Publishers Market and Promote Midlist Differently Today

I spent yesterday at the US Book Show, which was full of substantive panels that I plan to share with you over the next couple issues, maybe more.

Today, I’m starting with the most relevant panel for career authors because I think it signifies a shift in how publishers market and promote books. That panel was “Steady Wins the Race: Taking Midlist Authors to the Next Level.”

The panelists were:

• Sarah Cantin, vice president and editorial director at St. Martin’s (Macmillan)
• Vida Engstrand, director of communications at Kensington
• Corinne Moulder, vice president, business development at Smith Publicity
• Taryn Roeder, vice president, publicity at Abrams
• Moderator: Dave Adams, adult reviews director, Publishers Weekly

First, the panel took pains to rebut the pejorative association that has dogged the term midlist author. I myself have been taken to task for referring to authors I admire as midlist because the authors believe the term connotes failure—failure to be a blockbuster. But the industry insiders on this panel did not think it was a bad thing at all and were adamant that everyone, midlist or not, should act as if they are midlist. The overarching theme: Always work toward building relationships and readership, no matter your position.

Cantin said, “The midlist author is someone who can stay in the game and publish book after book. Midlist is a steady author, with steady sales.” Cantin believes that steady sales ultimately equate to growth in today’s market because of the challenges of discoverability.

Engstrand described midlist authors as hustlers. “We have the splashy debut authors and the splashy blockbuster authors and we have these midlist authors constantly growing.” She said she’d much rather work with a midlist author who sells through a modest print run because of the strength of their network and because they put in the time. “There’s no law that says today’s blockbuster isn’t going to be tomorrow’s midlist author and vice versa. No matter where an author is at in their publishing career, they should adopt a midlist mindset. Keep yourself out there.”

Of course the truth is most midlist authors want to break out and sell like a blockbuster. So how does that happen? The panelists agreed there is some shift or pivot in the author’s work—maybe they’re stepping out of their lane in a creative way—or a particular “moment” becomes favorable for a book.

• Engstrand said when an author’s doing something different with a novel, there can be a story around that—or about what’s going on in the world that connects with it. Here she referenced Kristin Hannah’s World War II novel, The Nightingale, which hit just at the right moment.
• Roeder said she can tell something might hit big when she sends out a pitch to the media that gets a high response rate and that response is different in quality than it was before. “Who knows what that reason is,” she said, but that’s when the publisher will typically ramp up efforts. Cantin agreed and said when an author has been working with the same publishing team for a while and they know your work, they can tell when something is hitting in a bigger way than before.
• Cantin said, “When it’s a natural extension of the author, whatever that shift is, readers will follow. Readers are allergic to something very calculated or gimmicky. It’s really about authenticity. … When an author is making that shift from a thoughtful place … the things that readers loved about them will be in that [new breakout] book.”

Odds are, a new book from a midlist author is not going to be a surprising breakout or a blockbuster—and not every book can be presented as a pivot. But that doesn’t mean the publisher won’t support the book or that authors should take issue with the publisher if they don’t treat it like a blockbuster. Cantin said it’s important for publishers to have honest and transparent discussions with authors about what they want to accomplish with a specific release. “Not everything is riding on [every single] book. [But] what will we try that we haven’t done before that will set us up for what we’ll do with the next one?” That might mean new publicity angles, new approaches with booksellers, new types of advertising, a creative look at social media marketing, a different series of in-person events, etc. Cantin said, “It’s not all or nothing, complete failure or top 10 on the New York times list.”

Whatever the approach, publishers may be more likely to prioritize reaching niche audiences rather than big, splashy media. Panelists sent a clear message: Reviews and coverage appearing in print—even in the biggest publications—cannot do much for book sales on their own. Roeder said once upon a time, she used to think about marketing and promotion campaigns as getting the biggest media possible, then considering smaller places later on. Now she’s flipped it around. She thinks about where the ideal readers are going to be and goes after the niche spaces first because those people will buy.

Engstrand said she’d rather have a podcast with a small audience where most listeners are the ideal target market—more likely to buy the book—instead of trying to secure placement in a general-interest outlet like Vanity Fair. But this has to be communicated to the author as part of the strategic plan. Roeder said they tell authors that print and online coverage are the same in terms of impact and importance. “We love either one. It’s fine.”

What I found most surprising: There seems to be patience for achieving sales success on an extended timeline. Conventional wisdom in publishing has been that if a book doesn’t perform well during a narrow release window, then it’s game over and time to move on to the next book. But that playbook seems to be fading (thankfully) given how book discoverability has changed in recent years, especially with BookTok surfacing backlist gems.

Engstrand said, “This is not a six-week campaign, this is an 18-month campaign.” She suggested the author shouldn’t stop marketing and promoting their most recent book until the next book releases. “Fiction is a slow build; there is no silver bullet with it. It’s silver buckshot. It’s spray and pray.” She considers it a blessing that neither publisher nor author is stuck cramming everything into the first six weeks. The downside is that the publisher must employ a strategy that covers a longer period of time and keep resources on a campaign for longer as well.

One example offered for the slow build to success: Taylor Jenkins Reid, a midlist author who has become a blockbuster and was recently featured on the cover of Time. The big shift for her was The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, her fifth book. It released in 2017 but didn’t break out until the pandemic.

Engstrand spoke at length about how a publisher cannot buy this kind of success. She told the story of an undiscovered author and book that her team got super excited about; they threw a six-figure budget into marketing and promotion. Distribution was strong, with national placement in mass merchandisers and Barnes & Noble. But the book bombed and was returned to the publisher in high quantities. Engstrand’s takeaway? “Don’t try to make everything a blockbuster. Focus on building a neighborhood. Get readers onboard, get the evangelists. It’s a slow-grow thing. It’s not super glamorous.”

Bottom line: If you have a big publisher, don’t be disappointed if they don’t go after big media or invest in big advertising. Instead, look for strategies and tactics that layer on media over time, in different ways, to create as many touchpoints as possible over months. Don’t assume everything is over after the first few months on sale. Moulder said of any new title campaign, “We will look at the backlist and will help to elevate content from the author’s backlist.” Midlist authors should embrace the slow-burn strategy; today’s “steady” can turn into tomorrow’s sensation.

And P.S. for authors who can already reach their readers directly: Engstrand said, “That’s your power, that audience. Those authors are very lucky because they have a lot of control over what happens.”