Ren é e Tambeau

1. Renée Tambeau Director of Sales and Marketing Wayne State University Press

2. The Basics of Wayne State University Press • 35-40 books published annually (of which 3-10 are distributed titles) • Annual Revenue of $1,000,000–$1,400,000 (books) • Journal revenue adds an additional $350,000–360,000

3. WSU Press Staff Staff of 16 full-time employees, 3 part-time employees, 1–2 interns

4. Marketing Staff • Marketing Staff consists of: • 1 Marketing & Sales Manager • 1 Promotions & Direct Mail Manager • 1 Exhibits & Advertising Manager

5. Marketing Budget • Marketing Budget (without salaries) = approximately $100,000 • Advertising • Awards (nomination fees and marketing is charged unit cost for books) • Catalogs and Direct Mail • Co-op • Exhibits • E-marketing • Publicity • Review Copies (marketing is charged unit cost for books/hard budget to forecast) • Sales (sales reps commissions)

6. Marketing Budget = approximately $100,000

7. Random thoughts on various components of marketing plan

8. Advertising • Negatives include: • Hard to track ROI • Expensive (usually need to place ads multiple times to have impact on buyers) • Done primarily to please/pacify authors • Hard to build and distinguish brand to an overwhelmed/oversaturated market • Viewed with skepticism (versus the perceived objectivity of a review)

9. A book that may be of interest: The Fall of Advertising & The Rise of PR by Al Ries and Laura Ries

10. Advertising • Positives include: • Ads increase visibility for books and Press as a whole • Ads work when selling to sellers • Ads work when you have a specific journal in a very specific subject area • Ads are good tools for acquisitions • Happy authors

11. Direct Mail vs. E-marketing • Technology is changing how people look for information • Cost savings of e-marketing (no printing costs, no postage) is clear advantage • When appropriate, e-marketing pieces can be reused—placed on Web site, given to author to forward • E-marketing is quicker and easier to tailor for various groups if needed

12. Direct Mail vs. E-marketing • Constant Contact (or other programs) can be used to cheaply and effectively remind people you exist and showcase your most recent “products” • Constant Contact allow you to track what the most popular links are so you can see area of interest

13. Direct Mail vs. E-marketing • Direct mail is still viable and useful. We take catalogs and direct mail pieces to author events, exhibits, conferences, ect. Because of a limited budget, we typically promote several books in the same subject area on one piece.

14. Examples

15. Direct Mail vs. E-marketing • We print large amounts of our Web site postcard, which promotes the Press as a whole, but can be tailored to a special sale offer, a special event, etc.

16. Mailing Lists • In-house lists from previous buyers (no rental fee, building off a base that already is interested in/familiar with WSUP titles) • In-house lists that we’ve cobbled together from various sources (often times interns keying in from membership directories) • Rent lists from list brokers, subject area societies/organizations • Author-provided lists

17. Seasonal Catalogs • Decreased seasonal catalog quantity considerably when subsidy was cut and became more conservative with uses; used primarily as a sales tool; currently print approximately 5000-7500 to cover accounts, select media, authors included in catalog, acquisitions use for potential authors. • Mail out approximately 5000-6000

18. Subject Catalogs • Subject area catalogs allow us to highlight several titles in a series/subject area; currently print approximately 3000-5000 (depending on the subject area) and send to logical lists (Jewish Studies catalog gets sent to Association for Jewish Studies and Association for Jewish Libraries, etc.; Film Studies catalog gets sent to Society for Cinema and Media Studies). Also used by acquisitions as a selling feature for the Press to potential authors. • Mail out approximately 80% - the other 20% taken to conferences, sent to authors, used for other promotional opportunities

19. Developing a Marketing Plan • look at fiscal year budget & books • varies depending on academic or general interest title • varies if we get additional funding for promotion • authors — valuable resource

20. Get authors to: • In part, do your research for you • Visit bookstores to encourage them to stock the book or set up author events • Contact friends, families, professional organizations, colleagues, etc. when book is published • Demand that their university’s library order the book • Encourage colleagues and others to write reviews of their books on Amazon and other sites • Contact producers of local shows to pitch book • Encourage colleagues to use book as course adoption (if appropriate)

21. Typical Marketing Plan for Academic Book • Advertisements (appropriate subject area journals–usually one or two ads, often times placed with other similar subject titles) • Award nominations (costs are usually nominal, make authors happy, and can be utilized for additional promotion opportunities if books win) • Catalogs and direct mail and/or course adoption mailers (always included in the seasonal catalog, placed in appropriate subject area catalogs and direct mail pieces)

22. Typical Marketing Plan for Academic Book • Conferences and exhibits (depending on the book, can be sent to 5-20 conferences, focus more on scholarly meetings) • Publicity efforts if appropriate (typically not appropriate for academic books unless timely/interesting subject or important author) • Review copies sent (approximately 3% of print run)

23. Typical Plan for a General Interest Book • Same as academic book, but more review copies sent out, more promotion, more advance marketing efforts prior to publication to build a “buzz” (galleys, press kits, etc.)

24. Typical Plan for a General Interest Book • Author events (schedule book signings/readings, interviews, etc.). The Press does not pay for author tours unless we have money come in specifically for marketing efforts • Advertisements (appropriate subject area journals–usually two or three ads) • Award nominations (costs are usually nominal, make authors happy, and can be utilized for additional promotion opportunities if books win) • Catalogs and direct mail and/or course adoption mailers (always included in the seasonal catalog, placed in appropriate subject area catalogs. Direct mail pieces such as postcards typically done) • Conferences and exhibits (depending on the book, can be sent to 10-25 conferences, sent more often to trade shows) • Publicity efforts (typically advance galleys, press kits, etc.) • Review copies sent (approximately 5% of print run)

25. Thank you! Period for questions at the end of the presentations.