Vibrant library scene featuring wooden bookshelves filled with various books.

Quick Tips for Marketing Your New Books

ByJenn Martin

You’ve put time, effort, and expertise into creating a high quality book on Pressbooks, and now it’s time to help it find its audience. If you’re publishing through an educational institution, there are a number of things you can do to increase the visibility of your work. Below, we’ve outlined several ways Pressbooks can help you highlight your new book, along with additional outreach strategies your institution can use to broaden its impact.

Summary (continuing reading for more information on how you can use each of these channels):

Make Your Books Discoverable in Pressbooks Directory

The Pressbooks Directory is our central discovery hub, featuring more than 8,000 open access books from over 200 Pressbooks networks. Listing your book here ensures it’s easy to find, easy to share, and positioned among thousands of openly licensed educational resources used around the world.

screenshot showing the "find a book" function on the Pressbooks Directory

To include your book in the Directory:

  • Publish the book on your Pressbooks network
  • Ensure the book’s privacy settings are set to Public
  • Check the box that allows the book to be listed in the Directory
  • Make sure your book meets minimum word count thresholds:
    • 5,000+ words on Pressbooks.pub
    • 1,500+ words on enterprise networks
  • Avoid the words “Test” or “Demo” in the title—books with these phrases are automatically excluded

These small steps ensure that your book becomes accessible through a platform that educators, librarians, and institutions already trust.

Tip: If you have a book that you think would be a good fit for one of our featured Collections, let us know.

Share on LinkedIn

Each month, Pressbooks curates a round up of new books published on our platform. We also regularly highlight standout projects in dedicated spotlights. If you have a new release you’d like us to feature, let us know! Sharing your book here can help it reach a broader professional audience across higher education, publishing, and open education communities.

Tip: If you are posting about a new book on your institution’s LinkedIn page, tag us @Pressbooks and we’ll reshare.

Feature Your Book in our Newsletters

Pressbooks maintains two monthly newsletters:

  • one for Network Managers
  • one for the broader Pressbooks community

We’re always happy to highlight new titles from our users. Featuring your work here puts it directly in front of people who care about open publishing, instructional design, and digital learning. Plus, if you let us know about a new book that might put it in the running for our Book of the Month spotlight! (email your newsletter submissions to jenn@pressbooks.com) 

Share in our Community Forum

Our Community Forum is a space where Pressbooks users exchange tips, tools, and inspiration. The Book Announcements Thread is the perfect place to share news about your latest publication (and if you’d prefer, Pressbooks staff can post an announcement on your behalf. Just email jenn@pressbooks.com)

Share in Other Communities/Listservs

Many educators and OER practitioners actively follow open education listservs like:

  • CCCOER Community Email
  • SPARC Open Education Forum

These are excellent channels for circulating new book announcements, especially if your work may benefit other faculty, librarians, or instructional designers.

Share with OER Digest

OER Digest publishes a monthly roundup of new and noteworthy open resources. Submitting your book helps it reach thousands of readers who stay current with developments in open education. It’s another simple way to get your work in front of a dedicated and engaged audience.

Create Book Spotlight Cards Using our Canva Design

To help you promote your book visually, Pressbooks has created customizable Canva templates you can use to create eye-catching posters that are great for sharing at events on campus.

Book spotlight of Culture and Psychology

Submit as an Open Resource During Open Education Week

During Open Education Week, organizations around the world highlight exemplary open resources. Submitting your book adds it to a global celebration of openness and can dramatically increase its visibility among educators and learners.

At Pressbooks, we’re always eager to celebrate the incredible work our community is creating. The more we hear from you about your new books, the more we can help amplify them—whether that’s through our social channels, newsletters, or even future features on our blog. Don’t hesitate to reach out and share your latest projects with us; we love shining a spotlight on the meaningful, creative, and innovative publications emerging from our community.

Lead Photo by Element5 Digital