 | 12 Jan 09 |
Promotion. I, personally, have noticed three types of promotional campaigns from authors — the mega blitz, which can include bottle openers, pop can cozies, and calendars; the going-through-the-motions promo, which is usually bookmarks that get limited distribution and some web banners; and the non-existent campaign. The first two levels have tiers within it, the last is self-explanatory.
Promotion has been a vital part of my career from the beginning. Like many authors, I started out with little support from the publisher beyond cover art (which, in my case, was widely panned) and a handful of Advance Reading Copies. The rest was left to me and I ran with it by arranging various print ads, bookstore mailings, blog interviews, etc. In the end, I believe it was the bookstore mailings (and a book that readers – thankfully – enjoyed) that helped the most. I received an out-of-the-blue email from Susan Grimshaw, romance buyer for Borders, within weeks after I mailed out the few ARCs I had telling me that she was hearing great things about my book from her romance experts.
I continued a similar promotional plan for my next two books, and I continued to hear from booksellers who’d never heard of me until they received a mailing from me. By my fourth book, the publisher took over promotion and started running their own print ad campaigns, e-newsletter blasts, etc. Last year was a minimal promotional year for me because of that and man… I loved not having to worry about promo. I loved saving all the money, too.
This year, I launch two new pen names and that has forced me back into promotion. All the booksellers who know me as one author, now need to know that I’m two other authors, too. Because the genres vary so widely, some of the booksellers/reading groups won’t be interested in my new books. In contrast, there are booksellers/readers out there who weren’t interested in my previously published books that will be interested in my new stuff. It’s enough to drive an author batty.
Now, I confess, for the most part, I enjoy promoting my books. I worked hard on them. I want people to know they’re out there. I don’t enjoy the tremendous outlay of funds, but I’ve seen the investment pay off for me in the long run. Promo is a crap shoot. What works for one author, won’t work for another. So much has to be considered when promoting a book — who the target audience is, whether the print run justifies the expense, whether the book will have decent distribution? In some cases, promotion isn’t going to do any good because the book will be one that’s difficult to find or only appeals to a niche audience that limits its saleability from the get-go. I usually make a list of promotional ideas, then mull them over for days/weeks/months. Some things fall off the list after I think about them enough. Some things surprise me by working out way better than I thought they would. It’s kind of like hitting the lottery and, if you like promo, those surprise payoffs can be great fun.
I’ve found the best way to go about it is to have a frank discussion with my editor about what I’m planning. I check see what they’re willing to pay for and which of my promotional items they might be willing to utilize/distribute. Sometimes they’ll run with my idea and I can leave it to them. Sometimes I’m on my own. I’ve learned to make sure that I don’t spend/work over my resentment threshold. There’s a fine line between doing too little and kicking yourself later, and doing too much and kicking yourself later. 
So anyway, want to talk about promo? What’s the best promotional thing/item that you’ve seen from an author? What’s the worst (i.e. you scratched your head and wondered how it was supposed to sell books)
© 2009 Sylvia Day. All rights reserved.
Sylvia Day is the national bestselling, award-winning author of seventeen novels. A wife and mother of two, she is a former Russian linguist for the U.S. Army Military Intelligence. In addition to her novels, she’s written numerous novellas and short stories for both print and electronic-original release. Sylvia’s work has been called “wonderful and passionate” by WNBC.com and “wickedly entertaining” by Booklist. Her stories have been translated into Russian, Japanese, Portuguese, German, Czech, and Thai. She’s been honored with the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award, the EPPIE award, the National Readers' Choice Award, and multiple finalist nominations for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA® Award of Excellence.
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It’s so hard to know what works *sigh* Like you, I agree the mailings directly to booksellers has been beneficial. Sure wish there was a way to measure what works and what doesn’t!
by wendy roberts January 12th, 2009 at 10:43 amOh you know me, I’m always willing to talk promo. I think that the December contest we did at CataNetwork was a pretty good promo opp for the authors involved. It was sort of a Co-Op contest where we asked each author to help promote the contest & participating authors, donate a prize and in return we collected 325 new email addresses for their mailing list.
I’d like to do something similar for Valentine’s day. This time my goal would be 500 names for the month.
As I was saying at the workshop I delivered this past weekend, I think the key to promotion is figuring out what you’re most comfortable with.
If you love public speaking then plan readings, workshops, and book signings.
If you’re good at design do bookmarks, postcards, and brochures. Send them to romance sites who give away goodies, conferences and conventions and then send them to bookstores as well. Trade them with other authors to send out with prizes.
If you’re busy and more hands off, advertise. Advertising works 24 hours a day 7 days a week. So while you’re sleeping, ads are still working for you. Many sites are running specials lately and there are several sites that have just started new advertising programs. Myspace for instance.
I could go on and on and on… which is why I have so many articles on my site. LOL Blog comments just don’t offer enough space.
by Ally Anderson January 12th, 2009 at 10:51 amThe black hole of promotions. I’ve pretty much done it all, except buy the cover of RT. I have no clue what worked, but I do know one thing that works, and it’s my favorite part of promoing and frankly the only part of promo I want to do, and that’s doing exactly what I’m doing right now: Talking in the cybersphere. I love blogging and well, talking. I talk too much but I like people and to talk to them, so that’s what I do. And the arc thing. arc’s are good.
by Karin Tabke January 12th, 2009 at 12:19 pmSylvia, it’s a mystery what really works! You’ve done a really good job promoting yourself whereas my efforts have been so/so.
I have seen some weird promotion, but usually I think it’s the author working to build name recognition over trying to sell a single book. Some of it is pretty out there though!
by Jen Lyon January 12th, 2009 at 12:54 pmI love the promotional side of it. As a small press author, its really the only way we (my sister and I) are going to get recognition.
So Im a big fan of the promotional game, and I have met so many cool people and readers because of it.
Our best promotional item? Anything that has our catch phrase “I do it Demonstyle” on it. We have everything from Small magnets to t shirts to bumper stickers, and lemme tell you, people love the stickers.
Granted the promotional thing has been a slow process, what with the limited distribution our publishers have, but its steadily growing for us. What else works for us? Pens, key chains, book cards and brochures.
And I agree SJ, the expense is through the roof, and I’m always finding more ways to make it cheaper for us. Thankfully I have had great luck in that.
Online promotions have just started to get working for us, and we have been around for a little over three years. I have completely stopped doing loop chats, but the guest blogging and the interviews as well as free reads (listed on our website and ARe) have helped too.
So whats the best promo I have seen from an author? Playing cards with her book’s series emblem on it. That’s awesome and such a great idea, though hella pricey.
I’m always looking for new ideas though, and have found that readers like stuff, and the more stuff you can tie into your books (We have done candles, jewelry, bath salts and symbols) the more they wanna know about your work, and you.
Great post BTW! this is my first time here but it wont be my last.
by Stella Price January 12th, 2009 at 1:05 pmI’ve seen candy, bookmarks, door hangers, bath salts, excerpt booklets, pens, pads of paper, etc. Everyone loves to eat the candy but, I’m not sure that they make the author association. Sometimes people walk into the goody rooms just looking for chocolate. I can’t say that any of these things have ever brought about a book purchase from me. I do keep the pens and pads, and because I use them, they build name recognition for me. But excerpts on a web site, blog and friend recommendations, and feeling like I know the author, will often get me to pick up a book by an author I haven’t tried before.
by Debbie January 12th, 2009 at 1:18 pmMy favorite way to promote is in person. Unfortualtely, It’s easy to say if you’re good at/comfortable with public speaking to arrange readings and such, but not as easy to do for some of us.
I, personally Love public speaking. I love to give reading, talking books and craft, but I live in Northern Alberta. The bookstores up here are not liek int he US. Not where I live anyway. They don’t want readings, and they don’t have bookclubs and such to speak to. There is no local writing chapters here.
I go to confrences, and I manage to get a workshop or two in, with some dear friends, yet for whatever reason, when I try to get in touch with captains of my genre to take part intheri workshops , they never reply. It’s very clique..sort of like high school once again. LOL
Doing it all online is what I do mostly simply becasue I have no choice. I don;t prefer it, I prefer in person. but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.
As for what I se that makes me buy? Excerpts. or when I meet someone who I find personable. LOl I buy their book, even if I never read it.
by Sasha White January 12th, 2009 at 2:09 pmGreat blog, Sylvia. You are an amazing promoter and I have not doubt *all* your writing names will be known by booksellers and readers. Before becoming a full time writer, I spent MANY years as a PR and advertising executive. As much as one would think that would come in handy when it came time to self-promote, it actually paralyzed me because I knew from experience that it takes a MAJOR amount of money to make an impact on any one audience. So, from the beginning, I’ve chosen both one audience and one major promo per book.
The thing is, you can’t reach everyone. So the best thing to do is focus on a group, i.e. booksellers and librarians or reader groups or the major distributors, and devise one good tactic to reach them with the “brand” you’re trying to sell.
For example, I had excerpt booklets made of a few of my books and sent them in addition to bookmarks to bookstores all over the country for them to give away to romance readers.
Best promotion ever? The one I’m still running – a free download of one of my novellas. People like free stuff!!
by Roxanne St. Claire January 12th, 2009 at 2:20 pmJust got here after spending much time designing bookmarks and postcards and making new business cards. Such timing!
My current release is published by a house that targets the library market. I’m learning a whole new approach to promotion.
I like excerpt books. Those are about the only things I carry home from conferences — although I eat any chocolate.
by Terry Odell January 12th, 2009 at 5:14 pmAgreed, Roxanne – I have a pal who had a novel published by a small press. She’s since split with the pub, but she posted a free novella on her website, and it’s had more downloads than the print/eBook versions of her published novel. “Free” is truly the magic word
I don’t receive many promo items, unless I’ve won them in contest. Signed, personalised books are #1. Because they’re personalised, they’ll never be resold or given away, which means they’ll stay on my shelf, which means I’ll see it every day…
ARCs are #2. See above. Just like the finished product, only with titles. Still entirely awesome. (Have about 100 pages left to read of Eve of Darkness; I’m a bit slow lately.)
Cover flats are #3. I have a display folder of them, and sometimes I bring it out just to look at the pretty. Because I’m superficial, obviously
Bookmarks are #4. I usually stick with one particularly bookmark until it’s torn, goes missing, or I’ve acquired another I like better. But lately, my bookmark has been slipping out of its spot whilst the book has been in my tote bag. Maybe I need a bookmark that isn’t glossy, has more texture…
This is just as a reader’s perspective, mind you; I’m by no means professional
Have a lovely day!
by Tez Miller January 12th, 2009 at 7:00 pmAt the last National I got the coolest thing. For Jordan Dane’s No One Heard Her Scream I got a personal security alarm. You pull out the pin and the thing is so noisy everyone in a three block radius is going to hear the thing. It goes on your keychain.
by Amanda January 12th, 2009 at 7:24 pmPromotion from a reader’s standpoint. For years the publisher’s publicity would draw me in and drop me like a rock. I fell hook, line, and sinker for the leaders, and then was sad when the book didn’t live up to the hype. It didn’t happen often, but often enough for me to quit paying attention.
What works for me is blogs like this one. Not only has it turned me on to the great writers that are a part of this blog, but it has brought to me writers who are not on this panel. It is the community created, the give and take that works for me. I am jazzed when one of your books come out. When I see one on the rack in the store and notice someone looking for a book to buy I grab one, or four of the books from writers right here and recommend it/them to the browser (Fred Meyer’s and BiMart should pay me commission.) Then I tell her about this blog or comment that they should see if the writers they like have blogs.
One great thing about writing blogs (besides the community) is that these blogs attract other writers, it is a gold mind for readers.
by Cele January 12th, 2009 at 9:58 pm