There’s plenty of time for the conversations to be held that are important in this publisher and author marketing collaboration. I have discovered that when someone doesn’t have this conversation about marketing collaboration, they just completely let it slip their mind.

Social media and changes in marketing

When I started in publishing, there was no social media.

There were letters being written. Radio and television were important, but print media, magazines, and things like that were very important to marketing. Most often, the publisher had those relationships.

Now, with social media, authors have a direct connection with the people who are reading their books.

It’s imperative that authors and publishers communicate about marketing.

The basic purpose of marketing is to create a buzz. What we’re going to try to determine today is how do you work together and who does what, what part of that process does each party play, and show some examples.

The publisher’s role

The publisher needs to establish their marketing and publicity channels.

Every publisher—assuming a publisher publishes a number of books—will have relationships with writers in magazines or various online websites or other publicity channels. They know book reviewers. They know influential people. They establish and maintain those channels.

The author’s role

Authors establish a platform—that is, collecting people who follow them.

This is why social media and email have become important for publishers and authors. You’re not talking to 20,000 people on a radio station hoping that 10 of them might be interested in a book. You’re talking specifically to people who are interested in that particular author. It’s a very efficient way of promoting and marketing a book.

One plus one equals three

How can authors and publishers connect what they’re doing so they can create good results? Together, they accomplish more than they can separately. This equation is really what the definition of great collaboration is: one plus one equals three.

I’m sure we could make all sorts of spiritual applications to this as well, but this is what good collaboration will do, and that is to create something greater than the parts might be able to do separately.

The publisher has resources and a wide perspective on the market, and knows things that an individual author does not know. Based on their experience with other authors and projects, they’re able to give advice to the author based on what has worked in the past. They have a much broader base of experience because of all the different projects they’ve done.

Authors have connections with people. They know people personally. They have a personal marketing platform. Even an unpublished author can speak to groups, write articles for magazines, and various types of things. It’s very important for authors to be connecting with people on an ongoing basis.

We need to find a way to bring these things together. This is where the problems begin.

Assumptions that lead to problems

Many authors assume that the publisher will do everything, and they wait to see the marketing plan.

Publishers often expect authors to do the marketing, and may be waiting for the author to talk about what they’re going to be doing.

You have a great potential for disappointment taking place when both sides are thinking the other is going to be doing something, and the other side assumes that the other is.

While this seems obvious—I’ve seen this play out numerous times in my publishing career—it seems obvious that most publisher and author collaborations never happen because they never had the conversation. If you don’t set aside time to talk about this specific thing, if you don’t exchange ideas in an orderly fashion, no one knows what they’re supposed to do. Each assumes the other will take the initiative.

Communicate early in the publishing process: seven steps for success

The most important first step in effective publisher and author marketing collaboration is to communicate about it specifically early in the process.

We’re going to go through seven steps on how to make this marketing collaboration work.

1 Meet to specifically discuss collaboration

You need to meet—whether it’s by phone, video call or whatever—to specifically discuss marketing collaboration. Do not make this part of a discussion about your manuscript or how the publisher works, or some other topic. The topic of the meeting should be marketing collaboration. Don’t move on to step 2 until you’ve had the conversation. This should be something you strongly address.

The agenda for that meeting needs to include:

• all the different marketing elements the author can do: what websites they have, what speaking engagements they’re doing, list all the things that the author can do.
• all the things that the publisher is going to be doing
• a specific plan to connect both elements to each other. Examples include:
• if an author has a website and the publisher has a website, exchange links to each other’s websites
• link to each other in your pages and posts on your various platforms
• when the book cover is developed, make sure that the look of that cover is carried through to both the author website and publisher website book page through the art and color

By keeping the agenda simple, it creates the potential for some very tangible, strong actions.

2 Develop a specific plan of action with deadlines and who is doing what

Develop a very specific plan of action with deadlines and specific people assigned to each one. Every single piece needs to have dates and times and deadlines on it. Anytime you make a plan that does not have a specific date or a deadline attached to it, then it will never be done.

Here are some examples:

One action point might be to write a blog about the book. Who does it? The author. What will they do? They’ll let readers know about new ways to combat their fears, if that’s the topic of the book. When will that happen? The blog will be ready for posting by this date.

Another might be to send out bookmarks. The publisher will do that. What is that for? To announce and remind people of the title. That’ll be done by this date.

Human nature will say if it doesn’t have a deadline, then there is no deadline, so the chances of that actually ever happening are very, very small.

It’s very important to make specific plans with specific days and times.

3 The author asks the publisher if there’s anything they can do to help

This is an open-ended question, not an author telling the publisher what they’re going to do. The author offers the publisher help. For instance, the author might be the best person to walk into the bookshop in the town where they live to get them to sell it. There may be a representative from the publishing company that’s going to be in town, and they can meet with them.

4 The authors can become an advocate for the publisher

This next step is very unique to Christian authors. Most authors are so concerned about themselves that they don’t think about developing a broader relationship with a publisher. Christian authors author can actually become an advocate for the publisher. They can become a friend.

Whenever I talk to authors, I recommend that if they want to have a great relationship with a publisher, they should offer to promote some of the other books that the publisher has been creating and offer them to their readers. They should minister to the publisher.

If you’re writing books on marriage for example, offer to give a free marriage talk in a chapel or something to the publisher. Maybe even offer to spend some time with some of the staff.

Authors should be praying for your publisher—not just praying that they would do things the way you want them to do, but that they would seek wisdom and do the things that are important.

5 Plan regular communication

Make communication a priority between you and plan regular communication. Authors, your publisher is working on more books than just yours, so take that into account when considering how much you expect. There are publishers who publish hundreds of books a year, and they cannot spend one day a week talking to you about your plans.

Anytime I’ve seen a problem happen in publishing, it is almost always a result when communication began to break down, and people were assuming that things were going to happen.

6 Stop doing things that are not working well—change the plan if necessary

From a spiritual standpoint, plans are very important, but they’re not stone tablets. They should be held lightly in your hand for both authors and publishers, because things change constantly and new opportunities happen. We keep plans very fluid, we do things, and we communicate. If something isn’t working, stop doing it and change the plan if necessary.

This can’t happen if both sides are very strong-willed and demand their rights or their way on things.

Collaboration involves more than just a few things connecting. An attitude of collaboration must pervade this entire process.

7 Decide to enjoy the process of collaboration and leave the results to God

The more collaboration becomes an exercise in getting the other to do something, the less it will work. The more that happens, the less collaboration there will be.

I’ve been in situations over the years where an author has agreed to pray for a publisher, and the author’s prayer was that the publisher would see things the way the author sees things.

An open-handed approach to things is what true collaboration is.

Christian authors can flourish under all of this because our attitudes should be humble and open-handed about what we’re doing. Share ideas, and don’t mistrust people.

Knowing what you can and cannot control is part of marketing collaboration.

• the digital assets you can control: websites (the publisher’s website and the author’s website), social media (to an extent), blogs, email lists, and text content.
• the things you can’t control: consumer or outside websites, social media from everyone else, blogs, emails, and texts from critics and fans.

Practical ideas for collaboration

Websites

The publisher should provide banners, artwork, links, and other elements for author websites, and the author should ask for them if not offered. The author should give logos, photos, and links to the publisher.

Social Media

Each should follow and like the social media accounts of the other. Each should provide content for the other, keeping aware of key dates and events. Look for ways to support each other’s social media apart from just book promotion.

Blogging

Mutually subscribe to and follow each other’s blogs. The author’s blog editorial plan should be developed cooperatively. Have an editorial plan so you aren’t just writing about what you had for lunch.

Email

Develop a joint email approach. The author is the primary source sending emails to supporters, but the publisher should be aware of when the author is sending out emails about the book.

Texting

Use texting or RSS feeds to push links to a group of people with a common strategy.

Further resources

To stay informed, I encourage authors and publishers to subscribe to resources like:

• Publishing Perspectives for a broad global view
• Seth Godin, who pioneered viral marketing
• Agency blogs, such as the Steve Laube Agency blog or the Books and Such Agency blog. Subscribing helps publishers understand what agents are telling authors and how authors think.

Collaboration begins with understanding what the other side is hearing and where they are coming from.