Red Penguin Books is very active in the area of educational books, and are thrilled to work with authors of both fiction and non-fiction in publishing and promoting their books to educational organizations. When a new program – entitled “Teach Us Rome” approached Red Penguin Books, we created a multi-pronged approach to get their materials published and promoted to their target audience.

As this was a new program and not simply a book series by an established program, we began with the development of a full business plan as it related to the production, publication and distribution of their educational materials. A website hub was created for the organization, providing a place to grow with books, lessons, resources, and links to their expanding body of content over many platforms. This website was developed on WordPress, so that it would be able to handle everything from blogging to ecommerce, and grow with the organization as needed.

The themes and titles of the first books to be released were selected, and we created book cover images which could be used on the website, as well as in marketing materials, immediately to begin audience building. We also set target publication dates for the various books to be released, and established such things as a standard book layout, series graphics, and timelines for completion, so that all authors would remain on track to publication.

While the books were in development, I crafted a pre-release game plan, and that included

• • analysis of the Amazon algorithms and category options to select the best placement for all of the books, based upon the competition as well as the age ranges, as placement of educational resources for children has different requirements than that of adult books.

• a pre-release campaign including beta readers and reviewers to launch the book with reviews already present in the book, as well as on the web page

• release of the early chapters as individual, downloadable lessons on the website, which would bring interested visitors to the website, where they could see the release dates for the full books.

Before the books were released, a free sample page and online media kit were developed to send to education organizations, as well as a bulk order process to fulfil school orders. Books such as these will have the largest numbers of sales direct to schools, so we made sure that the ordering method was clear and easy to navigate.

On release day, the books were also released to retail stores, such as Amazon and Barnes n Noble, and online bulk order requests began to be shipped. While most sales are direct from the publisher, having the books available on such online retail sites drives additional interest, and many bulk orders begin with just a single purchase from an online retailer.

We are always thrilled to work with authors of educational materials to develop a viable plan of production, publication and distribution to their community, and to facilitate the financial and promotional pieces that organizations may find overwhelming. Education is such an important part of the Red Penguin mission, and whether educational materials are going to schools, homeschoolers or libraries, we are happy to work with authors and organizations to make their book goals a reality.