PROLOGUE Post # 2

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!