Quote:
Originally Posted by AnemicOak
Except they only do that, in general, for big bestsellers at least to any great extent. Most mid list authors I can think of do most if not all of their books advertising and marketing themselves.
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I don't mean that they do it *well*, or much at all for most of their books, but it's the one service that authors can't provide for themselves. Or rather, the one that a big company really can do *better.* Three of the other services can be done just as well, perhaps even better, at the micro-scale, and distribution is quickly shifting to where the differences don't matter.
Publishers need to be aware of that, as more backlists are reclaimed and self-pubbed, and more midlist authors opt to self-publish rather than seek a second BPH contract. Advertising is something that publishers *can* offer, as a reason "why you should accept only 17.5% of cover price on this book when you could get 70% selling it yourself."
18% of a big marketing campaign can be a lot better than 70% of a blog-based push for readers. However, for authors to accept that in the future, the publishers will have to convince the authors there will actually be an advertising campaign.