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.

ProQuest has engaged Rachael McDiarmid (RM Marketing Services) to work with ANZ publishers to help them with their ebook sales in the global academic library market. Rachael will be working with new sign-ups and existing publishing partners to ensure their participation in the most appropriate models.

Rachael says:

I'm actually really proud of coming on board as ANZ publisher relations consultant (P/T) with Proquest. As Publisher Relations Manager at James Bennett for 11 years I was involved with ebook content acquisition and working with publishing clients on sales and marketing initiatives across multiple platforms.  I worked closely with our owners during this period - Blackwell Library Services (UK and US) and then with Baker & Taylor/YBP after the company was sold to them in December 2009 - and I enjoyed working with the content acquisition and publisher services teams in particular. 

I feel like I've almost come full circle. James Bennett/Blackwell was an early vendor for EBL (2004) and post the company sale to B&T/YBP I worked with the Ebrary team in the U.S. Both are now part of Proquest (as is MyiLibrary) so I feel like I'm among "my people". I'm looking forward to working with Australian and New Zealand publishers on the best models in the Proquest platforms and ensuring their content is available to libraries, particularly academic libraries, locally and internationally.

RM Marketing Services will be working 10 hours a week with ANZ publishers for Proquest.
You can contact me on +61 409 772 850   email: [email protected] 

You can read more about Proquest at www.proquest.com or follow them using the social media links below.