Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Herley
Dennis, I have been told by two publishers that they also advertise to keep a temperamental (and rather unworldly) author happy! As you rightly say, though, the main function of ads is to let readers know that one of their favourite writers has a new book out.
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Authors can be unworldly. One friend of mine is a salesman for a university press. He recounted the professor with an academic tome recently published who wondered if he could be gotten onto the Oprah Winfrey show to talk about his book. Yeah. Right...
And publishers do go to lengths to keep favored authors happy. But reaching that point of favor is as much luck as design. Another author I know writes SF and fantasy, and had what I thought was a very sensible idea: she treated the advance from her first book as a marketing budget, and used it to do her own promotion and pay for travel to appear at SF conventions and the like to promote herself and her work. It worked, and she's established now, with books under contract to two different publishers, and a career that is progressing nicely. And she's fortunate enough to have a husband who makes enough money that the revenue she makes from writing is gravy, and not required just to support the family. But she realized the fundamental truth too many writers don't grasp, that it is ultimately on them to establish themselves and promote their work. Support from publishers will be largely non-existent until they establish a track record and consistent sales.
The other reason I can recall seeing publisher ads is hopes not for sales to readers, but for sales of subsidiary rights: bring the book to the attention of people who might want to make a film of it.
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Dennis