Amanda Baltazar

Publishers and authors are attending the hot cocktail party of 2011, but none of them are wearing fancy dresses or tuxedoes.

One might think that all other problems fade into the background when there’s a recession, but for university presses, that’s certainly not true. Questions about changes in education funding and student habits rear up alongside concerns about preparing for the digital future; still, the country’s economic woes are plaguing university presses, and the stress is not likely to disappear anytime soon.

The Internet has changed the way that publishing companies market books, providing a myriad of new opportunities. But marketers shouldn’t forget lower-tech methods of getting the word out. Here, some experts explain how they promote their books using both the latest and the more traditional methods.

Acup of tea and a book: It’s a dream date for many readers, and Random House Inc. has found a way to take advantage of that. The publishing giant has teamed up with tea company Celestial Seasonings to create a Web-based book club, open to anyone who drinks tea. And it seems most readers do. The book club, “Adventure at Every Turn” (www.CelestialSeasoningsBookClub.com), was created after a Celestial Seasonings survey showed that 70 percent of tea drinkers claimed that reading books is their favorite pastime. The tea company chose Random House as a partner for its club because it lends the program credibility, says