Why do we authors have to promote? Aren’t there publicists?
Yes there are publicists. There are big-time publicists for the Chers and Tom Cruises, there are freelance publicists, regional publicists and your publisher has one or more publicists. Once you finish your promotion campaign you’ll realize they earn every penny of their fees.
I think most of us can eliminate the first group. The second tier or freelancers charge anywhere from $5,000.00 to $300 per month plus expenses. A wide range. Even $300 a month will run you well over $1,200 over a four month span.
The third are the publishers’ publicist. They will help if they can. But most of them have hundreds of books to promote and the basic realities of the publishing world today is that publishers do not have the funds or staff to sufficiently promote individual authors or their books, especially first time authors.
According to Publishers Weekly, 150,000 books were printed last year. Think about it. Your book is to compete with 150,000 other newly printed books. It is not easy to compete with so many books and the publishers understand this. They cannot spend money on the publicity each book deserves. Another reality of the publishing business is that only the top 15% of books make money. The revenue generated by the top 15% of the authors in the publishing business subsidizes the rest–a very sobering fact. Where do you think they are going to spend their money and publicity efforts?
One publisher I know printed 5,000 hardcover copies, a modest run, of a book they had high hopes would have a second printing within a couple of months. At year’s end the book had sold only 600 copies. They took a bath. And why? Because the author did not do her part in the unwritten contract. She flopped at promotion. Will she get to publish a second book? What do you think?
National publicist Lucinda Dyer quotes a Hyperion associate publisher as saying “The writers who have been able to break out of the crowd ...... have all been self-promoters.”1
As a first time author, you might feel like a pariah trying to communicate your ideas or plans with your publishing house. You’re not. Your publisher wants to see your book succeed. After all it is expending quite a bit of money and a lot of time on your book.
There are steps you can begin to take today that will help your book become successful and attract the attention of your publisher. Your publisher will pay attention to book sales. What you want to do is surprise them. Better still shock them!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
AUTHOR SELF-PROMOTION MANUAL -- Prologue Post # 1
UNDERSTANDING PROMOTION
Introduction
Congratulations. You have finished your book. You have a signed contract from your publisher and can finally imagine attaining your life long dream. Picture that book in your hand, whether it is a hard cover, a trade or mass market paperback, picture it in you hand. Now picture it in the hands of thousands perhaps tens of thousands of expectant readers. That is your real goal. If you write a book and no one reads it you have to ask, why did I write this book? As a published author you have an obligation to your publisher, to book sellers, to yourself and to your readers to get that book out of the warehouses, into the bookstores and off the shelves.
When I finally had a contract from my publisher I thought I was home free, soon to be a published author. Visions of book tours and adoring crowds, TV appearances and intellectual conversations on National Public Radio danced in my head. I had been forewarned by other authors that the publisher would not be help much in the promotion. I only half believed them. So over the next several months between the arduous processes of editing, copying editing and line editing my book, I began to educate myself. I was shocked! Even though my publication date was a good five months away I discovered that I was late. Almost too late to begin a successful publicity campaign. Too late! I hadn’t even seen the bounded galleys! Thus began the long and at times painful learning curve I had to overcome to make my book successful. I collected ideas from books, magazines articles and other authors. I watched BookTV and Booknotes on C-Span. Through trial and error I found out what worked for me and my book and what would work for any author who has the time and drive to successfully self-promote their own book
In promoting my book I have used all or part of the ideas below in my publicity campaign. Every author has different needs and wants. They have their own lives, jobs, and of course families. Each author has different abilities, drive, time and funds. Not all the suggestions will work for each and every author and not all fit what you want or can do. And more than a few are budget breakers. The ideas and suggestions that follow are culled from personal experiences during my startup and sell-in, through my fourteen state book tour to the continual sell-through.
I had three clear goals. The first, obviously, was to sell as many books as possible, specifically I wanted to sell-out the first edition and get a second printing. The second goal, which is an on going effort, is not to have my book discontinued, to keep my book backlisted. Both objectives help in my final goal, selling enough books to interest a publisher in a second book. And I should add without having to go through another 97 rejection letters.
How to reach those goals? Or for that matter any goal an author might have? It’s going to take promotion. Most authors will tell you that the only thing more difficult than writing their book is promoting it. Believe them it’s true. Promotion can be difficult, time consuming, and costly. Guess who has to do most of the promotion and bear the expense? The author.
Aside from time and money why is promoting so difficult for many authors?
Writers are loners. For months even years we lock ourselves up in our caves isolated with our ideas, our characters and our dreams and pound away at our wordprocessors searching for the unimaginable, a readable story. Once finished over night we have to transform ourselves from lone wolves into publicity hounds. It’s a schizophrenic business.
Introduction
Congratulations. You have finished your book. You have a signed contract from your publisher and can finally imagine attaining your life long dream. Picture that book in your hand, whether it is a hard cover, a trade or mass market paperback, picture it in you hand. Now picture it in the hands of thousands perhaps tens of thousands of expectant readers. That is your real goal. If you write a book and no one reads it you have to ask, why did I write this book? As a published author you have an obligation to your publisher, to book sellers, to yourself and to your readers to get that book out of the warehouses, into the bookstores and off the shelves.
When I finally had a contract from my publisher I thought I was home free, soon to be a published author. Visions of book tours and adoring crowds, TV appearances and intellectual conversations on National Public Radio danced in my head. I had been forewarned by other authors that the publisher would not be help much in the promotion. I only half believed them. So over the next several months between the arduous processes of editing, copying editing and line editing my book, I began to educate myself. I was shocked! Even though my publication date was a good five months away I discovered that I was late. Almost too late to begin a successful publicity campaign. Too late! I hadn’t even seen the bounded galleys! Thus began the long and at times painful learning curve I had to overcome to make my book successful. I collected ideas from books, magazines articles and other authors. I watched BookTV and Booknotes on C-Span. Through trial and error I found out what worked for me and my book and what would work for any author who has the time and drive to successfully self-promote their own book
In promoting my book I have used all or part of the ideas below in my publicity campaign. Every author has different needs and wants. They have their own lives, jobs, and of course families. Each author has different abilities, drive, time and funds. Not all the suggestions will work for each and every author and not all fit what you want or can do. And more than a few are budget breakers. The ideas and suggestions that follow are culled from personal experiences during my startup and sell-in, through my fourteen state book tour to the continual sell-through.
I had three clear goals. The first, obviously, was to sell as many books as possible, specifically I wanted to sell-out the first edition and get a second printing. The second goal, which is an on going effort, is not to have my book discontinued, to keep my book backlisted. Both objectives help in my final goal, selling enough books to interest a publisher in a second book. And I should add without having to go through another 97 rejection letters.
How to reach those goals? Or for that matter any goal an author might have? It’s going to take promotion. Most authors will tell you that the only thing more difficult than writing their book is promoting it. Believe them it’s true. Promotion can be difficult, time consuming, and costly. Guess who has to do most of the promotion and bear the expense? The author.
Aside from time and money why is promoting so difficult for many authors?
Writers are loners. For months even years we lock ourselves up in our caves isolated with our ideas, our characters and our dreams and pound away at our wordprocessors searching for the unimaginable, a readable story. Once finished over night we have to transform ourselves from lone wolves into publicity hounds. It’s a schizophrenic business.
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