Build the trade-review plan
Identify subject-matter journals and trade publications
List the specialist journals, professional magazines, and trade publications in your book's field that review or cover new books, and find out how each accepts submissions.
Why it matters
Subject-matter publications reach readers who buy books in that subject and the librarians who serve them, and their reviews often carry more weight with that audience than a general trade review. Because the author is usually the person who knows these outlets, an author who does not build the list leaves the book's most natural readers unreached.
Your part
- What you do
- Do it. You normally do this yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Author and Publisher and Publicist. Author builds the list; publisher or publicist sends copies where agreed
- When
- 6 months before publication, so slow-moving journals receive copies in time (Build the trade-review plan: twelve to six months before publication, before any deadline closes)
Your part changes with your publishing route.
How to do it
The full walkthrough
For specialized nonfiction, the general trade review outlets are only part of the picture. A book on nursing leadership, urban planning, beekeeping, or supply chain management is more likely to be read because a journal or trade magazine in that field covered it. These publications review books, run author interviews, publish excerpts, and list new titles, and their readers are exactly the audience the book was written for.
The work is research. Start with the publications you already read in your field, then look at where similar books were reviewed (the review quotes on comparable titles are a map). Note each publication's book review editor, its submission policy, its lead time, and whether it wants a finished copy or a galley. Academic journals often review a year or more after publication; trade magazines move faster.
On any publishing path, the author usually knows the field's publications better than the publisher does. A traditionally published author should share the list with the publicist and agree who sends what. A hybrid author should do the same and expect to handle most of it. A self-published author owns the whole list.
This item matters most for nonfiction with a professional, scholarly, or hobbyist audience. General fiction has fewer subject-matter outlets, though genre magazines and community publications can play the same role.
Common mistakes
- Assuming the publisher knows the field's publications as well as you do.
- Sending a galley to an academic journal that reviews only finished books, or vice versa.
- Forgetting association newsletters, which often have the most engaged readers.
- Building the list at launch, when the slower journals needed copies months earlier.
- Pitching a review to an outlet that only runs paid listings, without noticing the difference.
A template for this
Subject-matter trade publication pitchA pitch to a professional journal, association magazine, or trade publication that explains what the book contributes to that field and offers a review copy, article, or comment.
When to use it: Use this when you are writing to a specialist publication whose readers work in the book's subject area, after checking how it accepts books for review and contributed pieces. It suits nonfiction most often, though fiction with a strong professional setting can fit. Do not use this when you have not read the outlet's contributor guidelines, or you are pitching the same article to competing outlets at the same time.
What done looks like
- A list of 5 to 20 journals, magazines, newsletters, and association publications in the book's field, with a review editor or contact for each.
- Each outlet's submission policy, preferred format, and lead time noted.
- Agreement with the publisher or publicist on who sends copies to each.
- Copies sent 6 months out for slower journals and closer to publication for trade magazines.
- Every submission logged with the outlet, date, and outcome.
Ask your publisher
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