Author Questionnaire
We ask all authors to complete an Author Questionnaire. Author input on this questionnaire is vital to our collaborations, and an opportunity for your expertise and ambitions to inform our marketing and sales plans for your book. The Press will consider all author suggestions as we create and implement what we believe to be the optimal marketing plans for your book, including publicity, advertising, social media, awards, and direct marketing campaigns.
Reviews
Our promotions department announces forthcoming books to our media contacts around the world by sending them our catalogs and inviting them to request copies of the books they are keen to review. We also visit high-profile media contacts twice a year to talk about our forthcoming books and to personally recommend books for review.
For each book, we compile a list of contacts: an appropriate combination of journals, journalists, and academics that are just right for the target audience for your book. This means that your book will be sent to a well-curated list. We also email out press releases and targeted pitches.
How You Can Help
Some months ago you should have been asked to fill out an Author Questionnaire (AQ). This gave you an opportunity to share any suggestions for publications or special contacts that you think should receive a copy of your book. If you weren’t able to fill it out, don’t worry—you can still contact us with suggestions by emailing publicity@press.princeton.edu
If you have contacts in the media, or know a colleague who is involved with a relevant journal, please let them know your book is coming out, and ask whether they might be willing to review it. If any requests for review copies come back to you, please pass them on to us.
FAQs
Q: My book is out and I haven’t seen any reviews in journals. What’s going on?
A: Reviews in scholarly journals often appear many months (or even years) after the publication date. It can also take a considerable amount of time before reviews appear in publications such as the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, and the Times Literary Supplement.
Q: My book got a bad review. Should I respond?
A: Some reviewers may draw conclusions about your research that you think are off base; in rare cases, they may even write caustic takedowns. There is no absolute rule about how or whether to respond, but in many cases the best response is no response at all. At times, we may counsel authors to reply, especially in the New York Review of Books, which has a long tradition of spirited exchanges between reviewer and author in their “Letters” section. Above all, if you do respond, you should keep your tone respectful and stick, as much as possible, to correcting errors of fact. Avoid the polemics the reviewer may have engaged in. You’ll come off better if you take the high ground.
Publication Dates Demystified
An important thing to remember is that the arrival of your advance copy does not mean the book is actually “published” or available for friends and colleagues to buy. We need time to get your book from our warehouse to booksellers around the world. Our promotion team also needs time to get it into the hands of the media. For these reasons we set the official publication date a few weeks after the arrival of advance copies.
Conferences & Events
We attend a large number of conferences in the United States and Europe and will take your book to any that are appropriate.
How You Can Help
If you are attending an event or conference where it would be appropriate to promote your book, please let us know. Please provide the name and email of whoever is coordinating the event. The Press can arrange to send venues a promotional flyer with an order discount code. Please note: we need this information a minimum of four weeks before the scheduled talk and, ideally, earlier.
For some events it makes more sense for you to take flyers yourself. We can provide you with those. Contact us at: publicity@press.princeton.edu
Copyright & Excerpts
Please be aware of the copyright situation for your book. It is not a good idea to send your manuscript to a media outlet or to allow someone to print an extract without first discussing it with us.
Also, please do not send a PDF of your book to potential reviewers/media outlets. It is best if this is always channeled through the promotions department so that we know who has a copy of the book, what plans are being made, and that the correct information has been passed on.
If, having discussed it with us, you do send out a PDF of your book, please make sure that it is a secured PDF.
Content Marketing
Op-eds, Blog Pieces & Articles
If your book’s research can be leveraged for a commentary on current events and you’re able to write a short (750-word) piece with a strong argument, you can write an op-ed positioning yourself as an expert and mentioning your book in the byline.
Your university communications department may be able to give advice and help you with getting your piece into the hands of the right people.
You may find it helpful to have a look at other op-eds that have been written in your field.
Notice that they are free of jargon and written for a general audience, and that they feature a strong point of view. Here’s a good place to read about the dos and don’ts of op-ed writing.
Take advantage of other writing opportunities too. Guest blog if you are asked.
Ideas
The PUP website features a beautifully integrated Ideas section, which is functionally the online magazine of the Press. This page has been envisioned to house short essays that showcase author expertise, promote their books around pub date, tie to current events, and contribute to public discourse. It includes a variety of formats, including discussions between authors, op-eds, Q&As, chapter excerpts, and videos that serve as explainers for authors’ arguments and research. The site also features interviews from our podcasting partnership with The New Books Network. Using our digital marketing initiatives, we promote this site as a reading destination by boosting and distributing all posts across multiple platforms. We welcome contributions from all of our authors.
Social Media
Among the most simple and effective methods for promoting your book is through social media. Princeton University Press has a significant presence and a large audience on most social media platforms. If you are active or plan to be, follow Princeton University Press and tag us on your book posts, and please like and share our posts as well. We will post media news, publication announcements, events, and reader-generated content specific to your book and alert you with a tag. If you don’t have a large social presence or are unsure where to begin, our Digital Marketing Team is happy to provide tips to get you started.
Catalogs & Advertisements
Your book will be announced in our seasonal catalog, which is distributed to bookstores, wholesalers, libraries, specialist dealers, and media contacts around the world.
It will also be announced in the relevant subject catalog and included in targeted direct marketing to the membership of professional organizations.
Your book will also be advertised in relevant print and digital publications, on social media, and/or in conference programs.
Help From Your University
Leverage the power of your university. Be in touch with your communications office to see what resources or plans they may have to promote your book. Some will share special features on social media, put out a press release on your book, post interviews with you on their own website, or even be willing to produce a video interview or book trailer. Make sure to keep your book publicist in the loop about any plans; this will avoid duplication of effort and offer both your university and your publisher opportunities to cross-post.
A Few Quick Tips
- Double-check that the Author Questionnaire you completed includes all the relevant journals to which you think your book should be sent.
- Be sure to mention your book in any bylined articles or interviews you might give.
- Alert your university or department communications team that you have a book coming out.
- Take flyers to any lectures or events where it would be appropriate to promote the book.
Further Reading
For another perspective and more ideas on how you can get creative with book publicity, check out this article by Michael Chwe, whose exuberant, hands-on efforts helped his book, Jane Austen, Game Theorist, to garner widespread attention. This is a man who said he’d stop at nothing—not even Jane Austen kitten memes—to get his scholarly book out there.
In this interview, Laura Portwood-Stacer, author of The Book Proposal Book and an experienced developmental editor, speaks with PUP’s Assistant Promotions Director Maria Whelan about the ins and outs of book promotion and how authors can best collaborate with their publishers on marketing and publicity.