Books are spread by word of mouth
It was one of those gatherings where the cancellations rolled in slowly. I have spearheaded a monthly potluck brunch in Burien for queer community members to get together and get to know each other, and our March date just wasn’t actually going to work for most people. But my friend’s with a newborn were still down, so my partner and I brought over some items from PCC’s breakfast hot bar. The sun was warm enough that we could all sit outside comfortably, it was a lovely day to gather on their sun bleached wood deck.
One of the mom’s asked what exactly a Deputy Publisher does, and, y’all, the answer was long! I’ll spare you a list of activities I do. Suffice to say,
the aim of my work is to build communities that can bring attention to the books we put into the world.
I shared that one thing I learned from an incredible consultation session with another small press in our region, Blue Cactus Press, that traditional advertising hasn’t led to sales in their experience. I also talked about how I fought against paying someone to cover the town in posters for Still True, and made everyone laugh when I asked, “when have you ever seen a poster, and then gone out and bought that book?”
And that’s just the thing, ads whether printed or targeted to you via your online history, just aren’t what get people to pick up specific titles.
Word of mouth is.
I have a few friends who’s reading tastes align perfectly with mine, so whenever I read something I love I make sure I tell them about it, and they do the same for me. And those are usually the books I actually get, and actually read.
If you are subscribed to our newsletter because you care for me, Marcus, Reagan, or any of our upcoming authors, the number one thing you can do to support Hinton is to tell people about our publications! Suggest Still True to your bookclub, explain how much you’ve enjoyed reading Speak The Sojourner on your social media feed, shoot your networks an email about our work and suggest they support us with purchases or attention, or just tell your bestie at your next get together to add one of our books to your TBR pile!
Many thanks for for doing that work, it’s the most effective thing we have to create success for Hinton and its writers.