Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Location: Books & Such Central Valley Office, CA
I am not a marketing expert (nor do I play one on TV) but I’ve always found the art and science of marketing and publicity fascinating. We all know that books are primarily sold by word of mouth, but connecting with potential readers is like trying to hit a moving target. What worked yesterday may not work today. Normally I blog about things I know– concrete things. Today’s blog post, however, is an opinion piece. There are experts out there who will disagree with me and I welcome their input, but from this side of the desk let me offer some random thoughts about what doesn’t seem to be working when it comes to marketing our books:
Blogging— Unless you are one of those bloggers who made a name for him- or her-self and amassed a large, loyal following like Pioneer Woman, Because I Said So, Waiter Rant, Michael Hyatt, or any of the other must-read blogs, it’s going to be hard to start a new blog and find an audience in an already overcrowded field. Look at your own list of bookmarked blogs. If you read all of them daily you wouldn’t have time to do anything else. The blogosphere has come of age. It would take a huge commitment– a Michael Hyatt-sized commitment– to create a mega-blog these days. I wouldn’t recommend a writer start blogging in order to publicize his book in today’s climate. It would be tough to picture a scenario where the outcome would justify the effort. Exception: The writer who has a unique slant, celebrity or brand that lends itself to garnering readership. Exception: The writer who blogs to his/her well-established readership and has something unique and valuable to offer.
Blog tours— I’m also wary (and weary) of blog tours for the same reason. If a writer wrote a book set in old Charleston and arranged a blog tour of a handful of key Charleston history or cultural blogs I’m guessing it would be well worth the time, but the normal blog tour consists of visiting websites with modest stats that appeal mostly to other writers. We’re putting forth a lot of effort to preach to the choir.
Teaching at writer’s conferences, blogging to writers, offering writer’s workshops— This is the same dynamic. Preaching to the choir. Yes, writers read and yes, they want to support their colleagues but they are a saturated lot. They will help you get some buzz going about your book but they are buzzing to the same insular crowd– other writers. Way too much of our promotional efforts are being squandered on our colleagues and we’re not making our way out to potential readers.
Print Advertising— It used to be that there was nothing better for inspirational fiction than to be featured in the fiction section of Today’s Christian Woman. But magazines have gone the way of dinosaurs and trying to find a periodical that reaches a specific audience (and is still viable) is an uphill battle. And cost-prohibitive at that. We’re so inundated with marketing messages that hoping a potential reader will retain the information long enough to act on it is another worry. Going from a magazine to a trip to the store, or putting down the magazine to fire up the computer and log on to Amazon can be a wide chasm to cross in this one-click age. Exception: Advertising in trade magazines is another story and I still see it as effective for the motivated buyer who wants to find product for his store.
Marketing your book via Twitter— I’m going to talk about social media tomorrow as one of the things that works but marketing your book via Twitter is not how to use the medium. “Buy my book” or “Check out my new cover” messages are missing the point. Building community is what social media is all about.
Marketing your book via FaceBook— see my comment above. FaceBook is even less forgiving of a barrage of self-promotional status updates. There are ways to invite your friends into your life as an author that will help you build a readership but it takes a winning personal approach and as much give as take. FaceBook is not a marketing tool. It’s much more complicated. Much more engaging than that.
Same old, same old. Once you have a standard checklist for marketing a book, you’re headed for trouble. That’s the problem with too many publicists hired to help market a book–a pet peeve of mine. They pull out a list and just start ticking off the boxes instead of looking hard at the content of a book and devising innovative ways to talk about it. My favorite publicists stand head and shoulders above the rest because they’ve thrown away the checklist and are not afraid to roll up their sleeves and innovate.
So there you go– a quick and dirty start to a discussion of what works. The funny thing is, any one of those techniques could be wildly successful if you could manage to find a new angle–something unique or different. The problem is that once everyone jumps into the act, regardless of what it is, you no longer command attention. You no longer stand out. You just add to the static. Instead of being innovative and interesting, your efforts become just plain annoying.
I know I must have set some teeth on edge here. Please feel free to point out why I am wrong. Where I am wrong. That’s how we learn and I invite the conversation.
I promised another book recommendation. How about the tried-and-true Guerrilla Marketing for Book Writers by Jay Conrad Levinson, Rick Frishman and Michael Larsen? The book offers 100 “secrets” to sell your book both before and after it is published. It’s a good tool to jumpstart your own creativity.The key is to take the tips and go one step further and devise something unique to your book.
Your turn.
Love your opening, Wendy! This is an eye-opener for me, and it’s also a relief. I blog because I enjoy it. Ditto for Facebook and Twitter–they’re both my watercooler for a solitary job.
I speak at local writers groups and occasionally teach a workshop, but I’ve been considering expanding this aspect (for marketing purposes). Now that I’ve read this, maybe I’ll just continue the 2-3 engagements a year. With a busy family, I prefer to spend my time on things I can fit in around my writing, and social media works best for me. Thanks for making me rethink this!
This is interesting, because I have noticed a lot of blogs author blogs are followed by other writers. In fact, that’s one of the reasons Brandilynn Collins stopped posting on her blog, because it was for other writers not readers.
I’ve been debating starting my own blog, but I’m still in debate mode. I already contribute weekly to a group blog and monthly to another well established blog. Thanks for the food for thought.
Great article, Wendy. I agree with you about blogging in general. Everyone seems to have a blog these days and unless you’re running giveaways, your traffic probably isn’t outstanding. At the last writers conference I attended, I sat on a panel about launching your book into cyberspace. One author told me her publisher said the reason her sales were down was because she wasn’t blogging. I don’t think that’s true, but it’s an interesting comment.
I promote authors by coordinating virtual book tours (VBTs), and I don’t agree that writers are mostly reaching other writers. That can be the case, but the majority of requests we get for book reviews, are run by non-writers who are avid readers. Many of these bloggers run giveaways, which encourage people to stop by. I might not be interested in reading an interview with an author, but heck, if I have a chance to win a free book, then I’ll check it out. If I like the book, then I tell someone, and perhaps the author gets a sale out of it.
In addition, an important aspect of VBTs is book reviews. Some bloggers only post to their sites, but more and more bloggers are posting their reviews to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and sites like Goodreads. Though I’m ashamed to admit it, I don’t visit bookstores often. I purchase the majority of my books from Amazon. A writer might have a hard time finding reviewers on his own, but he might get those reviews through a VBT.
I do, however, feel your insight is one hundred percent correct that unless you have something new and different you can’t garner as much attention. That’s why I like to see book tours that have some unique element to them. They really catch your eye.
Thanks for book recommendation. I’m writing these down so I can check them out this weekend.
looking forward to a follow-up post about what DOES work, if none of these do! it looks pretty hopeless for authors who haven’t even gotten their foot in the door yet! there was a period in time when the first advice an author got was “start a blog.”
Wow! Talk about going against the flow! I don’t think we have to be publicists to find ourselves doing the “same old, same old” because others have said it’s what we need to do.
I like to blog, but haven’t found that niche for a big following, so maybe I shouldn’t stress out so much about it.
I’ll be looking forward to what you have to say on using social media, Wendy. Although I like it, I can find myself slapping my forehead while trying to come up with witty things to say, and it takes up so much time.
What valuable thoughts here, Wendy! I’ll admit your views on blogging take a bit of the pressure off. I’ve changed my blog approach this year to post only once a week and to provide content that doesn’t target only writers. But sometimes I still feel like I’m “preaching to the choir”.
I’m learning that no matter what approach we take, especially in social media, it requires lots of patience. Then again, everything about this industry seems to require patience, doesn’t it? 🙂
Amen, Sarah. And how is an impatient person like me supposed to work in this industry? 🙂
I understand not blogging in the hopes of building a readership, but what about blogging for the experience of learning to write tight, connect with people and because you think you have something valuable to say?
I don’t have a large blog following, but I’m amazed at how blog posts I wrote months ago continue to garner hits. My top read blog this week was one I wrote about “tatooing your soul,” in May.
Rather than setting my teeth on edge, you just confirmed the current reality. So the question is, where do we go from here?
I’ve recently begun to suspect many of the same observations you make, Wendy. In preaching to choir, the audience is sympathetic and interested, but the number in the choir rarely grows that way.
One advantage of visiting blogs by writers for writers is that, when there’s a book giveaway, the odds of winning are pretty good since the number of visitors is relatively small! I have won several free books this way. Perhaps even that fact sheds some light on the effectiveness of book giveaways in this medium?
I certainly agree with Wendy. Like many others, I have plenty of Facebook Friends, but the vast majority are other writers or friends and family I interact with in real life and so are almost all the people who leave comments on blog tours. But what else can we do to promote our books? I hope tomorrow’s post explains that.
Facebook is indeed a tricky beast. While traditional advertising does not work on social media sites, what does appear to work is working within the structure of the site and providing premium, unique content. For example, a web video explaining the writing process in a funny way might not just get shared amongst writers, but beyond to people who simply enjoy the video for its comedic elements, introducing a diverse audience to you and your brand.
The best marketing is when you have fun making it, and is an extension of who you are and what you have to offer. Social media allows us to share that fun with others….not to mention create advertising for practically nothing 🙂
I agree with most of this, but with blogging don’t forget about the friends and family contingent. The high school and college friends who check out your blog when they see a link on Facebook. My blog is about my writing journey, but often posts are only peripherally about writing. I get way more attention when I loosely tie writing to my dog, nature or current events. I think this ties back to your comments about self-promotion. It’s not about building a career, it’s about building a community.
I am quite relieved to know (that in your opinion) these ideas do not work for book promotion. Specifically, I’ve been pondering the merits of Facebook and Twitter.
I have been blogging for a few years and am slowly building a following. One thing I can attest to is that old posts continue to be accessed, months and even years after them were written. I also know that my blog traffic has recently been growing faster than my website traffic.
I started blogging for my interests and to re-find my voice because I had gotten into too much book reviewing. I still get a lot of hits on my Kid blog, even if I go awhile without putting up a new one. Searches bring them to whatever author they’re looking up.
My book review column in a regional magazine did get buzz going on books–the editor would be swamped with phone calls for whatever book I had reviewed that month. A smart local bookstore got smart and bought an ad featuring whatever book I reviewed right near my column. That was good.
But one place I find readers is on Goodreads. I think a lot of the book giveaways, ads there and also genre discussion groups are being somewhat effective. I’m on a Love Inspired group there and it is busy with authors interacting with readers. They talk about common interests, stories out, and just life. It’s fun.
But I’m like you on the blog tours and getting bombed with Facebook announcements. So many. If a book really excites me, though, I’m as guilty as everyone in talking about it on my connections.
Another place that does get readers for Christian fiction is on the American Christian Fiction Bookclub. You do not have to be a member of ACFW, just a reader. Those people love to “win” books, so that’s not a bad place to announce giveaways. (You have to be a member of that group and only can announce from the 1st thru 19th of the month. They discuss the book club choices from the 20th-to-the end of the month.
Thoughtful and provocative post today and one that worries authors a lot!
Great tips and thank you for the book recommendation. Putting it on my list.
Wendy, I admire your courage to share your observations. Some of us latch on to everything we are told by agents and successful authors, but it must all be tempered with an understanding of what will work for the individual. You helped us remember that today. Thank you.
Whew! Thanks for speaking to this, Wendy! This does indeed relieve some of the pressure.
When I began blogging six or seven months ago, I was determined to think outside of the box. I do post about my writing journey, but I also blog about spirituality and news events, as well. My main goal has always been to glorify Christ first. I now have several followers that are not writers, but perhaps, just enjoy the spiritual content. (And…I’ve even had a few that are, perhaps, not Christians, but maybe exploring the possibility of becoming one. Glory!)
I find I’m stepping out of my comfort zone and thinking about other ways to reach readers than just my blog/FB/Twitter, etc. I’ve always liked a good challenge.
Thanks for preachin’ to us today–I loved this! 🙂
I ran a blog tour for a year. Only a couple of the forty bloggers that on that tour were writers. The rest were readers–many were librarians and teachers. Their blogs were read by people who wanted to learn about new books, who loved to read, and who were buying books. The audience for such blogs is teachers and librarians and mothers who love children’s books. There is a huge group of bloggers called kidlitosphere and most of them are not writers (well, they are blog writers, but not novel writers).
I know there are adult reader blogs out there because when I was putting together my list of children’s bloggers, I read a lot of adult book bloggers.
I’m convinced that these are great ways to get the word out. If I’m ever published I have a couple of hugely influential blogs I plan to advertise with, even. When the kidlit bloggers start buzzing about a book before it’s released, it’s a pretty sure thing that the book will do well.
Great comments everyone.
Crystal, thank you for the tips and web destinations. Your blog, http://wheniwasjustakid.blogspot.comhttp://wheniwasjustakid.blogspot.com/
is a great example of a blog that does work because it is so distinctive– a whole new way of looking at authors. And yes, a distinctive blog is very valuable– a great way to get known.
Michelle, good point. While the jury is out on how effective a blog is for publicizing your book, it’s a great way to learn to write tight, to stay connected with people and, let’s admit it, if we love to write, we love to write.
Sally, I love that you’ve identified the demographic of your target blogs. Brilliant. You’ve done what will make advertising, blog tours and even blog comments work. You’ve discovered where your potential readers are hanging out.
Sally, I was one of those children’s librarians who read your excellent blog. It was one of the best blogs on children’s literature. I still miss it. 🙂
Hello again Wendy, you are right about marketing. People are sick and tired of being asked to read this and that poem, buy this and that book, read this and that blog; as you say, sooner or later all market “tricks” become annoying to others.
In order to find out what other things may work we need to keep our eyes and ears open to see what attracts and what repels people.
Here’s something I noted- twice as many people read my blog post on a Christmas present I dearly wanted as a child than a sample chapter of one of my unpublished novels. That in itself speaks volumes. It’s not that my writing was better in one post and less in another- to me that says: human beings are not half as interested in books as they are in the people themselves.
It’s all about perspective and finding what works for you, right? I’m sure there are exceptions to every stance (love how you state yours). And some of these elements may not bring in massive sales, but are still considered “necessary” for debut writers. The trick is making yourself stand out and FINDING YOUR AUDIENCE. If it isn’t other writers, quit blogging/tweeting/Facebooking (verb???) for them.
What’s your book’s USP (unique selling proposition)? Nail it. Then promote it.
Love these posts, Wendy. They’re golden.
I noticed that I am beginning to attract non-writer’s on my blog–people who don’t have a blog, but love reading blogs and aren’t thinking about writing a book. I didn’t want my blog to be another writer’s blog. There are so many blogs of authors talking about how to get published that I like reading about other people’s lives and saving the writing advice reading for agent/editor blogs or blogs like Michael Hyatt.
Wow! A lot of food for thought for someone like me, with my first children’s book, and fairly new to the book marketing world. I have been told more than once that social networking, particularly Facebook, is the best way to do my own marketing. Although I still feel enthused about social networking in general, your article will make me a bit more discerning about the way I use these tools. Thanks! I am looking forward to reading your “do’s” of book marketing.
What you say may well work splendidly for you Diana but it would not do for people who are not aggressive sales persons and promoters or manipulators enough to manufacture a brand of themselves that will make them stand out. Like you say yourself, it is a trick and I believe this kind of thinking is now superseded. What most people are trying to do nowadays is be an authentic version of themselves on and off line. If such a person approaches me in that light I will happily befriend them, but if under a masked cover, they try to get me to read their blog, poem or buy their book, I shall certainly decline and keep my distance, with elegance, of course.
Man….I don’t know what to think about this post. Mainly because I’m afraid you’re right! Blogging takes A LOT of time. I’m trying to broaden my audience from writers to readers….but it’s not easy. Mainly because I’m not so sure the typical reader gets online and reads author blogs. I do enjoy blogging and I’ve met some wonderful people through blogging….it’s just it takes so much time! And I’d hate to spend so much time on something that might be ineffective (even if I do find it enjoyable).
What seems to be the fear of most writers, and not only as expressed on this blog, is that it is imperative writers should not write blogs that reach only other writers, in other words preach to the choir. I should well imagine there are by far more writers than readers in blog land, so it inevitable that people who read blogs are also writers.
But this reality creates anguish only to those writers who see blogging as a means to an end of promoting their book or finding their audience; and of course, with this attitude they are not likely to find a positive response- for obvious reasons.
This reality will cause no anguish to those writers who blog because they are writers, because it is their job and basically because they have something worthwhile to say which otherwise would not see the light of day if blogs had not been invented.
It really has no bearing who your blog readers are: in fact, I am delighted to have the support, friendship and solidarity of many other writers who read my blogs and befriend me on social networks.
Personally I see no advantage in having a social web presence just to sell books; people are sick and tired of having books rammed down their throats. A presence on the web is only significant if it is meaningful to oneself. If I befriend people and blog for other reason than because I want to create a meaningful presence on the net then I may as well forget it- for it can never possibly ring true and I am defeating the purpose for which I blog, namely because I have something worthwhile to say and because I am a writer.
I wish this had been true two years ago – I wouldn’t have a blog 🙂 I aimed for readers not writers, but of course, most of my visitors are writers – because they’re the ones who follow blogs. My blog mixes book features, devotions, and WWII-related posts, since my novels are set in WWII. Lately I’m getting quite a few contacts from WWII buffs researching a specific topic I blogged on – and they’re learning about my books. So it does work to a limited extent. But does blogging pass the true test of marketing effectiveness – does the time I spend blogging translate to an equivalent number of sales? I seriously doubt it, but I’ll continue – more as an “added service” for my readers than as a true marketing tool.
Sarah, one thing I’ve noticed is that by joining online communities where your readers hang out, a writer can (with finesse and reciprocity) connect on a level that invites relationship.
For instance, years ago, when listservs were new and hosted the budding online community, I joined a huge list for fans of Maud Hart Lovelace, author of the classic Betsy-Tacy books. It was a community that included many avid readers, some NY editors, some writers and we all supported each other and loved the Betsy-Tacy books together. There was a celebration (taken from the Betsy-Tacy books) for any writer in our midst who published a new book. It was not a writer’s list, just a list for people who loved books but a great place to connect.
Those places still exist. Each writer needs to find the communities in which his or her particular readers reside. and it’s a community you’ll love– kindred spirits. It won’t be a chore or a “marketing initiative.” As you begin to collect your tribe you can slowly morph your blog to meet your readers’ needs.
Wendy,
Great post. I think you’ve nailed it pretty well. The only two things I would add are that one of the benefits of writers’ conferences is that I typically sell a lot of books there. And many writers are also big book recommenders to their reading friends. People often assume a writer knows what good books are out.
I also think that podcasts are where blogs used to be if they are good. Podcasts have a more personal feel, they are easy to download and listen to on your iPod or phone, and people get excited about hearing big name guests in person.
Nathan Bransford, James Dashner, and I started a podcast about a month ago and are already up to 2,000 downloads or more per episode. One new thing we tried was doing one episode a month target just for kids and teachers since we all have published MG books.
I wish someone had told me blogging doesn’t work earlier! I put a lot of work into my blog every day, and to be honest I don’t really enjoy using Facebook to promote my blog. I’m not a natural born social networker, so I have to force myself to do it.
But, unfortunately my blogging is actually working out very well for me recently. I’m not trying to dispute what you’re saying, in fact I think you’re absolutely correct, I just happened to start a blog that wasn’t a cookie-cutter of all the other writing blogs out there and my genre (steampunk) has a base of hungry followers who are actively looking for more content.
I don’t know the threshold where blogging will pay off for me, but I’ve been consistently getting more than 100 hits a day recently, I’ve had my blog mentioned in the top online source for steampunk-related news and I’ve only been seriously promoting it for about two weeks now.
So, I think blogging and Facebook can work, if you’re creative and bring something new to the table. I suppose it also helps that I have an extensive background in computer graphics so I made it look pretty. 🙂
So what are you advocating? Do you think authors should sit alone in their mothers’ basements and try to sell their books by telepathy?
Out of the last twenty-five books I’ve bought, I first heard of about 24 through blogs. One I bought because of the NYT book review (and I hated it.)
Newsflash: writers are readers. In fact we may read more than anybody else.
I do think it’s silly for marketing departments to insist that all debut authors do these things if the author has no previous social media presence, but telling authors to give up trying seems unhelpful as well as misleading.
Anne, I wasn’t suggesting writers quit marketing their books–far from it. I was encouraging authors to keep evaluating and try to find unique ways to reach your readers. Each author is going to find distinctive paths to his or her readers. I guess I was trying to sat don’t settle for the same old-same old.
Great post, Wendy. I’m not an investment expert (nor do I play one on TV), but smart investors offer roughly the same advice: if everyone else invests in a stock, don’t bother. It’s overvalued; you should find something undervalued: something the rest of the market hasn’t discovered. I think the same goes for authors’ investments in marketing.
I’ve got a really unusual book I plan to self-publish (a novel that teaches history), and I hit on blogging as the strategy to build a readership in advance. It took starting the blog (http://pintsofhistory.com/) to get a sense of how much work is required and how little splash each post makes. Now I’m reassessing. I think the eerie truth is that the big idea will have to be something that sounds crazy. If it’s not impractical, lots of people will already be doing it. So I’m looking for that undervalued book-marketing stock.
Anyway, your post made me feel better about it all.
/David
hello,
I would like to know if you’re interested on publishing book written in spanish language for USA children. I could write the translations.
thanks in advance and greetins,marta