Since this episode aired, Gina moved from First Second to Random House, and still puts out amazing books.
This week on the show we have Gina Gagliano from First Second books, a fine purveyor of graphic novels for every reader. They are owned by Macmillan, a giant in the publishing space. Even though they are small, they have the support of a massive brand behind them.
That’s what made my conversation with Gina so interesting. She was able to talk from a much wider and more longitudinal view of many, many projects. She talked about the three-year time horizon from signing an author to having a book come out. For most people in the indie world, that is an insane length of time. First Second does that several dozen times a year. So they have to think in the short and long term. First Second also has one of the most extensive networks of bookstore and library distribution, if not the biggest, of any guest we’ve had so far, so it was nice to talk about how to plan for that kind of growth. Gina talked about the shows she attends and the strategy she used to make each of them a success. But we talked about so much more than just shows. Gina laid out a sample plan for how she brings a book to market.
Gina went step by step through her entire marketing plan, and how to dissect the best methods for your book launch even if you don’t have a publisher. It was fascinating to listen to her break that down, and also break down the different target markets for books. This is something I struggled with all year, but haven’t articulated on the podcast, so I’m glad she did. The world is not just split up into adult, YA, and kids.
There are many gradations that must be met when you are planning your marketing. Nearly every age gets split into its own category, and the marketing changes depending on the target market. That’s one of the main reasons why Wannabe Press abandoned the children’s market. It was just too much work to segment our small market in so small a way. It didn’t work for us. This is one of the most important concepts you need to understand before developing a marketing plan.
Where is your market?
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