Marketing Guide

Author Information Form

The author information form (AIF) is an invaluable marketing tool which aids in the promotion of a book. In the AIF, an author will be asked to provide contact information, achievements, some personal information, an author photo, audience information, media contacts, addresses of people interested in an announcement of the book, as well as suggestions of relevant awards and exhibits, and much more. It is important to fill out the AIF and e-mail it to the publicity and advertising manager well in advance of the book’s publication date. Please feel free to download a copy of the AIF from our website or contact the publicity and advertising manager to receive a hardcopy.
 

Publicity

In addition to marketing its books through the website, the publicity and advertising manager will actively engage media in efforts to obtain reviews and other coverage.

Those efforts will include:
 
Mailing Galleys

For selected general-interest titles, the publicity and advertising manager will send advance reading copies (referred to as “galleys”) to reviewers approximately four months prior to a book’s publication date.

Marketing staff produce advance copies from uncorrected page proofs and distribute them based on the size and nature of a book’s audience.

The press often sends advance copies to book-trade publications, such as Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Library Journal, and to general interest publications that require advance copies. Key bookstores will also receive galleys.

Marketing staff rarely goes to the expense of making and sending out advance reading copies for specialized and academic books, where often the finished book serves reviewers just as well as galleys.
 
Soliciting Reviews
The publicity and advertising manager will send copies of printed, published books to a number of reviewers three to four weeks before the publication date, using author information form suggestions and information contained in the publicity database of journals, magazines, newspapers, and other national and regional media, and freelance writers.

The publicity and advertising manager will send authors a copy of its full review list, as review copies are sent. Review lists will contain two types of recipients — media contacts in receipt of review copies and publicity materials and media contacts in receipt of publicity materials only. A combination of various approaches are used to maximize results using the limited number of free, promotional copies available.

As a courtesy, the publicity and advertising manager will send authors copies of reviews garnered by efforts mentioned above, immediately following their publication.
 
Distributing Catalogs
Texas A&M University Press will distribute two seasonal catalogs per year. Catalogs distributed to media will include a reviewer’s checklist, giving editors and reviewers an opportunity to preview the list and use it to request copies of books that they will consider for review.
 
Pitching to Media
The publicity and advertising manager will pitch books to media contacts, follow up on requests for review copies and author interviews, target pitches to radio, tv and other media as appropriate, and offer guidance to authors for conducting their own publicity efforts.
 
Promo Blurbs on Jackets
Authors will work with the publicity and advertising manager to develop a list of potential endorsers and make initial contact with potential endorsers to supply prepublication quotes (commonly referred to as “blurbs) for the back cover of their book.