Author - Media Whore or Canny Seller?

[drosdelnoch]

To be honest this is something that Ive come to wonder about. Obviously getting that publishing contract is that first real kick for all authors however as a number of people will attest, when it comes to release time a new author rarely gets any share of the publicity and has to do as much as possible to sell the book themselves. So really the question is, how much is enough and how much is too much? What marketing techniques have you used to help sell yourself? What has been the most cost effective technique youve used?

How do you keep everything on an even keel and keep your dignity whilst youre doing your best to sell your "baby"?

I've always wondered about this and as a struggling writer its always been something that I think people would like to know, to benefit from others experience and thus not repeat the same mistakes.

[Deborah J Miller]

Well, that's a toughie Gareth!
Let me mull a bit and get back to you in the morning...
{slinks off, mulling}

[Simon Haynes]

It's all in the context. For example, if you're on a forum and someone asks for general recommendations in the science fiction genre, you wouldn't push your own work. You'd recommend some of the greats instead.

On the other hand, if the discussion turns to something very close to your own sub-sub-genre, and there really are limited books in that category, then mentioning your book isn't going to have everyone else reaching for the anti-spam gun. Of course, it's much better if someone OTHER than the author of the work in question mentions it, but that can be a chicken-and-egg situation.

BTW, there's an article on self-promotion for authors on my website, where I cover things in more depth.

[Kaolin]

You're an inspiration on self-promotion. :) More folks should read the above article. :)

I keep meaning to do a monthly draw like yours, as well. :)

[Mark Robson]

Nice article, Simon. I agree wholeheartedly with your point about being a part of the community online if you want to win readers. The best way to win readers is to win friends. I must confess that I'm not as good at this as perhaps I should be - perhaps because I focus my marketing efforts elsewhere. My argument would be that it's far easier to sell someone something if you're there in person, rather than a bunch of pixles on the screen, but the net does allow you to scattergun your marketing far and wide around the world. It's a tough one - where should you focus your efforts.

I have also become known for being a one man sales army. I started self published (though my more recent work is published by mainstream publishers) and have to date sold over 50 000 of my self published titles from my garage. I'm told this is unusual and am often asked how I did it. The simple answer is: a bit of common sense and a lot of hard work. The trick is to go where the readers are. In my case this was not too hard to work out. My books are primarily aimed at the YA market and the government have very kindly rounded my target audience up into establishments called schools all over the UK and keep them there for most of the year. Once I realised that I could be paid to go and talk to these young people about my work and then sell the books to them into the bargain, that became my main marketing thrust.

I have also done many, many booksignings in bookstores, at Christmas Fayres, Summer Fetes, Airshows ... pretty much anywhere where there are large crowds of people who are carrying cash. I've become a lot more successful at these over time and very quickly began averaging sales of over 100 books each time I went out. However, I don't do the traditional sit behind a table thing, because unless you're a big name megastar, I realised very quickly that this just doesn't work. I gave a talk last summer to a group of childrens authors about running events and produced an extensive set of notes. If anyone wants a set, I'd be happy to email them - just drop me a line.

[Mark Chadbourn]

I agree with Simon, in that the context is important. Authors now need to take on much of the publicity work previously handled by publishers, but they also need to be competing at a much higher level because there are so many demands for attention - everyone is seeking attention, and right now it's coming down to shout louder!

For me, the key is desperation. You can do as much 'information providing' as you want, as long as it doesn't have the whiff of the desperate about it.

[Milton Davis]

I'm self published because of the stories I heard from published writers having to promote their own work. I know that makes me a step child in many writers' and readers' eyes, but I figured if I have to do the work I might as well get the profit. My manuscript was being considered by a small publisher but I pulled it to do it myself. I 'released' my book in May and have sold over 100 copies so far. I've sold to family and friends; I set up my own first book signing at a local Starbucks and sold 14 books; I've been picked up by two local independent book stores and I'm networking with the local libraries and I've had a lot of success with teachers and schools. And I have a full time job!

Once you finish the last word in your book, your "baby" becomes your "product." You have to take every opportunity to sell your product. In most cases I have been asked to bring my book to show, such as last week when I presented it at a family reunion and sold 16 books. You can't hesitate on an opportunity to sell. I believe networking with those associated with books is your best bet. I've received my best leads from independent book store owners, librarians, local book printers and publishers. When people discover you have a good book and your willing to hustle, they're almost always willing to help.

[Nick]

In terms of desperation that goes for the unpublished author also, not even at any publishing phase. This is where agents come in, who - it ought to become clear from most of the above - are there for the purpose of you doing most of their work for them! :-)

Conventions and building up connections can be a minefield. It's a bit like a love affair, a desperate suitor can be a real turn-off! At the end of it all, there has to be something there with some appeal, i.e. some even half-decent fiction to offer. (There is some hope given that some less than half-decent fiction can and does get published.) Given that the business is even more ruthless than it was before - the thread on trends touches upon this, dark and gritty is still in, not much happens without money and authors mid-series can and have been and will be dumped unceremoniously: "as an editor I believe in you deeply, but the shareholders do not" - being your own self-publicist is a prerequisite. Gone are the days of the quiet, reclusive author who writes great stuff but has a guardian angel agent to look over him or her. If you are like that, you are probably likely never to see the light of day and can enjoy the quiet and reclusive life to your heart's content in perpetuity.

There is an etiquette in all of this, unfortunately there aren't a universal set of agreed written rules and guidelines! A bit like life, really!

[Milton Davis]

It's true, you have to be sensitive to overselling. I'm not a hermit on one hand, but I'm not marching around beating people over the head with my book on the other. There's a middle ground I aim for and it's hard to gauge where that lies. One thing for sure, you have to vocal about your work. Selling to the readers, the ultimate customer, is paramount. Once you get the audience, everything else falls into place.

[Tom Lloyd]

Not sure whether asking fantasy authors how they keep their dignity is really appropriate - most I know have been happy to sell if for the price of a pint! ;0)

In my own experience, I didn't do nearly enough to sell myself when Stormcaller came out. There were a few reasons for this, natural reticence and a full-time job being the main factors I think, and as a partial result my online sales are a FAR smaller proportion of the total than those of someone like Joe Abercrombie who does wander the forums etc, just getting his name out there as much as anything. I'm not saying he's doing it just for shameless self-promotion because as everyone know Joe loves the sound of his own voice in all mediums even if there's no profit to be made! ;0)

The first thing I'd suggest an author should do is work out their selling blurb in advance. Whether you've got a huge deal or not, someone will ask you what it's about etc on a regular basis. You need your one sentence pitch ready in your head, and the follow up paragraph waiting behind. People love to hear an author talking enthusiastically about their work, just make sure you avoid arrogance and you'll be fine. Fundamentally, the more you're willing to talk to people, the better you'll do. At conventions, people don't want to be sold to, but they're willing to chat to anyone especially if there's a drink in their hand at the time. Genre folk are, in my experience, the most widely read, welcoming and accepting people around. And as Abercrombie has shown, once the word of mouth starts on a book's merits, it moves fast.

[Steven Savile]

OKay, this might just ramble (Hi Dros by the way, any DG fan is good in my book)

I've always been impressed with the guys who realise that it isn't about selling a book, it's about selling yourself as a brand. I tend to work in all sorts of different fields, normally ones where I haven't got a hope of pleasing everyone (for instance the new Primeval novel, some fans are going to love it, others won't because X character doesn't get the right kind of storyline, there isn't any full on Cutter Claudia slash or whatever, then there will be guys who come at it who aren't fans of the show but hope to find a way 'in'... so who do you try and please? well, say with Jaguar, second season of the show, you have to assume your primary market are avid watchers of the show, which means they expect in-jokes, references to what they've invested in as a viewer and so much more... or Slaine, where I was asked to change the dynamic of the comics into something 'else' so of course the hardcore readers assumed I didn't do the research... or... you get the idea...) all of this comes together to say if I go out and sell sell sell that book hard, you find yourself ten weeks down the line, the book off the front of store table, feeling like an idiot if you continue to push and blather - and facing an interesting calculation of effort over return.

For me, a blog is a drain - I don't manage to pull it off with any regularity, so it is pointless... and I sat down once and worked out for a blog to be halfway useful I'd have to post several times a week to keep hitting the feeds and gathering readers. A post takes me about 40 mins because I need to edit, sort it out, make it semi-coherent (what writer wants prospective readers to see him ramble like a loon?) etc... and in 40 mins I can turn out about 2 pages of a novel, give or take. So in a week I might have 10 pages, in a month 40, in 6 months a full book... then you have to wonder how many extra readers are going to be pulled in by those blog posts, and of those how many will click through and buy a book...? And the number is probably a darn sight fewer extra readers (meaning less spend in terms of royalties) than that new book would likely earn... so I decided it wasn't worth it. I know it works for others...

But, there's always this thing about 'meeting your heroes' - I'm a decent guy, honestly, but I have bad days just like anyone else... say some guy comes on to a forum and calls me an asshat or whatever the jolly term of the day is, and then proceeds to tell me everything I got wrong (but which pleased the Intellectual Property's owner) and it just so happens, I dunno, my internet bill has come in and it is obscene because I used the mobile broadband overseas... it happened... 2 bloody thousand pound bill because of my own stupidity but that's another story) so instead of me saying "Ah man, well thanks for trying it anyway," I turn around and humiliate the guy because he's semi-literate, has made a dozen errors in his post, and is generally a moron... I lose him as a reader forever (but he's only one guy and his 45p won't bankrupt me goes the old royalty calculating brain in the background) but what about everyone ELSE who sees me ream him out? Suddenly that bad mood on a bad day means that random post on a forum might colour several people's forums of me... so is it wise to hang around forums chatting to fans and 'social networking'? Is it even necessary?

And desperation - yep, and it is so hard NOT to look desperate if you join the rabble of shouting loud... so generally, I like interviews... I am thinking of maybe running a series of articles on my website about the decision processes of writing the new Stargate novel, so folks can see why X or Y happened, the director's commentary sort of thing...
I'd love to think the writing will stand on its own - but if no one knows it's there, how can it?

So, having lost my temper with idiots, having blogged into the ether with nothing useful to say, I wonder the same thing... my website is pretty, but it is also pretty static, because I am useless at updating it... I've done probably a few dozen book signings, anything from 0 attendance to about 90 folks in the line - but career-wise those 0 ones are vital because they gave me an hour to sit and chat with the staff who were generally mortified there was no one there, and eager to chat, meaning that assuming my broadband bill was in line, I got to spend an hour with the guys who are point of sale not only for this book but for the next and the one after that... that's where the author becomes the brand, not the individual book...


The new book, Silver, though is different in that the publisher are putting a lot into marketing it - they've got videos being done right now for viral marketing and all sorts of other schemes, so I think I have to make myself available in terms of promotion to at least match what they do...

I'll be interested to hear what folks think - what they do... etc. Because I suspect I am regressing back to the dark ages and will end up hammering the next book out on a Smith Corona, with no phone, no tv and nothing remotely gadgety in sight...

[Nick]

'I suspect I am regressing back to the dark ages and will end up hammering the next book out on a Smith Corona, with no phone, no tv and nothing remotely gadgety in sight...'

That might not necessarily be a bad thing, Steve! I stopped blogging about half a year ago. I'm slow to learn and eventually it dawned on me that my would-be burgeoning eloquence in writing about my struggles at writing fiction were in direct inverse proportion to writing any. There are may prolific (established) fiction writers on LJ who are also prolific bloggers. Eventually they just depressed the hell out of me! I don't go to LJ anymore. If it helps as part of the process all well and good. It didn't help me. All those things to me became just one more means of avoiding facing the chasm between my ideas and the ability to execute them. In fact, there was quite a ripple across LJ from some writers/prolific bloggers when Robin Hobb wrote a broadside against blogging. I wish I could find the link, will try. They took umbrage, to say the least.

There is so much slickly techno white noise out there now. The only thing that really works for me: something with a central focus (like Wonderlands!) and has worked is, in my case, MySpace, through which I have probably made some lasting contacts for the future and discovered some amazing music I wouldn't otherwise have known. It was the first of the massive social networking sites I tried, Facebook is just binary graffiti to me, gives me a headache with all the 'so and so just bought so and so for...' and someone writing on my wall stuff. Life is too short for me, no longer in my second or even third decade, for that level of virtual doodling!

Has something been lost in inner intensity with all the distractions we have now? Dostoyevsky just sat in a room at a desk, no radio, tv, phone, Net, just the subfusc depths of his own imagination fused into pure word upon the page. And By god does it show. Many will argue that all this is just a development of human consciousness, that the Dostoyevsky days are outmoded, that thought is changing into one of cross=pollination of modes of expression, and by extension, through virtual and artificial mediums bolted on (leading to the inevitable debate of: what is artifical?).

There, done it again: already written myself out for the day! Must remember to just stick to the Admin!

[Tom Lloyd]

Well on the brand front, that's the main reason why I DO blog. It's not something I spend a huge amount of time on, and who knows whether it'll ever get me any new readers, but instead of an inpersonal website I thought I should have something extra that just allows some contact and idea of me as the human being behind the books. Admittedly, it reveals that the human being is someone who rambles and rants often incoherently, but I'm fully willing to admit that anyway!