Category: Authors and Books

About the workshop

Promoting Your Book Online for Academics is on April 12, 2025 at 2pm Eastern / 11:30am Pacific Time. It will be recorded for when you can’t make it live.

You should sign up if you’re open to

• Sharing your book (or your research project)
• Opportunities for your book to be featured in media (but aren’t sure where to start)
• Helping more people with the writing / research you already do
• Aim to attract funding
• Want to build partnerships or collaborations for your equity focused work

Promoting Your Book Online for Academics is a live event for academic authors. But it’s not just for your monograph or edited collection. If you’ve written a report. If you have created a resource. If your research outputs are something you want to share? This interactive workshop is for you.

At the end of this workshop you’ll know what’s effective use of your time for media and online presence.

What inspired this event

Hi, I’m Jennifer van Alstyne (@HigherEdPR). I’ve been working 1-on-1 with professors on their online presence since 2018. When I look back on the transformations my clients have gone through, there’s often an emotional journey, not just the capacity-building work we do for your online presence. Most of my clients are authors. The professor writers I work with want their words to reach the right people, but felt unsure about how to go about that online.

Your book deserves to reach the people you wrote it for. When I ask professors who haven’t promoted their book, “do you hope more readers find this book?” The answer is often “Yes,” even if the book is older. Even when the book didn’t sell as well as you may have hoped. Even when your book is out of print there are things you can do to have agency in sharing it online.

In 2021, Dr. Sheena Howard and I teamed up for an intimate live event that helped academics around the world. We’ve been wanting to do another one since. But we wanted something that was really going to help you. For years, authors have opened up to each of us about what stopped them from sharing their book for years. When we were brainstorming who we want to help most with this Promoting Your Book Online for Academics event, these are some of the stories that came up:

I thought I’d have more support in marketing my book from the press…but it seems to be mostly on me.

My publisher asked me to build up my social media presence for my new book…I’m not really a social media person.

My books in the past didn’t do well…I’m worried my new book won’t do well either.

I shared my book once. But I haven’t share it again since on socials.

I am unsure if it is too early (or too late) to promote my book.

If I want to promote my book, when should I be reaching out to media? Before the book launches? After the book launches? I don’t know where to start.

I don’t think anyone will care about my book.

I want to go on podcasts to talk about my book, but I haven’t done anything toward that, no.

Do any of those feel like you? I hope you’ll join us.

Dr. Sheena C. Howard (@drsheenahoward), a Professor of Communication. She helps professors get media coverage and visibility through Power Your Research (without the expense of a publicist). She’s been featured in ABC, PBS, BBC, NPR, NBC, The LA Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and more for her research on representation, identity, and social justice. Her book, Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation won an Eisner Award. The Encyclopedia of Black Comics, which profiles over 100 Black people in the comics industry. Her book, Why Wakanda Matters, was a clue on Jeopardy.

She’s a writer without limits. I’ve recommended Sheena to some of my clients because she’s someone who helps people move past the limits we sometimes set for ourselves as writers. The worries or beliefs that sometimes hold us back. She’s worked closely with writers and creatives to build their capacity, to have agency in your media presence so you can make an impact when it matters. You want visibility that makes a difference for you. That invites readers. That can attract opportunities when they’re aligned with with what you want for yourself and the world.

This event is for you even when you want to do it yourself for your online presence. You won’t have to work with us after the workshop ends. This live event is about implementable strategies, and finding focus for what makes sense for sharing your book or research project.