their latest find immediately. How quickly can you start turning those who buy from you into advocates?

Top tips for turning your organisational brand into a community that other people want to belong to

• Share your vision for your organisation and its future; describe how you came to set the company up and what motivates you to do what you do. Tell the story.

• Have a visitors’ book on your website to allow people to record their thoughts (most people like to see their name quoted and may make the link further available through social media).

• Encourage enthusiastic correspondents to add their comments to Amazon and other book review sites.

• Where relevant, offer reading copies of new books for book groups.

• Make occasional offers of free copies, run competitions and prize draws either through your mailings or on your website.

• Offer proof copies to selected people to encourage them to ‘talk you up’.

• Most publishers send out manuscripts for review before committing to print. Widen this to form a reviewing community and enc0ourage feedback. Then print the names of those involved in a special section within the book. Not only will this spread ownership, if the reviewers are children this can prompt lots of additional sales in schools and among grandparents, parents and other encouragers.

• Offer branded goods that relate to your products, such as T-shirts or associated stationery (postcards, posters). You can test the market with a single item, and if there is positive feedback, produce more. This was how Penguin’s highly successful T-shirts of ‘paperback originals’ were born. Initially produced for distribution to sales representatives at the seasonal briefing conference, they were found to have a far wider appeal and are now successfully sold through bookshops. The product range has been expanded to include deckchairs and mugs.

• Produce information sheets, whether web-based or printed for specific needs – for example, for book groups; guides to terminology or key place names for saga/fantasy addicts; bookmarks and window stickers for distribution through reps and shops.

Case study

How an organisation can enhance its image with an effective brand: the Society of Authors’ new branding, 2013

The Society of Authors 3 is a trade union for professional authors with more than 9,000 members, writing in all areas. It advises members on rights, fees or any other professional query. It also provides training, lobbies for authors’ rights and administers a wide range of grants and prizes such as the Authors’ Foundation, one of the few bodies making grants to help with works in progress for established writers. It acts as literary representative of the estates of a number of distinguished writers including George Bernard Shaw, Virginia Woolf, Philip Larkin, E.M. Forster, Rosamond Lehmann, Walter de la Mare, John Masefield and Compton Mackenzie. The society’s influence is widely noted within the publishing world and beyond – the organisation has more than 17,000 followers on Twitter.

To mark the arrival of Nicola Solomon, their new chief executive, the Society of Authors changed the text colour on their standard letterhead from blue to green. This was both an effective (and extremely low-cost) way of marking the end of an era, but also outlined a longer-term future ambition. From the outset Nicola, a former partner at a high-profile legal firm, was keen to standardise the society’s communications, make them fresh and accessible to ensure that both their membership and the wider range of those who could similarly benefit understood the range of services and expertise on offer. There was also determination to reach out to potential younger members and encourage them to join – and to acknowledge the wider range of situations in which writers are writing and needing support. Finally she was keen to affirm the organisation as a whole, which was started in 1884. Early supporters included George Bernard Shaw, John Galsworthy, Thomas Hardy, H.G. Wells, J.M. Barrie, John Masefield, E.M. Forster and A.P. Herbert, to name but a few. The first president was Lord Alfred Tennyson and George Bernard Shaw said of the new organisation: ‘We all, eminent and obscure alike need the Authors’ Society. We all owe it a share of our time, our means, our influence.’

While the initial task was to produce a new organisational brand, in the longer term this was to be far more than just a rebranding exercise. Nicola was clear that this was the launch pad for an exercise in appreciating the range of the organisation’s activities and understanding them as a coherent whole, and developing and promoting a wider understanding of its usefulness. She was keen to ensure a greater harmony in communication: in typefaces, presentation and tone of voice; this not to diminish individual contributions but to ensure that the membership is conscious of the organisation and that staff benefit from all the opportunities to absorb information from each other. Her only stipulation was that she wanted the brand eventually selected to be text and not image-based, having had experience of how images tend to attract and then polarise opinions.

The starting point was to find a firm with expertise in organising branding and through talking to other relevant organisations that had been through a similar experience, they found Brandguild.4 This was a specialist branding agency that had previously worked with organisations of a comparable size and ethic – and whose quotation for the work involved came within the agreed budget of £10,000.

Brandguild were appointed and began by doing some research among the members of the Society of Authors. Those chosen for interview by the society were from a variety of ages and writing genres, and Brandguild also talked to others who regularly interact with the organisation (publishers, agents, retailers) and those who could belong but don’t yet. They were asked about how they saw the organisation, what it was good at and not so good at – and what they called it. Interestingly whereas staff tend to refer to the organisation as ‘The Society’, members generally call it ‘Society of Authors’ or ‘S of A’.

The next stage was for Brandguild to facilitate a ‘creative day’ for all staff, and in the process to find out from those who are most aware of the services offered by the organisation how they feel it is currently understood and appreciated. A temporary member of staff was brought in to look after the telephones and all staff were asked to spend time thinking about the personality of the Society and how best to project that outside the organisation. All staff were asked to come along having thought about what kind of character the society had, and to illustrate this through the choice of a familiar character.

This produced some interesting answers. Jeeves was mentioned several times (very well connected, highly competent, but discreet and in the background), as was the coherent, articulate but essentially shy Clark Kent (rather than his alter ego, Superman). Many staff articulated frustration at the Society’s tendency to hide its light under a bushel. Later in the day, the words used to describe the organisation were similarly considered – in order to best convey the values and expertise of the organisation to an external audience. They spent time looking at colours and typefaces, and how these worked in a variety of different platforms.

Online communication manager Anna Ganley comments:

Brandguild then presented their feedback. They talked about their research into the role of the society, its audiences (actual and potential) and discussed how the organisational brand could best be expressed in personality, words and colours. Focusing on the strategic aims of the process prevented it from just being an exercise in everyone commenting on their favourite colours. There were reference points to build on; the long-established connection between blue ink and writing, and the printing colours that worked well with blue. We wanted to have different versions of the same brand for each of the society’s subgroups – and enjoyed thinking about sensible links. Blue and gold for awards information seemed particularly appropriate.

As a result of the creative day and wider research, three designs were presented to staff and discussed by the board of management. One emerged as the favourite early on, and once officially confirmed as the choice, Brandguild were given the go-ahead.

Ironically, the final stages took almost as long as the initial ones, when much bigger decisions had been made. There were serifs and decorative scrolls to play with, and Pantone lists to move up and down in search of the perfect combination. Some issues also emerged at the last minute (were they ‘The Society of Authors’ or ‘Society of Authors’?) but also at a late stage a very useful set of monograph ‘crops’ emerged, ideal for presentational use on certificates.

Nicola Solomon comments:

When it was ready we just started using it. Some have expressed surprise that we did not go for a formal launch of the new design. But we felt this process had been about us as an outward-facing organisation, and so having decided on how we wanted to present ourselves we should just get on and do so. Fundamentally the new brand is there to show we are fresher and better but does not signify a change of direction. And we have had only positive feedback. Right now it is being rolled out across all the information we send out, as materials are used up we reprint or represent with the new branding in place – and this has shown us once again just what a wealth of information we offer our members.

Was it all worth it? Resoundingly yes. The rebranding has been positively responded to by staff, members and those we seek to influence. Overall it represents a positive – and very busy – future for the society.

Figure 15.1 The Society of Authors’ old logo. Courtesy of the Society of Authors.

Figure 15.2 The Society of Authors’ new logo. Courtesy of the Society of Authors.

Marketing children’s books

Most general publishing houses have a children’s division and, although pioneering work was done (in particular by Kaye Webb, founder of Puffin, and Sebastian Walker, founder of Walker Books), until comparatively recently they were often seen as subsidiary activity to the development of the firm’s main list. Advances and royalties on children’s titles were based on lower-selling prices and so were worth less in cash terms to authors and illustrators. Children’s authors attending events got less for their appearance than those writing titles for adults. The books received smaller promotion budgets and shares of company attention.

Today the area is vastly more active, and this is happening worldwide. The quality of children’s books is better than ever and they are reaching the market through an increasing variety of outlets. Children are also buying books for themselves, often through school bookselling operations. Within the children’s market in general, it is notable that sales are robust and have been relatively stable for the past 10 years, holding their own in a market where sales of adult titles have been declining. There has also been a slower encroachment of digital media on the physical market here, with digital products accounting for around 11 per cent of sales in both the UK and US.

Opportunities for children’s publishers today

• Polarisation of the marketplace, with the emergence and dominance of key brands and authors in bestseller lists

In 2005, market research company Mintel reported: ‘The Harry Potter series has become something of a crossover, popular with both children and adults, as has The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. This could perhaps mark the creation of a new genre of books, appealing to all ages.’⁵ ‘Crossover titles’ subsequently entered the publishing industry’s vocabulary and has led to separate editions of the same book being jacketed differently for various age groups. For example, books by J.K. Rowling and Philip Pullman, originally created for children, became media properties and were increasingly read by adults. This heralded the emergence of the young adult (YA) market, with authors such as Suzanne Collins and Stephenie Meyer becoming huge successes; as they became media-driven phenomena they were increasingly and enthusiastically read by adults, and now dominate in the bestseller lists. The specific vocabulary of these mass market titles has become part of popular culture – pub quizzes and crossword puzzles require you to know the meaning of ‘muggle’, ‘alethiometer’ and ‘vampire romance’ – and they consequently get read by all generations.

Other opportunities have emerged for big sales. Humorous titles aimed at younger markets such as The Diary of Wimpy Kid series and books by David Walliams were seized upon by schools and literacy champions as material that encouraged wider participation in reading and have become hugely popular. The rise of online gaming, and its spin-offs as book-related products (e.g., Minecraft), and the rise of character and brand licensing (often related to content that has nostalgia for parents, e.g., Lego and Star Wars) have proved very significant in this sector.

• New formats for children’s publishing

Children today are digital natives, born into a world where time online is part of their daily lives – and if they do not gain access at home, they learn to use computers at school. Through this, new opportunities for accessing and sharing content have emerged, and the dictionary definition of the term ‘passback’ has widened from its use on the football pitch to include the handing back of a mobile phone or tablet computer to children in the back of a car to keep them quiet. New computer formats (e.g., the tablet) have led to new delivery mechanisms for content sharing within children’s literature which are encouraging children to read and involve themselves in the stories they access. Many (but not all) of these opportunities are being developed by traditional publishers, with their understanding of content development and marketing, to home and international customers and agents. As Kate Wilson, founder of Nosy Crow⁶ (children’s books and apps) commented:

We make innovative, multimedia, highly interactive apps for tablets, smartphones and other touchscreen devices. These apps are not existing books squashed onto screens, but instead are specially created to take advantage of the devices to tell stories and provide information to children in new and engaging ways. We don’t want reading to be the most boring thing a child can do on a touchscreen.

We know it’s subjective, but Nosy Crow wants to be proud of everything that we publish and make. We want to be sure that it meets the need of a reader (or emerging reader), and meets that need as well as it possibly can. That means great illustration, great design, great audio, great video, great animation and really great writing. We go out of our way to find these things from new and established talents.

• New selling locations to reach the mass market

Supermarkets experimented (through Walker Books) with own-brand books in the 1980s, although the novelty of being able to buy children’s reading material where you bought other essentials was quickly overtaken as supermarkets turned to selling branded blockbuster titles as ‘loss leaders’ to draw shoppers in store. But the ongoing needs of the gifting market, which remains consistently buoyant for products for children, have promoted an expansion of other places to buy and helped lift children’s books to be rated alongside toys and computer games as a first-class profit opportunity.

Today most large centres of population are ringed by out-of-town supermarkets and superstores where people with small children are likely to shop and, crucially, find it more convenient to buy books. As well as selling books through supermarkets, books also sell well through superstores selling child-related merchandise, and can benefit from being displayed alongside non-book child-related products such as toys and prams. Through these outlets, books are being sold to a much wider group of people, as many of the customers are probably not regular bookshop browsers. Purchases are often made on impulse, and there is huge demand for high-profile media-related properties of the kind publishers can offer, with a price offer or associated discount being a key part of the consumer expectation.

Leisure and food venues are another key opportunity for publishers to work in partnership with organisations who are approaching compatible audiences but with non-competing products. Partnerships are beneficial both ways: publishers reach many non-regular book-buyers, but the merchandise they make available may confer brand benefits on the host organisation. Major publishing houses spend a lot of time trying to establish and maintain such sharing, for example with books being included in branded children’s meals and as part of the customer value proposition for ‘day out’ venues.

Another new arena is the sampling of books through non-retail outlets, and in particular the workplace selling of books, which has expanded dramatically in recent years. Firms involved in this (notably The Book People 7 in the UK) buy large quantities of a limited range of stock, display the products in staff space and collect orders at the end of the week. Children’s titles can work very well here; backlist titles can drive subsequent demand for the front list, in particular with nostalgia titles that are familiar to parents. Similarly books on sport for boys, reference titles linked to the school curriculum and reading packs that offer value for money are all popular. Retailers can demand huge discounts but they are reaching customers who do not frequent bookshops (and hence are expanding the market), they buy firm (no stock gets returned) and their orders can often make a print project financially viable.

Packaging is vital for these locations. Books often become more attractive when marketed in combination with toys and clothing, as a branded item appealing to a child with specific interests. Packaging that adds value to the product is particularly important: for example in warehouse clubs, catalogues and cash and carries, shoppers tend to be looking for a higher price and bulkier looking purchase (this is particularly important if the item is to be given as a present, as customers appreciate a large box to wrap). For some outlets the publisher may produce own-brand items; packages that consist of ‘books plus’ may become part of the store’s gift or hobby range rather than book range. What is more because they are aimed at gifters rather than book-buyers, they target new audiences – and hence may be stocked in greater depth, particularly during peak times in the seasonal gifting market.

The traditional book trade has reacted in varied ways. In general the children’s department is easier to find than it used to be, and children’s titles are now part of the major promotions at the front of the store. Some major bookselling chains have experimented with dedicated children’s shops, but the combination of excessive rents for high street sites and low-price products is a difficult one, and many casualties have occurred. Even shops that were once thriving concerns, functioning as centres of advice and encouragement on reading, with welcoming premises and detailed knowledge of their stock are now threatened, and the closure of the Lion and Unicorn Bookshop in south London in 2013 – the first children’s store ever to win the prestigious title of Independent Bookseller of the Year – was dispiriting. As head of membership services at the BA Meryl Halls commented, this would ‘leave a huge hole in the specialist children’s bookselling sector, and in the visibility of children’s books on the high street, and in schools’. Halls added: ‘The closure highlights the torrid pressures on high-street booksellers, and retailers generally – a massive rent increase can put a once-thriving business over the edge of viability, and taken together with business-rate pressure, the combination can all too often be fatal.’ She also called on local and national government to ‘look at the health of our high streets with increasing seriousness if we are not to see a continuing diminution in the vitality, diversity and creativity on our high streets – bookshops being a key indicator of the health of our local retail communities’.

Other retailers have nurtured special markets. The organisation of school book fairs and school book clubs is an area of strong competition and activity. There is some special publishing for this market, in the form of book and activity kits. But with growing market assumptions about buying online being a norm, and consumers often using bookshops as showrooms where they examine what they will later purchase from home, it can be very difficult to compete.

• Character licensing arrangements

With the wide availability of films for children, online and via networks, and the marketing efforts of the Disney Corporation, there has been considerable growth in demand for ‘character’ images created for a book or film to adorn a wide variety of specially designed merchandise – from nightdresses and bedroom slippers to rucksacks and school lunchboxes. With their backlist of character titles, publishers are well placed to take advantage of this opportunity.

Superstore purchasers shop thematically, following the child’s interests; they may not be looking for anything as specific as a book or cutlery set, but a Pooh Bear or Thomas the Tank Engine item and books can benefit enormously from the creation of ‘retail theatre’ through cross-merchandising, displaying books in an accessible position alongside related merchandise. Event publishing and seasonal opportunities are of increasing importance, tying in with periods of raised consumer footfall such as Mothers’ Day, Christmas and other key gifting periods. Some stores take this a stage further by launching specific boutiques within stores for certain characters that have a strong affinity with their own market.

• Educational upheaval and parental anxiety

Changes in the educational environment have created an opportunity for children’s publishers, in both new resources for schools and to support parental anxiety. For example, there is now a considerable market for resources to practise for tests and assessments as well as resources for reading and project-based homework. There are also opportunities for publishers arising from events and anniversaries, e.g., World War One, the Olympics, happenings within the Royal Family and annual events such as the birthday of Martin Luther King or Shakespeare. Major publishing houses employ reps to call on schools and sell both educational and reading resources, usually basing rewards on commission.

• Opportunities to meet authors

Book events, festivals and other opportunities to meet authors through special appearances are of growing importance for book-buying. The rise in literary festivals has been a notable trend worldwide, and each of them now generally has its own associated children’s programme that often holds some of the most highly attended events – and at which huge numbers of titles can be sold. British author Jacqueline Wilson holds the record for the longest book signing – more than 8 hours (incidentally without a comfort break). Children want to meet their favourite authors, and these opportunities have become hugely profitable.

In some instances, where children’s books are the product of team writing, a range of different authors may be despatched to talk on behalf of the writing team. Along similar lines, for non-technical authors – or those disinclined to participate in marketing – it may be the publisher who maintains a website, updates it with new information and replies to letters from children.

In addition to live events, there are opportunities to connect through social media and to live stream author events in real time. Authors can therefore connect with fans without going on time-consuming or costly tours, and digital assets of author events are created in the process.

• The long tail for children’s titles

The marketing manager for a children’s list will also spend a good deal of time and money promoting the backlist, not just new highlights. Whereas a new general hardback fiction title will have its heaviest sales period in the months following publication, with another boost when a paperback or ebook appears, children’s titles can take a much longer time to get established – and then go on selling for much longer than adult titles. Where titles last between generations, there can also be a significant nostalgia market, with parents buying books by authors they enjoyed, or about similar subjects – some of which never go out of date, but may be presented in new combinations (e.g., fairy stories, tractors, dinosaurs, teddy bears).

Key difficulties for those marketing children’s titles

• Marketing is often through intermediaries

While school book fairs and book tokens and vouchers offer the chance for children to choose first-hand, there is a key difficulty for children’s publishers in that the marketer often has to convince a middle market. Booksellers and wholesalers have to be persuaded to stock titles, and parents, relatives, teachers and librarians to buy on behalf of the children they represent. Even those promotions that are sent straight to children (e.g., school book club leaflets) rely on teachers to organise and parents to pay. A high percentage of book purchases are paid for by adults; parents but also ‘graunties’ (grandparents/aunts and uncles/closely involved adults). In demographic terms, the spread of adults buying for children is very wide, making the targeting of marketing very difficult. For example, many titles are bought by adults who are not responsible for children or by much older generations, and their preferences have to be borne in mind.

Each year publishers produce catalogues and leaflets detailing their new and existing titles. In addition they prepare a range of promotional material for display in shops, schools and libraries: posters, leaflets, balloons and so on. This must be attractive both to the adult (so it gets put up) and to the children who will see it. Appealing to ‘the child in us all’ is not as easy as it sounds. Children today are sophisticated and acutely conscious of being patronised. They can be persuaded that a book is not for them by a quick glance at the cover (particularly important when they are doing the buying through an online bookshop and that is all they see).

Children’s language also changes all the time, and while they will not expect to see the current hot terminology on the back of book covers, they can be very disparaging about words that sound out of date, and hence inclined to damn the product through association. Publishers do not need to talk like teenagers (they could not do it anyway) but they do need to have a sixth sense to spot terms that will date.

Just to illustrate this, here are the current terms used by three 14-year-old boys in specific locations in Bath (UK), Melbourne (Australia) and Portland, Oregon (US). I say specific locations, because 10 miles down the road they would probably be different.

This illustration is not designed to pass comment on their vocabulary, but to illustrate how rich, temporary and localised it is.

• Children’s publishing is probably the most price-sensitive area of the book trade

Economies of scale are vital where high development costs on mass market novelty formats necessitate high print runs and hence volume deals. Mostly this is done using a schedule of discounts, rising according to the quantity bought. At the same time, costs must be kept as low as possible, and most authors are remunerated on the basis of net receipts rather than published price.

Children’s books are highly price-responsive. There is a symbiotic relationship between retail price and volume in the mass market; adding an extra 10 per cent to a title can ruin its chances of success. Shoppers in out-of-town superstores are particularly price-sensitive. People are often looking to spend a specific amount of money, and given that there is so much choice, will allow the pre-set budget to be the main criterion for decision-making. When pricing new materials publishers need to benchmark their prices not only against competing books but also against non-book products (e.g., toys, stationery and gift items) that jostle for the same leisure spend. Money off can be a significant marketing gambit at certain times of year (e.g., Christmas), but in general low retail prices mean there is less margin to play with.

Finally, children themselves are very price-conscious. Youth today has more disposable income – working parents who are not at home tend to compensate with bigger allowances – but with this has come an increased consumer confidence. They are used to shopping around and an awareness that books in particular can always be found somewhere cheaper was ironically fostered while they were still at school, by teachers encouraging them to read. For many UK children, their first experience of market economics was at primary school when they learned that the new Harry Potter was available and that it was cheapest at a particular supermarket.

Marketing techniques for promoting children’s titles

The new selling locations have necessitated a switch in marketing techniques. Instead of concentrating their energies on pursuing every possible opportunity for free coverage (how children’s books used to be marketed), publishers have had to become increasingly aggressive to maintain these opportunities, which are under threat from both adult books and a variety of other merchandise with potentially higher stock turns and profits.

Attractive printed material is still a mainstay of children’s marketing: something that will make an impression on the book-buyer and provide a taste of the quality of the product. Posters and other free material for schools and libraries may directly impress an author brand on pupils with long-lasting consequences. For other markets where value for money is important, cheaply produced materials give a quick impression that there is plenty of choice, limited price special offers, or deals so that purchases above a certain price attract free carriage, can all encourage a quick response.

The creation of interesting websites where children can find out more about their favourite characters is also very important. Children feel a character or title is more real if they can access information online to back it up. Such websites need to be sophisticated, interactive and regularly updated – publishers are marketing here to the most net-savvy generation. Similarly, non-fiction titles that offer checked web links can be welcomed by parents. Books have been through extensive processes of checking and so are more reliable than the web, but ‘listing 1,000 checked websites’ on the front of a reference title makes it look more appealing and up to date to the children they are buying for, and is reassuring and time-saving for parents (they don’t have to check the sites themselves).

Generating free publicity

Children’s publishers often complain of the paucity of review space devoted to their books, although blockbusters such as Harry Potter have broken the mould, with reviews commissioned from children who stayed up all night reading the new book appearing on the news pages (the experience handily enhancing their CVs at the same time). However hotly editors protest their independence from advertising, it is true that children’s publishers in general spend little on space in anything other than trade magazines, and that is usually concentrated in the run-up to relevant book fairs. But as the area becomes more profitable, and they advertise more, there will be more editorial features on children’s books.

Opportunities for free coverage may include:

• Social media. Children are not officially allowed to be on Facebook until they are 13 or Twitter if they are under 10, and data protection and online security issues impact on signing up for online fan sites without parental approval, but social media can certainly be used to reach their parents. The blogosphere is particularly important in creating pre-launch buzz and social media can offer opportunities for giveaways, samplers, exclusive content, allowing authors to connect with the fan base in a direct way. Mentions on sites frequented by the parents, blogs and tweets can all drive traffic to relevant websites for more information, or ordering mechanisms for those who decide they want instant gratification.

Social media platforms cross international boundaries, and it is helpful to benefit from access to global digital content. The noise created around new products when launched in other markets can be helpful, as can an attempt to ensure consistency in packaging across markets in order to benefit; sharing digital assets such as authors interviews and book trailers. For ideas on how to work with a blogger, see Chapter 9.

• Organising promotional links with websites, magazines and newspapers read by parents and children, for example, features that ‘review’ new titles, articles on key authors, and sponsoring competitions which feature the book as prize and hence promote word-of-mouth. Magazines aimed at children are often particularly keen on featuring extracts from forthcoming titles that appeal to their core audience.

• Producing free branded material for information carriers such as posters, bookmarks, balloons, height charts, party packs, ‘make and do’ samplers. All of these offer longevity and thus may go on promoting the associated titles long after distribution.

• Arranging author tours, usually to a specific region for three to four days at a time: handling bookings from schools and libraries; liaising with the local press; arranging for copies of the relevant books for signing sessions.

• Organising the firm’s material for national and international book trade events and working with agencies involved with inclusion and the promotion of literacy. In the UK, events such as National Children’s Book Week,⁸ World Book Day⁹ and the Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge¹⁰ encourage reading stamina, and generally operate through a combination of online activity and an accompanying press campaign to raise awareness and the despatch of physical materials to encourage the organisation of reading-related events in schools and libraries. Along similar lines, working with agencies such as the National Literacy Trust,¹¹ Reading is Fundamental¹² and other inclusion organisations that promote literacy.

• Supporting specific local initiatives: perhaps supplying local booksellers with marketing material for a promotion they have organised or arranging for a character in costume to pay a special visit to a school.

• Sponsorship of events relevant to the market. It’s common for primary schools to have dressing up days, and book-based themes are popular (e.g., come as your favourite character).

• Entry of titles for literary prizes. The resulting media coverage brings the winning titles to the attention of a wider public, as well as promoting reading and books in general.

Book fairs, exhibitions and conferences

At book fairs the major trade players gather for the sale of rights and to display their wares. The trade press lists attendees, and this provides a useful summary of the main houses involved in children’s books. Notable events include the Bologna Book Fair and the Shanghai Children’s Book Fair. Other international book fairs around the world have specific exhibition space for children’s publishers, and many publishers have an exhibitions team that can be despatched to mount displays at teachers’ and librarians’ conferences, teachers’ centres, schools, local fairs and other events. Local sensitivities and laws will have to be borne in mind when deciding which titles to present, and which may need rewriting for local markets (e.g., alcohol is available to 18-year-olds in the UK; in the US the age limit is 21).

Exporting children’s books

Gaining an export deal for a children’s title, or series of titles, is often the way to make the process profitable, and if material can be translated and exported, there is the opportunity to raise valuable revenue from co-editions, rights and royalties. A series of co-edition deals, secured at the right time, can be the key to successful publishing of a children’s title, allowing the publisher to extend the initial distribution and keep the price down. The more expensive the format, the more important this becomes, so it’s especially vital in colour books. Some publishing houses have set up arrangements with indigenous publishing organisations in their formerly traditional markets, to buy export editions or co-publish for the home market bearing in mind particular market sensitivities and catering for distinct market tastes and trends. For more information on exporting, see Chapter 7.

Selling resources to public libraries

The words ‘and libraries’ often appear on the marketing plans for new titles, but it is worth thinking about why libraries should be a key part of all marketing planning. In the past publishers have known relatively little about the public library world; there are very few job moves between the two professions, and publishers have tended to take library sales for granted. It’s also worth understanding the role of the public librarian, which is far wider than just lending books.

Librarians offer the markets they serve access to content in a variety of different formats and delivery methods. But their prime function is access, not recommendation; their loyalty is to the markets they serve, not to any particular format or publishing house. While the vast majority of the stock they buy is still focused on popular leisure reading, increasingly they are interested in stock that supports the wider needs of their communities. For example they buy stock to support public health initiatives, basic literacy, job hunting and up-skilling, community development, equalities and non-English speakers. They also work with broadcasting campaigns and charitable partners such as the Reading Agency and the Royal National Institute for the Blind to reach new audiences, and work in partnership with publishers to raise awareness of key titles.

Sue Jones, former Hertfordshire librarian and now working for the Reading Agency comments:

Library support for the huge rise of reading groups in the UK is a good example of how libraries support community initiatives. Local groups will probably support local authors, and although libraries may be unable to buy stock on spec, local advocacy may lead to creating a demand that they will try to meet. I think requests from reading groups are increasingly driving purchases – libraries frequently get multiple sets of new choices if they think that other groups will be interested. Hertfordshire Libraries lists what other groups are reading on their website and in their e-newsletters. Libraries also regularly run their own mini reading festivals and collaborate in organising local writing competitions. So authors who would like to promote to a local audience are well advised to request an opportunity to speak.

Librarians will tell you their regular users are skewed towards those who are at home for at least part of the day: the retired, the unemployed and mothers with small children. However, some very interesting groups are spending more time in libraries. In the United Kingdom, the National Centre for Research in Children’s Literature has revealed that children from ethnic minorities, and in particular girls, make much more use of local and school libraries and there are new community initiatives to keep libraries open, or open new resources, through volunteering and book donations.13

Rather than just seeking leisure reading, today many of their customers are using libraries in new ways: local businesses as a wide-ranging resource for market information, job seekers who access the internet for job vacancies and updating their CVs, local and family historians for the specialist services available. Libraries also play a significant role in countering the digital divide by helping people to get online. All these activities result in active use of the library’s resources but record no corresponding loans.

In the UK, adult loans are down but children’s borrowing is rising. The decline in adult loans may be for various reasons. The reduction in library opening hours, cuts in the book purchasing funds and reorganisations of how the money is both allocated and administered can impact on the attractiveness of the stock available – and readers lose interest if fewer titles by their favourite authors appear on the shelves and the stock starts to look worn. Purchasing budgets for libraries increasingly have to cover information access through methods other than title purchase, and the costs of libraries offering technology and entertainment through internet access, audio and downloads all depletes the book purchasing funds. It is also significant that opportunities to purchase publishers’ output have expanded, both online and through accessible prime retail sites (supermarkets, garage forecourts, garden centres and so on), and this has arguably increased the public’s willingness to buy rather than borrow – and do something else rather than read.

How to send information to public libraries

Public library purchasing has undergone a radical change in recent years, moving away from the former model, which enabled individual library authorities to select and purchase their stock from their choice of supplier. Libraries are now locked into consortium arrangements whereby the library authorities to which they belong provide detailed demographic profiles of the areas they cover and these are matched by centralised library suppliers, with publishers pitching to get their titles included in the selections that are presented to libraries. This is partly due to reduced budgets, but also to central governmental plans for the cost-efficiency of national purchasing models (which cut down on administrative costs, increase the size of the resulting orders and ensure best prices – and hence value for money).

What librarians decide to stock is based on the information they receive and their wider understanding of what is available. Organisations that sell resources to libraries edit the range available and offer a selection, and most librarians rely heavily on this filtering service. As one commented:

We generally treat unsolicited approaches badly – partly because there’s a wealth of poor-quality material out there and partly because of lack of time. We prefer to get approaches through our aggregators first, and from the purchasing consortia or from other trusted agencies.

This is supplemented by their own awareness of the wider range of material available, but lack of time means this is usually a personal commitment rather than a job requirement.

Librarians read the professional and trade press to gain information on what is being launched; they also respond to their users’ requests for specific resources. They acquire information on what their regulars want to read or use through experience and constant handling, checking and updating of the stock, but they also have local agendas to meet, such as widening access and outcomes for learning and skills, health and well-being and community cohesion. Most librarians retain a particular interest in searching for, and purchasing, locally available material likely to be of interest to the increasing numbers of people researching their family history.

When targeting librarians via their purchasing consortia, through their official publications and via forums they access, bear in mind that the profession is highly collaborative, in that decisions on what to buy are taken in consultation with colleagues. But it’s vital to note that while decisions are discussed, most of the subsequent buying is done online. Thus while librarians may look at a synopsis and the cover, they don’t get the chance to read a few paragraphs, or to handle a publication, before deciding whether or not it should be stocked. The information publishers provide is thus vital in creating the right kind of buying information for each title, and organisational reputation as a firm that maintains standards of a particular kind (whether good or bad) will support the decision-making. Memories of failed promises can live a very long time.

Information to emphasise to librarians

Librarians are information management experts so it is vital to ensure that information sent to them is well managed: fully navigable, logically presented and accurate, backed up by the appropriate bibliographical details. Other information that may be particularly relevant to the library market includes:

• Which courses or educational stages your title is relevant to: in particular, if your products relate to project or course work for specific educational stages. For example, local children’s libraries in one area are well stocked with reference books on Spain for 10- to 11-year-olds because a local head teacher sets a project on the country for the final year of junior school.

• Any significant overlaps between subject areas. This may enable them to pull money from several allocations. The wider the spread of interest groups they serve, and that you meet, the more likely your resources are to be purchased. Cross-curricular, interdisciplinary areas are particularly attractive.

• Feedback from readers. If titles have attracted demonstrable evidence of popularity, perhaps through online sampling or reader feedback, this could be important evidence to offer.

• Author availability. Authors who do events in public libraries, and support the ethos of free availability of reading matter within the communities, fit the library ethic and are an asset to librarians.

• Products that offer librarians the chance to enhance the prestige of their collection. Librarians identify with the collection they look after and products that enrich the collection as a whole, and enhance the resources available to their users, are attractive.

• Librarians often have to order at the last minute or risk losing their budget for the year ahead, so information that might make them choose your content in a hurry is valuable. An appropriate high-price product takes less time to order and enhances the range of resources available to the reader in one go.

• Production details. Librarians are looking for resources that will last and are consequently keen to hear about appropriate product specifications – search engine usability, acid-free paper, sewn rather than glued bindings and so on.

• Good covers matter enormously. Librarians play an important role in tempting people to read and titles are often displayed face out, rather than spine on.

Case study

How libraries and publishers can work together to greater effect: an interview with Helen Leech, virtual library services manager, Surrey County Library Services

In a climate of financial cutbacks in public spending, with the value of libraries and their usefulness being questioned and many librarians facing budgetary cuts or closure, the response from librarians has been robust. Many have established new initiatives to promote awareness and cooperation, to expand and change working practices, to reach out to the wider public and stress the value they offer.

There are now many libraries run by volunteers. The model tends to be that of ‘Community Partnered Libraries’ where the council provides the resources (including the premises and their upkeep) but the local community provide the staffing. Other solutions include ‘Community Links’, which generally means making collections of books available in village halls and other premises, the community providing all resources and staffing and the library service providing the books.

We are becoming more community-focused, meaning a number of things: we’re moving away from being a take-it-or-leave-it service with minimal engagement, and we’re broadening our range of services and actively working with community groups. For example, Surrey Library Service runs a support service for domestic abuse survivors, for which we won an award, and just this morning one of our staff sent me a list of the things we do and the partners we work with for each ‘protected characteristic’ within the Equalities Act, and it’s remarkable. We are moving from supporting leisure reading, which is certainly a declining market, towards services supporting local agendas, working with a range of local partners.

As to how libraries and publishers can work together in future:

The key message from the Society of Chief Librarians is that public libraries are keen to work with publishers. We’re part of the same ecosystem; we have the same passion for books and reading, the same desire to lead the reader to the right work, a lot of the same issues in terms of the challenges of a hugely changing market. It would be to the benefit of both sides to work more closely: libraries can offer access to a very large market; publishers can offer experience and content.

In terms of what we bring to the relationship, publishers are interested in our huge audience. Even though loans are falling, the number of those using the libraries is still huge. In Surrey one person in six (200,000 people out of a population of 1.1 million) has used the library in the past year. In addition to those who use the library premises, we have a large community outreach through our newsletters and online services.

Libraries offer a huge showroom window for publishers’ works and given that a large part of our remit is reader development,14 this too offers big opportunities for publishers. At a time when high street bookshops are closing, we’re introducing readers to new authors and encouraging people to broaden their reading habits. These days we are also much more involved in promoting titles to our readership than we used to be, and very aware of the power of the cover to attract. Like booksellers, we now put a lot of our stock face-on and expect the book to sell itself. There are also simpler book recommendation schemes operating within libraries such as the recommendations of our very knowledgeable staff, our ‘just returned’ trolley (which is where many of our visitors head first on reaching the library) and the book recommendation schemes we run, which encourage people to move outside their reading comfort zones.

Many reading and some writing groups are also run under the auspices of libraries. Within Surrey alone we support more than 700 such groups in a variety of ways: drawing up and circulating lists of suggested titles; providing loan stock of multiple copies of the same book; promoting and hosting some of the groups within libraries. We also send out a regular newsletter to 120,000 readers in the area. There are associated opportunities for publishers to gain ‘focus group’ feedback on jacket design and format, and for the test marketing of new materials, subject areas and authors.

We are very interested in the communication possibilities around books as a way of extending involvement. For example the Reading Agency’s Digital Skills programme has been encouraging libraries and publishers to work together and one of the things we’ve found really helpful is the promotional materials that publishers can provide – not just the traditional posters-and-bookmarks, but now the online reviews, ratings, recommendations, graphics, ‘who-else-writes-like’ forums, blogs, and other things that help us to generate interest and discussion. We take a much more retail-, business-like approach to books these days and, like every other part of the book trade, we’re far more likely to promote a particular author when we’ve got the materials and it’s quick and easy.

We also offer market data on reading patterns. Although this is in its infancy, it is an area of growing interest and one that could be capable of growth to enable more precise targeting of information. Speaking on behalf of Surrey, we collect information on library-user postcodes and age, but this has significant opportunities for development. Potentially we could identify pockets of gardeners in Lingfield and Chinese people in Woking and we could possibly tell you what they are reading. Demographic analysis is an area we need to develop, bearing in mind data protection restrictions, but there’s a huge opportunity to work with and learn from publishers.

Public lending right

Most territories now have some form of recompense payment to authors for loans of print books (and there is hot discussion over the inclusion of ebooks). The principle of the legislation is simple. Authors earn their living through the royalties on books sold; those sold to libraries may have many readers but only produce one sale and royalty payment; the schemes act as compensation for these ‘lost’ royalties. The funding comes from the public purse and arrangements for distribution vary from country to country.

Such schemes have revealed interesting borrowing patterns, which do not always tie in with sales patterns through bookshops – and perhaps there are titles it is logical to borrow rather than buy. The feedback provided is used extensively in public libraries. This includes subject breakdowns, lists of ‘classic’ authors and comparisons of local, regional and national trends.

Finally, don’t forget that in the same way that public library services are working with local community volunteers to ensure continued access to reading material, there are also library facilities that originate within the wider community that meet similar needs. Book-rich environments are often seen as relaxation zones that enhance community living, and each one offers the chance to promote reading and publishers’ wares.

Case study

Betty’s Reading Room, Orkney, Scotland 15

Craig Mollison and Jane Spiers, a couple now living on Orkney, created a library there in memory of Betty Prictor, a close friend and book lover who died unexpectedly. Craig, Jane and Betty were at university together in London, all went into teaching and had regularly spent holidays on Orkney, all planning to live there in the longer term. When Betty died before this could be achieved, Craig and Jane were keen to create a positive memorial that would also benefit the community as a whole. As Betty was an avid reader, they hit on the idea of a reading room in her memory – and her books are now part of the collection that is named after her.

The starting point was the shell of a derelict bothy¹⁶ in Tingwall, donated by a local farmer. This they refurbished and decorated, with help from the local community, to create an attractive environment for relaxation and reading. The building is heated by a wood-burning stove, lit by gas lamps and it is kept open at all times. Craig or Jane pop in at least once a day, not least to light the stove in winter, but otherwise it operates entirely on trust. The visitors’ book shows that it has become a popular dropping in place – one wrote that the experience of stepping inside ‘gladdens the heart’. It’s also become a haven for those waiting for the boat from the Orkney mainland off to the isles, who would otherwise have to wait outside in their cars in the cold and dark – and is now also firmly on the Orkney tourist trail.

The stock comes from their own books and those of Betty, donations, gifts and swaps – readers are welcome to take a book and leave one of their own in its place. They provide attractive bookplates that can be stuck into the front of titles that are taken, and ask that once finished, they are passed on to other readers. Craig and Jane appreciate the random nature of book discovery and so the books are placed on the shelves in a serendipitous order. One librarian used the visitors’ book to comment that she found this frustrating – she longed to submit them to the Dewey classification. The only titles they keep to one side are children’s books, which they place in a separate corner.

The room is used by several book groups and reading circles and has also been used in poetry festivals, The Orkney Story Festival and for musical evenings. It’s now a valuable community resource, firmly on the tourist trail – and word seems to be spreading. Craig and Jane are sure that Betty would be absolutely delighted.

Promoting to university academics

There have been huge changes within universities in recent years. If you are tasked with promoting to this market, it is important that you understand what has happened.

A huge increase in student numbers

There is a worldwide move towards mass education at higher level (its ‘massification’). Targets are various, but based on evidence of university attendance as a long-term investment in an individual’s future, the intention is to have a much higher proportion of the population which has benefitted from a university education.

Changes to funding models

The vastly increased numbers mean that older funding mechanisms have had to change. Various models for this have emerged. In some countries, large numbers of students are subsidised through commensurate rises in taxes, although governmental funding often leads to tighter control of student numbers and fierce competition for places. In other countries, students are forced to pay either a proportion or the full cost of their education (its ‘marketisation’).

Governments that rely on those benefitting from a higher education to pay for the privilege can generally accept more students, and there is thus a wider market for potential publisher resources, but this tends to be accompanied by less time for reading and less money available for book-buying. In general, funding works through a system of student loans, which recipients start repaying once their post-graduation income reaches a particular level. But this means that many students are holding down part-time (or even full-time) jobs to pay the fees, and there is consequently little money around for buying resources.

Paying for learning has arguably always prompted an assumption that with the contract comes some transfer of responsibility. As schoolmaster Bartle Massey commented in Adam Bede:¹⁷

You think knowledge is to be got cheap – you’ll come and pay Bartle Massey sixpence a week, and he’ll make you clever at figures without your taking any trouble. But knowledge isn’t to be got with paying sixpence, let me tell you ... So never come to me again, if you can’t show that you’ve been working with your own heads, instead of thinking that you can pay for mine to work for you.

There are signs today that with the changed responsibility for funding higher education has come a changed attitude of students. They are tempted to see themselves as consumers of – rather than participants in – the learning on offer. Naomi Klein (2000) commented in No Logo:

Many professors speak of the slow encroachment of the mall mentality, arguing that the more campuses act and look like malls, the more students behave like consumers. They tell stories of students filling out their course-evaluation forms with all the smug self-righteousness of a tourist responding to a customer-satisfaction form at a large hotel chain … students slip into class slurping grande lattes, chat in the back and slip out. They’re cruising, shopping, disengaged.

Academics who mark their work regularly report that students subsequently lobby for an increase in the percentage awarded, significantly not on the grounds that a specific piece of work deserves a higher mark, but that their overall average requires it. The new ubiquity of access to information online has also been accompanied by a blurring of awareness as to whom it belongs, and the technology that permits access also enables the precise monitoring of its use – universities now generally require the online submission of work and its automatic assessment for originality. Plagiarism can be spotted and the penalties for this and other forms of academic misconduct (cheating in exams, getting other people to write your work for you) are severe.

Sometimes casual student behaviour conflicts with wider marketing forces. While for the lecturer it’s irritating to find students texting while in class, if they are instead live tweeting – which has the potential to spread enthusiasm for courses and draw in new students – then attitudes may differ.

A changed model of how education is delivered

The increase in student numbers has not, in general, been matched by a commensurate increase in staffing or facility improvements, and overall the character of the teaching experience has changed. Everyone is short of time. The pressure on academics to research and publish as well as teach has increased significantly. Some of the burden of classes has been moved on to research assistants, PhD students and part-time lecturers. Students are taught in larger classes and seminars, there is more use of group assignments (promoting collaboration and the development of presentation skills but also requiring less individual marking) and there has been a marked reduction in the former closeness of academic–student relationships. Some would argue that this motivates students to become independent learners, others that higher education is fast becoming a process of transferring information.

In general, publishers have been reluctant to give up the textbook model, which has long yielded profits and that parents (who understand from their own time in education that books support learning) have often been willing to underwrite (sometimes through online access to their own book purchasing mechanisms). Rich profits have been made by publishers offering the single textbook that supports a popular course. But the textbook model is now being reviewed for the online generation. Students are becoming increasingly unwilling to buy print editions when they become out of date so quickly. In some disciplines new editions appear annually, with few changes apparent, but an insistence that the new edition be purchased.

There is increasing demand for publishers to deliver content rather than a single format, with the availability of additional supporting materials (e.g., website and downloads) playing a key part in deciding which resources to adopt – even if they subsequently get little used.18 A publishing house is much more likely to sell content if it can make the bibliographic details and print-on-demand facility available, quickly and in standard electronic formats. Some publishers are developing standard ‘content cartridge’ models so that core content to support students can be loaded into the online learning tools used in universities.

Information managers are working with academic staff to build electronic profiles based on their interests, and they want to work with publishers and other suppliers to access information about new titles through these profiling processes. Instead of course reading lists, which students lack the time or inclination to consult, course administrators may now put together course packs that pick and choose from the various materials available, and provide all the supporting material in one handy source. But the huge class sizes mean that libraries cannot possibly hold enough copies of supporting resources in print form, and hence they are looking to publishers to provide them with ‘granular access’: e-content licensing opportunities so they can secure the bits they want, much as happens with online journals and databases. All are becoming intolerant of time-wasting in the ordering process.

The pressure to gain access to the resources they need will only grow, and information managers are meanwhile dealing with students and staff who demand instant gratification for the resources they need to support learning. All expect Amazon-style delivery, and electronic access wherever possible. Significant too is the internationalisation of higher education. Most universities have an international presence and these students, who pay higher fees, want electronic access to learning resources, not to know that there are ten copies in the library, wherever that is. Senior information adviser, business¹⁹ Margaret French comments:

Undergraduates tend to expect both print copies and ebooks to be available. The increasing availability of ebooks is not the solution we thought it would be. This is because the pricing of popular (i.e., core) ebooks can be extortionate. For example, 100 accesses to an ebook can cost up to triple the price of a print copy and with large numbers of students on some modules, 100 accesses does not last very long.

A change in the role of the academic

In order to win promotion academics must publish their research, and juggle how it is made available (via ‘open access’, which costs more at the time of publication, or available only to the subscribers of the journals in which it is published). External assessment processes review institutional research output and high-scoring institutions win increased funding as centres of excellence. This has led to the emergence of a premier league of universities, with strong research departments, which are thus well placed to win further research funding.

Whereas at one time academics had job security for life, today this is increasingly fragile. Many new appointments are made on the basis of a rolling contract that must be reviewed, sometimes annually. If the university (or a particular course) is not paying its way, then staff can be transferred to another department or laid off. Research assistants and research fellows seldom have any job security at all, and no identifiable career path. Over the past few years there has been a strong trend towards the ‘casualisation’ of the academic workforce and regular reports say that academics’ standard of living has declined in relation to comparable professions. Politicians may say that education is a priority, but they usually mean basic skills such as reading and writing, not university teaching.

There has been a significant growth in the requirement to bring income into universities, perhaps through carrying out research for industry and other parties willing to pay. Academics often get no personal share of this external revenue (although part of it reverts to their department or school and they can often use a proportion in pursuit of their own research interests). Over the same period, administrative demands on staff have grown substantially, often through governmental increases in workload, for example teaching quality assessment and research assessment exercises to establish how much is going on and of what quality.

An increased pressure to retain students

Universities are expensive places to run, and there is a real pressure to both recruit students and retain them once they have enrolled, particularly international students who bring even higher levels of fees.

A reduction in the value of the first degree

Another consequence of the wider availability of higher education is the need to stand out within the employment market. One response is the growing popularity of a higher degree, the MA or MSc, which many students (and their parents/supporters) are opting to fund, to try to differentiate applications in the workplace. Many of these are profession-specific (e.g. Wine Culture, Human Resources, Journalism and Publishing Studies), offering employers a swift route to pre-trained employees who can be useful from the day they are recruited. Universities today regularly have to demonstrate that they are boosting employability and relationships with industry and such courses are a good source of relevant examples and statistics. Work experience has become much more significant on the CV than was formerly the case and staff are needed to help support students in finding and managing such opportunities.

This offers important background on the climate into which your marketing materials are being sent, and the trends that will become increasingly important. Here are some practical hints on how to manage the process of promoting publishers’ products to academics on a day-to-day basis.

Promoting textbooks to the academic market

Textbooks are promoted to academics teaching at universities and colleges in the hope that they will be adopted. Adoption means that they will appear under the heading ‘essential’ at the top of the reading list that accompanies each course, and consequently be purchased in large numbers by both the students taking the course and the libraries serving them.

Promotions of textbooks (by email and in print) are generally geared to getting a sample (or ‘inspection’) copy of the new book into the academic’s hand. Each new academic year the local bookshops that serve college populations ask academics for details of what they will be recommending to students and the numbers likely to be taking the courses. They then stock copies according to their experience of what will sell: what the libraries will take, how many students will share a copy, and how many will have the motivation or cash to buy a copy of their own. These are stocked ready for the start of term.

There will, however, be pressure to retain the existing resource and before trying to persuade academics to change the one that is already in place, it’s worth thinking about why they might not want to change their main resource:

• Lack of time (always the biggest factor).

• They have been pre-equipped with lecture notes/slides/handouts by colleagues who taught the module last year, based on the previous title, and thus changing the textbook requires a huge readjustment.

• Team teaching. Many universities are moving to larger modules, often with several members of staff involved in course delivery. It follows that changing the core textbook will require extensive consultation. Easier not to change.

• Familiarity. Lecturers generally teach the same subject only once a year. Familiarity with the format of the relevant chapters is an obvious attraction.

• A vibrant market for second-hand titles. If you change the book, will any students have already bought the old one? Will this mean an academic starts the year feeling unpopular?

Factors that might prompt a change of textbook:

• A book with a more engaged and student-friendly style, which means it is more likely to be used.

• The offer of a free lecture from a publishing representative on how to use the book and why to buy one.

• New resources that go with the book, e.g. lecture slides.

• Really interesting new case studies in the book – featuring big brands, particularly ones they use themselves, excite the students.

• An attractive price that students are likely to be able to afford (small price differentials can make a big difference to how expensive a resource feels).

• Lecturer-only website that offers additional teaching materials (such as sample exam questions and worked examples). They are often little used but can be a key differentiator in this market.

• A prize that students can be entered for – this is popular with the students, and the university’s marketing department is always keen to cover prize-winners in its publications, website and social media usage.

• A really attractive cover that will motivate students to want the book, and encourage them to think the lecturer up to date for choosing it.

There are also a range of softer issues that can be raised: lecturer motivation and an enhanced feeling of professionalism that come from investing in your teaching material and feeling on top of your subject. This might be tackled through guilt (‘When did you last update your textbook?’), envy (‘How up to date do you think your resources are?’) or by questioning your dedication (‘What does your choice of textbook say about your commitment to your classes?’).

In short, when writing to academics, think about their needs and priorities, and not just about your publishing house and why you are pleased with your new title. Promotional copy that begins ‘x publishers are proud to present’ is perhaps not the best opening.

The best time to tell academics about new resources

Contacting the academic market is less time-specific now that different institutions organise their time in different ways. For example, there are traditional three-term years, three-term/two-semester years and two-semester years. Send advance information on forthcoming titles with guidance on how to get an inspection copy as soon as you have it, but always back this up with a realistic idea of when the title will be published. Academics will find it extremely frustrating if they change the key course book only to be told it is not available until halfway through the first teaching term. If this has been their experience of your house, they will be wary of adopting your titles in future. Margaret French again:

Their students will complain too if the core reading is not in the LRC or available as an ebook at the very start of the course. If a book is placed on a reading list, students expect to see it on the library catalogue. A lack of core book stock can result in negative course feedback and affect the reputation of the library.

Distribution of free copies

It is usually worth distributing a number of copies of a new textbook free to key academics without requiring them to recommend it or show how many copies have been bought as a result. Likely recipients include heads of department where particularly large numbers of students may buy the book, or key respected academics within the book’s subject area who may respond with a favourable quotation that you can use in your publicity material.

Most large academic publishing houses employ reps who visit universities on a regular basis, to find out who is teaching what, which resources are being used, spread information on their new titles – and pick up ideas for new products (courses that have large and growing student numbers but are inadequately resourced). Their visits are the ideal opportunity to hand out free copies of existing resources. In return you should ask for feedback which may help with subsequent copywriting as well as providing endorsements likely to influence the market.

Academics tend to be well aware of their key role in the profitability of textbook publishing, and regard free copies as their right. If you look after a stand at an exhibition or conference you may have several soliciting free copies on the basis of the large student numbers to whom they have it in their power to recommend. To provide every university department with a free copy in the hope of securing sales could erode a book’s basic profit margin, so be careful with your largesse. Never give away free copies of non-textbook titles. Profit on these titles is achieved with all the marginal sales – the odd ones here and there. If you have given these away, there will be no profit at all. An effective strategy may be to offer a discount to the market for pre-orders.

Summary books and study aids

Sales of these titles have become particularly strong in recent years, to the detriment of the standard (and it has to be said generally longer) course texts and background reading. Some are available as printed texts, others as websites or downloads.

These summaries are a guide to passing exams, listing all the key information candidates must be able to deliver in order to optimise their chances of passing. With students under severe time-pressure, and academics keen to maintain student numbers to keep the course running and themselves in a job, such products have a widening market.

Also in this category are business encyclopaedias and general reference titles aimed at the professional community, which feature summaries, lists, double-page spreads and a glossary of terms. These may have higher prices, but their professional format and ‘grown-up’ appearance may make them attractive purchases for students and their parents. Lecturers may find such resources equally useful for setting exam papers (each one needs a guide to marking, and lists of key areas to be covered are very useful). If you are promoting a title to a professional market, and feel it may have a wider audience in universities, it may be worth offering a student discount – or a bulk purchase to libraries.

Research monographs

The scholarly monographs promoted to academics are often the result of a PhD or other long-term research project. Markets for these titles are necessarily small, and most of the sales will be single copy, to interested individuals or libraries. Print runs and promotion budgets therefore tend to be small too.

Although these titles may also end up on reading lists, they will usually be listed as ‘further reading’. As multiple sales are unlikely, inspection copies are not offered; rather, they are generally available ‘on approval’. After a period for examination they must either be returned in good condition or paid for.

Although marketing budgets are small, markets are highly specific and easy to target; extensive and costly campaigns are not required. It also pays to capitalise on all additional paths to the potential market. Much use can be made of penetrating the viral networks through which academics involved in particular subject areas communicate. With a print run of 500, sales of 200–300 can recover the costs; selling a further 50–100 gets a good margin, and profits on sales above that can be very substantial.

Professional resources

In some areas of the academic curriculum, particularly within profession-orientated disciplines, publishers preparing relevant resources will be keen to get students using them – on the grounds that habits acquired as students may last a lifetime.

Finally don’t forget the part the author can play in getting academic titles better known (see Chapter 11). Most universities now have PR and publicity departments and they like to show their staff as rounded individuals and hence feature a range of their wider activities and publications – and not just academic ones.

Selling to academic libraries

There has been a revolution in how academic libraries work and how information is delivered within universities. Today librarians are part of the selection process, and may even decide to deliver resources in another way. Decisions about the purchase of new material are made on the basis of knowledge about the entire collection, including electronic resources. Many institutions, perhaps the majority, now spend more on e-resources than print.

Many have now changed their organisational name – university library, learning resource centre (or LRC) and learning centre are the most common names – and this reflects a change in their role, now often with a considerable expansion of the range of services under their management. This is partly due to student preference – students demonstrably prefer accessing information online – and partly due to logistics, where it is more appropriate to locate relevant services. With a reduction in educational intimacy through the teaching experience (increased class sizes and the wider use of group assignments rather than individual essays), access to supporting information through their local resource centre is becoming an important part of the student experience. Surveys have found that many students visit the library or information resource centre every day, the vast majority at least once a week. Many institutions now offer 24-hour opening, at least for part of the teaching terms, and of course all can access information 24/7 through their computers.

This centrality to the student experience is further strengthened as the range of services available through information resource centres expands. Whereas there was experimentation within some universities with the incorporation of computer services within information provision, in the process making libraries responsible for all computer services from lecture delivery mechanisms offering handouts to discussion forums that support them, there is a move away from the complete amalgamation of library and computer services. The current trend is to use libraries as a base for delivery of student support. Through the information resource centre, students can now routinely access learning support agencies (offering advice on how to research and present academic assignments), careers information, help with finance and housing as well as with special educational needs such as dyslexia. Information professionals and librarians are also increasingly involved with the educational objectives of what is being taught, as well as with planning and content of both course structure and assessment strategy. There are two main drivers of this trend.

First, employers increasingly demand graduates who are self-starters, who can investigate and explore issues themselves, and thus challenge and innovate in the workplace rather than simply replicate what has been done before. Their experience as students is fundamental to this personal development and the supported learning environment that libraries and learning resource centres play a vital part.

The second driver is economic. With larger class sizes, and a wider geographical network of students (because of financial pressures many students now opt to live at home, travelling long distances to reach their local university), the resource centre becomes increasingly important to their student experience. Many information centres are also moving to a delivery model that suits the students and their working patterns, which are often intense and last minute. While online delivery mechanisms have long been accessible around the clock, the centres are now increasingly physically open longer and are becoming a haven where students can come to meet each other, research, write and keep warm.

Another common view among publishers is that academic librarians work on percentages, dividing up the budgetary pot into amounts for journals, books and other resources such as printers and photocopiers. Rather, information resource managers are increasingly involved from the beginning of course development. It is common practice for each curriculum area to have an associated ‘information specialist’ who not only reviews the resourcing, but examines whether these resources provide a suitable basis for possible curriculum extensions.

It’s worth a quick digression to understand the value structure of the librarianship profession – which is often difficult for essentially entrepreneurial publishers to grasp. Publishers may spend just one or two years in each job, particularly at the beginning of their careers. Job hierarchies within libraries or the information profession tend to move much more slowly, associated staff feeling a deep sense of loyalty to the organisation they work for. Information professions similarly have a deep commitment to their user base – but they see themselves as conduits, providing access to what is available, rather than committed to housing any particular type of resource. They are increasingly unsentimental about books and the printed format. They want value for money for their institutional budgets and to hold resources that enhance the relevance and prestige of their collection and its usefulness to their clientèle.

What academic librarians buy

When deciding in which resources to invest, librarians look for a dynamic mixture that will best suit the academic needs. This may be part books, part purchase of licences, part printed journals – but the mixture chosen will match the learning needs, not any specific or pre-planned portions of a budget. The use of all resources is closely monitored, documented and discussed. Librarians will know which authors and titles receive the most use by students and will purchase additional copies and new editions to meet demand. They are pragmatic and well informed – and above all do not want to tie up funds in resources that will not get used.

Librarians with subject responsibilities will purchase titles for specific curriculum areas in the library. This is because academics are not always very good at recommending books beyond their reading list requirements. It is often left to the librarian to keep an eye on what is being published and purchased by other libraries (COPAC 20 is a good way of checking this) in their subject area. This ensures that the resources budget is used up and spent on stock that is current, relevant and enriching. They are also keen to ensure that students are able to study as effectively as possible. Margaret French comments:

The expectation of students as independent learners means that many libraries actively promote study skills books and have designated study skills collections. University librarians are often on the lookout for this type of resource and will purchase independently, i.e., without recommendations from academics.

The other point to bear in mind is that resource managers are dealing, on a daily basis, with consumers who are highly technologically adept. Students today have grown up with screen access, and understand how to cut, paste, download – and fast. They are intolerant of system difficulties. There is fast-growing understanding within the student market that information as a commodity belongs to all and must be accessed quickly. At hearings for cases of ‘academic misconduct’ there is often a real confusion about the role of the author (whether of textbook or student essay) in creating ideas; the student view tends to be that what exists should be accessible to all. And while information managers have a clear grasp of copyright, and are meticulous about adhering to procedures that capture and reward ownership, it can be argued that the student desire for free access to what is available has more in common with the information resource manager’s determination to provide access for the market than the publishers’ hegemonistic view of their own material as superior to their competitors, and their brand as meaning something.

Increasingly, if information managers can’t get what they want from publishers, they will go elsewhere, sometimes turning publisher and distributor themselves. There is a growing trend to assemble resource packs to support student learning, taking material (by agreement) from a variety of different sources to provide students with the best possible learning support. Sometimes what they use is individual chapters from a variety of textbooks, sometimes a direct commission for new material from relevant scholars – remember that information specialists’ knowledge of the curriculum is very strong. This saves the students’ time, ensures they are relying on high-quality information, offers a wider viewpoint than just one textbook, and gives academics who are teaching the reassurance that students have at least some additional material to broaden understanding. It can be incorporated in the course price, and enhances student appreciation (particularly if well packaged). And because resource managers are motivated by access rather than profit, provision in this way can work out substantially cheaper for the universities than the purchase of textbooks. This is a process of re-intermediarisation; it changes the traditional intermediaries (publishers, wholesalers, retailers) on whom the system of information dissemination has up to now relied while still (or arguably better) meeting student needs. In the process, information managers become competitors to publishers rather than merely absorbers of what publishers choose to produce.

If academic librarians are moving from being resource locators to becoming publishers, taking a broad view of the best format for resources and a direct role in their management and delivery, how is the role of the subject specialist librarian likely to develop? One commented:

My feeling is that the days of the subject librarian may be numbered in all but very specialist and elite libraries. A model that already exists in some universities is that a small, often centralised, team covers all subjects. This can represent a significant cost saving because subject librarians (with Master’s degrees and often teaching qualifications) are expensive in comparison to other library staff. The growth areas in the profession are in technology (obviously) and also in customer services, managing and developing the library space and generalist customer-facing elements of the role. In future, staff are perhaps less likely to be taken from library schools and more likely to come from the graduate schemes of major retailers! To lose the intimate knowledge and association between librarians and their collections and librarians and their students is perhaps not progress. But in order to survive the academic library has had to move away from the storehouse approach to collections with librarians as gatekeepers, enabling relevant access to resources users would not otherwise find.

However this plays out, the role of the academic librarian making qualitative decisions about the value of different publisher resources, and then associated purchasing plans, should not be underestimated.

How to approach academic librarians

If targeting university information resource managers with product or service details is part of your job, here is an important checklist of considerations:

• Get the words right. Find out what the institutions and managers you are contacting are called, both their job titles and job functions, and target information appropriately. Ensure your in-house database or the organisation you are renting mailing lists from is up to date too. Information managers are precise people, and getting the most basic information wrong is not a good start.

• See them as an integral part of your marketing campaign, not an add-on. While there is probably little point (and insufficient marketing budget) for the preparation of separate marketing information for academics and information providers, you should bear in mind both their overlapping and different priorities, and send relevant additional information in an accompanying email or letter.

• Specify accurately the courses and areas of curriculum development to which your materials are relevant. If resources are relevant to a variety of different curriculum areas, it may be possible for information specialists to purchase by pulling money from several associated budgets. They are hence very interested in cross-curricular, multidisciplinary products.

• They want to know the pedigree of what you are producing. Author information is crucial, supported by proof of effective information delivery. A whole new hierarchy of effectiveness in academia is emerging (e.g., employability and industry-relevance). Obtain quotes and endorsements and use them on your marketing information.

• Specify how what you are offering benefits the collection they represent. Librarians care passionately about the reputation of their library, and so resources that enhance its overall collection or increase its prestige are likely to be well received. For the same reason, offering resources with a high price may offer a bold stocking policy that uses up any unspent budget.

• Opportunities for the purchase of high-purchase products, or the bundling together of several resources likely to appeal with an associated offer, may prove popular. If the marketing case is well made, this can present the opportunity to spend a large proportion of the budget in one go (less time-consuming than eking it out over a series of smaller purchases). You may also find that your proposals arrive when there is unspent budget to use up within a short period of time.

• Treat them with respect. Information managers are increasingly aware of the important role they play in publishers’ sales, so treat them as qualified professionals. Emphasise the shared commitment to your joint market – which they probably understand better than you do, and with which they certainly have more day-to-day access.

Selling to educational markets

Educational publishers produce materials for sale to schools: courses and textbooks; assessment and diagnostic materials; resources on educational theory, practice and implementation strategy for teachers; computer software and other digital resources; and much more.

Teachers continue to see publisher materials as the main agents of the school curriculum and for the publisher who can produce materials that meet the needs of teachers and candidates for a subject that is popular at public examination level, and secure widespread adoption, the rewards can be substantial. But getting a title widely adopted in schools can take a long time. Teachers need to evaluate sample copies of new material and see how they relate to the syllabus and set texts; try them out in the classroom and discuss the results with their colleagues (and in particular the staff member with responsibility for that area of the curriculum), the head teacher or principal and/or local educational advisers.

There are also substantial associated investment costs. Developing new materials in response to government-inspired curriculum changes is expensive, requiring long-term investment, and with no guarantee of adoption, the stakes are high. The major players tend to be specialist publishing divisions within larger companies that can provide the necessary funding. Smaller companies tend to specialise in specific market areas, and recently have done particularly well in revision aids for examinations, where there is both school and parent pressure to improve results.

Competition is fierce: from other educational publishers; other interested parties who see schools materials as an extension of their brand within the youth market (which is both impressionable and increasingly monied in its own right) and those selling other products of interest to the educational market – security systems, furniture, training and development opportunities for teachers. With the advent of digital technology, to support both the development of material and its sharing within teaching networks, it’s notable that a growing number of teachers also believe they can develop their own resources.

The response of individual teachers to enforced use of computers in the classroom and digital material is various. School administrators are generally keen but the perception of an educational publisher was that a lot of teachers are being forced harder in this direction than they would wish, with implementation faster in primary than secondary schools. The decision to use digital materials is often based on finance – supported by the need to be seen to be using the latest trend. But educational studies have shown that using print media results in deeper learning. Having a digital edition for use at home does, however, facilitate home study and supported work outside the school.

Recent changes in the educational market

Don’t assume the schools market is the same as when you were in full-time education. In recent years there have been huge changes in the priorities and responsibilities of government education policy and much consequent restructuring. In general, these have involved a move towards national standardisation, so that the same areas are being taught in all schools, and the approach is increasingly cross-curricular. Children learn the same topics from different viewpoints, so the child’s general understanding of life is enhanced (e.g., reading skills are used in Maths lessons to teach children how to read a timetable or make price comparisons in the marketing information from holiday firms). All this is supported by rigorous programmes of inspection and monitoring, and the resulting league tables of school performance.

Parameters of learning are set out for teachers and parents, making teachers more accountable to their pupils and giving parents a clearer idea of how their child is getting on. Children are fully monitored by their teachers, and there is a comprehensive formal testing system to gauge pupils’ progress. All schools are subject to review, and teachers have regular assessments of their performance. These changes have had a knock-on effect on parental attitudes to education and teachers. Seeing league tables makes them more conscious of their position as both funders of the system (through taxes or fees they pay) and consumers (their children experience the system) – and hence more aware of, and inclined to lobby for, their rights. Teachers have seen a corresponding big increase in parental demands, of varying degrees of reasonableness.

Three important factors influencing educational publishing today are:

1 Large investment in the digital delivery of teaching materials

While educational publishers still find that the majority of their income comes from the sale of print – primarily textbooks and related resources – the major part of their investment is going into the development of digital delivery mechanisms, for which demand is growing all the time. Every printed title must have an accompanying ebook. Some of these additional resources are paid for by schools, others are ‘brand-building’ (and therefore free). In some areas of the curriculum, it’s the books that are becoming incidental. Clare Freda, a fifth grade teacher at Lowes Island Elementary School in Sterling, Virginia commented:

We are seeing a trend to switch from traditional textbooks to hands-on ‘kits’ with supplemental textbooks. In some areas, especially science, we are turning away from traditional, formalized testing, to a more hands-on (performance-based) assessment. For example, to teach a unit about time we would encourage the children (my class consisted of those aged 9–10) to learn about pendulums and water clocks and then for assessment give them materials and have them apply the information they have learned to create either time piece discussed, with numerous variables. Two years ago, when I left my last role in New Jersey as a 5th grade special needs teacher, our district was involved in a ‘technology boost’, ordering ‘LCD projectors’ and ‘smart boards’ for all classrooms and funded by the school’s annual parent teacher organization benefit.

In my new school we use ‘Promethean Boards’ rather than smart boards but the concept is the same. There is encouragement to use the ‘ProBoards’ all day and teachers use PowerPoint-type presentations rather than textbooks to present information to students. These presentations can be shared between teachers through the school-wide/district-wide share drive. We incorporate video conferences and webinars into the curriculum, for example we recently had a video conference with NASA, and even our state-wide standardized assessment is taken on the computer.

However, educational publishers are finding that switching to electronic delivery has not brought the economies of scale, and hence increased profits, that have been observed from related developments in scientific and academic publishing, and this has resulted in several large publishing conglomerations reconsidering their long-term commitment to their educational divisions.

2 An increasing closeness between the organisations that offer public examinations and educational publishers

There are obviously huge benefits for the educational publisher that can publish what the examiners consider to be the best resource for pupils taking their examination. And while interested bystanders may wonder what controls are in place to ensure best educational practice and avoid vested interests, this is becoming an important factor in what gets published, adopted and widely sold.

3 The increasing sophistication of educational marketing

Twenty years ago most educational publishers sent out their marketing materials via low-cost shared mailings to schools. While this is still an option, there has been huge investment in the acquisition and maintenance of information about the educational market.

Some publishers have built databases themselves, others rely on the investment of educational marketing companies. The resulting information banks (which must be fully data protection registered) record not only the named heads of department as well as senior school staff, but also which texts they have adopted, and even the results of recent school inspections. The availability of this information (obviously at a much increased cost) means that both calls by educational reps and educational marketing materials sent can be targeted, precise and personal – and can be expected to yield the best possible results.

How schools spend their budget

How much individual schools spend on publisher resources is entirely up to them, and it can be variously allocated. Staff training and chairs may compete with publisher resources. One of the biggest costs for schools is the entry of pupils in public examinations, for which the fees are heavy (to cover setting and marking of papers).

When it comes to teaching resources, teachers are for the most part very diligent in determining which published materials will be best for their school, trialling their hunches in the classroom before major capital expenditure is made. Head teachers and department heads may talk to the local advisory staff and their colleagues in other schools. In most schools or departments, areas of priority for spending are outlined, perhaps at the end of a school year. Publishers’ websites and catalogues are rigorously checked for price comparisons of both installing new materials and the renewable costs of replacing items that can only be used once, such as workbooks. Discussions – and lobbying – over what to buy take place in staff meetings. There is an increased concern with getting value for money, and teachers respond to the possibility of saving money on what they need as they would to any consumer offer – with interest.

For publishers, the process tends to be win or lose; once schools have made their selection and materials have been adopted, they cannot afford to change their minds. If parents have to buy school books, as happens in many markets – and hence there is a resale market for second-hand copies – the pressure not to change a core text can be particularly strong.

How publishers keep in touch with the educational market

Educational publishing tends to be a national market (English language teaching or ELT/ESL will be considered separately), and effective educational publishers need to keep up to date with many different trends in what is happening to education wherever they are based: government educational initiatives, predictions of future demographic developments, and new practices and fashions in teaching. They frequently employ editorial and subject advisers to scout developments and spot good teacher-produced materials being used in schools (the genesis of many a good textbook). They read the educational press (general and subject-specific), talk to local education advisers, school inspectors, examiners and lecturers in teacher training colleges, and attend exhibitions and meetings. They also keep in touch with their sales managers, and visit schools with the reps to hear first-hand how their materials are being received. They know exactly what their competition is producing, and can estimate market share.

Most schools order their materials either directly from publishers or from school suppliers. Digital content aggregation is becoming a common school need and in some territories this is being addressed by booksellers who are hence developing their service to schools far beyond their former wholesaler role. Publishers are also working on their relationships with schools, finding that direct supply brings not only increased profit margins, but also useful information about ordering patterns and time frames (e.g., the best time to send out information on new titles).

Preparing your marketing approach to schools

When targeting information you have to bear in mind the different needs and priorities of those within schools who will benefit from your materials, and who may or may not be involved in the decision to purchase. The difficulty you face is that one set of information has to meet all these needs. For example, the financial responsibility may be with the head teacher/principal or head of department/grade level leader, but it is the classroom teachers who have to make the material work. A new Maths course available to primary schools could offer the principal the benefits of cost-effectiveness, efficiency, longevity, satisfied teachers and classes. The class teacher, meanwhile, may appreciate the practical benefits of your material working well with mixed-ability classes, so that all children can be occupied on the same material at the same time, leaving the teacher free to concentrate on individual needs and problems. School administrators, who usually place the order, may be more interested in your ordering mechanisms and how efficient your firm is to deal with; they tend to have long memories for past problems.

What are teachers interested in? From my research, several major factors emerged:

• Relevance to the curriculum or examination syllabus. Appropriate and attractive material, developed by teachers and examiners for real teaching needs, will always attract attention. Fiona Little, a highly experienced English teacher, commented:

It’s a good idea to target new specifications and syllabus changes; these occur regularly. New strategies mean lots of new texts – and many of the old ones becoming redundant. Teachers feel quite insecure when something new is implemented and look for materials to support their teaching at these times.

• Digital delivery. (whether in whole/part or through additional resources such as an effective website). Whatever the preferences of the teachers, children often prefer learning this way, and schools are starting to experiment with individual laptops for each child. Teaching resources that are delivered through a combination of online and traditional methods tend to attract positive attention.

• Value for money. Schools are perennially short of money, and there are long discussions at staff meetings over what to buy. Concentration is improved by the knowledge that whatever is selected prevents further spending in that subject area for a number of years. Special offers and money-saving gambits on quality materials undoubtedly attract attention. It follows that you should highlight all the special offers and promotions that you are making available to schools: library packs that incorporate a discount; starter packs for courses; an inspection copy system that can provide teachers with free copies of books. Similarly, lay out complete information on pricing and availability in a clear and consistent way. If you are promoting a scheme and the cost of installing yours is less than that of your competitors, provide installation and running costs. (Your reps may appreciate an expanded version of this with item by item comparisons for use when they are discussing prices in schools.)

• Teacher support materials. Whereas many governments lay down what should be taught, in general they do not specify how. Back-up materials for teachers who spend increasing amounts of their time recording and assessing, and therefore have less time for actual lesson preparation, are thus increasingly important.

• What’s new. Teachers are interested in new materials for new needs. If they have been in teaching for a while and worked in several schools they probably know your backlist already; stress what won’t be familiar.

• The relevant level. Indicate the level at which the material is aimed clearly and consistently. On web pages or in catalogues you can offer a series of ‘running heads’ along the top or perhaps down the side of the page or screen so that the teacher can see at any one time the subject and age range of the material being looked at. Repeat the information, with any additional relevant details, under the individual title entry (e.g., header: 14–16; resources for which courses).

• Series of titles. Teachers are in general more interested in complete series that can cater for pupils over a number of years than one-off books that require a hunt for new materials once the final chapter has been reached. Even if the series you are promoting is new and you have only two or three proposed covers of the first few stages available, draw a diagram indicating where the different stages will fit in; show planned materials by outlining covers. This will show your intentions and attract attention to a major new series.

• Illustrations. Use covers, illustrations from the books and specimen pages. Make the specimen pages large enough to read.

• Marketing information that they can access quickly. On websites and in catalogues ensure your searching capabilities are good and the structure logical. Ensure the cross-referencing and website links work and that printed materials have an effective index. On the contents page, list new titles and provide page references. Some publishers produce new book supplements that appear in the centrefold of the catalogue; extra copies of these can be usefully run-on for use at exhibitions or insertion in mailings.

• A friendly approach. Have a professional and yet chatty introduction on your home page, or include a letter with your catalogue. Some publishers put a signed letter from the subject editor (and occasionally a photograph) on the inside front cover of the catalogue, and research shows it gets read. This can be a very useful place to remind teachers that you are interested in their suggestions for publication, which bonds your interests.

• Practical effectiveness of the materials on offer. Show that your materials work. Include information on how particular schemes are working, include quotations from other teachers on the benefits of your products, details on the progress of new materials under development. Lay out the scope and sequence of new materials in an easy-to-read manner, to help teachers quickly assess whether or not it will be easy to plot their lessons in between the hectic schedule of a school day that includes assemblies, field trips, presentations, birthday celebrations, meetings, etc. You are selling to a very specific market; write about what interests them.

• Information that is easy to respond to. Print telephone numbers and website addresses large enough for them to be found in a hurry. Allow teachers to register for inspection copies via your website, and include freepost inspection copy request cards in your catalogues. Put them on a separate sheet or an extension of the back cover of the catalogue rather than the back cover itself: teachers are reluctant to destroy books, even promotional ones. Perforate where the tear has to be made to detach them. Include a stock list or order form in case schools have difficulty in ordering and a card asking for a representative to visit the school.

How to reach the market

There are a number of well-established methods for promoting to educational markets:

• mailings to schools;

• emails to teachers;

• representation within schools;

• mounting displays at exhibitions and conferences;

• an effective website;

• telemarketing;

• despatch of inspection, approval and free copies;

• getting involved in support mechanisms for teachers;

• educational press for reviews and space advertising;

• free publicity.

Mailings to schools

Printed brochures and catalogues are still the most common form of promotion to schools. This is because so many people tend to be involved in educational buying decisions. Teachers are natural collaborators; they have to discuss the materials they are considering buying, and printed marketing pieces are not only easier to discuss, they also give a flavour of the quality of the final product. So while email alerts to individual teachers can work well to announce new materials, or tell them about materials they may buy for themselves, there is still a strong demand for printed information.

When to mail? Schools receive their annual budgets at the start of the new financial year, and educational publishers therefore tend to send their main information (usually their catalogues) a few months before this, when teachers are considering how to spend the next year’s budget. This can be followed up with mailings at other times of the year, usually just before the budget arrives and at the start of the new school year. It’s often a good time to email or mail a reminder about 6 weeks before the end of the financial year, as there may be money still in the pot that cannot be carried over to the next year.

What to send

Publishers producing materials for the youngest children usually produce an annual catalogue in full colour, and follow this up with specific emails, leaflets on major courses and other information sheets during the course of the year. Most publishers for secondary-age pupils produce a series of individual subject catalogues, one for each curricular area in which they publish and a complete catalogue listing everything. Again, these are followed up with specific promotions on major works. Extra stock of everything produced should be sent to the reps visiting schools for them to hand out as required (and additional information should be up on the website before the mailing goes out, for those who seek more details).

Bear in mind, however, that teachers are as susceptible to feeling that they are reaching information overload as any other profession, but are perhaps more inclined to respond with an ethical objection. Repeated mailings of printed material look wasteful. As schools tend to file the catalogues when received, only one physical mailing a year followed up with emails referring to the website or the catalogue is probably enough.

Whom to send to

Specialist marketing organisations have built databases from which to contact this market (and some publishers have built their own). The costs of building and maintaining lists should never be underestimated, but as schools tend not to move, this may be a good investment.

Most educational marketing organisations offer a two-tier system. Publishers can pay a one-off fee to send out information to all schools of a particular type (e.g., secondary, primary, private). To receive a higher level of service, and for an annual subscription, publishers can gain access to a highly sophisticated programme recording each school’s specific text adoptions, staff responsibilities and contact details, budget, feedback from the most recent school inspection – and much more. Of course such information is expensive to research and maintain, but it may well be worth it. For example, access to such a detailed profile before a rep’s arrival in a school can make a considerable difference to the relevance of their presentation, and the key people within the school whom they try to meet during the visit. Primary school publishers can note large schools that adopted a rival publisher’s materials several years ago and may be considering a change – and hence might be receptive to the idea of a formal presentation to staff, after school hours.

When considering mass mail-outs, primary publishers usually send their material to the head teacher, principal or head of subject. Mail addressed to the head is routinely opened by the school administrator and passed on. After a quick look through by the head – and perhaps a short note to the subject coordinator involved if something looks particularly interesting – the catalogue tends to be stored, along with material from other publishers, in the staff room or the head’s office until the time comes for deciding how much to spend and on what.

In secondary schools the overall budget is divided between the various departments, and it is the department heads who have responsibility for spending. Specific mailings can be addressed directly to them (again names are available from list rental companies), but for the general despatch of catalogues, publishers often send a package consisting of separately marked items for different department heads to the school administrator, together with a letter asking for the contents to be divided up as appropriate. This is obviously considerably cheaper.

In some (not all) markets you have the choice whether to send your material yourself (bearing all the costs of postage and despatch) or to join with others in a shared mailing, which costs less. Schools tend to say they don’t care how the promotional material arrives, but if a catalogue reaches the school on its own it is perhaps more likely that a teacher will sit down and browse through straight away. Most people would be daunted by the simultaneous arrival of four – or more – catalogues, and perhaps put off looking through them until later. On the other hand, the fact that all publishers tend to send their material at the same times of year could adversely affect this theory.

If you do decide on a shared mailing:

• Try to find out who else is to be included in the pack. There are bound to be certain major competitors with whom you do not wish to join hands as your materials arrive in schools.

• Do specify a position within the pack. If the mailing house is using plastic envelopes, find out whether your catalogue can go on the outer edge.

Don’t forget other potentially interested parties, for example, teacher training colleges, subject advisers, teachers’ centres, school suppliers who may stock and promote your titles.

Emails to teachers

The attitude to email within schools varies. Some schools see teachers receiving information this way as a benefit – in that it reduces the amount of post entering the school and the time taken to open up shared mailings, divide the contents – as well as deal with all the personally addressed items.

Others see it as a managerial issue, and would rather their staff were planning lessons, teaching or consulting with colleagues than reading emails. A significant indicator is how individual schools encourage parents to correspond with teachers. Some see it as a quick and easy way of getting and giving feedback, others feel they must protect their staff, and that encouraging parents to get in touch through the school office, or the regular opportunities to meet at parent–teacher events, cuts down time away from the classroom.

Educational marketing companies are now routinely collecting institutional email addresses from teachers where they are provided, and other teachers pass on their home email addresses when they attend exhibitions. Coverage is not yet uniform or entirely reliable, but will surely only increase. One teacher commented, ‘Email is definitely the way to go! I rarely use the telephone during school hours because I do not have a telephone in my classroom, and the few phones accessible to me are in a noisy faculty room.’

For teachers who do like to receive information this way, email alerts are useful, directing those who are interested to a website where they can request a sample copy. Email alerts also work well for titles they may consider purchasing for their own use, and paying for themselves.

Representation within schools

In the struggle to get your materials adopted in schools, the reps who visit them are immensely valuable. The feedback in terms of sales figures and emails, that results from mailings is statistical but largely impersonal – you do not know why your material was chosen or not chosen. It is the reps who get the eyeball-to-eyeball reactions to your pricing, subject coverage, durability of format and so on.

Your house may have its own sales team, or you may employ the services of an external agency. Typically separate teams concentrate on secondary and primary schools. Reps (who are often ex-teachers) are usually briefed by the editors and the marketing team at regular sales conferences, held twice or three times a year in preparation for the major selling seasons ahead. (For more specific advice on presenting at sales conferences, see Chapter 12.)

Visits to schools are usually made after appointments have been set up; display materials and sample copies are carried in for presentation during morning and lunchtime breaks, preferably in the faculty or staff room. What the reps carry has become more complex in recent years. They travel in estate cars loaded with display boards, posters and boxes full of inspection copies, and write reports on every visit they make.

The sales manager organising reps’ activities won’t want to set up a separate and time-consuming chain of command, whereby a host of additional people receive reports, but do make the most of your contact with them. You may get the chance to talk to them at sales conferences, but if you can, arrange to go out visiting schools for a day with them. You will cramp their style as most reps value their independence. Make the most of the opportunity and learn from their swift delivery of sales benefits; there is not time to pass on all the background information you may consider relevant. It’s a very useful lesson in copywriting, particularly for those who up to now have spent a lot of time thinking up bullet points on product benefits rather than understanding the practicalities of funding materials in schools.

Many publishing houses have used the difficult market as the justification for upping their sales effort, requiring reps to demonstrate products at faculty or staff meetings rather than just represent them. The stakes between winning and losing adoptions in schools are so high that detailed explanations of products by the reps after hours are increasingly common. Teachers can be asked from a variety of different schools in an area, perhaps with an editor in attendance to explain the background to the new scheme. Similarly, when schools are involved in the development and piloting of new materials, the publishers not only demonstrate their commitment to practical and workable products but build up long-term loyalty.

Mounting displays at exhibitions and conferences

Professional conferences for teachers tend to occur outside term time, for regular exhibitions and conventions sometimes staff are given time off to attend. Returning to Clare Freda: ‘In New Jersey, a teachers’ convention is held annually in Atlantic City. All teachers in the state are given a four-day weekend in order for them to go to attend workshops, presentations, and to receive free material and samples.’

Attending such events is a useful extension of the rep’s activities. Some firms have mobile exhibition teams that mount large stands; others require the rep to do this as well. If you can, do go along to important meetings in your subject area. Not only do they provide a very useful opportunity for both editorial and marketing staff to meet school contacts made by the rep, and to explore current teaching trends, they also allow you to view the competition.

An effective website

An educational publisher needs an efficient website, giving both basic and additional information whenever the teacher needs it – and providing a feedback mechanism for individual queries. The teaching day is heavily prescribed; there are only specific times at which teachers are free to find information, and so accessing it via a website makes the best possible use of their time. A query can be sent and the answer received whenever the teacher is next free to pick it up – when there is not the time for a phone call. It should be easy to read, interesting, kept constantly up to date and monitored so that feedback is dealt with efficiently. See Chapter 9 for more details.

Telemarketing

In-bound

The publisher’s website can deal with many basic questions (‘frequently asked questions’ [FAQ] sections are particularly useful), but in addition, most publishers offer a telephone helpline for information and direct orders. Most schools have an organisational credit card for ordering items people need in a hurry.

Out-bound

Bearing in mind the very limited times of the day that reps can talk to teachers, telemarketing can be an effective means of making direct contact with specific subject teachers. The telephone numbers of schools (and often email addresses of teachers) are offered as an additional service by firms offering mailings to schools. There are some departments (e.g., music, art and any form of technology) that tend to have their own staffroom and kettle, and so tracking staff down to these locations, at the right times, can be a very good way of securing their attention.

Dispatch of inspection, approval and free copies

Teachers need time to look at material they are considering for adoption in their schools, so most educational publishers offer a system of supplying books ‘on inspection’. Orders can be placed via the web, freepost reply cards are included in mailings for teachers to request the titles they would like to see, and reps are encouraged either to hand out inspection copies or order them for the staff members they talk to.

The rules for getting them vary slightly from company to company, but the principle is the same. A teacher may keep a book requested on inspection if multiple copies (usually 12–15) of the title are ordered for use in the school. In general, a book available on inspection must be one capable of being adopted for class use. Other books tend to be available ‘on approval’; after the inspection period has elapsed they must be returned to the publisher in good condition or purchased. There is a grey area in between for some teaching practice-type titles, which could be sold in multiple copies through colleges of education to student teachers. In such cases the lecturer recommending the book may qualify for a free inspection copy.

In general, publishers spend too long describing the mechanics by which copies are available, and insufficient time encouraging teachers to really get to know the materials they request and discuss them with colleagues. Most books sent out for review will end up being pulped on return anyway, as they are ‘un-saleable’ (or it’s just too expensive to put them back into stock). Teachers will be more likely to get to know a resource they are encouraged to look at than one they are frightened of damaging.

When you do despatch samples, send out a form with each one asking for the recipient’s comments. Those that get returned will be an invaluable source of promotional quotations later on; first-hand feedback from practising teachers will be very convincing to the market.

Getting involved in support mechanisms for teachers

There are other methods of getting information to teachers. Teacher training facilities, usually (but not always) within universities, offer a chance to impress trainee teachers with your materials when they are impressionable and idealistic, and often long-term loyalties are formed in the process.

Some local education authorities have a teachers’ centre where staff can meet one another, attend training sessions, use the library and much more. There are also school advisers variously available, from being suddenly parachuted in to support short-term crises, to offering support and advice on a long-term basis. All are qualified and experienced teacher/managers. The extent to which they are used or listened to depends on the views of the principal or head of department (some regard them as spies, others as offering extremely valuable fresh viewpoints) and the disposition of the advisers themselves. Contact lists are available by the subject or age of children on whom they advise. Keep them in touch with your publishing programme.

There are organisations that offer teacher training and development days in schools. All these are valuable marketing conduits for information on publishers’ products.

Educational press for reviews and space advertising

Education has a supporting professional press, and educational publishers regularly send materials to education correspondents in the hope of a positive review that is likely to influence teachers. For similar reasons, other key people may be targeted – government ministers (in the hope of gaining influence rather than specific recommendations that they would not be allowed to give), well-known former teachers and some parents.

Whether you should advertise in the professional press is more complicated. The relationship between paying for advertising space and hence supporting an educational publication, and expecting coverage in return, is a complicated one. Advertising pays for editorial yet advertisers are not rewarded with automatic coverage. You do however have the right to have your materials at least considered for review.

Chapter 5 offers advice on the organisation of space for advertising and promotions, increasingly linked areas of marketing activity today.

Free publicity

Chapter 10 deals with securing free publicity.

Selling educational material to international markets

English language publishers used to export educational texts to their connected overseas territories virtually unchanged. As curricula were altered to reflect growing local nationalism and priorities, many such publishers set up subsidiary houses in these locations, e.g., in English-speaking Africa and the Caribbean. They used their expertise to train local staff to edit and handle the production of texts specifically for the immediate market.

While some English language publishers still produce textbooks for export, in particular in science and mathematics (some funded by aid agencies), such export sales have in general declined. But for the publishing industry as a whole, the decline has been more than offset by the dramatic rise in sales of English language teaching materials. In contrast with home educational markets, where stable populations have ever-less money to spend, the expanding markets for English language teaching materials, both at home and for export, offer such publishers dramatic potential for growth.

The group term for all the materials is ELT (English Language Teaching) and this can be further subdivided into EFL (English as a Foreign Language, e.g., teaching English to French nationals) and ESL (English as a Second Language, e.g., teaching English to those who have moved to English-speaking countries). The English that is taught may be British English, usually called TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), or American English called TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language). TOEFL is the qualification in English language to get into an American university or professional institution.

In addition to selling to those teaching or learning English in their home market, UK and US publishers compete to sell their wares overseas and their success is influenced by geographic location, political trends and hostilities, and the job and course aspirations of students. For example, in Latin America TESL is mainly learned, in Europe and the Gulf mainly TEFL, and both sectors compete for Japan.

The main markets for ELT materials are Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, the Far East and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Basin and Latin America. The opening up of Eastern Europe and the expansion of the European Union both offered important opportunities for the sale of materials. The private study market also offers big potential for sales to ‘adult learners’ (note the vocabulary, which distinguishes them from younger sounding ‘students’). Language school courses, usually taking place during the summer, also offer considerable potential for sales and are often where new ideas on how to teach language are developed.

The main ELT publishers are a few large companies that can provide major courses supported by reference and dictionary material. Smaller publishers moving into this area need substantial backing.

Marketing responsibilities for those looking after ELT materials are varied; similar to those used for other educational texts but even more time-specific – the selection and delivery of materials in time for teaching is crucial. Most houses produce catalogues and leaflets (print and digital) which are circulated to colleges and teachers. They also rely on teams of representatives who make visits and they keep their community of users connected through social media communications (see the Cambridge University Press case study in Chapter 9).

Some UK publishers have formed co-publishing deals with European publishers to gain better access to overseas sales, others produce special editions for particular markets through deals with regional authorities or ministries of education. The industry has spawned its own press, both specific to certain examinations and in general, and in markets where ELT publishers are active there are often lively subsections of the main professional organisations for publishers and authors.

Marketing to doctors and other healthcare professionals

The healthcare market is an important one for publishers and is served by a range of different organisations, from large international groups to small associations who manage a few society journals.

While editors and those commissioning titles will generally have sector experience, it’s not uncommon for marketing colleagues to work in this area without the benefit of previous academic or professional experience, so some general guidance may be helpful.

The first important thing to convey is that far from being a joined-up profession, medicine is a whole series of different careers, with specialisation the likely outcome of them all. Governments tend to talk about ‘doctors’ as a group, but in reality generalisations are difficult and even what would seem to the external observer to be clear subject areas are a series of sub-professions. Some common ground may, however, be identified among doctors:

• They were successful at school, were accepted to study a subject that was highly competitive, a source of considerable prestige for their educational establishment and their family, and which offered a direct route to an employable future. They have been in formal education for longer than most of the rest of the population.

• They are robust. As part of their training, all doctors get to examine, and often dissect, a complete cadaver (usually that of someone who has given their body to medical science). Week by week, in dissection practicals, they reduced it to bits (or did this virtually). They tend to be self-assured and, perhaps fuelled by their experiences, often seem to display a dark sense of humour. There is a significant number of comedians and performers who are doctors or ex-doctors; at arts festivals medic ‘revues’ are plentiful.

• They feel time-poor, and perhaps as a consequence are entirely used to accessing information, extracting and digesting what they need to know and making quick decisions. A glance at databases offering drug information, available to all prescribing doctors, is useful background information on how to format information for this market. It presents a no-frills approach with which doctors are comfortable.

• Constant observers of the accidents and unkindnesses of daily life, and in general themselves well remunerated, they are consumers of lots of things besides materials from medical publishers. At a recent focus group I asked a group of doctors which advertising campaign had caught their attention in recent weeks. Of the six present, one said a political party, another a brand of drink, a third pet insurance, a fourth clothes and a fifth holidays. The only marketing aimed specifically at doctors to be mentioned was a campaign from a drug company that they had found incomprehensible. One later commented:

Medics are no different from the general population. Perhaps with a more healthy understanding of how little we really know. Perhaps with a more realistic understanding of how much can be done.

How to communicate effectively with doctors

Doctors like you to be specific

Medicine is a vast profession. Whereas the specific structure varies, in most systems the process of becoming a doctor begins with a degree at medical school that includes clinical training. After graduation there is now a 2-year foundation period, rotating through a range of specialities, extending the duration and breadth of the old house jobs. Then most will head in one direction or another to specialise further, with general practitioners opting to specialise in the delivery of medicine within the community.

Medicine is a very hierarchical profession, and certain specialities attract more prestige than others. The more specialised the branch of medicine in which doctors are working, the more specific the information sent to them should be. It’s also important to appreciate the divide between them and the various medical, technical and administrative support they receive, e.g., nursing colleagues and those offering support for patients within the community. Such groups may constitute an additional market for the same product range, but perhaps need separate targeting.

This is also a profession in which personnel move fast, and keeping track of such changes can be difficult. In the early stages of a hospital career, job moves may be particularly swift; certain branches of medicine receive more funding, and clinical developments may be faster in some than others (e.g., knowledge and developments tend to move faster in oncology than psychiatry). Maintaining contact lists of trainees is very difficult and it’s hard to keep lists up to date. For example, in the UK the address supplied by all practitioners to the General Medical Council may not be helpful as this is probably their parents’ address. On the other hand, GP principals and partners and hospital consultants may be stable for years. For this reason, investment in the management of market data will have to be a priority, whether it is managed in-house or your publishing house relies on a third-party organisation to provide contact lists. An effective alternative is to rely at least in part on the professional organisations all doctors belong to for direct delivery of marketing materials, often through flyers placed in their journals.

Should you communicate with doctors by leaflet or online?

One common complaint from doctors is that they receive too much marketing information. Although they seem to be generally aware of what they are sent, there is simply not time to read everything in detail. Preferences emerged:

(I prefer) mobile, straightforward electronic access.

I now prefer to receive things by email probably because it is easier to handle. If it fails to capture my attention I can easily delete.

Email gives me the opportunity should the need arise to easily find cross-references and other relevant research.

I have to say now that emails just get deleted. A flyer might get a few seconds of my time.

Although there was some generational bias, with younger doctors generally preferring online access, much more commonly commented on than the format of the marketing material they received was its relevance to them, and this they could assess very quickly after receipt. Also significant was the helpful overlap of different marketing materials often leading to an order, for example the email that reinforces the leaflet in a journal they subscribe to, followed by the opportunity to see the title at a conference they were attending:

I personally feel that there is too much email traffic and email flyers are a turnoff. I prefer to read off paper. I find the flyers I get in journals for new publications are most useful at catching my attention. I have the time at conferences to peruse the trade stands and regularly review new books on my areas of interest there.

Other factors are significant too, such as topicality:

I get both print and online. More online. Slightly more likely to pay attention to online marketing but really don’t pay much attention to either unless it is something I have been thinking about at the moment I get the material.

And ease of access:

Emails usually have links to the sites, which are easier to access. What irritates me is if I get an email, click on the link and it asks me to sign in. I never get beyond that.

It follows that mechanisms for finding out more – and ordering – should be easy to use. Ensure telephone ordering lines are established before you make them publicly available and that online facilities are fully navigable. Doctors are under strong pressure and dislike wasting time.

Some doctors respond to the vast amount of post by giving their home address for the delivery of mail rather than their work address. A large and (growing) percentage of general practitioners work part-time, and some of these seem to receive their professional post at home. The medical marketing materials sent thus have to compete for attention with the domestic mail. The scale of the post received in this way is enormous. One recently retired UK GP commented: ‘When I retired, I wrote to the Medical Mailing Company to delete me from their lists. Two months on the amount of mail we receive at home has dropped by two-thirds. I knew I received a lot of information, but had not registered quite how much it was.’

What is sent is not all direct competition in the form of other marketing leaflets. The post includes a wide range of free and paid-for magazines and journals, and samples. There is also the chance to receive medical and related books free from pharmaceutical companies, who purchase such titles from publishers and then give them away as promotional incentives, to encourage them to take an appointment from a representative or attend a presentation.

Another common strategy used by doctors to limit the amount of information they receive is to concentrate on what they have requested – so anything from their professional association will get opened, and they may use its organisational intranet to search for further relevant information.

It follows that marketing materials to send to medics need to be:

• Adequate for the job

Remember that this is a market used to receiving lavish promotional materials from pharmaceutical companies, supported by presentations from well-qualified and trained representatives. While you should not waste money or produce over-costly materials, if you want to get noticed you must offer something that at least holds its own.

• Clearly identified as coming from a specialist publisher

Medical marketing materials should have authority. Make it clear early on (in the subject line of an email or on the envelope) that you are a publisher (not a pharmaceutical company). Present your information clearly for what it is, rather than using bland promises of career enhancement or humour (an oblique approach often used by drugs companies). For example, ‘New titles from Bloggs Medical Publishers’ or ‘Look inside for substantial savings on Bloggs Medical Titles’ are more likely to be effective than ‘Getting to the top can be tough. Bloggs’ new book makes it easier.’

I tend to bin junk-mail by default. This covers anything I do not expect or comes from a sender I do not recognise. I tend to look at mail sent with RCR 21 (and other professional bodies) documents closely though. Glitzy marketing materials are not what gets my attention but rather evidence. So statements, facts are what I notice. While I accept that you have to do something to attract the attention of your prospective buyers, some of the marketing materials I receive do not look any different from materials used to sell shampoo, which is why I do not take notice of some materials.

• Correctly addressed

Think carefully about how you address this market; although regional variations in title will occur, in general they prefer to hear themselves referred to as ‘doctors’ rather than ‘medics’:

Medics to me is a term originating from university days used to differentiate medical students as a group from other university students. It carries with it images of ‘Medics’ Rugby Team’, ‘Medics’ Ball’, ‘Medics’ Revue’ – all very social, non-professional and implying familiarity.

We may use medics as a term about ourselves, especially when at med school, but most doctors in the profession will prefer to be written to as doctor or as medical. The term clinical is increasingly applied in a more generic manner to other healthcare professionals, therefore is not specific enough.

• Logical

Your text should be laid out in a concise and predictable order, with photographs of covers next to blurbs, information precise and free from adjectives and overwriting. Doctors can cut through the blurb and need to know quickly what is in it for them.

Several doctors commented that any product worth buying has to make its case. There has to be enough information to enable the doctor to make a buying decision. One said: ‘Too often, marketing information promotes a brand, and the accompanying brand image, but spends insufficient time early on in explaining the significance of the product. I don’t want to have to hunt for this information, I want them to tell me.’

With a lot of information to wade through, ensure that your text is in a large enough type size to be read, and that design features enhance your message rather than compete with it. In many areas the quality of the reproductions included will be particularly significant, so your marketing materials will need to convey an accurate impression.

Remember too that the medical community is international and doctors take up exchange programmes and courses worldwide. So never assume that the recipient of your information is necessarily a native English speaker.

• Correct

Be sure to include and emphasise key terms and acronyms within the profession. If you are unsure, get them double-checked by someone who does know. Getting them wrong is worse than not trying to be up to date.

The following information is essential:

• Who has written this and where they are based. Medicine is practised differently in the US, UK and continental Europe.

• Subject matter and level.

• Contents list.

• Publication format.

• Price. If the title or resource you are promoting has a high price, make it look appropriately weighty – have your designer ‘airbrush in’ the spine and pages – to show value for money or show how many print books an online resource replaces. Many doctors reported that it was actually seeing a book at a medical conference that made them buy a title they had only previously heard of.

• Testimonials are helpful; from people who are known in the field rather than the names of the publications in which their comments appeared. Peer opinion is very important and authors can be asked to approach the right people.

I am more likely to look at something seriously when referred to it by a colleague than if it just drops through the letter box.

• Sample pages, perhaps with captions highlighting particularly significant points. The reproduction quality of photographs should convey the standard of the title’s publication.

• Avoidable, if they so desire. Tell them how to unsubscribe.

It’s not widely understood that in order to delete a name from a mailing list the original sender needs to know from which list that name was taken (usually identified by the code at the top of the letter or address label). Ensure all your envelopes carry a return address in case they are undeliverable. Why not add a mini-questionnaire asking for additional information on whether the right person is being mailed at the same time?

Make it clear that if the envelope is returned without opening, you do not need a stamp to return it. Alternatively, instruct recipients to put the contents in a new envelope and return it to a freepost address. Otherwise they simply won’t bother and you will not be aware that you are wasting money on mailing those who are not interested in your products, or should not be on the mailing list at all – and at the same time promoting an impression that you are out of touch and environmentally unsound (all those needlessly wasted trees). In the process you may also be alienating future authors.

• Cost-effective

Doctors are as susceptible to special offers as the rest of the population, so do remember to make some. Medical texts are very expensive, so added value to encourage them to buy more and save at the same time is good. Interestingly, whereas the corporate and business markets can respond very well to offers to take up a ‘multiple buy’ (coordinate an order for something that all your colleagues need and receive a special discount for doing so), this idea is generally resisted by doctors. They are too busy and this feels too commercial.

When is the best time to promote to doctors?

There is a year-round demand for medical services and services are provided year-round to match. Academic holidays can be a good time to reach academics (with no teaching and the students away on electives, they have more time to read what you send). General practitioners tend to find that the workload is lighter in the summer and given that doctors in a practice are never all away at the same time, they have more time to read your material.

Conferences

Professional and association conferences are a good place to sell to doctors according to their specific professional interests. Many view these as a short holiday, away from their day-to-day duties. They have time to read in the evenings and meet their colleagues.

Books to browse at conferences are very tempting and a great way to see them. Most medical libraries have limited funds for new books now, especially in my field, so the opportunity to see what is available is appreciated.

If your organisation decides to attend a medical conference, circulate information through delegates’ packs, course administration and associated exhibition space. Sales may be particularly good at conferences where participants don’t know each other very well – delegates can wander round the stands at coffee time rather than make it obvious that they don’t have anyone to talk to. Ask your authors which conferences they would recommend you attend or send information to.

Case study

A British consultant in Accident and Emergency Medicine commented on the materials she receives from publishers

Personally I tend to delete or bin almost all medical marketing. If I do give anything a second glance it is a very quick scan of title, author, contents and price. If it comes as a mailshot, I never read an accompanying mailshot letter; I expect the marketing to give me all the info I need to know and I want that info to be contained on one piece of paper. The decision to keep or bin is usually made within about 10 seconds.

In general I look up the answer to a question as it arises. Toxbase 22 and eMedicine²³ are good sources of information, although to be honest I would much rather pull a book off the shelf and look it up as it is usually easier and quicker. The books I find most useful have a no-frills approach and are divided into sections that are easy to skip through to find the relevant part, but then do offer further info if required.

I would rather be written to at work than at home as I want to read other books/escape work at home. The time I spend on-call alone ensures that my home life is invaded enough by work and I resent being reminded even more of work when I’m at home.

I do, however, get irritated by the vast amounts of marketing info we receive for junior doctors who have long since stopped working for us – I like the idea of having a tick box area on the front of the envelope ‘no longer at this address, do not send further mail’ with obvious free return. We never forward marketing mail.

Conferences are a good marketing location – I have bought books from them before, browsing through them first definitely makes me more likely to buy. I do like the feel of a book and the ability to become familiar with the location of the contents. I was once told that ‘it is impossible to know everything in medicine. The skill is in knowing what you don’t know but knowing where to look it up.’ This is the essential service that publishers provide for us.

Other opportunities for publishers in this area

• Doctors as consumers, not just consumers of medical products

Doctors are regular purchasers of all kinds of products (not just medical titles) and as regular consumers they are on the receiving end of lots of marketing materials, which they expect to be suitably professional. One responder to my research questionnaire commented that the experience of the wider marketing industry should be deployed by publishers and summarised this as the ability to:

Sell the product on its benefits; give logical and emotional reasons to buy in a ratio of 2:1; write advertising copy which overcomes dominant reasons not to buy (based on a survey of the potential market); offer time-limited discounts with strong calls to action and bonuses for frequent purchase and have a proper website with functioning PayPal links.

In other words, marketing material from publishers should be presented in the same professional way as all the other approaches they receive: to them as consumers rather than as doctors.

The purchasing patterns that affect their professional reading needs spill over into their private reading habits:

I even buy novels from iBooks now. I bought myself a paperback as a treat for my Easter holiday.

I got dragged along to an antique book sale once, probably only time in the last few years I would have bought a book if could have afforded it!

I now treat print books as a treat. They tend to be coffee table books on climbing, wildlife, cooking, etc.

• The popularity of audiobooks

Audiobooks emerged as an underused but popular medium. They have many of the same accessibility benefits of ebooks but perhaps permit information to be absorbed more empathetically:

I prefer ebooks. Really though I prefer audiobooks. I am an avid listener of audiobooks. I would love to have medical texts read to me. I’m not sure this has been tried.

The only hard books I would purchase are reference books. I am now more into ebooks than before. One of the advantages I find is portability. I am in fact now getting into audiobooks.

• Opportunities for material within continuing professional development (CPD)

Continuing professional development is the requirement for all professionals to keep up to date in their field. It is recognised as important across all areas of professional activity but monitored with various meticulousness. Within medicine it is particularly important.

For CPD, both reading materials and monitored tests are needed, and this throws up new opportunities for the marketing and sale of related products:

Perhaps publishers could try a new angle – register their books for CPD and then have short online quizzes based on the book or book chapters with CPD points attached. I learn much better from a book than from a computer screen, but online learning that produces a certificate seems to be the only way that is accepted nowadays. My children have an ‘accelerated reader scheme’ at school that works in a similar way – this would be a great marketing strategy as the time reading the book would actually be recognised and count for revalidation and CPD purposes.

I download journals for work and research. I have bought very few medical ebooks. The last ones were exam question books for FRCR.

Case study

CPD – continuing publishing development? An interview with Dr Stephen Hancocks

Stephen Hancocks Limited started life as a publisher of dental books and journals, based on my previous experience working for other publishers and as a clinical dentist. One of the exciting, and scary, aspects of running a small business is that one never quite knows in which direction it might develop. Quite often thoughtfully conceived, carefully planned and diligently executed schemes fail to catch customers’ imaginations and turn out to disappoint whereas following up a chance remark, answering a question or getting an unexpected approach can change everything one does.

In terms of CPD, we began with a postal programme in one of our journals that the society who owned it then asked if we could put online. At that time, some ten years ago, our website (www.shancocksltd.com) was purely a bookshop but we asked the IT folk and they created a program that permitted this to happen. No sooner had we launched this than another customer for whom we publish and mail a CPD journal, which has a circulation of up to 80,000 copies depending on time of year and target market, wanted the same service. It went live while we were on holiday in Greece and a few days into the first week my email inbox was full with more than 1,000 registrations on the site. That chance request has now led to our having more than 40,000 dental care professionals registered on our site who regularly follow our journals, CPD and new products.

Having realised the potential for online CPD opportunities but discovered that dental users in particular still very much liked print publications, we pondered how we could utilise this in the more mainstream CPD market place. The General Dental Council (GDC) – the equivalent of the doctors’ GMC – made CPD mandatory for dentists in 2002 and for other dental care professionals (DCPs) such as hygienists, therapists, nurses and technicians in 2008. Included in the requirements were a set number of hours’ study of ‘core’ subjects: radiology/radiography, medical emergencies, cross-infection control and ethics/handling complaints. Anecdotally we heard that dentists were finding courses on these subjects either difficult to find at all, or quickly filled as soon as they were advertised but expensive to go on (there was the significant cost of the course plus expenses but additionally a lost half-day or day’s income) as the overwhelming majority of dentists are self-employed.

So, we hit on the idea of supplying a package of four books covering each of these core subjects and writing CPD programmes for each of them amounting to the equivalent of the five-year requirement for the number of hours. The only exception was medical emergencies where we offered less than the required number as we, and the authors, felt that dentists should also have ‘hands on’ experience of this aspect of care and that theory alone was not sufficient. The package of 4 books and 15 hours (subsequently 18 hours when the GDC requirements were raised slightly) was launched to huge demand and our local post office at the time couldn’t believe the car boot full of parcels that we regularly drove up to their door. And actually neither could we!

Each book came with one set of questions but it was only days before we had a phone call from a husband and wife team asking if they both needed to buy the books and questions or could they buy one set of books but two sets of questions? In retrospect it seemed such an obvious service to offer that we couldn’t believe that we hadn’t thought of it. Needless to say we immediately made modifications to offer the purchase of additional sets of questions.

We also began adding CPD programmes to all the books that we published as well as setting up agreements with other publishers. The advantage here is that the publishers benefit from additional sales, and a percentage of the CPD programme income, without the additional work created by the administration and marking of the responses. In modern parlance this is a real win-win situation.

The continuing changes in the technology of the delivery of electronic media and the developing nature of CPD, GDC requirements and expectations mean continual assessment and updating. While dental professionals still like the duality of print and electronic availability, we have to make estimates of how this might shift in the future and try to anticipate how we can continue to best serve our customers. To date they have indicated that they like the quality and efficiency of our services as well as the ‘comfort’ of real books and the convenience of completing CPD at their own convenience and, if they chose, in their own time allowing great savings from not having to take time out of the practice with lost income.

Much pressure is being placed on CPD as ‘proving’ that professionals are keeping up to date whereas all it can do realistically is provide the resources and content for them to implement as they choose. However, rightly, there is increasing need for quality control and prevention of cutting corners that, for example, we have responded to by imposing a ‘voluntary’ 50 per cent pass mark for all our CPD which I am pleased to report that the overwhelming majority of our users easily gain, indeed our audits show that over 85 per cent of users gain more than 75 per cent of correct answers.

In the same way that we are excited by opportunities we also have to be mindful of competition and of changing requirements, habits and expectations. Publishing might seem like a genteel business but it is a tough economic environment so we still look forward to the next chance remark or left-of-field approach that sets us off with another idea in another direction.

In conclusion to this section, and looking ahead, the future for the delivery of medical content is firmly online. Doctors want access to accurate information wherever they are:

Things are developing so fast that I feel that printed books are almost out-of-date by the time they are printed. I read mostly online journals. I download journals for work and research.

My reading: medically targeted queries because I need to for a clinical case – start with online search, library request if no access or have to pay for article. From CPD and a personal reading point, when I get the chance (usually on train, etc.) I use a tablet or mobile device – if I can’t download it or access it directly I may as well forget it.

But things may not be moving as fast as we assume, and many doctors retain a vestigial attraction to the look and feel of a book:

Medicine is continually moving forward and it is said that a book is out-of-date before it’s even in print, further disadvantages of books include the space to store in busy work environments, and they are difficult to disinfect. But there are advantages – it’s easy to save a page or mark a relevant area, avoids multiple printing off of the same page, and is easier on the eye to read.

I could look online, but it’s often easier just to reach behind me and pull a title off the shelf.

My perception of publishers is that prices are largely inflated for information that is otherwise available online, albeit with a little more effort on my part. Increased accessibility of content at reasonable cost may be another way forward, e.g., subscription rather than one-off costs for books, journals and other materials may be the future.

Publishers need to think about the value they are adding to information that is routinely available, and their expertise in storing, cross-referencing and commenting. The traditional skills of the publisher in the effective management of information may turn out to be the most crucial.

The role of medical librarians

If doctors complain about getting too much information within their particular specialisation, then medical librarians are besieged by information on every specialism offered by the institution in question. Librarians have to juggle the different demands of various departments and specialities in an environment where budgets never match requirements. They can be an excellent source of information for publishers seeking to approach medical markets. For more information on contacting this market see the section within this chapter on marketing to academic librarians.

Interestingly, many medical libraries are collections culled from various different sites. For example, the library at our local hospital has three names (based on who originally gave the funding), but they all are the same place. Cross-check the lists you are using to ensure you are not sending more copies of your information than needed.

Selling to professional and industrial markets

For those planning a long-term career in publishing, a role in supplying information and related tools to fast-developing professional markets is a pragmatic move.

Professional people such as accountants, lawyers and financial services advisers need information on which they can rely, and on which they can base services to their own customers. Given time, they could themselves compile and update the detail they and their staff need, but instead often choose to rely on publishers, who are after all experts in the management and delivery of information, to handle the process for them. Using published material also gives professionals access to a wider range of expertise than they may have within their own organisation.

The larger firms have substantial budgets to spend on the information resources they need, and the more bespoke or value-added publishers can make their service, the more valuable it becomes – and the more they can charge for it. And because the profits can be high, and because marketing staff responsible for promotion tend to use measurable marketing techniques and can thus track and prove how effective their efforts have been, there is a tendency for them to be better paid than their colleagues in other areas of publishing.

Important information for approaching professional markets

• Business and professional markets often buy supplier brand, rather than individual contributor. They are buying from publishers core and ongoing values such as consistency, confidence and competence, often to a greater extent than the temporary brilliance (even if amazingly far-sighted) of an individual and perhaps maverick brain. Given that they will be relying on the service provider to access, store, update and anticipate the information on which both their professional service and their professional requirements of compliance are based, they want to be assured that they are buying from an organisation that prizes quality and accuracy, cares about the responsibility that accompanies provision, and that they can trust. Their reputation will be based on the reliability of what you provide.

• They are very time-conscious. Post-university, few professionals are reading a textbook from start to finish. They are consulting resources to find answers to questions and problems, so the searching/filtering functions, to help them find the relevant content, are the key features of the service on offer.

• Publishing relationships through official professional associations or representative bodies can work particularly well in this market, as they reinforce that closeness to the profession. For example, the publisher might become a publishing partner of one of the leading professional bodies or associations in sectors such as accountancy, finance, tax or law. The more niche the professional area concerned, the more professionals are drawn to publications produced by relevant professional bodies.

• When working with this market, you are a supplier as well as a publisher. These markets demand good service from their suppliers, fully aware of how much they are paying. They want to access competence quickly, in whatever format they find most useful. They want the systems to be easy to use; compatible with internal systems and work when they need them (they are very intolerant of mistakes); the functionality to be smooth and easy to operate; indices that allow swift access to content; cross-referencing that is efficient and imaginative. If they lose or destroy what you provided, they still want you to sort it out – and quickly. What is more, this deliverability of the supplier’s promise will colour whatever information you send to them in future. Thus if they have an ongoing issue with your organisation about a separate service that they are dissatisfied with, it will influence how they both view and talk about you to their colleagues and competitors in the much longer term. They will not be impressed if they seek to tell you of a difficulty and you lay the blame (even if correctly) at the feet of another department. To them you are one supplier or maybe even one part of an international corporation, and every aspect of delivery is your responsibility.

• Provision by the publisher of professional detail is a given, something they take for granted – it is what they can do with it that interests them. Insight into the interpretation or application of the information in professional practice is highly valued. Thus they will appreciate an information source if it serves as a tool for effective strategic planning, or an imaginative use of cross-referencing and linkage that enables them to demonstrate and bill for an additional competence to their clients. The publisher’s immediate absorption of, and commentary on, the latest legislative or tax changes enables them to offer a more complete service to those they work for or advise, to show that they understand the implications of changed provisions within nanoseconds of their being announced. Access to information that is kept up to date is critical and has been a major reason for a shift from printed to online materials in this market.

Information publishing is of limited value if it simply serves to inform but does not form part of a profit and growth strategy for the customer. We need to understand our customers’ relationships with their customers and help them achieve their objectives. Motives of fear, greed, self-esteem and social standing are powerful drivers in encouraging sales.

Robert McKay, director, Dunedin Academic Press and regular writer on professional publishing matters

Publishers can charge a lot of money for the additionally managed availability of the service they provide. Consider email or telephone advice and information lines, staffed by real experts, after standard office hours, or advice sections featuring frequently asked questions, all provided in a format that makes it clear the information is tailored to the individual or organisation subscriber, rather than to the profession or client base.

• This market expects you to know them; their workflow; worries and priorities. They identify you as being part of their market – rather than a distant supplier – and expect a high level of involvement in return for the high level of investment they provide. You need to know who they are, to be at their get-togethers, and have a sufficient grasp of their subject matter to be able to keep an intelligent conversation going. Editors and those managing content will most probably have a specialist subject knowledge of the relevant area; marketing staff may not, but it may not occur to your market to ask whether or not you are similarly qualified (they may just assume that you are). So if you are viewing being a professional publisher as a step on the route to working in another area of publishing, keep it to yourself. They will not expect you to talk up your long-term ambition to work on thrillers by Stephen King rather than taxation resources.

• They want the information delivered in the format that best suits their needs, irrespective of how you may prefer to deliver it, or what your other professional customers require. This may be as subscription products, online resources, books and magazines, blogs, conferences and training. They may prefer delivery through their professional organisation (see above) rather than directly from a publisher. Some providers of information sell their product rather like television subscriptions – you can have a basic service and then add on niche products such as PLC Tax and PLC Restructuring in return for paying a bigger subscription.

• This is an area of publishing where only extremely serious players tend to do well. The major publishers in this area are few in number but enormous in size, and highly concentrated in their specialisations. All have access to the same basic information; it is the format, functionality or back-up services that distinguishes one supplier from another. As one business lawyer commented:

In the UK legal market PLC and Westlaw are market leaders. As a user of information it’s the quality of PLC content which it continuously updates that makes it probably the top choice of business lawyers. In the UK you can access all legislation on the government’s own website but Westlaw have managed to sell their legislation service because they provide a function that allows you to look at a section of an act and then scroll through previous versions of the section in force on different dates, which cannot be done on the government site.

In a field of maybe no more than four competing services, these publishers want to be first or second, not third. Whereas much of the publishing industry is grounded in friendly competition, with staff sharing information about markets, and joining in related camaraderie, this area is highly competitive and less collaborative. Focus on the external competitors is total.

• This is a market driven by change. Professions are constantly affected by change, through precedent, government intervention or the news agenda, and the information resources publishers develop and maintain must match. This means that updating must be constantly ongoing – and of course as a chargeable service to consumers. Publishers are judged by the speed of access they offer to updated material. They also need to be able to innovate, as the market can become intolerant of long-familiar but inefficient services. Don’t forget that professionals being targeted see technological innovation in other aspects of their lives, from how they order food in restaurants to how their children download music for pleasure. Publishers need to be up to date on all delivery mechanisms and standards of customer service, not just those that have applied in their own industry up to now.

The professions may have other, and self-supporting, ways of managing their need for information, which do not rely on publisher services. For example, blogs (in legal circles ‘blawgs’) are increasingly important and widely used for sharing ideas on practice and both commenting on, and lobbying for, potential developments. Associated articles emphasise how they have become a key component of the totality of learned and practical information content and how the traditional publishers are being challenged by them. Publishers too are using blogs as a way of connecting with their market, and are often using LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter prolifically, but such contributions work best if they demonstrate expertise and situation analysis of value rather than just offering services for sale.

Events since the financial crash of 2008 have raised compliance, risk and governance as areas of core concern for many businesses not traditionally involved in this market, providing opportunities for publishers to market products to a wider range of organisations than just mainstream professional practice. For example, organisations involved in financial services need information on risk management and governance functions.

Format of published and marketing material

There is a drive to provide all published products for the business and professional communities online; print copies are expensive to produce, store and distribute. But whereas some markets have fully embraced technological access to information, not all are equally comfortable. For example, lawyers often seem to prefer print – perhaps this relates to the need for evidence-based documentation that is unlikely to change in translation, such as the original text of cases or legislation, as well as to their financial models for charging out their services. Often they favour PDF files over HTML documents, as they can be sure that a document sent as a PDF cannot be altered by the recipient. For markets such as these, a model has emerged of an annual printed book, supported by an online and integrated information service that is updated all the time, so an individual can look in the latest edition, establish the principles of the subject, then go online to find out what has happened since it was passed for press.

Nowadays, as enhanced technology makes reading onscreen easier, and new generations joining the professions are more comfortable with online than print, more and more resources are available in this way. This continuing move to online resources has enormous implications for the relationship between publisher and customer, as once a company has adopted a particular publisher’s system, rolled it out via its intranet to fee-earners and employees and encouraged them to add organisational specific references for local use by colleagues, moving to another delivery mechanism with another publisher can be very problematic. Convenience is a substantial factor, and works in the existing supplier’s favour simply because it may be too much effort to change.

For this reason, another useful marketing approach is to invest time and effort in getting products installed within universities and organisations offering professional training. If students get used to using particular resources while they are learning about their future profession, reliance can become a lifelong habit. Making products available at heavily discounted prices to the university market can thus be a very good investment.

You might assume that online delivery of a service would mean that marketing information about why and how to subscribe to it is best delivered online too. Not necessarily. Publishers in these areas tend to rely on a range of marketing methods that offer direct communication with the market: direct marketing; face-to-face representation; social and business media; blogs on relevant websites; demonstrations of technical support at exhibitions or arranged within the supplier’s or prospect’s offices; sponsorship – all as part of the marketing mix, and tracked to find out how effective each has been. The marketer’s task is to combine these marketing methods into an integrated communication pattern rather than rely on any single one. As Robert McKay has written:

Take direct mail, once the basic form of product communication. One senior executive told me recently, though I don’t necessarily believe him, that no marketing person below the age of forty would even think of wasting money in that way. Maybe it makes sense, though. Response rates, even in chasing existing customers for renewal purchases and business in general are pitiful and ever-declining, making expenditure in that direction often not cost-effective. Even lower response rates are achieved by email campaigns but at least the minimal cost of mailing large numbers of addresses and coping with flawed data continues to make this an area of activity. Of course, there must be a problem that, with, say a 0.25% response rate, and a need to sell 1,000 items or subscriptions, 400,000 names need to be mailed. Then the question must arise as to where in a discrete market is anyone going to find so many prospects. They simply don’t exist.24

If a decision to install a particular supplier’s system needs to be discussed with colleagues, then printed marketing materials will most likely be needed. People expect a service that has a high price tag to be presented professionally and, even if it is delivered entirely online, a high-quality marketing brochure explaining the benefits may be required, simply to convince customers that it is being offered by a professional service provider that considers all their needs.

In professional markets a direct response to an initial sales approach is unlikely to be immediately successful; rather, a series of customer contacts is likely to be required, including demonstrations and technical support, and each of these stages must be supported by appropriate marketing materials. A trial period of access to online materials may be needed by potential customers for them to fully appreciate the potential of the product. You should also consider how the competitors are promoting their service, and decide whether to match them – or be different. Your most basic guide for what materials to produce should be common sense supported by an understanding of the market and the emotion likely to be involved in purchase. A key question you should be asking yourself, at all times, is ‘Would I buy from me?’

You will need to develop a specific writing style for this market, one that recognises the concept of understanding your client and your client’s client. You need to speak to the professional adviser but help them communicate with their clients. The words you use need careful attention – and it’s helpful if you can recruit members of the market to comment on your marketing approach and vocabulary. You should consider presenting your company as ‘providers’, ‘researchers’, ‘integrators’ and ‘compilers’ rather than simply as ‘publishers’, and it may be helpful to adopt the vocabulary of the library for those that manage information, hence as ‘professional support service’ or ‘knowledge management service’. Similarly, high-priced products and services are best described as ‘in-depth resources’, combinations of ‘workflow tools’ and ‘professional information services’, ‘compendiums of information and guidance’ or ‘dossiers of the latest research and guidance’ rather than ‘databases’, ‘manuals’ or ‘books’. Remember that there are legal risks in suggesting that publishers provide ‘advice’. They don’t and are normally not qualified to do so. That’s the work of the professional advisers themselves, who are suitably qualified and insured.

It is similarly vital that the impression you provide affirms the overall organisational brand, from well-put-together sales information to personal contacts who are highly informed and professional in appearance. This market wants precision, so spelling mistakes, casual uses of English, poor grammar and an inappropriately ‘matey’ style will all undermine the image your organisation seeks to create.

These are complex products, and no sales representative could be expected to answer all the questions a potential customer has. So your marketing information should answer likely questions; anticipate and reassure by offering information on issues they had not thought to enquire about, but still need to know. Investment in a business’s information provision is very expensive, and those making the purchasing decisions need to show that they have gained good value for money for their organisation and, more importantly, will profit from the investment through client billing. Images should reaffirm the value and potential for profit increase on offer. If your resource provides access to a range of advisory services, can these be represented by showing how many words/volumes/years of professional experience and related research – or people – are involved?

Ultimately it is vital for those marketing products to this market to remember that their market has a choice, and because of the huge financial consequences of changing supplier, a decision to exercise that choice is very damaging for the rejected publisher. Sometimes quite small instances of annoyance or inefficiency – perhaps the product of an ‘unreasonable’ attitude on the part of the customer or thoughtlessness on the part of a very junior member of the publisher team – can become long-held grudges that influence buying decisions years into the future. The more embedded supplier and customer can be, at all levels of their business relationship, the longer-lasting their professional relationship is likely to be.

Notes

1 Variously ascribed: Confucius, the Bible, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain.

2 Romaniuk, J., Nguyen, C. and East, R. (2011) ‘The accuracy of self-reported probabilities of giving recommendations’, International Journal of Market Research, 53(4): 507–22.

3 www.societyofauthors.org.

4 www.brandguild.co.uk.

5 Academic.mintel.com/Sinatra/academic/my_reports/display/id.

6 www.nosycrow.com.

7 www.thebookpeople.co.uk.

8 www.booktrust.org.uk, now running for 80 years.

9 www.worldbookday.com.

10 www.readingagency.org.uk/children/quick-guides/summer-reading-challenge.

11 www.literacytrust.org.uk.

12 www.rif.org.

13 www.roehampton.ac.uk/Research-Centres/National-Centre-for-Research-in-Children-s-Literature/

14 Broadly this means extending readers’ experience, encouraging them to try new authors, genres and types of format.

15 The Orkney Islands are off the north coast of Scotland.

16 A basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use.

17 Published 1859; author George Eliot.

18 The ‘arms race’ for supplementary materials is discussed in Masikunas, G. and Baverstock, A. (2011) ‘How well do UK publishers of marketing textbooks investigate and understand the market to which they are selling?’ International Journal of the Book, 8(4): 93–102.

19 Library and Learning Services, Nightingale Centre, Kingston University.

20 National Academic and Specialist Library Catalogue, www.copac.ac.uk. A means of accessing rare and unique research material by bringing together the catalogues of around 90 major UK and Irish libraries (and growing).

21 The Royal College of Radiologists.

22 The primary clinical toxicology database of the National Poisons Information Service, www.toxbase.org.

23 A quick reference online research tool for doctors, www.emedicine.medscape.com.

24 www.slaw.ca/2011/12/20/reaching-and-retaining-customers.