Author, Marketer and Independent Publisher Laura Waldron discusses challenges in today’s university press market and offers advice on combating a shrinking library market.

By Matt Steinmetz

Laura Waldron’s life is publishing. An author, a publisher and the marketing director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Press, Waldron offers a perspective on academic publishing that is uniquely well rounded.

After an internship at Carnegie Mellon Press piqued her interest in publishing, she cut her teeth in sales and marketing for Princeton University Press and eventually represented 15 different university presses in the Mid-Atlantic territory as a trade sales representative. Today, she is closing in on her 10th anniversary with Penn Press and is the author of “Museums of Philadelphia: A Guide for Residents and Visitors,” which was published in 2004 by Westholme Publishing, a company she and her husband founded. An independent publisher of American and European history and culture, military history, sports, and regional interest, Westholme will publish 20 titles this year and is expected to gross more than $1 million by the end of 2008.

The unique vantage point gained by Waldron as an author, university press marketer and independent publisher provides a unique look at the changing markets she—and many Book Business readers—face today.

What interests you most about your job as marketing director for Penn Press from?
Laura Waldron: The variety of responsibilities in my job. For instance, today I talked to our commission rep in the Southeast about some key accounts in his territory; wrote promotional copy for a book about the Lenni Lenape Indian nation during the Revolutionary War; and worked out inventory management for a new book of ours on the war on terror, whose author will be the featured guest on 20/20 for their 9/11 show—and that list just takes us up to lunchtime!

As Penn publishes books that are both scholarly and trade oriented, I am engaged with both the intellectual debates within the academic world, and the real-life challenges that the business of publishing presents.

5 Tips for a Successful University Press Marketing Campaign

1. Partner with acquisitions. Communication with the acquiring editors is crucial in shaping both individual book projects and long-term trends in acquiring. Be sure that everyone is on the same page about the kinds of books your house can effectively promote and sell, and that acquisitions and marketing share sales and marketing expectations for a book.

2. Know the field. Who else is publishing in your fields? Who are their authors? How are they pricing books? How are they promoting them? And most importantly, how are their books selling?

3. Try to think like your customers. Where do they buy books? How do they find out about new books? What kind of promotional offers are the most attractive to them? These things can change over time and need to be re-evaluated periodically.

4. Leverage publicity. Got a good review? If it is pre-pub, send it to other reviewers on your list, bookstores, sales reps, wholesalers, to let them know that the book is becoming hot. Send positive published reviews to the same folks and would-be authors to show them what your Press can do for them. (Most university presses are in the position of publishing people who are also their customer base, so you’re marketing the Press as well as individual books.)

5. Keep the supply chain fed. Just as an army marches on its stomach, so too are book sales dependent upon physical limitations. You have to have books where you need them. If you anticipate a good review, let all your wholesalers and reps know so that books can be out in bookstores where people can find them. If you have an author appearance anywhere, send enough books to make a display since that will earn you more impulse purchases.

—Laura Waldron