I get asked this question a lot by authors who are looking for a simple, cut-and-dried answer. But deciding which might be the right option for a particular author depends on a number of things.
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
How long are you willing to wait to see your book in print? Let’s skip right over the months and possibly years it might take you to find representation and assume you already have a finished manuscript and an agent. It may take some time for the agent to shop around and find the right place for your book. Let’s further assume the agent finds a publisher who is interested and offers a reasonable contract. You still might have to wait another 12 to 18 months to see your book in print. Self-publishing can be done in a much shorter amount of time—usually just a couple of months if your manuscript is professionally edited and the book is professionally designed.
What are your reasons for wanting to be traditionally published? A lot of authors today make the choice to self-publish rather than pursue a traditional deal. They believe they can better produce and market their books—and potentially make a lot more money. But in some circles there is still a certain amount of “prestige” in landing that trad contract. If it’s the so-called status of a traditional deal you crave, then self-publishing may not be right for you. If you simply want to get your work out there, then collecting rejection letters may just postpone the inevitable.
How much control are you willing to let go of? In general, when you sign a contract with a traditional publisher, you give up a certain amount of control over your project both editorially and creatively. The publisher will likely have final say over the content, the title, and the cover design. Most of the time, authors are satisfied with the results. However, having worked on the traditional side of publishing for a number of years as managing editor of a small press, I can think of a couple of different instances when authors were not happy with decisions we made regarding their books. They had no choice but to live with it. With self-publishing, you maintain full control over every aspect of the production process.
Do you have a sizeable author platform in place? You may not have a chance with a traditional publisher if you don’t have a large list of connections and potential buyers. The fact of the matter is that regardless of how good your book is, most trads expect you to have a large following before they will sign you on. (Plus, you’ll still have to shoulder much of the marketing and promotions burden yourself.) Of course, author platform—and marketing and promotions— is equally important in terms of sales if you decide to self-publish.
Would you be self-publishing strictly out of frustration? Self-publishing is not as easy as simply uploading your Word document to CreateSpace. At least, it shouldn’t be. Care should be taken to ensure your content is top-notch (hire a good editor) and its presentation matches that of the trads (hire a book designer). There’s the also the little fact that you are now taking on the role of publisher in addition to author, which leads me to the next question.
Are you interested in becoming a publisher in addition to an author? This is a biggie because as a self-publisher, you are forced to take on that role. Even if you hire professionals to help put your project together, you’ll still have to make final editorial and design decisions. You’ll need to decide on a name for your publishing company and open up a bank account. You’ll have to obtain the appropriate numbers for your book. You’ll need to handle accounting and budgeting for the project. You’ll have to figure out distribution and fulfillment. Of course, there are companies that can help you with all that, but it’s definitely more involved than “just” being an author. It’s not for everyone.
Do you have the budget to do it “right”? Sure, there are places where you can get your book published for “free,” but chances are your book will be immediately identifiable as “self-published” and disregarded by reviewers—or worse, trashed by them. I simply don’t believe there is any way around having your book professionally edited and designed. You don’t need to pay thousands for each, but you’ll probably have to pay something. And please make sure you have enough money to purchase your own ISBN. Never use one of the so-called “POD self-publishing” company’s ISBNS. Never. Make sure you are the publisher of record.
Do you truly have a quality manuscript with a unique message? Have you tried but failed to get a traditional deal because your manuscript is a piece of crap? Has no unique message? Is poorly written? Then self-publishing is not for you either; you’ll probably waste a lot of money and time on something that will not sell—and worse, could harm your reputation. If, however, you truly believe you’ve been rejected by the trads through no fault of your manuscript (it’s tough to land an agent, let alone a contract these days), self-publishing is probably your best bet. With a good book and a solid marketing plan, you will probably even be successful.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Why Book Marketing is Like Gardening
1. Work The Dirt.
Producing a fruitful garden starts before the seed is planted. The soil must be prepared by loosening and fertilizing. Even before the book is completed, the author should begin to prepare the way for the time it will face the light of day. The "soil" that surrounds it may be already rich with established recognition, irrigated with channels of contacts, and cleared of any obstacles that would shade it from the required exposure to sunlight. Or the "soil" may be fallow, an unprepared plot of ground previously unplanted. The latter is most often the case for the new author. Regardless, if the "book garden" is to grow, the groundwork must be laid.
I laid out a small garden this year. I had no idea how to begin, so I referred to and relied on experts, those who I knew to have green thumbs, those who had demonstrated success in the past. Armed with that knowledge, I dug in. I tilled and fertilized a small plot in a sunny spot, because that is the required preparation for producing, in this case vegetables. I could have hired someone to do it altogether, but that was not the option I chose for various reasons.
Likewise, as I finished my first book and decided to self-publish, I knew that marketing would fall largely to my efforts. Hiring a professional gardener, I mean marketer, was not a viable option. Still, I turned to professional advice to determine a strategy. I searched and researched blogs, books, self-published authors, and any source I could find on the steps for marketing my own book.(A partial list of sites appears at the end of this article.) There is a wealth of information out there. Most is free, some may require a monetary investment. All require an investment of time and labor—as does any garden.
2. It Takes Time.
I go out to my little garden every day. I stand and look down on the plants. They stand and look back at me (so to speak). I want to say, "What is taking you so long to grow? Can't you pick it up a little? I want to see some fruit." I imagine if they could, they would reply, "Look, Pal, Romaine wasn't built in a day. Keep your shirt on. This is a process. Just keep giving us a drink and taking care of the weeds." It is the same with the "growth" of book sales. There is a tendency to get frustrated with the slow results of marketing. It is rare that sales of a new book, especially from a new author, will jump skyward early on. Even with good preparation, growth requires cultivation. I can no more force the growth of the book sales than I can make the plant grow by grabbing hold and pulling on it. I have to trust to the process.
Pulling on the plant is at best a waste of effort and at worst will yank it up by the roots and kill it. It is the same as over watering or over fertilizing. You can not hope to achieve results by piling on the manure. That is perhaps an indelicate metaphor for the author who repeatedly self-promotes to the same audience in the absence or ignorance of the fundamental process. I'm referring to authors who flood their social media outlets with repeated appeals to, "Buy my book" with little or no effort to establish who they are or why a reader should be interested.
In most cases, the best promotion starts with cultivation of the readers' understanding of who the author is and how the author thinks, which leads the reader to buy the book based as much on that developed interest as on anything else. That author could be more effective by contributing to other authors' blogs or offering a newsletter, etc.
3. Growth Is Typically Not Linear.
As my little garden grows, I have noticed an amazing thing—the more the plants grow, the faster they grow. In layman's terms, plants get their energy to grow from the sun as the sunshine is absorbed by the leaves. It is called photosynthesis. As the leaves grow, the surface that can process the sunshine gets larger, which in turn promotes more growth. Growth promotes growth.
It is often the same in marketing a book. Efforts which yield sales often expand exposure. More exposure tends to generate more opportunity for sales, which generates more exposure. See the parallel? One of the main keys to marketing a book is to take full advantage of the exposure you have so that more exposure will result. Let the sun shine in. The successful gardener/author-marketer has to recognize first of all that he or she is not the sun. Secondly, he or she must recognize that the most effective extended exposure for the book comes from other sources that draw the sunlight to it.
To summarize, marketing a book takes effort that most writers would rather invest in writing, but someone must toil—accept the fact. It is a process that takes preparation, continued cultivation, and patience. Effort invested typically yields expanded results eventually. There are many who have sown and reaped already. Use their experience and expertise to get started. Don't be afraid to hire some of that help if you can.
Each gardener is going to do things a little differently than the next. Some try new things and reap a good harvest. Some are satisfied with tried and true methods. However it is approached, the harvest of the book plot is not unlike the harvest of the garden plot. Here's to fruitful results.
Producing a fruitful garden starts before the seed is planted. The soil must be prepared by loosening and fertilizing. Even before the book is completed, the author should begin to prepare the way for the time it will face the light of day. The "soil" that surrounds it may be already rich with established recognition, irrigated with channels of contacts, and cleared of any obstacles that would shade it from the required exposure to sunlight. Or the "soil" may be fallow, an unprepared plot of ground previously unplanted. The latter is most often the case for the new author. Regardless, if the "book garden" is to grow, the groundwork must be laid.
I laid out a small garden this year. I had no idea how to begin, so I referred to and relied on experts, those who I knew to have green thumbs, those who had demonstrated success in the past. Armed with that knowledge, I dug in. I tilled and fertilized a small plot in a sunny spot, because that is the required preparation for producing, in this case vegetables. I could have hired someone to do it altogether, but that was not the option I chose for various reasons.
Likewise, as I finished my first book and decided to self-publish, I knew that marketing would fall largely to my efforts. Hiring a professional gardener, I mean marketer, was not a viable option. Still, I turned to professional advice to determine a strategy. I searched and researched blogs, books, self-published authors, and any source I could find on the steps for marketing my own book.(A partial list of sites appears at the end of this article.) There is a wealth of information out there. Most is free, some may require a monetary investment. All require an investment of time and labor—as does any garden.
2. It Takes Time.
I go out to my little garden every day. I stand and look down on the plants. They stand and look back at me (so to speak). I want to say, "What is taking you so long to grow? Can't you pick it up a little? I want to see some fruit." I imagine if they could, they would reply, "Look, Pal, Romaine wasn't built in a day. Keep your shirt on. This is a process. Just keep giving us a drink and taking care of the weeds." It is the same with the "growth" of book sales. There is a tendency to get frustrated with the slow results of marketing. It is rare that sales of a new book, especially from a new author, will jump skyward early on. Even with good preparation, growth requires cultivation. I can no more force the growth of the book sales than I can make the plant grow by grabbing hold and pulling on it. I have to trust to the process.
Pulling on the plant is at best a waste of effort and at worst will yank it up by the roots and kill it. It is the same as over watering or over fertilizing. You can not hope to achieve results by piling on the manure. That is perhaps an indelicate metaphor for the author who repeatedly self-promotes to the same audience in the absence or ignorance of the fundamental process. I'm referring to authors who flood their social media outlets with repeated appeals to, "Buy my book" with little or no effort to establish who they are or why a reader should be interested.
In most cases, the best promotion starts with cultivation of the readers' understanding of who the author is and how the author thinks, which leads the reader to buy the book based as much on that developed interest as on anything else. That author could be more effective by contributing to other authors' blogs or offering a newsletter, etc.
3. Growth Is Typically Not Linear.
As my little garden grows, I have noticed an amazing thing—the more the plants grow, the faster they grow. In layman's terms, plants get their energy to grow from the sun as the sunshine is absorbed by the leaves. It is called photosynthesis. As the leaves grow, the surface that can process the sunshine gets larger, which in turn promotes more growth. Growth promotes growth.
It is often the same in marketing a book. Efforts which yield sales often expand exposure. More exposure tends to generate more opportunity for sales, which generates more exposure. See the parallel? One of the main keys to marketing a book is to take full advantage of the exposure you have so that more exposure will result. Let the sun shine in. The successful gardener/author-marketer has to recognize first of all that he or she is not the sun. Secondly, he or she must recognize that the most effective extended exposure for the book comes from other sources that draw the sunlight to it.
To summarize, marketing a book takes effort that most writers would rather invest in writing, but someone must toil—accept the fact. It is a process that takes preparation, continued cultivation, and patience. Effort invested typically yields expanded results eventually. There are many who have sown and reaped already. Use their experience and expertise to get started. Don't be afraid to hire some of that help if you can.
Each gardener is going to do things a little differently than the next. Some try new things and reap a good harvest. Some are satisfied with tried and true methods. However it is approached, the harvest of the book plot is not unlike the harvest of the garden plot. Here's to fruitful results.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
7 social media marketing mistakes made by authors
Social media marketing. Some call it a fad. Others call it a revolution. But most agree that in some form, it is here to stay. This is a very different type of marketing from the traditional methods, however, and it’s easy to make mistakes. Here are some of the most common:
1. Not using social media at all. All too often, authors assume social media is just a waste of time. But the fact is that authors who are not jumping on the social media bandwagon are missing out on a valuable aspect of building their platforms. Even large corporations are using social media as part of their marketing plans. The truth is, authors who want to sell books probably can’t afford to sit on the sidelines.
2. Not having a handle on your objectives and goals. Diving into social media without a plan can be counterproductive. Authors should decide in advance how much time they will spend on social media, what they want to accomplish, and how they can reach the most people in their target market.
3. Trying to do too much. There are hundreds (thousands?) of social media sites. Authors do not need to have profiles on every single one. It’s best to decide on a few and focus your time on those. Because social media is so dependent on relationship-building, you need to use it consistently (much like nurturing relationships “in real life”). Figure out how much time you’ll spend each day, then focus only on a few sites with that limited time. Investigate the third-party applications available (such as HooteSuite and TweetDeck) to help streamline your efforts.
4. Not doing enough. Related to the previous item, putting up social media profiles and then not staying active is useless. If you’ve got profiles on dozens of sites, you simply won’t be able to be an active participant. You need to be an integral part of the social media community if you are to reap any rewards. Posting infrequently makes it appear as if you are not engaged, and you will likely lose followers and friends, making your efforts indeed a waste of time.
5. Treating social media as a form of advertising. It’s pretty simple: Advertising is about selling; social media is about building relationships. And whereas advertising is often ignored, social media offers opportunities to showcase expertise and engage potential customers in more meaningful ways.
6. Not listening. Don’t spend all of your time on social media expounding about your message. Much like a face-to-face conversation, listening to others and responding to their needs is just as important.
7. Giving up too soon. All too often I speak with authors who have been giving social media marketing their best effort for a month or two or even six, finding they are disappointed with the results. It’s important to understand that social media is a commitment in the long-term. Even in traditional advertising, it is important to build TOMA (top of mind awareness) over a period of time; the same holds true in social media. Relationships must be built and nurtured—and this takes time.
Ultimately, there are no shortcuts to social media marketing success. Authors must be engaged and authentic, and they must contribute to the viral conversation if they are to enjoy the rewards.
1. Not using social media at all. All too often, authors assume social media is just a waste of time. But the fact is that authors who are not jumping on the social media bandwagon are missing out on a valuable aspect of building their platforms. Even large corporations are using social media as part of their marketing plans. The truth is, authors who want to sell books probably can’t afford to sit on the sidelines.
2. Not having a handle on your objectives and goals. Diving into social media without a plan can be counterproductive. Authors should decide in advance how much time they will spend on social media, what they want to accomplish, and how they can reach the most people in their target market.
3. Trying to do too much. There are hundreds (thousands?) of social media sites. Authors do not need to have profiles on every single one. It’s best to decide on a few and focus your time on those. Because social media is so dependent on relationship-building, you need to use it consistently (much like nurturing relationships “in real life”). Figure out how much time you’ll spend each day, then focus only on a few sites with that limited time. Investigate the third-party applications available (such as HooteSuite and TweetDeck) to help streamline your efforts.
4. Not doing enough. Related to the previous item, putting up social media profiles and then not staying active is useless. If you’ve got profiles on dozens of sites, you simply won’t be able to be an active participant. You need to be an integral part of the social media community if you are to reap any rewards. Posting infrequently makes it appear as if you are not engaged, and you will likely lose followers and friends, making your efforts indeed a waste of time.
5. Treating social media as a form of advertising. It’s pretty simple: Advertising is about selling; social media is about building relationships. And whereas advertising is often ignored, social media offers opportunities to showcase expertise and engage potential customers in more meaningful ways.
6. Not listening. Don’t spend all of your time on social media expounding about your message. Much like a face-to-face conversation, listening to others and responding to their needs is just as important.
7. Giving up too soon. All too often I speak with authors who have been giving social media marketing their best effort for a month or two or even six, finding they are disappointed with the results. It’s important to understand that social media is a commitment in the long-term. Even in traditional advertising, it is important to build TOMA (top of mind awareness) over a period of time; the same holds true in social media. Relationships must be built and nurtured—and this takes time.
Ultimately, there are no shortcuts to social media marketing success. Authors must be engaged and authentic, and they must contribute to the viral conversation if they are to enjoy the rewards.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Jump Start Your Book Sales
As the world of publishing becomes more and more competitive, smart authors and publishers start thinking “marketing” when they first begin a book project. Sound strange? Not really. There things you can include as you create and shape the manuscript that will furnish additional clout when it comes time to sell that book. There are also things you may want to omit (this will be discussed in subsequent posts).
Determining your USP
Every product—from soap to refrigerators to cars—has a unique selling proposition, or USP. Books need this differentiating element too. Some people call it “positioning.” It takes something common and makes it uncommon. So how do you make your books better, more unusual than the competition’s?
You need to know the competition. Authors tell me almost daily, “There’s no other book like this.” Chances are, that is not the case. They just don’t know about the other books because they haven’t done their homework. Stopping by a big chain store and checking the shelves for similar works is not the way you determine what else is available. That store, no matter how huge, only carries a fraction of all the books available.
Here’s how to really check out the competition: First, go online to www.amazon.com and bring up your subject area. Then study the information on the books that come up and note which ones you want to investigate further. Second, go to an independent bookstore. Chat with the owner or buyer about your project and ask their opinion for recommendations on the topic and why those books are good. Buy them. Devour them.
Third, contact your local library and find out if they have a subscription to the New Books in Print ® (launched in February 2011, it replaces all other Books in Print versions). If so, you should be able to log on for free as a patron to study relevant subjects. Check out the 10 top books you want to peruse. You can ask for an inter-library loan to obtain those not readily available.
Once you know the good books out there, you’re ready to determine how to tempt people to review, purchase, and read yours. After you’ve identified their strengths and weaknesses, you can position your book to outshine their weaknesses. Will you make yours shorter? Funnier? More complete? Will you add illustrations? Quizzes and checklists? Take a different approach?
That’s what the authors of What to Expect When You’re Expecting did. There were scores of guides on preparing for baby when they were writing their book. They added a new twist: taking readers through the process month by month. Did it work? That book has sold more than 14.5 million copies, has led to three companion volumes that are also racking up huge sales numbers—and there is even a movie coming out in May 2012.
Whatever you do, give your all. If you make the quality and research of your book a prime concern, then you’ll have a superior product to promote. Love your readers and make a passionate commitment to them. Tell your readers everything you know on the subject. And stretch yourself to learn more. By making content king you turn up the juice and blast out of the gate at a run instead of at a trot.
Determining your USP
Every product—from soap to refrigerators to cars—has a unique selling proposition, or USP. Books need this differentiating element too. Some people call it “positioning.” It takes something common and makes it uncommon. So how do you make your books better, more unusual than the competition’s?
You need to know the competition. Authors tell me almost daily, “There’s no other book like this.” Chances are, that is not the case. They just don’t know about the other books because they haven’t done their homework. Stopping by a big chain store and checking the shelves for similar works is not the way you determine what else is available. That store, no matter how huge, only carries a fraction of all the books available.
Here’s how to really check out the competition: First, go online to www.amazon.com and bring up your subject area. Then study the information on the books that come up and note which ones you want to investigate further. Second, go to an independent bookstore. Chat with the owner or buyer about your project and ask their opinion for recommendations on the topic and why those books are good. Buy them. Devour them.
Third, contact your local library and find out if they have a subscription to the New Books in Print ® (launched in February 2011, it replaces all other Books in Print versions). If so, you should be able to log on for free as a patron to study relevant subjects. Check out the 10 top books you want to peruse. You can ask for an inter-library loan to obtain those not readily available.
Once you know the good books out there, you’re ready to determine how to tempt people to review, purchase, and read yours. After you’ve identified their strengths and weaknesses, you can position your book to outshine their weaknesses. Will you make yours shorter? Funnier? More complete? Will you add illustrations? Quizzes and checklists? Take a different approach?
That’s what the authors of What to Expect When You’re Expecting did. There were scores of guides on preparing for baby when they were writing their book. They added a new twist: taking readers through the process month by month. Did it work? That book has sold more than 14.5 million copies, has led to three companion volumes that are also racking up huge sales numbers—and there is even a movie coming out in May 2012.
Whatever you do, give your all. If you make the quality and research of your book a prime concern, then you’ll have a superior product to promote. Love your readers and make a passionate commitment to them. Tell your readers everything you know on the subject. And stretch yourself to learn more. By making content king you turn up the juice and blast out of the gate at a run instead of at a trot.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
4 Rules To Help You
Most writers I speak to are quite passionate about the craft of writing. The business of publishing, however, is another story for many of them. But once you commit to publishing if you do it right—you are no longer just an author. You are running a business.
Here are four rules to follow that will go far in ensuring you are a success:
1. Make it easy for people to do what you want them to do. This applies to individual consumers, trade customers, publicity people—everyone, everywhere. Remove the roadblocks, and you’ll have better results.
2. Follow up. The squeaky wheel does indeed get the grease. It is constantly proven to us that we get results we never would have achieved because we continue to ask for the sale, stay visible, and be politely persistent about PR. There is a rule of seven in business. What this means is that people must hear about you seven times before they are moved to act. Calling a reviewer or a producer a couple of times then giving up is like ordering a beautiful steak dinner and walking out before it is served.
3. Apply the 80/20 rule. This says you’ll get 80 percent of your results from 20 percent of your efforts or customers. In essence, it means determine what’s working and focus on that priority. Don’t waste time on marginal paybacks. Spend 80 percent of your time pursuing the most profitable 20 percent.
4. Ask for what you want. This is perhaps the simplest rule yet the most ignored. A person will usually accommodate your wishes, assuming they are reasonable, and you let the person know what it is you want. So often we neglect to communicate our desires. Want a pleased customer to write a customer review on Amazon.com? Ask for it! Want to speak at the next annual convention of an association that parallels the topic of your book? Request to be on the program. You get the idea.
Here are four rules to follow that will go far in ensuring you are a success:
1. Make it easy for people to do what you want them to do. This applies to individual consumers, trade customers, publicity people—everyone, everywhere. Remove the roadblocks, and you’ll have better results.
2. Follow up. The squeaky wheel does indeed get the grease. It is constantly proven to us that we get results we never would have achieved because we continue to ask for the sale, stay visible, and be politely persistent about PR. There is a rule of seven in business. What this means is that people must hear about you seven times before they are moved to act. Calling a reviewer or a producer a couple of times then giving up is like ordering a beautiful steak dinner and walking out before it is served.
3. Apply the 80/20 rule. This says you’ll get 80 percent of your results from 20 percent of your efforts or customers. In essence, it means determine what’s working and focus on that priority. Don’t waste time on marginal paybacks. Spend 80 percent of your time pursuing the most profitable 20 percent.
4. Ask for what you want. This is perhaps the simplest rule yet the most ignored. A person will usually accommodate your wishes, assuming they are reasonable, and you let the person know what it is you want. So often we neglect to communicate our desires. Want a pleased customer to write a customer review on Amazon.com? Ask for it! Want to speak at the next annual convention of an association that parallels the topic of your book? Request to be on the program. You get the idea.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)