ABSTRACT
The marketing of books that warrant restrained adjectives as "trenchant" and "well-documented" differs from selling trade books in approach as well as in vocabulary. Scholarly marketing means focusing on specific audiences and specific ways to reach them, generally with a limited budget that demands both care and ingenuity in managing. The markets for most scholarly books include libraries, wholesalers and independent bookstores, universities and other institutions, and individual scholars, professionals, and researchers. Like trade publishers, most scholarly houses prepare two seasonal catalogs a year, and some issue annual listings of their books in print. Exhibiting books at scholarly and professional meetings provides a good opportunity for potential buyers to get their hands on the books, peruse them, and sometimes even sit down at the exhibit booth and read them. A few years back, a publishing executive addressing a direct-mail seminar recalled her early experiences as college promotion manager in a commercial house.
