Marketing is an integral part of book publishing and the success of a book. It starts at the acquisition of a manuscript and continues after publication. Ooligan Press is unique because it’s run by students in the Portland State University’s Book Publishing master’s program. Unlike larger publishers, we don’t have the capacity for a marketing team dedicated to our backlist titles.

Each of our frontlist titles has a team of students creating and executing the marketing plan, but after publication they are assigned to another title. There was enough room for overlap between projects to create short-term marketing and publicity plans, but the system had room to improve. Many documents are archived post publication and with such high turnover due to managers graduating, it becomes difficult for future students to track down and utilize these marketing documents.

In the spring of 2025, there was a gap in our publication schedule while a project team waited to acquire their next manuscript. We took this opportunity to prioritize backlist marketing. Our goals initially were to promote authors attending events, highlight titles through social media, and maintain connections with local businesses. Quickly we realized there was room to improve our overall backlist marketing system.

It was interesting to go through old files and see how our marketing documents have changed over time. This added a slight challenge in finding the appropriate documents, but the team was able to put together the pieces and document them in more accessible formats. Still, it took longer than anticipated to dig through each title individually. We understood why backlist marketing assignments weren’t common. Without the large pause between projects, no team or individual would have had time to track down all this information, let alone be creative in implementing it.

Marketing frontlist titles can be a fun collaboration between the publisher and the author. Marketing backlist titles can feel limiting in comparison with fewer resources. We decided to target social media and live events. We selected Short, Vigorous Roots—a short story collection featuring first and second generation migrant voices—for a Pinterest social media campaign. We reached out to the Oregon Zoo to see about returning Elephant Speak: A Devoted Keeper’s Life Among the Herd to their gift shop. We also reached out to OMSI to feature our natural science nonfiction titles at future events. These were just a few of the great ideas the team came up with to promote our backlist titles.

As we were wrapping up and preparing for our next frontlist title, we decided to create a documentation system that made backlist marketing easier and more accessible for future students. Collaborating with the Online Content Department and Marketing Department, we created ongoing documents that would highlight potential marketing opportunities for titles post-publication. Project teams would add to these documents after publication and students could access the relevant marketing materials for all backlist titles in one place. This gives students the ability to maintain partnership contacts even as manager positions turn over each year. It will also allow us to continuously support our authors and titles well after publication.