Marketing and Promoting a Book : Five Pieces of Conventional Wisdom I Should Have Taken to Heart

Marketing and Promoting a Book : Five Pieces of Conventional Wisdom I Should Have Taken to Heart

Publishing Means You’re Only Half Way Up the Mountain

Writing and publishing a novel was always one of my life’s ambitions. That’s why when Hattie’s Place was released on Amazon in June 2015, I was as exhilarated as a hiker who’d reached the summit of the Matterhorn. But I barely had time to savor my accomplishment, when I discovered that the hike was only halfway over and that there was another mountain to climb on the way to becoming a successful author–a mountain even higher and less explored than the first. I’d been so busy with the writing and editing of my novel that I failed to factor in the importance of promotion and marketing.

I’ve always been one who learns best by doing. I’ve even written several blogs that reflect my learning by doing philosophy. That’s how I approached the task of marketing and promoting Hattie’s Place. Check out my blog for more on Learning by Doing.

Accept Mistakes as Opportunities

One drawback to the learning by doing method is that you have to put aside pride and ego. You must rely instead on curiosity, and be willing to face a few pitfalls. The method of learning by doing requires one to accept mistakes as opportunities, and to use those opportunities to learn and grow. Well, I certainly did make lots of mistakes as a new author. And, I will continue to blog about those mistakes under the category of Marketing and Promoting a Novel.

A year down the road, I am still miles away from becoming a best-selling author. In fact, I’m only knocking at the door of distributing 1000 copies of Hattie’s Place–that’s counting sales and giveaways. But what I’ve learned by doing–e.g., reading, asking, trying, gambling, experimenting–has been invaluable. Hattie’s Place has been the guinea pig for my next novel, In the Fullness of Time, which I hope to publish late this year or early in 2017. But you can bet that before I do release it for publication, I’ll have my gear ready to scale that marketing mountain first.

Before we go on, I’m going to pause one more time to savor my accomplishment in publishing one book and starting on another. That’s me below, doing a little happy dance.

 

Five Pieces of Conventional Wisdom I Should Have Taken to Heart

 

1. Build your author platform well before your book is published.

In a previous blog on building an author platform, I quoted Jane Friedman as saying that Author platform is the vehicle for reaching the target audience once the book is published. Dan Blank  (http://bit.ly/2u7wa1D)  also quotes Friedman as saying, “The most disappointed writers I know are not unpublished writers, but those who have been published.” He adds:

The implication is that upon publication, no one bought their book, and no one cared about their book. They published into a vacuum of their own creation. They didn’t develop the communication channels or trusting relationships that they needed to ensure their book found readers.

I Published into a Vacuum of My Own Creation

I realize now that when I published Hattie’s Place, I was essentially doing just that. I was publishing into a vacuum of my own creation. If it hadn’t been for the generosity and support of friends and family who bought the book out of their loyalty to me, I doubt I would have sold over 100 copies. I’ve grown to understand how important it is to identify  readers of the genre in which the author writes, in my case women’s historical fiction.

It’s not realistic to expect friends and family to comprise your readership. Many of them may be interested in totally different genres. And to each his own! So many thousands of books get published in every genre. Most readers don’t want to waste their time on one that doesn’t resonate with their preference.

Blogging as an Author Platform

My greatest effort to connect with my readers has been through the writing of this blog. And, I must say, I’m gratified by the response thus far. In the eighteen months it has been up and going, the membership has grown to 3,628. In addition, I receive many positive comments on my posts from Facebook and Twitter every time I post.

Still, I can see that I need to write about topics that are of greatest interest to my readers. Thus, I’m seeking ways to make the site more interactive so that I can determine what those topics should be. Before I publish In the Fullness of Time, I intend to put those changes in place. I’ll say more about that under the topic of Marketing Budget.

2. Establish your Author Brand.

As I understand it, author brand is how you want to be known as an author. Nina Amir posts a list of the ways an author might choose to present herself to her readers that I found helpful in creating the description of my own author brand that follows. (http://bit.ly/2zdqsRt)

  • The type of writing you want to do
  • The subjects about which you want to write
  • The types of stories you want to tell
  • The themes you want to cover in your work
  • The ways in which you want to serve you readers
  • The clients or customers you want to attract
  • The spin-off books (sequels or series) you would like to publish
  • Your values
  • Your interests
  • Your passion
  • Your purpose
My Author Brand

I want my readers to know me as a writer of women’s historical fiction. I tell stories about ordinary people who face universal challenges. Some of these challenges include making a living, raising a family, and trying to make a unique mark on the world. My books cover themes of loyalty, love, and friendship. They revolve around strong female characters who find ways to assert their independence, despite the limitations imposed by society and culture.

I don’t care to cast my characters as heroes or villains, because I agree with Dabney in Eudora Welty’s Delta Wedding. Dabney says that people are neither all good nor all evil; they are mostly layers of violence and tenderness–wrapped like bulbs. 

I can serve my readers best by remaining true to the genre in which I write–by telling compelling stories with tightly woven plots. As a writer of nineteenth century historical fiction, I can serve my readers by always ensuring the historical accuracy of the details and setting of my novels.

Customer Base–Readers Who Love History and a Good Character-driven Story

I want to attract customers who love history and enjoy a good character-driven story. My ideal reader enjoys internal conflict and self-examination more than action scenes and dramatic confrontation. I’m still trying to pinpoint who these readers are. However, I’m pretty sure many of them are mature women and possibly some younger adult romantic history buffs.

I try not to superimpose my own values on my characters and into the stories I tell. However, the tone of my writing will always reflect my fundamental belief in the ultimate goodness of the human spirit. It will also assume the potential for human beings to act with compassion toward one another. I am an optimist, cured with a liberal seasoning of realism.

The World Needs Examples of Empowered Heroines!

I write mostly because it’s one of my greatest passions. But I also write to contribute to the body of literature depicting strong women. I heard the author David Baldacci  say that he never portrays the female protagonists in his novels as victims. I really appreciate and identify with that sentiment. I think the world needs examples of empowered heroines.

My brand promotes greater trust and satisfaction by revealing up front what  a reader can expect from my writing. After all, most customers will return if they get what they paid for. That’s the sure way to build a reader base. Those readers who don’t prefer my brand will appreciate knowing it before they invest money and time in reading my book. I don’t want them to buy it only to be disappointed that it wasn’t what they expected. Who knows, maybe they will be appreciative enough to recommend it to someone who does.

3. Get reviews of your book before you publish. 

There’s a real Catch 22 in this piece of advice for new authors. As an unproven writer, you’re already experiencing an overwhelming sense of uncertainly about the quality of your book.  You may wonder whether you had any business publishing it at all. You also know how difficult it would be to find anyone of literary note interested in reading the book and writing a review. At the same time, you’re told you need positive reviews to convince people to buy and read the book. The truth is that once you’ve established yourself as an author, it’s much easier to get reviews. Until then, newbie authors must rely on other options.

One option I chose, albeit after the book was published, was to pay to have my book professionally reviewed. This can be expensive, and most of the professional reviewers are somewhat selective about the books they will take on. I wrote about the two paid reviews and my reactions to them in a previous blog, Building an Author’s Platform.

The greatest benefit I derived from investing in these two reviews was the affirmation that my book was well-written and was of some literary value. Although that served as a huge confidence-builder, it did not result in any significant increase in sales.

Paid Book Promotions

Most recently, I paid a small fee to have Hattie’s Place featured as Online Book Club Book of the Day, which I posted about in my last blog about Online Book Club Book of the Day. I distributed over 200 free copies of the book on Kindle and received a flurry of posts and tweets on social media. That resulted in the book ranking 37th in the category of Women’s Historical Fiction on Free Kindle. Ranking appears to be a critical factor in having your book noticed and promoted on Amazon. Thus far, mine has been numbered so high it would likely never get recognized.

The Book of the Day promotion  has not resulted in increased sales, but it did teach me a great deal about promoting books through social media. An unexpected benefit was that Online Book Club had ten of their top reviewers read a least ten pages of the book and give feedback. Hattie’s Place received a score of 8 out 10 positive reviews. Eighty percent said they would finish reading the book and recommend it to others. The reviews provided me with further evidence that Hattie’s Place is worth reading. At the same time, it drove home the point that good books don’t sell themselves.

Online Readers’ Groups

Another way to get a book reviewed and promoted is to join an online reader’s group. You can then post the book on the virtual library shelf of like genres. Most of these sites provide free author dashboards as well for posting information about the book and author. For example, you can post an author profile, a link to purchase the book, links to the author’s blog or website, special promotions and giveaways of the book, etc. I joined Goodreads.com and OnlineBookClub.com. You can read about my experience in a previous blog on building an author’s platform.

This is an area that I have not yet tapped to full potential. I find most of the sites confusing. That’s partially due to my limited skills in navigating complex websites. But I am beginning to get the hang of them. I will continue to include them as a way to connect and interact with other readers and writers.

4. Develop a marketing plan and budget. 

Creating an author platform and author brand are two major steps in developing a marketing plan. Both steps are best done prior to publishing the book. Other steps include obtaining reviews, launching the book, preparing media releases, scheduling personal appearances, managing contests and giveaways, and blogging and posting on social media. There are bountiful free resources available on the internet to guide the newbie author through the process of promoting and marketing a book. Two resources that I have mentioned in previous blogs are Writer’s Digest.com and Createspace.com.

Know Your Goals Before Planning a Budget

It is possible to self-publish a book virtually for free on Amazon or with other indie publishing companies. You can read about my experience with self-publishing in previous blogs on the cost of indie publishing and using Create space. However, the promotion and marketing of a book can become quite expensive. That’s why it’s critical to set goals for the book and to design a budget that matches your goals.

For example, I published Retirement: A Journey Not a Destination for less than one hundred dollars. I designed my own cover, did my own editing, and used the tools on Createspace.com to format the book for on-demand publishing and Kindle. I even designed my own cover. My goal for Retirement: A Journey not a Destination was to have a published memoir that I could share with friends and family. My goal having been accomplished, I made no effort to market the book after it was published.

Professional Editing Services

My primary goal with Hattie’s Place was to finish and publish a literary novel based on my grandmother’s life. I did not have visions of becoming a best-selling author. At the same time, I knew I was writing to an audience that extended beyond family and friends. I envisioned a market for a coming of age, historical novel set in the South at the turn of the nineteenth century. But I hadn’t the vaguest idea of who my readers would be or where I would find them.

I invested around five thousand dollars for professional editing services from KirkusReview.com, and paid around two thousand for the services offered by Createspace.com.  The sum included a professional cover design, copy editing, and formatting for the Kindle version of the book. Six months before I published the book, I set up my blog, For The Love of Writing, as my sole strategy for promoting it. I suppose my goal was to earn enough royalties sufficient to break even.

Paid Promotions Can Be Expensive

Finally, I began to develop a marketing plan. When I did, the cost of the professional services available for reviewing and promoting books surprised me. As I mentioned earlier, the most sought-after reviewers such as Bookbub.com are extremely selective. They usually require that an author have an established and extensive reader base. Again, the newbie author confronts a Catch 22.

I opted to purchase the review packages for Self-publishingReview.com and OnlineBookClub.com, totaling around three hundred dollars. For both packages, the book was first reviewed and shared with the author, then featured as a book of the week on each respective website.

I also subscribed to BookDaily.com for thirty-nine dollars a month. The subscription entitled me to post a sample of Hattie’s Place on an author dashboard along with an author bio and other information. Every month or so, the book would rotate onto the Emerging Authors page and receive special recognition. Periodically, Book Daily would promote the book on various publications on its mailing list. I could not tell that these promotions affected book sales in any significant way. Therefore, I discontinued my subscription after six months.

Avoid Random Decision-making

My decisions about how to use my limited marketing budget have been random at best. Consequently, and I have determined to reassess my goals and research my options before spending any more money on marketing.

I need to resolve several questions. What financial resources will I need to update my blog site to make it more focused and interactive? Who are my readers?  How are they most effectively reached on social media? What professional services will get the most bang-for-the-buck in helping me build my author platform and brand? What services do I need to pay someone else to do? What can I do myself?

5. As soon as you publish, start writing a sequel. 

Wait! What? You want me to get reviews, publish a blog, run a promotional campaign for the book, and start writing another one all at the same time? It’s hard to believe, but this piece of advice is by far the most repeated of all the tips in the online blogs and articles I have read.

It seems counterintuitive to undertake a project as extensive as writing a novel and then not finish it before moving on to a new project. But the advice begins to make sense if you stop thinking about writing and publishing and marketing as steps in a straight line. Rather, it helps to view writing as a recursive process. That means one phase cycles into another, with one phase beginning as the old phase is ending, and with a new cycle beginning as the old cycle is ending…And on and on it goes.

Hattie’s Story Becomes the Seed for In the Fullness of Time

Fortunately, I had already begun to think about a sequel to Hattie’s Place. It wasn’t out of any great foresight on my part, but because there was so much more of the story to tell. Hattie’s Place is based loosely on my grandmother’s life. The plot revolved around circumstances in her life as a single teacher, boarding in the home of a wealthy businessman. I knew that I wanted to develop Hattie’s character further and to see her grow into marriage and mature womanhood. I wanted to see how she would reconcile her new responsibilities with her determination to be involved in social activism, specifically the woman suffrage movement.

That desire to continue Hattie’s story became the seed for the sequel, In the Fullness of Time. That’s the book I’m currently writing, while also promoting and marketing Hattie’s Place (albeit belatedly). 

The Lessons from Learning by Doing

I told you at the beginning of this article that my journey as an author has been one of learning by doing. So far, it hasn’t gotten Hattie’s Place on anybody’s best seller list. But it has enabled me to understand that a book is not like a baseball field. Just because you build it, it doesn’t mean they will automatically come. I’ve learned by doing that you have to go out and find your fans. I’m not sure where all of them are. I’m not even sure what resources I’ll need to find them.  But I’ve learned by doing a lot of places where they won’t be found!  By the time I publish In the Fullness of Time, I hope to have a lot more of this figured out.

“Heads Up,” Amazon!  I’m looking to hit this next one out of the park.

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2 Comments
  • Barbara Kerr
    Posted on 25 July 2016 Reply

    Thank you for such good information and valuable resources, Kathy. I’m in the middle of writing a middle grade novel and will use your blog as a guide for marketing and promoting. I loved Hattie’s Place and am looking forward to In the Fullness of Time.

    • kstillerman@triad.rr.com
      Posted on 25 July 2016 Reply

      Thank you and good luck on your novel. I’d love to read it!

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