| Schools cover an amazing range of possibilities: | | | | area of your book. In our case the curriculum |
| daycare centers, K-12, adult education and | | | | consultant was impressed with the examination |
| community colleges, four-year institutions, | | | | copy we provided and invited us to supply him |
| universities, special-education programs, even | | | | with a quantity of fliers to distribute to schools in |
| home schooling and vocational programs. They all | | | | the district. Needless to say, we were happy to |
| have potential as large-scale buyers.Orders will not | | | | cooperate.A specialized mailing list is the perfect |
| pop into your office, however. They will dawdle in. | | | | means of reaching your target market. Two main |
| Promotional material sent now may result in an | | | | firms offer detailed breakdowns of faculty. One is |
| order six months or a year downstream. But that | | | | QED (Quality Education Data). Its catalog contains |
| order could be for dozens, hundreds, even | | | | a quick reference guide to the entire education |
| thousands of books. And it isn't necessarily a | | | | market and QED has both mailing lists and |
| one-shot thing. Reorders are likely to roll in each | | | | database services. For instance, with its new |
| new semester. Another reason this is an | | | | educator e-mail marketing service, you can have |
| attractive market is that most sales are made on | | | | your message delivered to the desktops of such |
| a "short discount," meaning that you allow only 20 | | | | educators as pre-K teachers, guidance counselors, |
| percent off the retail price.Perhaps you're thinking, | | | | athletics coaches, plus teachers who cover English, |
| "My book wouldn't sell to schools; it's not a | | | | fine arts and music, math, science, social studies, |
| textbook." You may be in for a nice surprise. The | | | | you name it. Reach QED at 800-525-5811 or visit |
| wide variety of titles that are appropriate in | | | | them online at The other company you want to |
| today's academic circles is amazing. For instance, | | | | check out is Market Data Retrieval, which has |
| the General Books Department of Harcourt Brace | | | | four areas covering K-12, colleges, Libraries, and |
| Jovanovich promoted the following for college use: | | | | day care. Call 800-333-8802 or visit Consider |
| Hitler's Secret Service (history and civilization), Of | | | | renting a small subset to test your mailing's |
| Love and Lust (psychology), All Our Children | | | | effectiveness before rolling out with the larger |
| (sociology), Zen Catholicism (philosophy and | | | | list.The resourceful author or publisher, however, |
| religion), The Company She Keeps (women's | | | | may be able to come up with a list using more |
| studies), and the novels The Voyage Out and | | | | creative tactics. Try calling the State Board of |
| Jacob's Room. And because self-publishing is | | | | Education (usually in the capital) and ask for its |
| merely a microcosm of trade publishing, our | | | | publication department. Many times the BOE will |
| Complete Guide to Self-Publishing sometimes | | | | sell you a list of schools on labels or send you a |
| serves as a text for university classes on | | | | book with a list that you can keyboard into a |
| publishing.To help educators appreciate why your | | | | database yourself. Sometimes these lists are free, |
| book would be appropriate, stress any benefits | | | | other times $10, and in one case, a publisher got |
| that make it more likely for adoption. These might | | | | a wonderful CD with 15,000 school names for |
| include chapters arranged a certain way to make | | | | $100.The best time to mail to colleges is the |
| it easier, inclusion of exercises and quizzes, or | | | | beginning of summer for the fall semester and |
| review questions at the end of each chapter.Even | | | | prior to October for the winter semester. |
| if your work is not suitable as a text, it may be | | | | Educators will expect to receive an examination |
| used as related material for course planning. Such | | | | copy on which they can base a decision. That |
| books are called supplemental texts. We were | | | | doesn't mean you automatically have to send |
| fortunate in introducing Discover Your Roots to | | | | books to everyone. Prepare a mailing piece and, |
| the San Diego Unified School District. This contact | | | | as part of the qualification to receive a |
| netted us ongoing sales since various junior and | | | | complimentary copy, require that the following |
| senior highs picked up the book as a | | | | information be provided:Title and nature of |
| supplementary text in history classes. | | | | courseEstimated number of studentsCollege upper |
| Supplemental texts also find a fertile field in | | | | or lower division course (Freshman and |
| continuing education. Adult learning programs | | | | sophomore classes are larger and thus more |
| cover a lot of unlikely subjects, some of which | | | | profitable.)Starting date of the classApproximate |
| may dovetail with your book.Call the board of | | | | date of "adoption" decision (Kids, pets, and books |
| education at the nearest large city to determine | | | | are adopted. |
| who is in charge of curriculum for the subject | | | | |