4 Things I Learned at the Fly On The Wall Press Publishing Academy Talk

Posted on February 16, 2026 in INTO, North

On 3rd February 2026, I went to the Fly on the Wall Press Publishing Academy Talk on Trade Marketing and Sales, led by Andrew Furlow. It was brilliant to hear about Andrew’s publishing journey, along with being able to learn about an overlooked part of the industry. Here are four things I took away from the experience. 

1) Sales is about selling books to businesses, not individual people

I thought that sales in publishing was about selling books to readers, like buying a book from your local Waterstones. This isn’t the case. Instead, sales is about selling books to businesses. Think bookshops, supermarkets, libraries and other online shops. Salespeople have major power over what books get published and what you see on the shelves. They know what sells well and how to convince businesses to buy books. Businesses want to sell what will make them money, so they will often buy trending genres, e.g. cosy crime. Not every book suits every business, so it’s important for salespeople to pitch the book where it will sell best. 

2) How interconnected trade marketing and sales are

I was convinced that sales and trade marketing in the publishing industry were distinct and separate. How wrong I was! Sales and trade marketing have a lot in common, and often work together on book campaigns. Often the sales department will take on a marketing-focused role when pitching a book to a bookshop. Trade marketing makes the materials that sales use to make a business excited about a book, especially by highlighting what makes the book appeal to the buyer’s audience. 

Once the book is stocked, trade marketing helps make the stuff you see to promote a book in shops, such as posters and display stands to boost its sales. Sales talk to booksellers and see what is selling, but trade marketing uses sales’ findings to adjust how a book is marketed. I found it really interesting how connected these departments are, but it makes sense. If you don’t market well, then it won’t sell! 

3) Not just bookshops sell books

This may sound obvious, but I had forgotten that books sell in more places than bookshops. Sure, they do sell at Waterstones, TG Jones and related shops, but there’s more to sales than dedicated shops. Think about when you’ve passed bestsellers at the supermarket, or scrolled through pages of books on Amazon. They all come from somewhere. Publishers will sell to these places if they think it’ll be successful there. For example, a supermarket would buy a large amount of a bestseller as it’ll make more money. 

 There’s so many places that a book sells that I didn’t know about, such as in the TikTok shop, independent shops, and subscription boxes. And they’re not excluded from being sold in one place. But let’s not forget the international market. Exported books can be sold to businesses abroad, and it’s up to the international sales team to pitch books to them. So if you fancy travelling the world, whilst talking about books (sounds like a win-win to me), then international sales could be for you! 

 4) What skills were actually needed 

Coming into this, I had many misconceptions about what sales and trade marketing was, and the skills you needed to be successful. Naturally, you need to love books (or else what’s the point), and be good at talking to people. So much of sales and marketing involves building relationships– and not just with businesses. Being good with numbers and spreadsheets is also important, as you’ll spend a lot of time handling data. But don’t let this put you off! Sales and marketing is exciting- it’s about books and where they fit in the world, helping books reach more places. What’s not to like? 

Conclusion 

To sum up, I never knew salespeople played such an important role in publishing. Sales is more than selling. It’s about managing relationships, talking to editors, client publishers as well as bookshops. There’s such a wide variety of roles within both sales and trade marketing that I wasn’t aware of, so there’s something for everyone. Even though Sales isn’t my first choice, this talk helped me understand its overall role in getting a book on the shelves. If you love talking to people about books, then sales could be great for you!

Thanks again to Fly on the Wall Press for hosting this talk, and to Andrew for sharing his knowledge with publishing hopefuls like me! I enjoyed learning about an area of the industry that not many people think about, and how different departments come together to get books on the shelves.

Written by Emilia Roe