Pick of the Litter
Yesterday on Twitter I posted the following:
Pondering how to get librarians interested in following a small reference publisher. How do we get the message out about our titles?
When I used the word “following,” I was referring not just to Twitter followers but also more broadly to librarians in general. As I explained in a follow-up tweet, a small publisher like us has a difficult challenge trying to get the word out about our titles. With no large advertising budget to provide visibility, the task is daunting indeed. The reference industry is dominated by a few giant companies; there are very few smaller, independent publishers even trying to compete.
Further complicating matters for us is that we don’t distribute our own titles. Rather, we hire Salem Press to take all orders and ship our books. Thus, when a librarian calls to order one of our titles, the voice on the other end of the phone says “Thank you for calling Salem Press.” When a shipment arrives, the box says “Salem Press.” In fact, many librarians probably think that the Milestone Documents series of books are from Salem, not Schlager. Even some reviewers of our titles have incorrectly listed the publisher as Salem.
To be sure, this distribution arrangement has its distinct advantages. We are able to utilize a sales force that has longstanding relationships with librarians all over the country. Our books show up in Salem Press catalogs and mailing pieces. And, crucially, we are able to participate in Salem’s unique print-electronic offer: buy the print, get the same content for free electronically through Salem History.
Nonetheless, the brand/identity challenge remains. How do we build an identity that sticks with librarians? How do we get them excited about our publications
In short, how do we go from being the runt of the litter to the pick of the litter?
One way, of course, is through social media. Twitter has been an amazing tool in this regard for us. A number of librarians now “follow” me, which allows me to engage them in “discussion” from time to time. This is one such instance; another occurred a few months ago, when I addressed the topic of how to get school librarians to be more active in promoting our books to their social science teachers. After all, they spend a lot of money to buy our titles, and those titles are designed not just with student research in mind but also with direct classroom tie-ins for teachers.
Another strategy that we’ve had some success with is giving away free posters. Last year, for instance, we offered free Constitution Day posters to any library that wanted them; more than 700 libraries called to request a poster. (Lesson learned: librarians love free stuff!)
It goes without saying that the foundation of any branding effort has to be quality products. You have to create superior, useful, relevant publications that help librarians serve their patrons. We certainly feel that we’ve done that, and the uniformly positive reviews and various awards and citations back us up. Nonetheless, building great products isn’t enough; you still have to get the word out to librarians. And on that front, all the Twittering and free posters in the world aren’t going to cut it, which is why we probably will begin to devote more resources to advertising in industry periodicals in the coming years. Still, I think these tools do show that creative efforts to reach customers can pay off for the small publisher.
If any librarians would like to chime in with suggestions about how to build our following, I would love to hear from you. I know that this is an incredibly stressful time for librarians everywhere; rarely a day goes by that I don’t see news of more branch closings, cut-backs, layoffs, and the like. As we continue to think about this issue, we will keep the recession in mind. I think it’s worth pointing out that one of the most creative and successful publisher responses to these dire times came from a small publisher: Alexander Street Press and its “50-State Giveaway” earlier this summer.
In the end, if all else fails, there is always the last refuge of the shameless promoter: puppies. The adorable canine pictured here is not just some generic pooch but rather the real-life Schlager Group Company Mascot. (OK, she is officially the pet of assistant editor Benjamin Painter.) Her name is Truffles, and she is a 3-month old pug. Genuine, irrepressible, a scene-stealer if ever there was one, and growing by the day. Hey, that’s not a bad model for Schlager Group to follow, is it?
August 21st, 2009 at 9:12 am
I’m having trouble getting our librarians to even try Twitter. They don’t have time for one more thing…so you aren’t going to reach any of ours via Twitter. You mentioned advertizing in industry periodicals. I would suggest that Review periodicals would be a good one to advertize in. Also, attend Texas Library Assoc. conference (one of the largest in the country). School librarians don’t have a lot of time to talk to individual vendors through the year (in person or via phone). But many will take advantage of having all the vendors in one place at one time and will spend a good portion of their conference time in the vendor hall. It gives them the opportunity to examine the materials - much better than only seeing it in the catalog.
Twitter accts: @pwindsor @dentonisdlib
August 21st, 2009 at 9:18 am
Dear Patty, thanks so much for your comments. Indeed, we are going to focus our advertising in review periodicals, because we know that these resources are heavily used by librarians in purchasing decisions. As it happens, we were at TLA this past year, working out of the Salem Press booth. (Giving away posters, needless to say!) I agree with you: it was a fantastic way to meet librarians in person and to connect with them. A big part of our outreach effort is centered on building our name in our local/regional communities. We’ve only just begun.