What to Ask for in Marketing & Promotion (Patreon)

A conversation in a private discussion group gave me an idea for an essay, so here we are as I try to turn that energy and prompt into something for y'all before I lose steam.

In my last months at Angry Robot, we were bidding to buy some books from an author who at the time was on a rising tide in their career, with books under their belt and a growing platform.

As part of pitching why we should be their publisher, I put together a comprehensive marketing & promotion plan for the books in question and got stellar responses from the agent and from my then-boss.

In making that plan I was, in a very real fashion, writing the kind of plan that I wish publishers would provide their prospective authors every single time. The plan I wrote was for a lead title, but most of that plan should be standard for any SF/F publisher larger than a micro press.

I've been banging the drum labeled "publishers should communicate clearly about their plans and expectations" for some years now, but part of that from the author's side is knowing what is *possible*. If you know the range of possibilities, it will be much easier to figure out what your priorities are based on the project and your platform/interests.

Here is a representative (but not comprehensive) list of the kinds of things that a publisher could do for a book/series if they made it a priority (as in they can and will spend the payroll hours and money to make it happen):

• Advertisements in major SF/F and other book venues in print and online (Locus, Publishers Weekly, Tor.com, Book Riot, Library Journal, etc.) These can be expensive, but many publishers promote a number of titles at once with 1/2 or full page ads. If your book is a priority for them, it should be in the mix when they're making ad buys. And if they advertise widely, your book should be in the mix period.
• Physical promotional material (pins, bookmarks, hand fans, etc.). Physical take-aways can be very versatile as they can be signed/personalized even when someone can't buy a book or has already bought a book. Promo material can have critical title info if it's meant to be shared with booksellers/librarians or more basic info if they're meant to be shared with general readers. 
• Additional art (character portraits, etc.) that can be used for social media promotion, other merch, on your website and their website for the book(s), etc. They may commission the art on their own but if you have suggestions for artists to hire or ideas for the art brief, you can offer those but don't expect to be granted control over the process. And if you don't have art direction experience, it may not be a good idea to *ask* for control over the process. Publishers have their own art directors and hopefully, if you're excited to publish with a house, you can trust their art directors to lead the process and take your feedback into consideration.
• Travel Budget to send you to cons/bookstores. If they want you to go to a con or to travel to bookstores for events, it's reasonable for you to ask them to help with your costs. That might be part or all of your hotel, your flight, etc. In my experience, it's rare to get compensated for travel, though it should be far more common than it is. Again, it's probably worth asking.
• Bookstore event budget - if they're not going to take the lead on organizing bookstore events, the publisher may be in a position to kick in some $ to pay for refreshments/snacks/etc. The bookstore may also ask for event co-op (aka the publisher gives the store $$ for running the event).
• Publicity Approach and Targets - Depending on the book, the publishers' network, and other factors, a publisher may focus more on publicity tools for promoting a book or they may focus more on marketing approaches. It's worth asking: are they focusing on early blurbs, on the library market, on digital sales, etc? 

It's Worth Asking - Authors Deserve Good Information

Getting information like this should be standard and you should get a sense of what the publisher's plan for the book is shortly after signing the deal.

But just because they *should* does not mean that they will. As I've said before, much of the staff at publishers are overworked and underpaid. But as the author, the one person without the process just doesn't get to happen, we can and should be asking for more and better communication from publishers so that we can sync up with their efforts and so you can magnify one another.

Asking for things like this is easier when you have a strong track record and/or when you're being offered a big deal. But even without already being famous or in the middle of a six-house auction, a good agent can help push a publisher to share a more concrete plan for the book at early stages like when they're making their offer or (less preferable) after the deal is signed.