The Minefield of Marketing
by Helen Hollick
For many indie writers sales have plummeted. The difficult financial situation is partly to blame: the increased cost of living in general, the global unrest adding to recessions and high interest rates. When a pay packet has to be juggled between sorting the high energy bills or buying food, purchasing books is, naturally, going to take a very back seat. I read a recent report which stated that the average person in the USA reads only 4-5 books a year. I suppose given the population of the US that amounts to quite a few million books in all, BUT, there are many, many millions of books out there waiting to be noticed let alone bought and read.
I have been a published author for over thirty years now, originally with William Heinemann, an imprint of Random House UK, then I went indie in 2006 when my (ex) agent unexpectedly dropped me – simultaneously, so did Random House. (I am still suspicious about the co-incidence.) However, sales, even in the early 2000s were poor, partly because historical fiction, as I was writing then, had fallen out of fashion and partly because the publisher’s marketing was, well in a nutshell, useless.
The 1990s and early 2000s were pre-social media days. Book – fiction – marketing relied on the publishers seeking professional reviews in prestigious magazines and newspapers. My first adult novel The Kingmaking, part one of a trilogy about King Arthur, came out in 1994 and I was featured on prime time UK TV, was a guest of several top local and national radio programmes, and reviews appeared in many respected magazines. The book did well and I thought I had ‘made it’ as a writer. Then the publisher hit financial difficulties. Book Two of the trilogy received very little marketing. “We’ll go all out with book three,” I was promised.
Nothing happened.
I wrote Harold the King (titled I Am The Chosen King in the US). It had a fabulous marketing editor who really did me proud. Sadly, after a few months she mysteriously disappeared. (I have a feeling that she was head-hunted by a different publisher.) By my fifth book the publishing house had lost interest in historical fiction, the ex-agent had lost interest in me and I thought my career was over, but then self-publishing ‘indie’ began to open new opportunities and I grabbed them with both hands.
The internet was also opening up and Amazon was in its infancy, which was, despite our moans about Amazon, a good thing because the indie supportive bookstores were also on the way out, being swallowed up by the Big Guys, who rather sneered at self-published writers and wouldn’t stock our books. (Many still won’t!)
Sad to say, I now regard my writing as a hobby, not a career. (On the plus side, now that I am 71, and ‘retired’, I only have my pension incomes, so I no longer earn enough to need to pay tax. ‘Every Cloud...’, as they say!) I wish I could sell more of my books, though. Not for the hope of profit, but because I dearly want to share my stories and characters with others and, for practicality, to cover the cost of being an indie writer. There’s the cover design to pay for, the editing, the proof reading, the formatting. And the marketing.
The problem with being self-published / indie is the marketing, no matter how professional a writer you are, if readers do not know that your books are out there, they are not going to buy them.
Who remembers My Space? I admit it, I loved My Space, but then Facebook overtook it, and Twitter appeared. Amazon erupted into the huge conglomerate that it has become today, and now there is Instagram, Tik Tok, What’s App and a host of others. Yet still marketing our books is depressingly difficult.
There remains the same problem: all these platforms are open to millions of writers. We like to think of ourselves as large whales in a small pond, but in truth we are tiny tadpoles in a vast ocean. Without useful marketing, potential readers have no idea that we exist.
So what can we, as indie writers, do to tip the balance in our favour? The answer, alas, fluctuates between ‘not a lot’ and ‘nothing at all.’ Which is pretty depressing, but I maintain that if we all help each other out where we can, and really apply ourselves then perhaps things can become a little brighter? Marketing can cost money, but not always. It does, however, take up time.
So here are some tips. Maybe some, or none, are for you, but try one or two out?
1. Produce quality books. That means good writing, professional editing, professional cover design and professional level production.
2. Try one or more of the professionally run Book Tour companies (e.g. the Coffee Pot Book Club). Yes, they cost money, but they reach many potential outlets.
3. Blogging and blogs are making a comeback. (Mainly because you are in charge of your own blog and not at the mercy of some rich idiot who couldn’t care less about anything except his own interests.) So run a personal blog and be a host for the above. This involves organising what books you are to host, posting the information sent, and reliably promoting the posts on social media. In this way you are promoting other writers but you are also promoting yourself and your books for free. (See my blog: https://ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.com/ )
4. Post articles of your own on your blog – and remember to advertise your latest article on social media.
5. Host other authors’ articles on your blog – and ditto, post the link on social media.
6. Ask if other authors would host your articles – or even just a book spotlight – on their blogs. Be polite, ask first, if accepted send something in good time, with all the relevant information – book details, buying links (worldwide not just US or UK!) a brief biography, book cover image, an image of yourself.
7. Think about producing a monthly newsletter and start building a subscribers’ list.
8. Show your support: sign up for other authors’ newsletters.
9. Share. Retweet (hmm re-X doesn’t sound the same does it). Help promote other authors where and when you can.
10. RECIPROCATE and say THANK YOU
Good luck!
Very good advice, Helen.
ReplyDeleteYes, absolutely. A great way of growing your author reach.
DeleteThanks for stopping by.
Cathie xx
Thank you Mary Anne Yarde
DeleteThank you for such an interesting article. I am not a writer, just a reader, but I know how hard it is for indie authors to be seen in the sea of books that it out there.
ReplyDeleteThank you. We're glad you enjoyed Helen's article.
DeleteCathie xx
Thank you Shield Maiden - sometimes writing the books is the easy part of this writing job we do (but thank goodness for people like you - wonderful readers!)
DeleteThank you Cathie for sharing this article - much appreciated
DeleteYou're always welcome, Helen.
DeleteCathie xx
Thanks, Helen and Cathie. A very good article. Sad but true, and yes, reciprocity makes a difference. If only to know that other authors value one’s writing.
ReplyDelete