How to Promote Your New Book – by Liz Wager

photograph by Horia Varlan

So after months of research and virtual pencil-chewing, writing, rewriting, editing and proofreading, your finished book has finally been printed. So what next? As of 2010 Google reported there are 129,864,880 books in the world. Faced with a statistic like this, how do you get your pride and joy noticed?  Liz Wager, Senior Promotions Executive at Edward Elgar Publishing, gives her top tips for making your book stand out from the crowd.

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The short answer to the question of how to get your book noticed is you, the author. Elgar’s 30 years of experience publishing academic books has proven without doubt that the most successful books – both in terms of sales figures and citations – are those for which the author has played an active part in the promotion.

By the time you have reached the point of writing your own book, you will have not only a vast bank of knowledge but also something of a following in the field – and these are the most valuable of marketing tools. The combination of your expertise and the resources and contacts of a good publisher make for a powerful marketing weapon.

photograph by Horia Varlan

A good marketing team will work hand-in-hand with you to utilise your own professional connections, alongside their many networks of niche-interest groups, ensuring the news of your book reaches exactly the right people. You have the very best insight into who will be interested in your book, so don’t be shy, let your publisher know and they will be very grateful!

In addition to your publisher’s traditional avenues of catalogues and direct mail, there are a few very simple – yet powerful – things you can do to keep your book at the forefront of people’s minds. Mentioning it in your email signature, including a weblink to the publisher’s site takes seconds but is a very useful way of telling people without having to shamelessly self-promote! Many of our authors have seen positive feedback from linking to free downloadable chapters from their book on our digital platform Elgaronline. Social media has also become vital to successfully marketing books and joining up with your publisher’s and institution’s channels will multiply the coverage.

Keeping your publisher updated with your speaking and teaching engagements can be a very fruitful in generating interest and coverage – live-tweeting from conferences for example can be a great way to engage your audience. Your publisher will be able to offer inspection copies of your book if it is to be used on a teaching course and many event organisers welcome flyers or a complimentary copy or two of a book to display.

These are just some suggestions, based on experience, of successful ways to promote your book. At Elgar we have a very enthusiastic marketing team who will be only too pleased to work with you.

Liz Wager is Senior Promotions Executive at Edward Elgar Publishing.