So their marketing is in the form of ads in trade journals, review copies, catalogs and promo materials that go to book buyers at stores, and to the publishers' own sales people who have relationships with the buyers at stores and distributors.
Authors almost never see any of that.
I got a lovely surprise at a con (aimed main at people in the publishing business) when I looked in the goodie bag and found a really lovely promo pamphlet/brochure thingy, including a sample chapter etc -- it was back to back with another (well known) author's new release. I kind of squeed a bit -- ok a lot -- and my editor said they hadn't told me because a) they weren't sure the pamphlets would be ready on time and b) they figured it would be a lovely surprise if they were ready
Anyway, it got a fair bit of interest, which is what it's for
But how much promo you do is usually up to you. Smaller pubs (with smaller budgets!) will probably expect you to do a lot more. Larger pubs it's more what you're willing/have time to do. My current pub, if something crops up, asks me if I would mind terribly doing X? Sometimes I say 'Oh, I have this idea could we?' They
like it, certainly, that I'm willing to do promo, but there's plenty of authors who do little, or virtually none (KJ Parker frex doesn't do anything in person because who he/she is is a closely guarded secret)
If you're willing to do the whole twitter/blog/personal appearances (or as in Emma Newman's case recently, run a whole RPG game based on your world at a con, which sounded
awesome) it's like a +2 bonus to your author roll. It's nice to have, but not
essential because your pub will be doing what they can too, even if you don't see it. It's in their interest to sell as many of your books as they can (and in yours), not to let it disappear without trace. The more you help, the better they'll like it, but that's not the same as YOU MUST PROMO TILL YOU DIE
