Quick Guide: Prelaunch Marketing

When your manuscript is fully developed and your first edition or new edition moves into the production phase, the Cognella marketing and creative team will work with you to develop three prelaunch marketing elements for your text: a winning title, insightful promotional copy, and a compelling cover. The team will partner with you to strategically develop these elements, which are designed to attract potential adopters and enhance the overall reading experience for your title.

Marketing Questionnaire

To get the process started, a member of the Cognella marketing team will send you our Marketing Questionnaire. Read through the questions, provide detailed and thoughtful responses, and return your completed questionnaire. The information you provide will be used to create the promotional copy that will appear on your back cover, as well as your cover design.

A Winning Title

As your book moves toward a national launch, consider your working title. Does it simply echo the name of a course? Does it express your book’s unique viewpoint? Could a subtitle make it stronger?

A strong title is concise and creative. It quickly captures the spirit of the book and represents its content in an appealing way. Sometimes, the simplest of titles can be modified to have a stronger impact. Adding a subtitle can further explain what a book is about or introduce a fresh take on a concept. Below are examples of changes made to working titles to enhance their appeal.

Working Title

Public Speaking
Issues in Policing
Human Evolution

Final Title

Lessons from the Podium
Shades of Blue: Practice and Possibility in Policing
Human Evolution: Processes and Adaptations

In the Marketing Questionnaire, you have an opportunity to include title suggestions or ask for assistance with finalizing your title. If you leave notes in this section, our content specialist will provide title suggestions when she sends your promotional copy to you for your review.

If you have suggested changes for your title after your book has been sent to press, we will not be able make the requested changes until you publish a revised or new edition of the text.

Consider This

  • Decide what you want your title to convey and how you want to say it.
  • Focus on clarity rather than cleverness. You want potential adopters to know what your book is about right away.
  • Keep it concise.