In the final article of our #SpeakUp series for University Press Week, Bristol University Press Global Sales Manager Julie Atkins looks at the importance both of working alongside booksellers and of bookstore events as a place for university presses to speak up.
University presses face a big challenge in gaining valuable shelf space in physical bookstores. With the latest bestselling fiction, celebrity memoirs, seasonal cookbooks and children’s books all fighting for prime space in windows, front-of-store table displays and highlighted shelving, is there even a place for academic works in those everyday stores? We believe there is, and we work closely with bookshops across the UK and beyond to promote our value to their customers.
Local independent bookshops are our favoured venue for book launches. This choice allows us to support local bookstores that may specialise in a certain genre of book, foster good relationships with our local community and the community of our authors, and encourage footfall. We hold a number of book launches throughout the year – these can include an event at which the author talks about their book, holds a Q&A session and does a signing; a panel session with more than one author talking about a subject they have all written about; or a drinks reception with a signing. In each case, we work closely with the shop to ensure books are available, to create the right setting and to provide supporting materials. Our marketing team promotes these events with social media posts before, during and after.
Working alongside bookshops also gives us the opportunity to understand what drives people into stores, what encourages them to buy, and what their interests are. It allows us to be selective in presenting the right books to the right stores – a bookstore in a university town will be more likely to stock textbooks and the occasional monograph; one in a non-university town might rather opt for trade-friendly general interest titles.
We have worked regularly with Blackwell’s in Oxford, which has been trading in the same location since 1879. As a predominantly academic and specialist bookstore, Blackwell’s is the ideal store to support us as a university press, and Kieron Smith, the Digital Director at Blackwell’s, has this to say about the value of supporting university presses:
“I believe that university presses are delivering some of the most interesting publishing in the UK today, publishing titles which are socially important and reach far beyond the academy to have impact. Increasingly, general readers are also turning to these presses and many titles have true mass market appeal, that said in no way to denigrate the truly niche specialist books which find a home within the same stable. We’re always keen to champion quality publishing here and highlight books for both academic and trade audiences – innovation and experimentation is key to these presses, and we’ll support them every step of the way.”
However, it is not just bookshops that enable us to promote our titles. We have been fortunate enough to hold launch events in a variety of locations including law offices, charity centres, university buildings and conference venues. Every location allows us to share our publications with interested audiences, who often go on to mention their experiences on social media and therefore increase the visibility of the title. We appreciate the value of word-of-mouth recommendations to disseminate information about our books and recognise the difference that the messages in those books can make in the right hands.
We would like to thank all those bookshops who hold events in store, attend external launches to sell books outside of their stores and stock copies of our books to sell after the event. We are proud that every bookstore, whether in the UK or beyond, has access to our books through international distribution networks, and we are happy to support them as much as they support us.
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