Volunteer: History Book Marketing & PR Campaign

This is a volunteer opportunity provided by Taproot Foundation, a nonprofit creating social change through pro bono connections. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization on a mission to make history education free, engaging, and accurate for everyone.

About the role

We want to design and execute a targeted, hands-on promotional campaign for our two physical books: The Forsaken 14th Century: A Global History and The Romans: Antiquity's Ultimate Transformative Culture. As an evolving, AI-driven web shifts search behaviors, our physical book catalog is a key pillar in building deep, direct brand recognition that bypasses the AI summary middleman.

Over the course of this project (typically 8 to 12 weeks), the volunteer will actively own and execute the day-to-day campaign work.

Responsibilities

• Book Promotion: Drive targeted campaigns to boost the visibility of our physical catalog, including establishing outreach to digital book reviewers and running micro-influencer gifting loops (e.g., BookTok, Bookstagram, BookTube).
• Public Relations: Craft compelling pitches and directly contact journalists, history podcasters, and book-related newsletter editors to secure review coverage, features, and interview spots for our team.

By the end of this project, you will have provided us with:

• Outreach Infrastructure
  • Reviewer/influencer/media contact database (BookTok/Bookstagram/BookTube, history podcasters, journalists, newsletter editors), segmented by fit and status
  • Outreach templates per audience type, tailored to The Forsaken 14th Century: A Global History and The Romans: Antiquity's Ultimate Transformative Culture
  • Micro-influencer gifting loop workflow (selection criteria, sending process, follow-up, disclosure language)
  • PR one-pager per title plus a pitch angle bank (news tie-ins, anniversaries, trending topics)
• Execution
  • Completed first-round campaign: documented reviewers contacted, influencers gifted, journalists/podcasters/editors pitched
  • Any coverage, reviews, features, or interviews secured
  • Response/rejection log noting what messaging worked
• Tracking & Reporting
  • Live tracking system logging contact, outlet, outreach date, response, and outcome
  • Results summary: response rates, coverage secured, estimated reach, any sales/traffic impact
  • Handover document with next-step recommendations

Requirements

• At least five years of marketing or PR experience
• Resourceful, hands-on doer who can create the immediate outreach framework and handle the actual day-to-day execution

About the organization

World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organisation that publishes free, high-quality historical content to advance historical literacy and improve history education worldwide. We believe that deeper knowledge of our interconnected human past creates curious, open-minded, and democratic societies. Our mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide.

We have full internal buy-in and are entirely ready to hit the ground running. You will be working directly with our leadership team, meaning you will have immediate access to decision-makers without any bureaucratic delays.

To ensure you can focus entirely on outreach and execution rather than administrative hurdles, we have already prepared the necessary foundational assets:

• Inventory Ready to Ship: Both The Forsaken 14th Century and The Romans are printed, available, and ready to be shipped out immediately for reviewer packages or influencer gifting loops.
• Media Availability: Our core team is fully prepared and available to step in for expert interviews, podcast guest spots, or written Q&As as soon as media opportunities are secured.

Once your outreach frameworks are set up, our tight-knit team will be right there to support the fulfillment and logistics, ensuring your campaign runs smoothly and makes a direct impact.