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Marketing a Novel

Got a question/comment about the business of writing or about the publishing industry? Here's your place to post it!
John Sliz
Reader
Posts: 74
Joined: September 2012
Location: Toronto
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Marketing a Novel

Post by John Sliz » Mon June 27th, 2016, 7:17 pm

So what works and what doesn't work?

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Lisa
Bibliophile
Posts: 1153
Joined: August 2012
Favourite HF book: Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman
Preferred HF: Any time period/location. Timeslip, usually prefer female POV. Also love Gothic melodrama.
Location: Northeast Scotland

Re: Marketing a Novel

Post by Lisa » Tue June 28th, 2016, 1:58 pm

My opinion as a reader:

Good
  • Offering a "Look Inside" preview, wherever you're selling. I'm more likely to buy if I can confirm first that I enjoy your writing.

    I've picked up a few novels by new/unknown writers after seeing them listed under a certain time period on http://www.historicalnovels.info/ (site maintained by Margaret who is a member here).
Bad
  • Fake reviews (or anything dishonest).

    Terrible cover artwork can be overlooked, but won't help matters. Although if it's truly bad it might get more attention :twisted:

    Blurb/synopsis that goes something like "PG romance, happy ending, mild cursing. 150,000 words. See my other books at ___.com!" this just really turns me off for some reason.

    Oh and I don't watch book trailer videos. I guess some people do otherwise authors wouldn't go to the expense of making them, but I don't really understand why they exist.

John Sliz
Reader
Posts: 74
Joined: September 2012
Location: Toronto
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Re: Marketing a Novel

Post by John Sliz » Mon July 11th, 2016, 3:42 pm

I don't get book trailers either. I guess that it can help like any other form of advertising, but is the time and expense worth it?

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MLE (Emily Cotton)
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3566
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Re: Marketing a Novel

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Mon July 11th, 2016, 5:13 pm

I'm of the boomer generation, so this comment applies mostly to my demographic.
If you want to sell books, you have to use the media that a reader frequents. Youtube and video is more suited to selling music and movies. If you can do a trailer cheaply, go ahead, it won't hurt. But you aren't going to sell many that way, so if it costs a lot, the ROI (return on Investment) makes it a bad business decision.

This is my very limited (but probably shrewd) marketing experience.
I self-pubbed in 2008, before the big ebook revolution. I learned, and then took my novels out of circulation while I got better. Since then, a steady stream of approval has trickled in from the few copies out there. Meanwhile, I am getting the set ready to launch in all formats, while the book business changes profoundly.

The rules I have made for myself:
#1. Get anything lousy out of view. You have ONE SHOT to gain and keep a reader. There are more books out there than anyone can consume, and all the classics are available free. That's what you are up against. You're a starving fisherman in a pond with a gazillion enticing nibbles If you manage to lure a fish to your bait, be sure they don't spit it out before they are hooked!

#2. Make the first bite free. Why should they pay for yours before they know it is something they want? This is not Jane Austin's world, where books were few and precious. Give them a story, or a short novel, or even the whole thing if it is first in a series. Let them sample, and if it isn't their thing, they won't resent it and give you a bad review if they didn't have to pay.

#3. If they like the taste, have something more available to satisfy their appetite. NOW. Because if you don't, you'll lose them. So don't put out freebie #1 until you have #2 ready to sell them.

#4. Make sure the non-story elements advertise that the rest is excellent. A professional cover, standard formatting, and good copy-editing. Mistakes jerk the reader out of the story, and that's the last thing you want to do.

#5. Don't bother with bricks-and-mortar stores. Much work, few sales, and most of those because you sent them--and if you can send them to a store, you can sell them from your site. Book signings and talks are a lot of work and expense for a minuscule return. Have one available POD, by all means, but the best ROI leans heavily toward the ebook sale.

#6. Have it available in as many formats as you can afford. Ebooks, if you only do Amazon, you have 85% of that market, but the others do have some readership. Trade paperback POD (print-on-demand)-but don't bother with large print or hardback, not enough for ROI. And audiobooks are growing constantly. Go to your local college theater department and offer a few bucks to an aspiring voice-actor. It's experience for their resume, the expensive part is the studio editing. You can learn to do that yourself, I did.

#s7--20: BUILD YOUR CORE READERSHIP. That means, find the readers who like you style, and make them happy. Interact with them online. Give them tools to spread the word. Freebies for their friends with like tastes. If they have suggestions that are useful, take them and thank them. Acknowledge them in you book, even. Every person who helps you, and whose name you acknowledge, is a person who will hand-sell your books to their circle.

I have a core readership of about 200-300 people. They like my stuff. They beta-read for me. They are anxiously awaiting my re-launch. And I got them by pleasing them immensely in round #1. Some of them got free books or audiobooks. But here's the joke--it took many of them up to 3 years JUST TO GET AROUND TO READING/LISTENING to those freebies! THEN they liked--and responded. So it is not going to be a rocket-trajectory launch, even if you have a brilliant book, at the right price, going to the right readers. It's a matter of growing things slowly.

And don't be afraid to take the book down and improve it. I'm an oral storyteller at heart, and I ALWAYS improve and modify my tales. A good orally-told story needs at least 20 iterations before it is honed to a real audience-pleaser. Indie-publishing frees writers from the stocks of the publishing paradigm--where you have to sit trapped while people jeer and throw rotten commentary for every little mis-step.
There, that's my input. It could be completely wrong. ;)

John Sliz
Reader
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Joined: September 2012
Location: Toronto
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Re: Marketing a Novel

Post by John Sliz » Tue July 12th, 2016, 3:32 am

Well, that works for you so you are not wrong. Let me ponder your points before I comment on the rest.

Thanks.

Slimshady
Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: February 2018
Currently reading: Necessary Illusions
Interest in HF: War and piece
Favourite HF book: War and piece
Location: North Miami

Re: Marketing a Novel

Post by Slimshady » Tue February 20th, 2018, 12:38 pm

It would be an interesting endeavour to promote novel on Instagram. It seems that it has a great potential not only for visual content but for artistically organized textual content as well. With traditional tools such as https://zen-promo.com/free_instagram_followers it can perform true miracles. It can spread all your content among those who are special hashtags like #literature, for example, or any other thematically related to your novel hashtag

John Sliz
Reader
Posts: 74
Joined: September 2012
Location: Toronto
Contact:

Re: Marketing a Novel

Post by John Sliz » Wed February 21st, 2018, 2:17 pm

It would be interesting, but I have never been on Instagram so I would have to take your word for it. Q: are the people on Instagram the type that actually buy books or do they just want everything online? I think the latter. However, I think that almost any type of advertising is good. Tell as many people as possible and hopefully sales increase.

KingdonWard
Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: October 2018
Interest in HF: I find history fascinating and enjoy learning about a period through stories.
I also write, but have read and understood the policies and don't plan on getting myself booted out for spamming.
Favourite HF book: I can't say I have a favourite
Preferred HF: Ancient and prehistory, different cultures, but really everything.
I like historical accuracy, although I don't mind a bit of fantasy overlaid.
Location: Devon, England

Re: Marketing a Novel

Post by KingdonWard » Tue October 23rd, 2018, 1:48 pm

Love the comprehensive answer from Emily.
My experience as a fairly new writer in the UK (1st full novel 2 years ago) is that physical books are a VERY hard sell, but I intend to continue with them anyway.
That said, she is correct that most of the potential for ROI is in E-books.

I only go with Amazon. 85% of the E-book market sounds about right, and by making my book exclusive I can get 70% royalties instead of 35%
I also get to make my books free for 5 days once every three months, or reduce the price to 99c/99p for a week every three months.

But here's the rub.
Even making your book free is no guarantee of downloads, and downloads are no guarantee of readers, and readers are no guarantee of reviews.
The fishing analogy rings true, and no matter how tasty your bait, if it's not even hanging in the water where enough fish can see it, you're doomed to sit watching a stationary float all day. (All YEAR)

That dreaded ROI has to be thrown out the window and you will have to pay for advertising.
My most successful promos to date have been with Freebooksy, and Bargainbooksy, but I warn you, I have also had some terrible results with them too.
Be prepared to shell out hundreds of dollars to get anywhere, and my guess is thousands of dollars before the returns catch up with your investment.
I'll let you know if and when that wonderful day arrives. :D

John Sliz
Reader
Posts: 74
Joined: September 2012
Location: Toronto
Contact:

Re: Marketing a Novel

Post by John Sliz » Tue October 23rd, 2018, 6:35 pm

I really don’t like giving a book away for free, especially since it seems that I have to pay for it while Amazon still gets paid. WTF? I don’t want to pay to be a writer and to make Amazon even richer than it already is. If readers want my books then they will buy them. Fortunately, some do.

KingdonWard
Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: October 2018
Interest in HF: I find history fascinating and enjoy learning about a period through stories.
I also write, but have read and understood the policies and don't plan on getting myself booted out for spamming.
Favourite HF book: I can't say I have a favourite
Preferred HF: Ancient and prehistory, different cultures, but really everything.
I like historical accuracy, although I don't mind a bit of fantasy overlaid.
Location: Devon, England

Re: Marketing a Novel

Post by KingdonWard » Tue October 23rd, 2018, 7:31 pm

It's been my experience.
You absolutely should not give your book away fro free all the time.
I price at 50% of the print edition price which seems about right, five bucks or four quid for a typical modest length novel.
But you are in a huge market with hundreds of new titles coming on stream every day.
One of my books just went below the 3 million mark on the rankings. :lol:
I thought that was low until a friend told me hers was below five million. I didn't even know there were that many!
By all means insist on charging, but be prepared for it to be a tougher slog to get noticed. You may well be making the right decision in the long run. I'm definitely not an expert.

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