Build the outreach lists
Build association and professional-community targets
For nonfiction especially, list the associations, conferences, newsletters, and professional groups whose members are the book's natural readers, and how each one reaches them.
Why it matters
A review in a professional publication or a mention in a member newsletter reaches readers who buy books in their field as a matter of course, often at full price and often in quantity. These channels are also durable: an association's recommended reading list keeps working long after the launch. For a nonfiction book, this list may matter more than the media list.
Your part
- What you do
- Do it. You normally do this yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Author and Publicist. Author knows the community; publicist or publisher special sales may act on it
- When
- 4 to 6 months before publication; conference and newsletter schedules often run months ahead (Build the outreach lists: six to three months before publication)
How to do it
The full walkthrough
Most nonfiction has a professional or interest community attached to its subject: an association, a certification body, a conference circuit, a handful of newsletters and trade publications, an online forum where practitioners gather. These groups reach exactly the readers the book is for, and they have channels (member newsletters, book review columns, conference bookstores, speaker slots, webinars) that general media does not.
Build the list from the subject. For each group, record what it is, who runs it, how large it is, and which of its channels could carry the book: a review in the member publication, a speaking slot, a listing in a resources section, a discount offer to members, a bulk purchase for a training program. Record the contact for each channel and how far ahead it works.
Traditionally published authors should tell the publisher about these communities, because the publisher's sales team may have a special sales or academic marketing function that can act. Hybrid and self-published authors approach the groups directly, usually as a member or a speaker rather than as a vendor.
Fiction and poetry have communities too, though they are organized around genre and place rather than profession. The same approach applies, with genre organizations and conventions in place of associations.
Common mistakes
- Treating the association like a media outlet and sending a press release to its general inbox.
- Missing the conference bookstore, which orders through the publisher months ahead.
- Assuming the publisher knows the book's professional community without being told.
- Overlooking newsletters and forums because they are not publications in the traditional sense.
A template for this
Bulk purchase introductionAn introduction to an organization that might buy the book in quantity, explaining the specific use and how a quantity order would actually work.
When to use it: Use this when you have settled with your publisher or distributor how bulk orders are priced and fulfilled, and you are writing to someone you know, or were referred to, at an organization with a concrete use for multiple copies. Do not use this when you cannot yet quote terms, or when the only reason to write is that the organization is large.
What done looks like
- Associations, conferences, publications, and communities in the book's subject listed with size and audience.
- Each group's channels identified: reviews, newsletters, speaking, listings, member offers, bulk purchase.
- A named contact and lead time for each channel.
- The publisher informed so its special sales or academic marketing teams can act where they can.
- Membership joined where it is required and worthwhile.
Ask your publisher
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