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pwalker8 · 05-03-2020, 10:43 AM

I could have called this marketing your books, but hey pimping is so much more eye catching.

Back in the day, Jim Baen was one of the best at developing and marketing a stable of authors. He pioneered making all of his books available as ebooks, the ebook bundles that allowed one to buy the complete month's releases for a very modest price, had a great webboard site with numerous authors who engaged with the fans, and used snippets of forthcoming books to whet the fans' appetite. Of course, it took a lot of effort, and IMPO, really started to slip when Baen and many of his most popular writers pulled back from the webboard. Both Baen, and his webmaster, Arnold Bailey, eventually died, and the webboard eventually evolved into, once again, IMPO, an uninteresting clique of fans/writer wantabes.

Since then, I really haven't seen very many authors or publishers who have struck the gold that Jim Baen did. Many authors have webboard, but most seem to the sites that are mostly run by a 3rd party with minimum day to day interaction with the author. J.K. Rowlings did a very good job interacting with various fans in social media of the day, though she encouraged several interesting 3rd party fan sites as well as having her own website.

There are several authors who have their own blogs, though most seem inconsistent. I can understand this since writing is hard work, on the other hand, I find it surprising how few authors provide what I would consider basic updates and information such as what books they are working on and when the next book is scheduled to be published. Jerry Pournelle probably had the best blog out there when he was alive. He wrote on it at least once a week, many times once a day. He did a great job of keeping his fans engaged.

I actually have a number of indie/semi-indie that I follow. I think that pimping yourself is especially important for indies. The best of the authors that I follow at it is Glynn Stewart, a Canadian SF&F writer who so far seems to be able to churn out a book every several months. I signed up for his patron deal where I get access to his new books several weeks before it hits Amazon. I even get an email saying - hey, there is a new book out. I wouldn't say that he writes great literature, but he churns out a lot of very readable books. From that stand point, he is a prototype of the successful indie. He doesn't exactly have a great blog, but he churns out books fast enough that he doesn't have to worry too much about fans forgetting about him.

I'm sure there are a lot more authors on twitter/facebook and the various social media platforms. I'll admit I'm not much of a social media fan. I don't use twitter and I rarely look at facebook. Frankly, I don't want to be best buds with the various authors I read. More importantly, I'm not all that interested in reading the back and forth between an author and his or her fans. I'm mostly interested in what the author is working on and what his or her book schedule is.

So, what authors do you think do a good job of pimping themselves, making sure you are aware of when their latest and greatest is coming out and above all making sure you don't forget they exists and that you want to keep buying their books?

05-03-2020, 10:43 AM	#1
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,196 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	Pimping your books I could have called this marketing your books, but hey pimping is so much more eye catching. Back in the day, Jim Baen was one of the best at developing and marketing a stable of authors. He pioneered making all of his books available as ebooks, the ebook bundles that allowed one to buy the complete month's releases for a very modest price, had a great webboard site with numerous authors who engaged with the fans, and used snippets of forthcoming books to whet the fans' appetite. Of course, it took a lot of effort, and IMPO, really started to slip when Baen and many of his most popular writers pulled back from the webboard. Both Baen, and his webmaster, Arnold Bailey, eventually died, and the webboard eventually evolved into, once again, IMPO, an uninteresting clique of fans/writer wantabes. Since then, I really haven't seen very many authors or publishers who have struck the gold that Jim Baen did. Many authors have webboard, but most seem to the sites that are mostly run by a 3rd party with minimum day to day interaction with the author. J.K. Rowlings did a very good job interacting with various fans in social media of the day, though she encouraged several interesting 3rd party fan sites as well as having her own website. There are several authors who have their own blogs, though most seem inconsistent. I can understand this since writing is hard work, on the other hand, I find it surprising how few authors provide what I would consider basic updates and information such as what books they are working on and when the next book is scheduled to be published. Jerry Pournelle probably had the best blog out there when he was alive. He wrote on it at least once a week, many times once a day. He did a great job of keeping his fans engaged. I actually have a number of indie/semi-indie that I follow. I think that pimping yourself is especially important for indies. The best of the authors that I follow at it is Glynn Stewart, a Canadian SF&F writer who so far seems to be able to churn out a book every several months. I signed up for his patron deal where I get access to his new books several weeks before it hits Amazon. I even get an email saying - hey, there is a new book out. I wouldn't say that he writes great literature, but he churns out a lot of very readable books. From that stand point, he is a prototype of the successful indie. He doesn't exactly have a great blog, but he churns out books fast enough that he doesn't have to worry too much about fans forgetting about him. I'm sure there are a lot more authors on twitter/facebook and the various social media platforms. I'll admit I'm not much of a social media fan. I don't use twitter and I rarely look at facebook. Frankly, I don't want to be best buds with the various authors I read. More importantly, I'm not all that interested in reading the back and forth between an author and his or her fans. I'm mostly interested in what the author is working on and what his or her book schedule is. So, what authors do you think do a good job of pimping themselves, making sure you are aware of when their latest and greatest is coming out and above all making sure you don't forget they exists and that you want to keep buying their books?