As part of our recent Author University program “Everything You Need to Know about School and Library Marketing,” Alan Walker, VP of Higher Education Marketing for Penguin Random House, joined us to shed some light on this busy behind-the-scenes team.
First, I think our authors would love to know a little bit about the life cycle of a book in the higher education market. When do you start promoting a new title through these unique channels?
The college and university market—the adoption market, as we think of it—is a long-tail market. We often hear about a book long before it’s published, even before we acquire it, to see if we think people will teach this book and what courses and disciplines it’s a good fit for.
From the moment a book is launched, we’re curating everything and identifying which professors might teach a particular book. At the same time, we’re already thinking of the title as backlist and how to establish it as a long-term adoption title, where professors add these books to their curriculums year after year.
Who are the primary book buyers in this market, and how do you reach them?
College and adoption sales are generally student purchases. Whether they buy from the college bookstore or any other retailer, in any format, students are the primary book buyers in the higher education market. So our job is to introduce relevant titles to the professors who will require students to purchase the books.
We identify disciplines and professors who might be a good fit for a particular book and reach out to them online. These email campaigns are often very well received, because we make sure to carefully select the right professors for the right books.
How does your team identify professors to communicate with for each book?
We identify potential adopters for each title based on the courses they teach within specific disciplines. We use our own collected data from academic customers as well as third party data to build email lists of professors for campaigns that we send out promoting our titles.
How do you know which books are being taught, and how do you use that data?
Twenty-five years ago, we were at conferences constantly to learn this information. But thanks to the data we now have, we know a lot more about the classes our books are being taught in and the professors who teach them. We really have an amazing amount of data at our fingertips, and we use it to build our targeted email marketing lists.
Does PRH target reading lists for college students looking beyond formal course reading?
For higher education, the PRH Education team doesn’t do direct outreach to college students. Supplemental reading for courses is still recommended by the professors, so they remain the key targets for our promotion.
What types of books have professors been most interested in or enthusiastic about recently?
PRH titles work across every discipline traditionally, with a strong emphasis on literature and history, as well as other areas like political science, sociology, African American studies, women’s and gender studies, business and management, classics, philosophy, religion, LGBTQ studies, etc.
While the majority of our titles don’t work in textbook-driven disciplines like the sciences, economics, and psychology, there are still trade titles taught frequently in these categories.
How can authors connect with universities and professors to support the work the higher education team does?
What I always tell authors is: If you’re communicating with a professor or doing a campus event, or if you are connected to relevant professors and think your book has academic reach, we offer free desk and exam copies for instructors at accredited colleges and universities. Instructors can order desk or exam copies on this page.
The Penguin Random House Education Marketing staff aims to foster a universal passion for reading by partnering with authors to help create stories and communicate ideas that inform, entertain, and inspire. To learn more about how this fantastic team operates in the higher ed space, as well as our Elementary and Secondary Education programs, check out our education site here.
Phil Stamper-Halpin is Director, Author Development at Penguin Random House.