Ditto @povertyscholar on a lot of this. I did not have a book conference. But I was lucky to have a well-cited article on the same topic that got some attention.
I would say one lucky break was that Bill Bishop, author of The Big Sort, and a journalist, found one of my early articles and reached out. While I was still in grad school, he started referring me to random journalists who wanted to know more about sorting.
Every time I spoke to a journalist I let them know the book was in progress. I also made it clear to every academic I spoke to (on the topic). I was lucky to spend 2 post-doc years in an office next to Rick Lau, who read every chapter as I revised from diss to book.
I also had a topic that turned out to be timely. This part is really key. I started the project in 2009, when it didn’t seem so clear. Yes, I had identified a theoretical contribution, but it also happened to answer popular politics questions later on.
And I was very lucky to meet @SamaraKlar early on, who cited my work and founded the @womenalsoknow network that I have leaned on, and that helped publicize my work.
But a lot of credit goes to being in the right place, saying the right things, at the right time. @ezraklein first contacted me because of a twitter conversation I had with some other political scientists. Twitter rants do help if they make sense.
Once I had the book in the final stages, @UChicagoPress asked me who I thought we should send it to, both academics and journalists. I sent them a long list, I wasn’t shy, and they sent it out. Some of those recipients have helped get the word out as well.
So I’d say it’s a combination of luck, good polisci friends, Twitter rants, @womenalsoknow, and a press that helps get the book into the right hands. Also responding to most media requests.
It requires a lot of self-promotion work, which isn’t easy, but I find it’s easier if you realize that your research answers important questions that people are loudly puzzling over or getting wrong. That way it becomes more of a teaching exercise than a promo tour.
