Some Thoughts on Marketing
When I first started writing I gave absolutely no thought to what would come afterwards, particularly when it came to marketing my books. My vague plan involved finding an agent, securing a publishing deal and letting my publishers handle that side of things. I imagined I’d probably go to the odd book signing session and that would be that. I didn’t participate in social media at all and focussed entirely on my writing, based on the logic that without a finished book considering any of these other things was a bit pointless.
Over the years, my writing craft slowly improved and my half-formed plan actually began to happen. I secured the services of an agent with my second completed novel and carried on writing whilst that was out to submission. Those years were really exciting and it was a key time in my development as a writer. It didn’t occur to me that I was missing a much bigger opportunity. For me, it was still all about the writing.
You see this idea crop up frequently, with writers complaining they’re spending too much of their time trying to sell their books, often with a minimal return. Even worse, they don’t have time to write as much as they want and marketing gets in the way of why they started out as authors in the first place.
This sounds far from ideal but it misses a crucial point. Any creative act has value and writing a book for your own pleasure is a fine thing to do. However, a book is by definition a story and stories are made to be told to other people. That means their true purpose is to be read and for that to happen an author has to find and connect with their readership.
Over the next few years my novel went to various publishing houses, received some excellent feedback but, ultimately, it didn’t get picked up. I talked to my agent and we agreed I’d self-publish that story (which had now become the first instalment in a series). I sat down and wrote something completely new, which I finished last year and passed over to my agent. That new novel is now out to submission and I hope will one day land on the right editor’s desk and lead to a publishing deal. We’ll see what happens.
However, while I was writing that new book I was also thinking about what self-publishing actually meant. I realised I’d been operating in a blinkered environment, passively waiting for things to happen, rather than making them happen for myself. And self-publishing is a lot of hard work – put simply, you have to do everything yourself or pay someone to help you with certain aspects.
Of more concern, though, was the pressing question of who, besides my immediate family and friends, would actually buy my book. Without some form of marketing strategy no one would even know it was out there. At this point I’d been seriously writing for more than a decade and I didn’t want that work to go to waste.
Some people start from the premise that there’s something unwholesome or misleading about marketing, which detracts from the purity of their art. I think this is rooted in associating this with the idea of a pushy door to door salesmen, foisting their product on an unwitting customer, whether they want it or not. As a writer getting sales is obviously a good thing. However, this isn’t just about shifting units. You want your book in the hands of the right people – in other words people who actually enjoy your writing. Pushing a book on someone who doesn’t like your genre isn’t very productive. They probably won’t read it and, if they do, they’re unlikely to enjoy the experience. Even worse, they might leave a negative review on Amazon, putting off someone else from buying it.
When I was considering all of this I realised I needed to change my mindset. Rather than the potentially negative associations that come with the phrase ‘marketing’, I needed to think about this in terms of finding my readership – those people who like the genre and connect with my writing. In other words, you’re trying to sell your book to people who actually want it, if only they knew it existed. Why would you not want to do that?
I should make clear that I’m not writing this blog from a position of having sold thousands or even hundreds of books. However, before you throw up your hands in despair and switch over to read something else, it’s worth making the point that my experience reflects 99% of those who self-publish. It also applies to the vast majority of authors who are traditionally published, because it’s only in rare cases that a publisher will put a significant marketing budget behind a book. What I can say is that when I have done the things I’m about to list in this article, I have seen results and received good feedback. I think the following are the essential steps every author needs to take.
Social media presence
This is absolutely vital and I’m annoyed at myself for shying away from it for so long. Social media is effectively your shop window as an author and readers will expect you to be there. The number of global users grows daily and it’s ubiquitous in the UK and US, which I consider to be my main markets. More and more people now possess a smartphone and that trend isn’t going to change any time soon. This is a tremendous opportunity for new authors.
Social media definitely has its downsides and can be very polarising, with some users exploiting the anonymity of their platforms to attack others. However, my own experience has been 99.99% positive. I think this is partly down to how you use it and who you choose to connect with, as well as considering carefully what you post online. I take the approach that what I post should always be completely honest and real because readers want to connect with authors in an authentic and meaningful way. More importantly, always be kind. Positive interactions foster constructive connections and build meaningful online relationships. You only have one chance to make a good first impression, so why squander it?
I’d say that was the greatest benefit for me – finding an online community of like-minded people, all on the same journey with the same ambitions, trials and tribulations. It’s been an empowering and encouraging experience and it led me to have a crack at this year’s SPFBO competition, hosted by the author Mark Lawrence. I don’t think I’d have had the confidence to do this without the support I’d received from readers and book bloggers. More importantly, I don’t think I’d have known about the competition if I hadn’t been on social media. The official SPFBO site is here and it’ll be interesting to see what happens over the next 12 months of the competition.
Word of mouth
The most powerful application of social media is spreading the word about your books. I do post the occasional promotional item, with links to my book accompanying a banner or poster of some kind. This is because I want to make it easy for people to find my books when they come to my social media profile or website. However, I’ve never seen a huge instant response when I’ve posted one of these. Often, these are more about general awareness, so people don’t forget who I am.
Where this translates into sales is where someone else says they liked your book. Every author believes their book is good – otherwise they wouldn’t have written it. However, people tend to buy books when people whose judgement they trust state publicly that they read it and enjoyed it. Whenever people have done this online I’ve seen an immediate response in either my sales or in pages read on Kindle Unlimited.
I’ve spent a lot of time approaching book bloggers, politely asking them if they’d be interested in reviewing my book. On one level, it feels counter-intuitive to give your book away for free. However, book bloggers have their own following, independent from your own, and can help to massively amplify your voice. If they like it that carries weight and other people will pick up your book, who never would have done so otherwise. It’s also hugely encouraging as a writer to get that kind of affirmation and know that what you’re writing is of a good standard when compared with your peers. Getting into the right frame of mind is really important if you want to do your best work.
A good cover
People absolutely judge a book by its cover, so this is one of the crucial aspects of your marketing strategy. No one is going to pick up a book, no matter how good the writing, if the cover doesn’t look enticing and professional.
There are no short cuts here so, unless you’re a graphic designer, you’re going to have to put your hand in your pocket on this one. Established artists are likely to be out of your price range but there are plenty of talented people looking to make a name for themselves in this area who are willing to offer competitive rates. It’s a case of shopping around and asking anyone else you know for their recommendations.
Website
This is another upfront cost but it’s definitely worth considering. Some authors use their social media platforms as their main online presence and this can work well. However, I prefer to have an area of the web that’s fully under my control. It also acts as a central place to gather everything together related to my writing, which is much harder to do if you’re relying solely on platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
People do tend to expect you to have a website as an author. It’s another key part of your shop window. I think it’s worth investing your time in one, creating content that you think your readers will enjoy and find useful. I didn’t know a thing about building websites before I made mine but I’ve enjoyed learning the new skills needed to create and maintain my site. It was actually much easier than I imagined.
Paid advertising
I’ve dipped my toe in these waters a couple of times with some paid Facebook adverts in the past six months. I’ve seen a response off the back of these and it definitely helps with visibility. However, I’d say word of mouth is much more powerful when it comes to people actually taking the step of buying your book. Although my advertising budget is basically nil, Facebook gave me free credit on a couple of occasions to run the ads, which was a really good way to test it out and see how effective it was.
Put your nerves to one side and engage in what’s out there
I’m actually quite a shy person, which isn’t that unusual a character trait for an author. After all, we spend a significant proportion of our free time with the imaginary people and worlds in our heads (and a little piece of us kind of believes they’re real, which is a whole other blog post). However, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the warm welcome I’ve received from the online writing community. The more you put yourself out there, the more interactions you’ll have. Some of those will be fleeting but others will develop and grow into meaningful connections and relationships over time.
You never know where this is going to lead. For example, it opened up the world of the book blogging community to me, where a great bunch of people give up an inordinate amount of their time to tell people about the books they’ve read and loved. This led to the first proper editorial reviews for my book, providing some handy quotable material that I could include on my website and Amazon pages. This in turn makes your book more interesting and inviting to a potential reader.
On another occasion, I found myself invited to take part in a musical playlist collaboration with a group of authors coming together to contribute to the InkWalker Collective. Not only did I get to know some of my fellow authors better and discover their musical tastes, we also created a resource for other writers. You can find out more by clicking on the links to the websites of the founding members, Emily Inkpen and Adrian J Walker.
Only this weekend I’ve found myself joining a new writing group. It’s a place to share ideas, test things out in a safe space and provide a bit of mutual support to each other. It’s helpful to talk a bit more openly with people who really get my – let’s call it what it is – somewhat obsessive interests!
The important thing here is to make genuine connections, rather than trying to force things. Slowly, by being yourself, you’ll find like-minded people and discover there’s a community waiting for you, who will be a perfect fit for what you’re trying to do. The more you participate, the more you get back in return. Rather than my original approach, which was effectively writing whilst hidden away in a cave, I’ve found that by talking openly and engaging with other people on the same journey I’ve been encouraged and learned a lot along the way. Some of this has found its way into this blog entry.
Looked at from this perspective, marketing is far from the dirty word some people make it out to be. It can even be fun, providing you embrace it and approach it with a positive attitude.
