Reference Book

popmuze said:

I asked this question in the Marketing forum, but have received only one reply. So I'll post it here:

I have a reference book coming out from a reputable publisher in August or September (I'm hoping September).

The question is, what kind of marketing/publicity campaign can I expect for a reference book as opposed to a trade book? And what can I do on my own behalf.

Would there be any point doing radio interviews, if offered? Would taking advantage of the internet work in this market? Hiring a publicist?

I happen to think the book has great trade potential, but unless I can get it reprinted for that market, it won't be in any stores. And, at $100+ per copy, I doubt too many people would run out and buy it in any case.

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Rough guess: your book may have fantastic trade potential, but the price is a stone killer. Is it length or graphics or whatever that makes it so costly? A few years ago, I had a publisher bring out one of my books at a price (around 50 bucks, IIRC) that almost guaranteed no trade crossover. So, of course, it died, as did any chance of getting decent royalty checks.

Is there any possibility the price could be lowered? I know in a lot of instances, such high prices exist because of short print runs to match low expected overall sales in a particular arena. A higher number of first, or second, printing copies might help.

popmuze said:

I asked this question in the Marketing forum, but have received only one reply. So I'll post it here:

I have a reference book coming out from a reputable publisher in August or September (I'm hoping September).

The question is, what kind of marketing/publicity campaign can I expect for a reference book as opposed to a trade book? And what can I do on my own behalf.

Would there be any point doing radio interviews, if offered? Would taking advantage of the internet work in this market? Hiring a publicist?

I happen to think the book has great trade potential, but unless I can get it reprinted for that market, it won't be in any stores. And, at $100+ per copy, I doubt too many people would run out and buy it in any case.

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Hi Popmuse,
What kind of reference book? What's the topic? What's the market the book is targeting? If you can give me some information I might be able to give you some answers or ideas about what to expect and how useful marketing/promoting on your own would be.
Lauri

popmuze said:

As you might expect from my pen name, the subject is popular music. The book contains the 7500 most important songs of the rock and roll era, from 1944 - 2000, indexed by title (with songwriters, record labels, producers and commentary), artist and year.
Is it possible or customary for the reference publisher to try to sell the rights to a trade publisher? Of course, the trade publisher wouldn't be able to get it into libraries. But they could put out a softcover version that maybe someone could actually buy.

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This sounds fascinating! Does it contain any write up of the songs, commentary, author bios, illustrations/graphics that would make it remotely interesting to a trade audience and enhance the chance that a pub. would review it? (If it's similar to a Books in Print reference, then ignore the next sentence.) I would think you'd be able to get reviews (or at least you should try) in all of the major music mags: Rolling Stone, Spin, etc., and even in the trades and dailies--all of these have music editors and columnists, and if this is a work that hasn't been done then it is definitely relevant and timely. Depending on the rights you've retained, you may be able to sell it to a trade publisher. If the reference publisher bought all rights, then you're out of luck. What does your contract say?