Target non-traditional media to make campaigns inclusive, Seaward says

Publishers need to target non-traditional outlets and realise the media has changed if they want to make their book campaigns more inclusive, Dialogue senior publicity manager Millie Seaward has said.

Seaward was talking during a session on the changing media landscape for The Bookseller's virtual Marketing and Publicity Conference on Tuesday (7th July).

Seaward said she was always looking to centre inclusion and diversity in everything the imprint did, from setting up events with the Black Girls Book Club to updating media lists with publications such as gal-dem and Pride magazine or targeting influencers.

The arts pages of the national press were “overwhelmingly white” with no black or Asian literary editors in the major national pages, making it difficult to engage them with books about marginalised communities, she said. “This will force you to look outside the traditional media and start engaging with other highly influential and important journalists – which is no bad thing. Media is changing and we need to change with it.”

Seaward gave the example of recent publication Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez, a black gay man whose novel includes graphic sex scenes. Proofs were sent out to publications with an art and fashion focus, one of which, i-D, published an interview with the author despite not normally covering books.

Seaward said she had also made an effort to diversify her social media feeds when she started at Dialogue. She explained: “This will make you aware of other outlets that you were perhaps unaware of, with whom you can start a dialogue with. You can also start to be aware of conversations that you had no idea were happening in a cultural sphere, which will help you pitch features from your authors.”

Other tips included flagging up to events and festivals if their line-ups lacked diversity and not diving into issues like the Black Lives Matter movement without careful consideration.

She said: “You may feel that you want to jump straight into a cause but it's always worth taking a step back first and take the temperature of a situation. Listen to those at the centre of a conversation, and take it from there.”

During Dialogue's own response to BLM authors were centered in the messaging and blackness was celebrated alongside acknowledging the fight against racism.

Seaward urged fellow publicists: “Keep the work going, it's not just about one campaign. Dialogue Books has been running for three years and each time we publish a new title awareness of our imprint grows. Inclusion is something we've been fighting for for a number of years and we are always learning. Take what you learn from one campaign and apply it to all your campaigns. In order for publishing to become truly inclusive we have to always be including minority voices in our campaigns. Black bloggers and Instagrammers don't just read books from black authors. They are readers who love reading. Include them in your campaigns.”

During the same session, Sonoo Singh, associate editor of the Drum, discussed changes in the way we consume media, while Ellie Pilcher, marketing manager at Avon and HarperCollins, and Melanie Price, digital marketing manager for One More Chapter at HarperCollins, gave tips on marketing e-books and audio.

Rosanna Boscawen, head of campaigns at Vintage, discussed how charities and causes could be highlighted by book publications and feed into the marketing.

She described how, during the publisher's campaign for The Testaments by Margaret Atwood, the author chose Equality Now as a charity she wanted to work with during the release. The company used co-branded content, staff sales and an appearance from the charity's global director at the Waterstones midnight opening to add 6,000 new subscribers to the organisation.

She said: “As a marketing team at one of the biggest publishers, we want to use our position as a force for good and if we can simultaneously raise the profile of a charity or cause that's close to our or our author's hearts then that feels about the best measure of success there is.”