Special-sales marketing is also called non-bookstore marketing or non-traditional marketing. Regardless of you call it, selling books to non-bookstore buyers is not only a different way of doing business, but a new way of doing business. It requires a new perspective on the sales process, a new business model for most publishers. In many cases the chain of events unfolds differently from that of selling books through bookstores.

    For example, in trade marketing the publisher produces a book, prices it, creates bookstore distribution and then promotes it. That is a logical sequence of events for that purpose. Sales are pulled through the distribution network, and the quantity of books sold is a function of the quantity and quality of the mass promotion the author performs.

    But in non-retail marketing the author/publisher must follow a different course. The process begins with promotion to establish awareness of, and need for the content that is offered. Since there is no distributor, the author/publisher finds and makes sales calls on prospective buyers, discusses the content of the book, plans the form in which the content will be delivered (book, booklet, ebook), decides on the number of units to be purchased, and only then negotiates the price and delivery. The quantity of books sold is a function of the ability of the author to act as a consultant, working with one buyer to find unique ways to use the content of the book to solve a company’s problem.

    Special-sales marketing is not instead of, but parallel to bookstore marketing. In the example above, the promotion you do to communicate your message to the corporate buyer also reaches consumers and may entice them to go to a bookstore. This is not an either/or proposition. It is not separate from, but coincidental to trade marketing. Special-sales marketing entails a joint marketing strategy that unfolds as part of an overall business strategy.