Buzz, Balls & Hype. The Rules: Part 1
By M.J. Rose | August 16, 2011 |
Therese here to introduce M.J. Rose’s first post with Writer Unboxed as a monthly contributor. M.J.–founder of AuthorBuzz.com–will be bringing us Buzz, Balls & Hype originals about the world of marketing. Enjoy!
I think what I get asked the most is does book publicity and marketing really work, how much money should be devoted to a campaign, and whether, at the end of the day, the book won’t just really sell itself.
In my columns here I’ll address answers to those questions and more. If you have specific topics you want me to cover, feel free to put them in the comments section or write me at AuthorBuzzCo@gmail.com.
I think we’ll cover some broad strokes in this first post.
The Rules: Part 1.
1. No one will buy a book that they do not know exists. People won’t go looking for it on line or in the store if they have never heard of it. That is the goal of marketing and pr. To expose the book, the cover, your name to as many people as possible when the book comes out.
2. No matter how old a book is – it’s new to someone who has never heard of it before.
3. No book ever dies anymore. Because of the Internet – every book has a forever shelf-life. You can promote any title no matter how old it is for as long as you want. And you should.
4. You should be buzzing your books and your name – that’s how you build a brand and if you want to have a long-term career you want a brand. You want to stand for something and be known for something.
Lee Child is synonymous with Jack Reacher.
That’s really specific.
Other writers have brands that are broader.
For instance Steve Berry’s brand is thrillers based on unsolved historical mysteries or secrets. To brand him we came up with the phrase – History Matters. And at least six times a year Steve does writing workshops and appearances that help historical sites in theU.S. Every time he does one he gets publicity for his brand and his latest book.
Douglas Clegg puts his brand right on his website – he says he explores the nature of evil, particularly with regards to the human heart, whether in his horror, fantasy or psychological thrillers.
I’ve made mistakes with my brand – I’ve moved around a lot – it’s been great creatively but not great for getting well know for one kind of fiction. I started out writing fiction that had a whisper of suspense and was fairly erotic, to writing general fiction to writing erotic psychological suspense – to writing historical / esoteric suspense.
Now I say my brand is quest suspense – because no matter what any of my books are about the main characters are always on a quest – be it for psychological understanding – or an answer to whether or not reincarnation exists.
5. 85% of all books get less than $2000 in marketing from the publisher. And more than 85% of all books sell less than 1000 copies.
6. 95% of all mega branded big bestsellers get more than $50,000 in marketing and pr and it can sometimes be upwards of $150,000.
7. There are never more than a dozen books a year that break out seemingly on a fluke with no announced marketing or pr but when you search deeper you find those books did get help.
8. When people say “if advertising and pr worked every book would be a bestseller” that’s the opposite way of how to look at it.
The question is how many books have succeeded without any pr and marketing and the answer to that is almost none.
The reason advertising and pr can’t make every book a bestseller is because not every book can be a big seller. It’s not about good or bad or better or best. It’s about hitting the right note at the right time to take off. Not because most advertising and pr sucks. Believe me, it is much easier to write an ad to make people stop and read it than to write a whole book someone will spend their hard earned money on.
Not even the most brilliant pr and marketing can sell a book people just do not want to read. More on this in a later post.
9. The “eBook half a million copies sold” secret: The self-published authors who are selling huge numbers of books may brag they are doing it without any pr or marketing but that’s not true. Online retailers’ algorithms watch books that start to sell / trend and onsite marketing kicks in to push those books. Even the authors aren’t always aware stores are doing this.
10. PR and Marketing cannot make a bestseller but it is almost impossible to have a bestseller or even a good seller or even a seller without pr and marketing.
M.J. Rose is the international and NYT’s bestselling author of several novels and two non-fiction books on marketing. In 2005 she founded the first marketing company for authors, AuthorBuzz, and is the co-founder of BookTrib and Peroozal. She’s a founding member of ITW.
Thanks for this list. I look forward to more in this series.
This looks juicy. I am primed for more sage lessons. Don’t make me beg.
#2 is an important one for me as a consumer. I find that typically, by the time I discover and read a book, it is already two years old. So authors do need to be mindful of not just the initial book push, but keeping it in front of potential readers, because we may be slow, but we’re out there searching for a good read. 8-)
Welcome, M.J. We’re so very glad you are here. We’re looking forward to your posts. Get ready, peeps!
Welcome, M.J.! So happy you’re here. For me, these are both sobering and heartening facts. I’m looking to be in this for the long haul, so I love the fact that it’s a slow build, and that no book ever really dies. Really looking forward to looking more closely at the facts you present here. Thanks!
Love this blunt, honest analysis of the book pr industry. Thanks for a shot of clarity.
Good stuff, M.J. – it’s great to have you here!
#2 and #3 are important reminders for us all. And I’ll admit #5 is a bit of a wakeup call.
Thanks for sharing these insights – looking forward to more!
As always, MJ says the things I need to hear.
What a very interesting post! A good hard look at the ever evolving industry.
“No book ever dies anymore. Because of the Internet…”
It’s an encouraging piece of news for all the writers.
Thanks for the awesome post.
I’m looking forward to see rest of the series
Welcome, MJ. I’m looking forward to more of your pragmatism.
I especially love #1. Readers have to find their books somehow. “For sale” is never enough.
I like the comment, ‘no matter how old the book is’. I just came across ‘The Outlander’, and was shocked to see how long it’s been on the market.
I’m far from marketing anything, but it’s good to start prepping early. Thanks for the post.
MJ, I’m so excited you’re a contributor now! I especially liked the 10th point: PR & marketing are crucial if you want to sell your novel. I’m looking forward to more of your posts.
Wonderful information, and #9 is so true! A lot of what we do naturally online (blog, tweet, connect on FB, etc.) is marketing, even when it doesn’t feel like it. I think that’s both good and bad, lol.
>The question is how many books have succeeded without any pr and marketing and the answer to that is almost none.
MJ, must add this: True enough, big books get bigger with publisher push; however, many start off with none. When sales pick up, lo, publishers (no fools) begin spending money.
What interests me is why those books’ sales accelerate in the first place. It isn’t push, there isn’t any. Studies show that covers, blurbs and blogs and other extras are small factors in consumer purchasing.
So–? It can only be one thing: the book.
I’ve also found over the years that audience growth usually happens over a number of books. Promo thrown at first time authors is not useless, but it’s effect on sales is limited.
That explains why publishers throw 95% of the money at authors who are already successful. It’s not that they don’t want to boost debut authors (why would they want them to fail?), it’s that with new authors the bang for the buck is small.
Promo has a long term cumulative effect. You can’t brand yourself with a single book. It’s great stories delivered consistently over time that’s really “brand”. Key phrase: great stories. Everything else flows from that.
Oh, and BTW, welcome to Writer Unboxed! Looking forward to more posts!
Branding is so important, but being honest, it’s the most terrifying part of this process for me. Looking forward to more of your posts!
This is such a straightforward, helpful post — thank you. I’m looking forward to reading more.
Great first post. Useful and helpful information. Number 4 is the most difficult one for me. Not sure how to define a brand yet.
Absolutely agree – some great & solid thoughts here about brand, the realities of marketing and so forth. There is a lot of misinformation about quantities of books sold and how they’re doing. As an author, I get the actual numbers about my own books from my publishers. Sometimes it’s great. Sometimes it’s – well, a bit depressing. I can be fabulous, but not too often.
I had a non-fiction best seller a couple of years back. The conceptual sequel was released last Friday, and I’ve been talking today with my publicist. We’ll see how that goes.
Matthew Wright
https://mjwright.wordpress.com
http://www.matthewwright.net
Thanks all for such a warm welcome.
Donald – I do need to pursue your comment – but I think it deserves a post of all its own!
M.J, thanks for the great post and welcome to WU. I struggle with brand as well as I don’t stick with one particular genre. I love how you describe your brand as quest suspense. I think every writer has a common theme throughout thier books. Do you suggst looking through your work to find that thread and think about your branding from there? Thanks again!
M.J, thanks for the great post! I struggle with branding myself as I write in several different genres. I love that you decided on quest suspense as your brand. I think every writer has a common theme throughout their work no matter what genre they’re writing in. Do you suggest looking for those common threads and working on your brand from there? Thanks again! :)
Hi Heather! You share my torment? It’s great for creativity but really bad for marketing – esp for me who tells everyone else to do it but I can’t. Quest suspense for me isn’t even there yet – but I’m still working on it – and yes – the way to find your brand is figure out the thread that make your books yours – the one thing that you do that is if not uniquely yours – then yours to own. Maybe one column we can do in the future is authors describe what they write and I try to come up with a branded phrase.
Thanks, MJ. Articles like this give me the energy to press on.
Thanks, M.J. I share Heather’s issue, as I’ve published in 4 genres. I like the idea of looking for something thematic that links all the work, and realize that it’s not even a stretch for my work. Do you suggest making this a banner point on one’s website? And would you say more about marketing old books? I understand the concept but not the how-to. Thanks again for the input, and also to Donald Maas for the point about starting with a good story–nice to hear that it still counts!
Lynne – I think next column – I’ll turn into a day and do branding day and everyone can come and we can brainstorm and I can help. As for it being a banner – yes and no- it needs to be incorporated somehow. On my site – the first thing you see is my blog – Museum of Mysteries – an upcoming title for a book – but also what I call my brand – mysteries of the senses, the arts and the universe.
Welcome M.J. How wonderful that your first post here has hit the mark for so many (if not all) of us! I love and appreciate your bare-bones, straight-up, buckle-in-it’s-a-bumpy-ride, approach. A year after my debut novel landed I still have so much to learn, but I do understand that, no question, there’s a requirement of plenty of hard work and determination. Pretty much the same brand of diligence that went into writing the book! Sincere thanks for sharing your wisdom. Looking forward to having you here :-)
How can anyone pass up reading a post with the word fuzz and balls placed together? Oh, wait. It’s BUZZ and balls. (Embarrassed but betting I am not the only one who first read it that way.)
Still a great post, and although #5 makes me sad (less than 1,000 copies? Really?) I am firmly convinced that *I’m* going to be in the successful group, just like people are convinced they’re gonna win the lottery.
Unlike the lottery, however, I am not only playing but doing my best to increase the odds.
MJ – well said. I couldn’t agree more. And your comment that “You want to stand for something and be known for something” is right on, too. Ties in with my post here on WU a couple of days ago called, “What’s Your Vision?”
https://staging-writerunboxed.kinsta.cloud/2011/08/13/whats-your-vision/
MJ,
Clearly, marketing and pr are needed for a book to become known and successful. Thanks for lending us some of your knowledge to help us navigate the mysterious world of pr and marketing. Fantastic post. Looking forward to more!
-Jennifer
It’s fantastic to read your post here, M.J. I look forward to more.