Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Heart of the Matter

I post a lot of publishing news here on Straight From Hel. That means I read a lot of news articles or posts, looking for something that would interest you. Sometimes I find great things; sometimes I have to search a long time to find something new to report.

I was doing my usual search for today’s post and found an article about e-publishing.in the Los Angeles Times called Book Publishers See Their Role as Gatekeepers Shrink.

The more I read, the more I thought, okay this is nothing new. It started out talking about Joe (JA) Konrath who plans to publish all his books in e-form as soon as he gets the rights back.
That way he'll be able to collect 70% of the sale price, compared with the 6% to 18% he receives from Hyperion.
Yeah, we’ve heard that before. The article mentioned a few more authors, Seth Godin, Greg Bear and others, who are switching. I was about to click away when I came to the last line:
Godin, 50, said he realized that he no longer needed a publisher to distribute his work or to find an audience: He had cultivated a following of millions through his blog and speaking tours.
And there you have it. The gold key to success in e-publishing (other than creating a great book). Build your readership. Build your platform. Get your name out there on the Internet. When possible, book speaking engagements and ask to sell your books at the back of the room. Get on TV and radio. Get mentioned in papers. Along with the other fifty things you have to do, work your way up the ladder so that readers know you and snatch up your books. The key, apparently, is marketing.

Speaking of marketing … Mary Kennedy came by last Thursday on her blog tour. She sent me an email to say she’d chosen the winners of a copy of her book. Congratulations to:
Nancy Williams
Ann Summerville

As a pre-published or published author, what are you doing now to make your name known?

24 comments:

  1. Social media branding success is tough to quantify, but I think any professional, concerted effort we make to write posts, tweet, Facebook, and interact online means that we're getting our name 'out there' in a way that helps set us apart. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sure, some people have huge successes from the e-book route. But for many others, success is defined by selling hundreds of books, instead of thousands or millions. I'm still trying the traditional way. For now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Helen .. the times they are a-changing that's for sure .. it's persistency, consistency, and just being us .. focus on our goal, building our bridges as we go. Someone recently posted up about making a perfume/cologne to go with our product .. now that's a thought or opens some other similar doors ..

    Cheers Hilary

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree with Elizabeth's comment. Over the last year I've been surprised by who and how many people are noticing me. I partnered with a friend and we're doing weekly video posts. Those videos are on vimeo and utube. I've been surprised by how many views they're getting. I'm also conference speaking this year in the US. Lots of people have asked if I've a book published, but so far I've resisted self-publishing. Social media is time consuming, but I believe we have to do it. YA author, Maggie Stiefvater, is good at it, and her blog was a factor in interesting a publisher.

    ReplyDelete
  5. And my spirits flag. I am so NOT good at marketing. . .

    ReplyDelete
  6. The good news, Liza, is that marketing is easier in today's Internet world. And in some ways, it's less time consuming. Of course, now writers are expected to do more of it, but we can do a lot from home.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Like Elizabeth says above, I do the same with an effort to blog effectively, network, write for a few select sites, maintain a website, much of it with a focused theme identifiable with my name. I'm still seeking publication the traditional route, vs. self-pubbing, though.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've got my blog and my little Facebook group dedicated to my story and I tell everyone I'm a writer now, for the first time in my life.

    Alex
    Breakfast Every Hour

    ReplyDelete
  9. Marketing is a tough thing, but everyone has to do it now. The big publishers expect you to market as well.
    I have a blog that I can't keep up with, FaceBook and Twitter that are hit and miss, but it's a start.

    ReplyDelete
  10. That's a big step, isn't it, Alex? At least it was for me.

    Authors who write and do all different kinds of marketing amaze me. I don't know how they keep up with it all - and remain sane!

    ReplyDelete
  11. It is! But I have to live in the now and the affirmative! I can't be shy about what I really want to do in my life! It's great to have people like you out there for information and insight.

    Alex
    Breakfast Every Hour

    ReplyDelete
  12. I've found January has been a tough month to get back into the swing of things after taking a couple weeks off for the holidays. I've been doing a lot of writing on my next two books though. I plan to line up book signings and get my book back into bookstores here in the Southland starting next week.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Problem IS most of us who WRITE do that best. Not all this charismatic showmanship... I LIKE the possibility of writers being able to break away from the binds of big publishing, but at the same time, I want somebody advocating for the GOOD BOOKS by people who aren't as coherent in person (like me *cough*)

    And I DON'T want this to be another easy route to riches for the Snake Oil Salesment who already can do their thing on reality TV or something.
    (maybe I'm paranoid)

    ReplyDelete
  14. When I read the title of your post, I thought it was about Graham Greene. You know he has written this cool book called The Heart of the Matter. It's from the "serious" part of his production, and a book that might have got him the Nobel Prize, if he hadn't screwed up everything by writing crime novels.

    Cold As Heaven

    ReplyDelete
  15. Marketing, marketing, marketing ... as the e-possibilities grow exponentially, so does our marketing strategy and efforts need to expand right along with it. Good stuff here, thanks for the report!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I know there is a lot of excitement about selling e-books right now, but there is still room for selling well in paper and electronic formats. For paper, a key factor is getting good reviews from respected trade publications like Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal. The reviews I got for Open Season has pushed it into a third printing after just being out a month. Of course, the great review I got from Helen helped, too. But the point I want to make is that I did very little promoting on the Internet or elsewhere.

    I know all of my other books would do better if I was more focused on promoting, and I do need to start working on a plan for promoting my e-books. Mary's tips were most helpful, as were the tips from Linda Faulkner, another successful marketing person who was a guest on my blog on Monday.

    ReplyDelete
  17. If you can just get the process down. Decide what you can do, make a list, and follow it - that's easier than trying to wing it. For me, that means being organized. Maintaining a list of contacts. Noting what needs to be done and when. Creating a checklist. It's a bit easier with the Internet, but marketing is still a huge undertaking.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm trying to build my online presence. I did my first small blog tour recently and I'm active on my own blog but until you're able to be a full time writer, it's difficult to juggle the time needed to promote and still work on the next book. This is my struggle right now.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow - it's suprising how quickly the industry is changing. I'm an aspiring author and I'm blogging and tweeting - but if I'm honest I'm doing it for fun more than anything else :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. That's good to know, because I am blogging like a maniac!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Alex, you are a maniac.

    Kidding. Seriously. I'm kidding.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I'd just read an article in my latest professional magazine discussing similar issues, then discovered you'd brought it up here. Different professions, similar challenges. I'm also wary of the possibility that some people who are good at marketing are just that: good at marketing. That doesn't always transfer into being good at the thing they are marketing. It seems that we're being expected to be all things to all mediums (media?), and most of us aren't. I often feel like I'm bumbling along with a rather poor grip on marketing.

    ReplyDelete
  23. A big thank you to Mary (I'm one of the winners).
    I've heard of authors who had books published but then their books were pulled because of low sales and with no recourse. How frustrating. Many authors are trying to get their rights back. I wonder if publishers are needed as much these days. There are certainly plenty of avenues for self promoting with blogs, Facebook and Twitter.
    Ann

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...