Promotion for Writers
Kathleen Delaney, author of And Murder for Dessert and other books, retired from real estate to pursue writing full time. Her long time love of small towns sent her looking through the Carolina’s for a new place to settle. Gaffney. Limestone College, a delightful historic district, and great library immediately drew her in. She lives in a wonderful 100 year old house, with a wrap around front porch, where she and her dogs can wile away a summer afternoon, and a big office, lined with bookcases, where she can spend her days writing. And, as always, reading. Kathleen has returned today to talk about the perils of self promotion.
I don’t usually read comments on articles posted on the internet, but the other day one got my attention. It seems that a woman author of a couple of best selling chick lit books engaged in some very imaginative promotion. Her books evidently have a reputation for being funny, and as she has a new release, she decided to play on that. She hired a number of actors-I’m not sure how many-to take copies of her new book into crowded places, like the subway, Times Square, a popular New York deli, and pretend to be reading. And laughing. Extra emphasis on the laughing. Of course, while doing this, they were to hold the book in such a way that the cover was visible to one and all.
Mighty clever, I thought. A wonderful, quirky idea that just might work. But it seemed I was in a majority of one.
There were numerous comments about this article, mostly negative. Several people said they were so glad they had read the other comments because now they knew the book couldn’t be any good if she had to promote it that way. After all, if she had talent, it would automatically sell. Several others seemed to feel that they had been cheated in some way by the sheer fact that she had brought it to their attention and also vowed not to buy the book, or even check it out at the library. Others complained because she had the gall to try to promote her book at all.
The comments left me scratching my head.
Have none of these people been in a Barnes and Noble recently? Have they not seen the row after row of books offered for sale? You can get lost just browsing the stacks. When I go I carry water with me, just in case.
Have they not maneuvered around the stacks of “bargain books”? Authors cringe to think their book might end up on that shelf, but it’s better than having the book disappear into a warehouse somewhere, never to be seen again. Someone may pick it up off the bargain table and, who knows, they may even read it. And, if they like it, they may buy that author’s next book. Maybe.
And then there’s Costco. Tables piled high with best sellers and lots of not so good sellers as well. Occasionally someone will pick one up, crying, “I read the review of this one in Time. I forget what it said.” Someone else will say, “oh, this got a good review on NPR. At least, I think it was this one.” That doesn’t mean they are going to buy a copy. But at least they’re holding it in their hand, so they might.
Have none of these people logged on to Amazon lately? The amount of books offered is staggering. Some have great reviews, some don’t have any, but it really doesn’t matter. You have to somehow find the book before you read the review anyway, and unless you know what you are looking for, you can quickly become overwhelmed and buy a DVD instead.
There was a time when authors relied heavily on independent booksellers. The people who owned those wonderful stores actually read the new books that they stocked. Some of them, anyway. So, when a reader came in looking for something they could actually recommend a book, could point out a good new author, or help find that obscure research volume no one else had even heard of. Some even called up their regular customers and told them when a book came in that they thought their customer would like. But small-or large-independent bookstores are rapidly going the way of the dodo bird.
So what’s an author to do? He/she spent a couple of years, probably more if it’s a first book, writing it, a small lifetime trying to get it into print, and now it’s also up to him/her to get it sold. Publishers no longer have large budgets for promotion. Some don’t even have small ones. According to Garrison Keillor, the average author sells about 23 books in their lifetime, that’s books, not titles, mostly to close family members. My figures might not be exactly his but you get the idea. I think that means that the average author shouldn’t plan on book sales income as part of their retirement plan.
So, seriously, what’s an author to do? It’s hard to rely on those “maybe’s” for sales, and harder still for retirement income.
Hire actors to read your book on the subway, that’s what. Those people who complained—at least they now know that book exists, and who knows, when they see it on the table at Costco they might forget they already didn’t like it. They just might buy it. Or at least pick it up.
I’m starting a new series. The first book takes place in the vicinity of Colonial Williamsburg. I’m already thinking about promotion, and I don’t even have a publisher for this one. But in today’s market, it’s up to the author to do any promotion that’s going to get done, and you can’t start too early.
So, I’m wondering, maybe I can hire people in period costume to—do something. Hummm. Six maids a milking? In Rockefeller Center? In front of the Today show window? Now, there’s an idea. Maybe I can get Matt Lauer to hold up the book. No? Oh, well.
July 6, 2010
Posted in: Guest Blogs
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18 Responses
Kathleen, this is so right on the money. I make numerous appearances in libraries and other venues and never fail to tell aspiring writers they are getting into business which requires some kind of promotion and they’d better give it proper importance. By the way, I’m having a 25% off sale on the already low-priced latest Sean Sean detective story, THE CASE OF THE GREEDY LAWYERS. Over at Smashwords.com.
Come check me out.
I’ve been hearing a lot about Smashwords lately. I’m going to check it out today. Do you think it helps? Katleen
Kathleen, a sobering if true essay. I do Facebook, Twitter, all the lists I can handle, book signings, guest blogging, etc. I work harder at promotion than I did writing four books in series that starts with THE END GAME. And I don’t know how many of those sequels St. Martin’s will buy.
St. Martin’s advises debut writers to campaign online and sign within a 100 miles of your neighborhood. In other words, don’t waste travelling money (to say nothing of writing time) on appearances.
Kathleen,
Smashwords is definitely worth it. You won’t get rich from it but it’s another venue. What I like about them is, as an author, every time someone buys your ebook you get an email notification. You can allow people to sample a free sample of whatever percent you like–5, 10, 15%, etc. From the stats you can see how many people are sampling your book. Plus, Smashwords puts the ebook in multiple formats for various e-readers.
Michael
When I taught nonfiction writing classes I always emphasized the need to market your work yourselves, and I carry that advice over to my fictional historical mysteries. I’m lucky in that I have a niche I can tap for talks, besides libraries. I target historical societies in particular, but other groups like to hear my talk on the Salem Witch Trials, which drew 95 people for a thursday morning talk at a local library. New next talk is for a women’s retreat on a lovely lake.
Kathleen, I’ve been disappointed in Smashwords. I’ve been selling my golden retriever mystery, IN DOG WE TRUST, on both Amazon & Smashwords, and the Amazon sales have far outpaced those on Smashwords. I promote both sites equally in emails & posts, but I think Amazon does a much better job of roping in customers through their “people who bought this…” and the Kindle Boards discussions.
I’ve been in this “business” so long and still don’t have a clue over the selling part. When one of my books, Extreme Cuisine, got really large advance orders, my then publisher hadn’t a clue why, either. It was kind of irritating to hear him say he didn’t know why it did so well, but he was right—at that time, it hadn’t even been reviewed! So the mystery is how to attract that elusive good luck that comes occasionally and really works and no one knows why (and, therefore, it’s impossible to replicate!)
When doing a talk I do offer the group a percentage of the take as well as discount the book. That seems to be a win-win proposition.
You’re absolutely right in that we have to think outside the box these days. I’m doing mostly online promotion for my July 16 paranormal/futuristic romance release, but authors I know have done launch parties at wineries, restaurants, chocolate stores, and more. Library appearances are great if you can get them, not so much for the number of books you’ll sell but for the contacts. In these days of diminishing advances or none at all, travel dollars are best reserved for conferences.
I applaud the author’s initiative. If she has that much creativity in her marketing, I would hope she is just as creative on the written page. As a new author with her first book, DYING FOR A DATE, hot off the press I’m willing to do whatever it takes to sell my first book. Within reason, of course. And I never leave home without a few copies tucked away in my new oversized purse.
Kathleen – Thanks for the blog post. I think everyone should take comments on articles on websites with a grain of salt. It’s too easy to say things anonymously that you would never, if you thought about it, share face to face. There are execptions to that, of course, which is why it’s so refreshing to find thoughtful web conversations.
My reading matter may be found at: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ctolley
Kathleen, whatever you do to promote your new series, do let us know on DorothyL because I *love* Williamsburg and want to read your series set there.
Oh, thank you. I do also and a having a great time writting this first one. Took a character out of my first series and am building it around her and its starting to come together. Will keep you posted. Kathleen
Kathy, you’re so right about this! Only the biggest names receive any publicity from the publisher. It’s up to the author to get his or her name out there and promote the book. Personally, I think the actors enjoying the book was a great idea–at least passersby might remember the title long enough to look it up.
I’m looking forward to your new series.
This was an interesting read as I’m always looking for new ways to promote my series – the hardest thing is I have to promote every state equally so as not to give away any particular state. There will always be new ways to promote and the author is responsible for a lot of things. I can see hiring someone to do a period costume type promotion, but not hiring actors to pretend to read the book and laugh at times when they think others are looking. If they haven’t read my book or books, then I don’t have any use for them. If they have read the books, perhaps they can brainstorm ideas to promote. Of course with me writing children’s stories, it is a different ballgame – I have to appeal to the younger crowd – so I make all my events as interactive as I can – play games, do puzzles or mazes and win prizes – trying to keep the prizes interesting and rotating is the hardest part – lol – but I have managed and until something bigger and better comes along, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing for now – E
Elysabeth Eldering
Author of the Junior Geography Detective Squad, 50-state, mystery, trivia series
Where will the adventure take you next?
http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com
http://junior-geography-detective-squad.weebly.com
Well written and well thought out. I wouldn’t go as far as actors, but I appreciate the creativity. Thanks for a useful post!
This is most interesting. I look forward to your Williamsburg series. As you know, we have been there many times through the years. M.E.
Kathy, thanks so much for visiting and sharing this with us!
As a reader, I think promotion is important for an author. I’ve bought books that I probably would never have picked up because I’ve read about them on blogs or in a newsletter I receive. I’ve bought “bargain books” and liked them and have bought other books by that author so for me, that works. Using actors is interesting but I don’t think that would reach enough readers.
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