The publishing world is busy. Whether you're running a university press, small trade house, specialist imprint, or juggling multiple roles across departments with limited capacity—it’s easy for things to pile up.

​You’re not alone—and you’re not failing. You just need someone who can step in and get the work done.
That’s where we come in.

RM Marketing Services provides experienced, flexible support for publishing businesses—without the overheads of a full-time or part-time hire.

Led by Rachael McDiarmid, RM Marketing Services brings 35+ years of senior-level experience across trade, academic, scholarly, and professional publishing. Her background spans product development, sales, marketing, library supply, distribution, metadata, and content acquisition. If you’re in the publishing industry, she’s probably worked in your world—or closely alongside it.

Since 2014, the business has supported publishers, distributors, authors, and book-adjacent organisations both locally and internationally. Whether you need extra capacity, specialist skills, or help clearing the backlog, we work inside your systems and alongside your team to get results—quickly, professionally, and with minimal fuss.

What outsourcing looks like
Outsourcing with RM Marketing Services means engaging us for a set number of hours each week to deliver clearly defined tasks or projects. Some clients need 4–5 hours on a regular basis; others require 10. Special projects can extend to 15–20 hours per week when the business can accommodate it (and we do our best to say yes when we can!).

We’re not staff, but we operate like part of your team. In fact, we’re often included in team meetings or invited to attend events and planning sessions. We represent your organisation professionally, work with minimal supervision, and quickly adapt to your systems and workflows.

To keep everything on track, we use Clockify for time tracking, Asana for task management, and Less Annoying CRM for project pipelines and contacts. We’re familiar with most platforms used in the publishing industry and are fast learners—whether it’s legacy systems or the latest digital tools. We’ll work with what you’ve got, plug into your processes, and keep momentum going.

We’re also used to working under contractor agreements and NDAs for multinationals, or with just a clear brief via email for smaller presses. Once we’re set up and connected to the right contact, we’re good to go—no time wasted.

What we actually do
Our core services cover all aspects of sales, marketing, publicity, and book distribution. This includes:

• Campaign management – strategy, implementation, and tracking
• Author communications and care – consistent, professional engagement
• Publicity and promotions – pitching, follow-ups, and documenting campaigns
• Social media & EDMs – content creation, scheduling, and delivery
• Website & catalogue updates – keeping information current and aligned
• Special projects – typically focused on distribution (print and ebook), platform/vendor research, ERP support, Australian market strategy, or content acquisition

💡 Need ideas or examples? We’ve pulled together a list of practical suggestions based on real-world projects we’ve delivered—everything from campaign management and distribution support to author mentoring and special sales.
👉 Explore ideas for publishers here

Not a publisher—but published a book?
If you’re not in publishing full time but you’ve released a book as part of your business—think executive coaches, mediators, policy consultants—we’ve got you covered too. We offer tailored services to manage your book’s social media, email marketing, website presence or design needs. While we typically work in 4+ hour weekly blocks, we’re happy to consider 2-hour packages for select clients, subject to availability. A corporate rate applies for businesses outside the traditional book industry.

Why publishers and organisations trust us
We’re not an agency. We’re not a generic admin service. And we’re not here to take on your leftovers.

RM Marketing Services focuses on the work that matters—supporting your campaigns, communications, strategy and sales.

If something’s been sitting untouched in your inbox or keeps slipping down the list, we’ll help shift it into the “done and dusted” column.

Clients value our ability to:

• Deliver results with minimal supervision
• Work seamlessly with existing teams and systems
• Handle confidential or strategic work with professionalism
• Offer flexible, no-fuss arrangements tailored to your business

What you get

✅ 35+ years’ senior publishing experience
✅ No on-costs (no leave, super, payroll tax, or tech setups)
✅ Fast onboarding and flexible availability
✅ Clear communication and defined deliverables
✅ A strong industry reputation (just check Rachael’s LinkedIn)

If you're at capacity, stuck on something important, or just need experienced support to keep things moving—we’d love to help.

📩 Get in contact and let’s talk about what outsourcing could look like for your business.

When RM Marketing Services launched in 2014 it didn't take long to see what the publishing industry lacked - someone with decades of senior product, marketing and management experience who could be called upon to help get jobs and projects done quickly, efficiently and without supervision for publishers and distributors who needed support. As marketing departments were reduced and budgets slashed, publishers and distributors were quick to take advantage of our honed skills and extensive industry knowledge - special projects and consulting gigs happened in quick succession. Over time the business morphed into two streams - outsourcing solutions and consulting services. Outsourcing sales and marketing solutions covers sales, marketing, digital marketing, website and social media management as well as publicity, author care, special channel promotions, corporate communications and just about anything our clients required! If you are considering outsourcing, read more about the benefits of using RM Marketing Services below...

Outsourcing is simply contracting work out to an outside supplier. For RM Marketing Services outsourcing involves taking on a specific role or set of tasks for a defined number of hours a week. We've provided outsourcing for as little as 4 hours a week to a maximum of 21 hours. A company email address is established (as, unlike consulting requests, we represent the publisher or distributor), goals and tasks are discussed, and we work with a nominated representative or team to manage the workload being outsourced and the deadlines. We encourage regular catch-up meetings, phone calls, strategy or team meetings - we are part of the organisation but don't have the downtime that other employees have for internal facing activities, professional training or other distractions - i.e. we can actually focus on getting the work done! Depending on the work required, system access is granted and training takes place. The publisher or distributor often requests for documents to be signed - their own contractor agreement and/or a Non-Disclosure Agreement for a multinational however for smaller presses we work to an email summary and occasionally a phone call depending on the existing relationship between our two organisations. Payment is via direct deposit, 14 day payment terms. It's not complicated to set-up outsourcing and the quicker the above is organised, the quicker we can get to the work.

Benefits to outsourcing. Oncosts of each employee is estimated at being 25-30% - these oncosts include superannuation, insurance/workers compensation, leave (sick leave, annual leave, long service leave), payroll taxes and other add-ons that eat into your business and profits. Of course, these are irrelevant when you opt for an outsourced solution! Check with your accountant as well as what you can claim on your own tax returns when using a consultant, as there may be additional benefits. Many organisations are also able to bring in contractors when there are staff freezes or restrictions. Rather than restructuring teams around staff who are leaving, and bringing added stresses to already heavy workloads within your organisation, why not consider outsourcing a handful of tasks to someone you can trust and your staff will thank you for it! It could be for as little as 4 hours a week...

Benefits to outsourcing with RM Marketing Services. Director Rachael McDiarmid has 30 years sales, marketing, product, and management experience in the publishing industry with a broad skill set particularly in all aspects of marketing and promotion. She has been privileged to travel the world to meet with publishers, distributors and library vendors; heavily involved in ebooks and digital platforms; played a pivotal role in bibliographic data collection; and has decades experience with publishing, book distribution and supply chain management in Australia and New Zealand. This has all been on top of a wonderful career, mainly in academic and professional publishing. (You can view her profile on LinkedIn) 

She also has an extensive network of experienced industry professionals to bring into the mix, particularly for consulting projects but often for administrative and research tasks as part of an outsourced arrangement. With the knowledge, experience and determination she brings to your organisation, you can be assured you are in safe hands. And for everyone that knows Rachael personally, you know she's professional, has a great industry reputation, and gets on with the task at hand with no fuss. 

Let RM Marketing Services help you get through your to-do list and ask us about outsourcing services today.