Now for the exciting part! Once your book is between covers, you will be working with the Marketing Department to promote your book to its audiences. However, marketing your book starts long before your book arrives from the printer. We urge you to start thinking about marketing and to begin gathering information even before submitting your final manuscript to UBC Press.
The Author Marketing Questionnaire
This is where it all begins. Prior to the release of your book, Laraine Coates, our Marketing Manager, will contact you with the Author Marketing Questionnaire (AMQ). The more fulsome and detailed the information you provide, the more helpful it will be in marketing your book. Your input helps us to be knowledgeable about your book project and your goals, and it ensures that we concentrate on the most appropriate ways to get your book to its audience.
Distribution and availability
It is our goal to ensure that your book, and information about your book, is distributed as widely as possible. This is first done, even before your book is published, by sending digital information about your book far and wide, to library wholesalers, Amazon, digital catalogues, and so on.
We endeavour to ensure your book is available to individual readers through various channels:
- directly from the UBC Press website;
- from online booksellers (Indigo.ca, Amazon); and
- in retail stores (Chapters, independents, university bookstores).
We promote your book to retail bookstores and other outlets within Canada through our commissioned sales representatives, Ampersand Inc. Your book, if published as an e-book, will also be available from major e-book retailers including Amazon, Apple, Google Play and Kobo.
Promotion
Your book will be featured on our website and promotional materials, which are distributed to trade reps, libraries, and taken to conferences.
On publication, your book will be submitted to numerous review venues and publications, both print and online.
For books with trade market appeal, we may also undertake publicity efforts such as sending advanced copies of the book to media or pitching you for media interviews. We also place targeted ads to help ensure books get in front of their audiences.
For books with course potential, we conduct targeted research and then engage in extensive email campaigning. Our email to instructors offers information on the book, a link to a sample chapter, and an examination copy.
As to digital marketing, your book will have an individual page on our website with all the pertinent information about your book, as well as a link to buy the book. We also do extensive social media outreach, send out quarterly email newsletters (be sure to sign up!), and ensure your book is included on online book-related sites such as 49th Shelf and Goodreads. We want your book to be discoverable, which means getting word of it out to and on as many sites and platforms as possible.
UBC Press attends numerous conferences and events throughout the year, including the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Please see our list of upcoming conferences here. If you are attending a conference where there is a book fair, be sure to visit the UBC Press booth!
Finally, our books have won numerous awards both within Canada and internationally and we will certainly submit your book for awards for which it is eligible.
In conclusion...
We look forward to working with you to get news of your book out there, and your book into the hands of your readers!