Tips for Writers
What Are the Marketing Plans For the New Imprint?
By Jerry D. Simmons | April 4th, 2009 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
This is the second blog of the What You Should Reasonably Expect From Publishersseries of answers to individual questions. The basis for these blogs is an article entitled: Opportunities For New Writers. For background read the article first, then the earlier blog.
- What are the marketing plans for the new imprint?
The launch of a new imprint or series does not happen overnight, there are meetings and memos to lay out the groundwork long before anything actually happens. In order to get a handle on the marketing plans you need to see in writing how the company intends to market the new imprint or series. If you are a new writer and your agent or an editor approaches you about writing a book for the new launch, ask to see in writing the marketing plans.
The agent will then ask the editor and the editor the marketing department to provide them with the information, OR they may tell you to take a hike. This is the risk you take, but keep in mind; if you write a book for a new launch or agree to a contract for a new launch, the risk to you is poor sales performance for an unproven category of titles. Poor sales of any kind, whether it be a new launch or established publisher can ruin your career because that sales history stays in most computers for a minimum of three years.
If you explain why you want to see the marketing plans in writing, the easier it will be for an agent or editor to agree. All you are asking is to take a look at exactly how the publisher plans to support the new launch which includes YOUR writing. As a writer, if they are offering you the opportunity to become an author whose books are being published under the logo of the new imprint or series, you have every right to see the marketing plans which explains how they will support your book.
Next I will answer: How much advertising, marketing and promotion dollars have been committed?
Tags: Book Distribution, Book Marketing, Book Publishing, Book Sales, Booksellers
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