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Joined: 6/18/2012
Posts: 228
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I went to Author (R)evolution Day at this year's Tools of Change Conference. Grub Street founder Eve Bridburg shared her tips and research on how to create an authentic marketing campaign.
I really liked what she had to say and thought it might be helpful for Book Country members so I wrote a blog post about it. You can read it here: https://www.bookcountry.com/Industry/Article.aspx?articleId=138328.
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Joined: 2/9/2012
Posts: 427
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Thanks for sharing, Brandi!
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Question...
I know from experience that marketing is not my area of expertise. My efforts to dictate marketing resulted in a total waste of a company's time and money. If I hadn't owned the company, the marketing person would have had me fired. I learned that people who are very good at something are rarely good at everything needed.
Most good writers may lack marketing ability. If marketing is necessary to a book's success, won't most authors need help marketing their book?
My question is, has self-publishing merely substituted the marketer for the publisher?
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Joined: 2/21/2013
Posts: 40
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This is my concern as well. Self-publishing seems to have placed the burden--and the costs--of marketing on the author. I see two problems. First, it's a lot of work and some talented authors just aren't good at it (or don't have the financial means)--and some mediocre authors are good at it (or have more money). The result is that a lot of good books are buried in the enormous pile of self-published books out there. Two, publishing houses seem to be using the self-publishing industry in too passive a way, sitting back and letting "the market" show them which self-published books are most popular instead of digging in and developing techniques for discovering talent. The issues are related: the pile of self-published books is so big and deep that and lot of talent is getting smothered and left undeveloped.
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Joined: 6/18/2012
Posts: 228
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It's tricky.
GD, I'm not sure that I agree that most good writers lack marketing skills.
I do agree that good books get buried, whether they're self-published or published by a house. That's why, yes, marketing is so essential for every author who wants to break out of the pack.
A publishing house will lead the marketing plan, but the author is still working hard. Look at very successful authors like Anne Rice and Anne Lamott. They're out on social media, sharing their thoughts and engaging with their audiences on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis.
Self-publishers are driving the bus, and also managing the road map. For some, that's one of the reasons they are attracted to self-publishing in the first place.
Whether you're self-published or with a house, no question about it: marketing is a lot of work. Eve's argument is that if you know your success metrics, you have a clearer idea of how to approach it.
Some might argue that progressive publishers are looking at every avenue for discovering talent, whether it's what's climbing the lists from the self-published pool or creating sites like Book Country to keep on the lookout for new talent. 
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Thanks Brandi. Hard work I understand and I'm no stranger to the Internet, but I'm lucky there are marketing experts like Eve out there. Hmmm, those must be today's ingredients for writing success: A good book, hard work, the Internet, marketing and luck
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Joined: 2/22/2013
Posts: 5
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I have been writing for a long time and have yet to be published. I do not consider ebooks as being published because anybody can do it. Being accepted by a reputable house like Penguin is my real goal.
I spent an inordinate amount of time and money trying to find publishers or agents. A few years ago, most agents/publishers did not accept email submissions. The costs of printing and postage got out of hand.
A while ago before I discovered Book Country I 'published' several of my books on Amazon through their Kindle program. They suggested that I needed a Facebook page.
I set up Facebook and got nothing out of it. Facebook requires a huge number of 'friends' to get you anywhere. I have none and have no idea how to attract them, especially ones that are likely to buy my books.
I write. I do not do marketing - I can't! I cannot sell heaters to Eskimos or ice to Arabs. I am not a salesman. So what does somebody like me do to promote their work?
I tried Authonomy and found that the only way to get anywhere on that was to spend hours every day reviewing other people's work in the hopes that they would reciprocate - even then it would have taken at least a year to rise to the top of the pile.
I have been on Book Country for a while and only had one review despite my book being called a 'buzz book'.
No doubt there are many other writers out there who, like me, cannot afford to pay for professional marketing services. If some such service existed where they had enough confidence in their own abilities to take on a book and market it for a percentage of the royalties then I would jump at the chance.
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