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.
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.
ReplyDeleteThat 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!
DeleteBut 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.
Norma's advice seems sound to me!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it always?
DeleteNo 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.
ReplyDeleteTrue 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.
DeleteEasy it is not.
ReplyDeleteToo many of us got into the business thinking it was!
DeleteThe Fussy Librarian is a great idea Mark. I know this site. Marketing is the hardest part for authors.
ReplyDeleteBoy, it sure is, and then some. Even worse than writing a synopsis!
Delete