![]() ![]() You don’t have to fight hard to get us excited about your book, because we already are enthusiastic. We want what’s best for the book as much as you do. MW: I think the biggest thing I want authors to know is that the press’s publicist is your collaborator. Have you encountered any other misperceptions among authors about how publicity works that you wish you could clarify? LPS: Thank you, I think that’s really helpful for authors to know. That’s again where marketing and publicity work hand in hand-if we aren’t getting that kind of coverage that we’re hoping for, we might decide to buy advertisements in outlets that we think would be really applicable, or we can do some more promotion, even on our own website, to boost the book. But absolutely, for somebody who loves control, my job can be really challenging sometimes because I do give it my all but I might not actually be able to secure anything in terms of coverage. MW: A big part of my work is coming up with the best pitches and news hooks that are going to get people the most interested in an author and their work. ![]() LPS: So if I understand correctly, you as the publicist can’t guarantee exposure for the books, but you’re doing your best to get relevant people interested. As the publicist, I’ll craft language for the social media team to share on all our social platforms. So if we get a great organic media hit for the book (i.e., publicity), we’ll make sure the marketing team knows about it so they can promote the hit directly as well. It’s not paid exposure-we just offer up what we have and the outlet decides whether they want to pursue it.Īt Princeton University Press, publicity and marketing work closely together. We might pitch an excerpt of the book to a publication, hoping they’ll want to reprint it. ![]() Our job in publicity is to make the book available to reviewers who might publish a review or interviewers who might want to talk to our author. Advertising in a scholarly journal, posting about our books on the press’s social media account, or bringing copies of a book to a disciplinary conference would be examples of marketing. MW: Marketing involves spending dollars or other resources (like time and labor) to make people aware of a book. LPS: Could you explain what publicity means in the realm of book publishing and how it’s distinct from marketing? Prior to coming to Princeton University Press in 2019, I worked at an imprint of Simon and Schuster, at a small independent press called Other Press, and at an imprint within Penguin Random House. I have worked in book publishing and in publicity for my entire career, which is about ten years. My specialty is publicity, but at PUP we call it promotions because we work closely with marketing. ![]() MW: I’m the Assistant Promotions Director at Princeton University Press. LPS: First of all, please tell us about yourself and what you do. We’re republishing their edited and condensed conversation in full, with permission. For her Manuscript Works newsletter, Portwood-Stacer recently spoke with PUP’s Assistant Promotions Director Maria Whelan about the ins and outs of book promotion and how authors can best collaborate with their publishers on marketing and publicity. She’s also the founder of Manuscript Works, which offers courses, workshops, and lectures to guides academic authors through the publishing process and is part of the amazing cohort of coaches who collaborate with Princeton University Press on our Supporting Diverse Voices Book Proposal Grants. Laura Portwood-Stacer is the author of The Book Proposal Book-an honest and empathetic guide to crafting a compelling scholarly book proposal-and an experienced developmental editor. ![]()
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