Case Studies

Some examples of how different small and academic-led presses describe their marketing strategies.

• Mattering Press writes:

Our primary marketing activity focuses on social media,  and Twitter in particular. For some books, we create custom marketing campaigns, with a budget of up to £300. In an ideal world, this is a practice we would extend to all of our books, but often don’t due to capacity issues. Marketing budgets are used in different ways, but recently we have often used them to generate custom images that are used to support social media campaigns. 

In addition, we use two large science and technology studies conferences — EASST and 4S — to promote our publications, and the press, and to engage with a global community of science and technology studies scholars. This has included stands at these conferences, as well as focusing specific social media campaigns around these events. (Business Models for OA Books)

• punctum writes:

punctum books mainly uses social media (mainly Twitter and Instagram) to announce their publications and has a periodical newsletter via email. (Business Models for OA Books) 

 punctum books has a more dynamic social media presence than some other scholar-led publishers and has a particular emphasis on community engagement, including reflections on the wider politics of open access publishing. 

• Open Book Publishers writes:

Review copies are sent to leading and subject-specific journals. At the time of publication, each book is promoted through email notices to libraries and personalized messages to academics. Every new title is featured on our website and marketed via social media. OBP encourages authors to actively engage in the promotion of their books: they have an opportunity to write a blog post about their books and to post podcasts and videos. OBP also prepares, promotes, and hosts collaborative events and online book launches with authors (open for everyone) (Business Models for OA Books).

• Helsinki University Press (HUP) writes 

HUP makes a marketing plan for each title, based on conversations with the author who is asked to identify potentially interested audiences, networks, and mailing lists that could be used. Social media platforms are the most prominent tool for marketing. HUP also sends print copies of their books to be reviewed by a journal relevant to the book’s topic. Marketing activities are done completely in-house. (Business Models for OA Books).