What Is In-House Marketing?
an interview with Brianne Sperber at PRH + NSSA skill building info
Not So Secret Agent is an email newsletter all about the inside scoop on cookbook publishing from senior literary agent, Sally Ekus (that’s me!). Make sure we never miss the chance to connect.
Dear Not So Secret Agent readers,
I am SO fortunate to work with incredible publishing colleagues across the industry, some truly remarkable, wildly hardworking, extraordinarily caring humans. Editors, copyeditors, designers, marketing and publicity folks, and more. Each one of them has expertise and delivers beautifully on their role in a book’s production. I appreciate their smarts, author care, communication, and general niceness. Yup, this Not So Secret Agent likes loves to work with kind people who are good great at what they do.
Today I have the immense pleasure of introducing you to one of these colleagues.
Brianne Sperber (she/her) is the Associate Director of Marketing for Ten Speed Press and Clarkson Potter. With 15 years of marketing experience and a deep understanding of the publishing industry, Brianne has worked at every stage of the reader’s journey—from her start at a literary agency to building the beloved social media presence of Strand Book Store. Brianne has spearheaded integrated marketing campaigns for New York Times bestselling authors and personalities such as Alex Guarnaschelli, Dolly Parton, Justine Doiron, Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche, Melissa Urban, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Will Buxton. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California, with her quirky cat, Chicken.
Marketing peeps are some of the most dedicated, creative, detail-oriented people that will be collaborating toward your book’s success.
Brianne Sperber is the kind of marketing genius who has great ideas that are unique to each author and book campaign. She understands the realities of the marketplace, communicates well with everyone (agents included!), and works hard. Nope, I can neither confirm nor deny that every time I sell a book to PRH (Penguin Random House), I secretly hope that Brianne is assigned the campaign.
***Not So Secret Agent sidenote: No shade on all the other awesome humans across marketing at PRH. Truly, I adore the whole team there. I just have a soft spot for Brianne’s author care approach and her direct, no bull comms with the agent. Like, tell me straight what you need my author to do so we can make it happen!***
I have been wanting to interview Brianne for this newsletter since its inception. I’m thrilled about this for many reasons, one being that this is the first interview I’m bringing you with someone who works “in house” at one of the big five publishing companies.
What does “in house” mean?
It describes someone that works inside and is employed by a publishing company.
A person working in house has a window into the way book proposals are evaluated because they are part of that evaluation.
Being in-house means reporting to a hierarchy structure and attempting to meet the needs of many people all at the same time. With each book, they are tasked with bringing new and creative ideas while also balancing their publishing company’s expectations and industry norms. In-house marketing is one of the most demanding and dynamic roles in book publishing, IMO. And it is different from publicity.
I always ask new authors these three questions:
Why do you want to write your book?
Who is your audience?
How will you get your book in your readers’ hands?
Yes, marketing and publicity work hand-in-hand. Sure, sometimes both roles are fulfilled by the same person — that often depends on the size and scope of the publishing program. That said, marketing is key in helping get your book in front of your intended audience.
Since PRH is a massive publishing entity and Brianne occupies a dedicated marketing seat, she’s a premier expert in helping books stand out.
Brianne’s job is to uncover answers to the final question, and I know firsthand that she is incredible at what she does.
Please introduce yourself to my readers including a little bit about what you wanted to be when you grew up:
I don’t know what I wanted to be when I was super young, but I know that I loved books. In 5th grade, I met my best friend’s mom, who is a successful literary agent. She has long been an expander for me and is still the person I call for advice. Her career inspired me and from age 10, I dreamt of finding the next Harry Potter and putting it on shelves. I remember when we saw a movie based on a book she represented–a movie, I assure you, every millennial woman has seen–and thought, I’m going to do that.
Fast forward to my first job at a literary agency, where I quickly realized literary representation and editorial was not the path for me. I needed a pivot and set my sights towards a marketing role. I watched social media grow after college (anyone else remember TEXTING your Tweets?!), quickly latched on to food blogging and even briefly wanted to be a blogger myself. (If you google me, you might find my blog with about four recipes that I did not test more than once.)
My path to Clarkson Potter and Ten Speed Press was a winding one, but now I see it as the only one possible: I used to run home to watch Martha Stewart after school and I fully believe I manifested this whole crazy career of mine.
When I’m not working, I spend my time at bopping around art galleries, the Hollywood Farmers’ Market, the Vista Movie theater or LA’s truly magical thrift stores. Recent books I’ve loved include The Oracle’s Daughter, Yesteryear, and When Things Fall Apart.
What is your official title and what does that mean?
I’m the associate director of marketing at Clarkson Potter and Ten Speed Press. I have slightly higher responsibility on our team, including managing direct reports, overseeing our relationships within PRH’s advertising team and other cross-department teams, and some involvement in decision making. Our team is extremely collaborative in general.
What is a quick snapshot of your typical day in marketing?
Gosh, every campaign and season varies greatly. I think it’s the reason I’ve stayed in this career this long! In general, because of the nature of our list, there’s no one day in the life of marketing. Right now, we are actively kicking off fall campaigns so I am working closely with several authors on announcing their books to their audiences. This entails a lot of writing: content plans, social media captions, timelines and calendars, email blast copy, and more. There’s also a level of coordinating with sales on timing or strategy (Does the author have a brand they need to sell through? Is there a specific bookstore they want to work with?, etc.), and there’s also coordinating materials from our marketing design team.
Beyond those announcements, I’m working on spring and summer titles actively so I’m pitching brands or influencers for some projects, or coordinating influencer mailings for others. I’m probably also checking in with our ads team on options for an upcoming paid advertising campaign or chatting with our team about what sort of influencer mailings are actually getting posted.
Every campaign is bespoke. A colleague says our books are all snowflakes, and she’s not wrong—I’m constantly in awe of the different campaign styles. Every author’s platform is so different, and each activates their audience differently. For one campaign, you might need a YouTube strategy but not as much of an Instagram strategy. It’s wild, and you don’t know this going into it!
How many campaigns do you work on at one time? Do you get to choose?
I work on 8-12 a season, and keep in mind many seasons overlap. I’d say it’s 30 on average annually, season and list depending. I love our list, and many of my favorite—and most successful—are in some super specific categories. A book on Formula 1 and a book on Chess ended up being two huge bestsellers for my list, and I’m not necessarily entrenched in either fanbase!
I always joke that if you can market a book, you can market a sock. Having the space from one category and time to ideate in another improves my work, I’d say, so I welcome variety for personal and professional reasons.
What role do you play in the acquisitions process?
Our editorial meetings are open to marketing and publicity colleagues to share their thoughts on a project or proposal. I attend author proposal meetings (where we consider new authors) and share my feedback after the call with the editor and publishing team. Materials are circulated and I know it means the world to editors when I share my thoughts.
What stands out to you in a book proposal?
I’m a visual person, but I’m also a data nerd. I love when something uses design to share a point of view, and our books are largely visual! I want to see your photos, snaps of your content, and a good, clean page layout. Above all though, I believe proposals should include an author’s platform demographics and important statistics like engagement or open rate. While I love to see a list of creator friends on a proposal, I can see this on Instagram.
Do you think chasing a spot on the bestseller list is a good use of an author’s time and resources?
No, and I don’t generally recommend bestseller campaigns. They’re a lot of work and they don’t ensure long-term book sales. Focus on longevity and sales that will keep your book in print for years to come, not a short-term sales strategy with one goal in mind. This might look like spending resources to build an email newsletter, hiring a content strategist, hiring a brand manager, or revamping your website. Ask your publisher what THEIR goals are for your book and see where you can meet them. If your goals don’t match your publisher’s, you should ask them (gently) why. I assure you, they have a plan for you.
What about book marketing has changed in the past year?
I am obsessed with the rise of text-based platforms and am thrilled to see something like Substack grow as it has. I absolutely love that we get to enjoy longform text as consumers AND that it’s another piece of my marketing strategy. I missed writing newsletters for authors! In all seriousness: everything has changed.
Meta’s algorithm feels like it’s never going to stabilize. I am constantly wondering what makes an author sticky, and every day our team is sharing learnings from our campaigns. Best practices shift way more frequently now than ever before.
We used to say a consumer needed to see a product 3x before they’d commit to purchase, now I think the average is 9x?! You have to work hard to get that sale.
Change is the only constant, friends.
What do you wish would change?
I was one of the quiet few who wished TikTok would go away.
What are you glad hasn’t changed?
I’m glad email marketing is still so powerful! See my comments above. I’m a reader, after all.
Where do you get your marketing insights from?
PRH has an insanely capable and brilliant team of analysts who give us amazing insights every week–the presentations are insightful and inspiring! I spend too much time reading random marketing Substacks that I never subscribe to. Link in Bio by Rachel Karten is an absolute treasure trove of knowledge. LinkedIn has become more of a resource than I expected and following thought leaders in other industries has greatly deepened my understanding of marketing.
What is the best way for people to connect with you since you work in house?
I’m not currently consulting or seeking clients, but I’m always happy to engage in the comments on my LinkedIn posts!
Welp, dear reader, right about now you’re probably revisiting your book proposal to get your dashboard data nerd on and add screenshots, or you’re heading to your inbox to email your editor to discuss their goals for your book.
You may know your book’s content and your audience best, but marketing people know reader insights, consumer behavior, and buying trends.
***Not So Secret Agent sidenote: If you’re lucky enough to be highly sought after, you may see someone from the in-house marketing department pop up on a meet-and-greet call when your proposal is out on submission. If this happens, REMEMBER them! Their presence probably means they are excited about your work and could be big champions to collaborate with for launch. IF you sign with that house, they just might be assigned to work on your campaign. They just might pop back up at M&P time.
***Double Not So Secret Agent sidenote: Their presence also likely means they will keep tabs on your work over the (roughly) two years your manuscript takes to become a book. Though you will be “re-meeting” them at your kickoff call, which typically happens about 6 months before your pub date, they will already have a ton of insight into you and your audience.***
I hope this interview gave you a window into how to partner with these key champions to help your book succeed. I also hope this inspires those of you deep in campaign launches right now to drop a thank you note to your team!
There is so much wisdom to glean from Brianne’s insights. Some might even say she puts the pro in promotion. 😉
~Sally~
Even though Brianne isn’t currently consulting, I couldn’t pass up the chance to bring her brilliance to you IRL (okay, virtually).
If you’re a part of the NSSA paid reader community, Brianne will be my guest speaker on May 20th from 2-3:30ET via zoom for the next NSSA Skill Building Session. This event is reserved exclusively for paying readers to ensure that those most engaged in professional development can connect with each other. I do this to gather people ready to commit, in dollars and time, to the community in the room. I also pay my guests an honorarium.
You can upgrade your subscription HERE (with 20% off annual subscriptions).
As always, if you do not have the means to upgrade your subscription, I do not want the $8/month or $64/year to be a barrier. Please contact me for an equity spot, no questions asked. And yes, people take me up on this all the time. Drop me a line (via replying to this email or a DM on Substack) so you can participate in this community conversation!
The conversation *will* be recorded. You must be a paid subscriber by Tuesday May 19th at 5pmET in order to guarantee you will get the zoom info (sent via email on Wednesday the 20th by 9amET).
NSSA IRL in the Wild:
New podcast episodes:
Yours truly with Jamie Maglietta where we dive into what happens if I google you when you pitch me. Are you really ready to write your book?!
Yours truly with Way-Word Writers where we talk all about Today’s Cookbook Market.
Events:
June 12-14th: Chicago for James Beard Media Awards Congrats to all the nominees, and special shout out to client, Sapna Punjabi for Dal Chawal!
September 30th: NYC, People of Publishing Tickets HERE
We authors are so lucky to work with Brianne - great interview!
Go Brianne! I love the idea that every campaign is a snowflake