Getting the (written) word out



            For writers wanting to sell their work, what kind of promotion/publicity/advertising/bragging works best? Good question.

            I dunno.

            It’s hard to get concrete evidence of anything working, but here’s something that I think counts. In the last few months I didn’t do much promotion, due to various personal issues, although of course I did keep writing. Storm Chaser, which came out in June, 2011, sold no books online in the last quarter. None. Nada. Zero. Under the Roman numbering system, I’d have vanished.

            A couple of weeks ago, Storm Chaser was featured on The Fussy Librarian (www.thefussylibrarian.com), which gives a daily list of books in various genres. (You’ll have to check on the requirements for getting on the list; I believe the criteria has changed.)

            So far in January I’ve made three sales of Storm Chaser, a book that’s two and a half years old. That would be a three hundred percent increase over the month before, if I’d sold one the month before. So far as I know, the only difference is getting the book listed on one website.

            So there you go. Getting the word out there works; you just rarely know when, or what, or often how. Nobody said it was easy.

10 comments:

  1. Mark--the most important thing to do is to not waste time marketing to other authors. It never works. I stopped marketing at all and just had fun--I post comments on websites and Facebook pages of things I enjoy or enjoying insulting (soap operas, wrestling, movies, TV shows). I made more in royalties last month than I made in the rest of 2013.

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    1. That was one of the first things I noticed when I got onto Faceboook -- that a lot of writers were spending all their time trying to sell to other writers. Obviously there was no way writers could read everything by everybody -- they were too busy writing!

      But I don't think I've hit your level yet, and I still need to do some marketing. Between getting the word out about me and getting new works out there for people to look at, I'll get there.

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  2. No matter what we do, it's almost impossible to track sales back to a specific campaign or event. I know when I do a book signing or fair I'll see a significant bump in e-book sales. It could be that people picked up my bookmarks and then ordered from Amazon or B&N. Other than that, I can't quantify any activity that turns into sales.

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    1. True enough; that's why I thought it was interesting when I was able to actually connect this one to something specific. The best you can usually do is use the shotgun approach.

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    1. Too many of us got into the business thinking it was!

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  4. The Fussy Librarian is a great idea Mark. I know this site. Marketing is the hardest part for authors.

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    1. Boy, it sure is, and then some. Even worse than writing a synopsis!

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