Marketing Happens

Here at Pebblebrook Press, as is the case at so many small presses, we are grateful for the ingenuity of our authors’ marketing efforts to promote their books. Since our staff is only four people (all of us with day jobs and a literary journal called Stoneboat to produce twice a year), and since the bank account balance for the journal and press combined rarely exceeds triple digits, we simply don't have the time or the resources to extensively market our book titles. We send out review copies, we take books to festivals and other events, and we sing our titles’ praises on social media, but as far as actual "marketing campaigns" go, well, we know we are rather lacking in this department.


What we do not lack, however, is a willingness to support the creative efforts of the writers we have been lucky enough to publish, amazing writers, all of them. We are happy to assist them in the journeys they take into the land of self-promotion. We stand at the ready to follow each person's lead. We are here to send letters, make phone calls, nominate for awards, and show up at readings.

Thanks to the hard work of Pebblebrook author Mark Zimmermann, it is with great pleasure that the editors of Stoneboat/Pebblebrook Press will be at Boswell's Books in Milwaukee on Thursday evening, January 14, when Mark reads from his poetry collection, Impersonations, at 7:00 p.m. We applaud Mark for doing the legwork on this one, and for his diligence in staying on task to promote the book.

In addition to the reading, he will be interviewed on Milwaukee Public Radio’s Lake Effect program next week. Mark made the initial contact with the program's producer, and then nudged us to write a letter on his behalf. The rest is history. (Well, not yet, but it will be soon enough.) Tune in to WUWM (89.7 FM) on Tuesday, January 12h at 10:00 a.m. and hear it for yourself.

Please do catch the interview, and then, join us at Boswell's on Thursday night. Meanwhile, I think we might want to consider bringing some of our authors on board to help us market all of our Pebblebrook Press titles. They're pretty good at it...