Pimping your books

[pwalker8]

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?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

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

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?

You might want to check Ilona Andrews website for a pretty decent example.

[mrscoach]

I read Christine Feehan (romance) and she or her staff are very active online. Her Facebook page is probably updated once a week or more often, I just know when it shows on my feed. Her web page is updated often, as well and updates on new book info, like release dates or changes to, or future titles and which series.
Personally, if it would get her books out more often I wouldn't mind not so many updates, but i can't complain, she has like 5 or 6 books being released this year (one on Tuesday). So I guess I'll just enjoy the updates, too.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

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.

Jerry had a well loved column in Byte Magazine before the Internet existed. I think called Chaos Manor.

Most novel writers do not have the skills (social or technical), personality or maybe even the time to do blogs or social media. Also unless you are ALREADY famous the impact is about zero!

Some authors can't write effective material shorter than a Novella, and that might need 20 revisions.

Many would find it depressing to use Social Media and too much a waste of time. Also Mark Zuckerberg has 70% of Social Media and is exactly the sort of person anyone with a social conscious would love to hate. A parasitic and privacy invasive operation to sell user behaviour to convince advertisers that his platforms are best. Apart from the exploitation, there is no proof it actually works. They've lied about video and advert views and selling of data.
Google Services only exist to collect data from users with the same motive as Zuckerberg.

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ns_by_Facebook
and List of mergers and acquisitions by Alphabet

It's depressing that the Big Publishers now look at Social Media profiles of possible authors and now expect perfectly proofed MSS and that the author, if given an advance and contract, is expected to be active on Social Media.

Basically it's a LIE. Social Media only works if you are famous, or by luck, or you have cute kittens, or too much spare time. Maybe several of them.

Also if you join a forum or SM etc to ONLY promote your book, you are dead in the water. You have to be helpful, insightful, humorous etc and only mention the book when asked or in passing.

Most of the money the big publishers spend on promotion is wasted. A tiny proportion become mass market. The majority don't even make the advance in royalties (though some of those do make a profit). The big Publishers are letting Amazon and Social Media eat their lunch with poor websites, no POD, poor communication with bookshops (when will it be in print? --Dunno, they never tell us that), daft ebook and audio book pricing. Amazon ALSO dominates ebooks, over 90% world and via Audible has most of the audio book market.

So it's really really hard to write and polish a good book. It's many times harder to promote it. And pimp is the right word for SM.

[Quoth]

Joanne Harris is pretty expert at self-promotion.
Writes a wide variety, you might not like all of them.

Except of course her blog and Twitter and newsletter succeeded because the film "Chocolat" made her famous.

Rowling basically won the lottery. So after the first couple of HP books success and a high profile was assured. Don't use her as an example.

[taosaur]

Twitter seems huge for authors, if you can be interesting without crossing the line, or know/employ someone who can do it on your behalf. It seems to be the easiest and lowest stakes place for people to connect with brands and fandoms, and the easiest content for people to share on other platforms or in articles. If you have enough people who are engaged enough with your work, a subreddit can be a good low-maintenance alternative to a "webboard" or forum.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Jerry had a well loved column in Byte Magazine before the Internet existed. I think called Chaos Manor.

Most novel writers do not have the skills (social or technical), personality or maybe even the time to do blogs or social media. Also unless you are ALREADY famous the impact is about zero!

Some authors can't write effective material shorter than a Novella, and that might need 20 revisions.

Many would find it depressing to use Social Media and too much a waste of time. Also Mark Zuckerberg has 70% of Social Media and is exactly the sort of person anyone with a social conscious would love to hate. A parasitic and privacy invasive operation to sell user behaviour to convince advertisers that his platforms are best. Apart from the exploitation, there is no proof it actually works. They've lied about video and advert views and selling of data.
Google Services only exist to collect data from users with the same motive as Zuckerberg.

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ns_by_Facebook
and List of mergers and acquisitions by Alphabet

It's depressing that the Big Publishers now look at Social Media profiles of possible authors and now expect perfectly proofed MSS and that the author, if given an advance and contract, is expected to be active on Social Media.

Basically it's a LIE. Social Media only works if you are famous, or by luck, or you have cute kittens, or too much spare time. Maybe several of them.

Also if you join a forum or SM etc to ONLY promote your book, you are dead in the water. You have to be helpful, insightful, humorous etc and only mention the book when asked or in passing.

Most of the money the big publishers spend on promotion is wasted. A tiny proportion become mass market. The majority don't even make the advance in royalties (though some of those do make a profit). The big Publishers are letting Amazon and Social Media eat their lunch with poor websites, no POD, poor communication with bookshops (when will it be in print? --Dunno, they never tell us that), daft ebook and audio book pricing. Amazon ALSO dominates ebooks, over 90% world and via Audible has most of the audio book market.

So it's really really hard to write and polish a good book. It's many times harder to promote it. And pimp is the right word for SM.

Yes, Jerry Pournelle wrote Chaos Manor. That was also the name of his blog. He was active on BIX back when it was around.

The point I'm trying to make isn't that engaging with the fans is going to make you noticed when you are a brand new author, it's more that authors with a body of work and people who read those books should do what is necessary to make sure that fans know when they have new books and remain interested in the author. They need readers to grab their books when the book is release, for that matter, they need readers to know that a new book has been released. They need fans to retain an emotional attachment to their work.

Brand new authors have to get noticed on place like this and goodreads and have people recommend them to other readers. They need good ratings on Amazon. That's a different sort of need.

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Many would find it depressing to use Social Media and too much a waste of time. Also Mark Zuckerberg has 70% of Social Media and is exactly the sort of person anyone with a social conscious would love to hate. A parasitic and privacy invasive operation to sell user behavior to convince advertisers that his platforms are best. Apart from the exploitation, there is no proof it actually works. They've lied about video and advert views and selling of data.

The advertisers with large budgets, pretty much ignore what social media outlets tell them about alleged sales data, because they track sales, using data provided by the individuals they targeted.

Rephrasing: Advertisers with large budgets, can tell you the time that you purchased the product that was in a FaceBook add that you saw, even though you paid cash, when you made an in-store purchase of the item from a brick and mortar store.

It's depressing that the Big Publishers now look at Social Media profiles of possible authors and now expect perfectly proofed MSS and that the author, if given an advance and contract, is expected to be active on Social Media.

Amanda Hocking (^1), built her fan base using social media, to the point that St Martin's Press offered her a two million dollar book contract. It is possible for a nobody, to become a somebody, in a social media outlet.
However, for 99.9999% of the population, a 100 followers on Twitter, or YouTube, is the best that they will see.

Basically it's a LIE. Social Media only works if you are famous, or by luck, or you have cute kittens, or too much spare time. Maybe several of them.

Social media works, but it takes time, effort, and dedication. Each outlet has its own quirks, and idiosyncrasies. What works for one outlet, is a guaranteed disaster on a different outlet. Social media is an aspect of marketing, and as such, without knowing both why and who, efforts there are doomed.

For all practical purposes, social media marketing is a full time job. Probably the third or fourth person to hire/contract with, when starting a business. If hiring the sequence would go: Accountant, HR, Social Media person, with a lawyer on retainer. If self-employed the sequence would go: Lawyer, Accountant, Social Media person.)

Most of the money the big publishers spend on promotion is wasted.

19th century: John Wanamaker: «Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.»

21st century: Artem Mariychin: «The fundamental question for a lot of companies … is what is an individual customer worth?»

The issue has become whether one is willing to spend the cash to track the effectiveness of the marketing effort, or throw it into the wind, at a dollar a holler.

A tiny proportion become mass market. The majority don't even make the advance in royalties (though some of those do make a profit).

Andrew Wylie: «If my client’s book earns out, I haven’t done my job.»

The book publishing business has always been a loss-inducing business:
* 9 out of 10 books fail to pay for the cost of printing them;
* 9 out of 100 books pay for their own printing and publishing;
* 9 out of 1,000 books generate enough revenue, to cover the costs of the other books;
* 1 out of 1,000 books generates enough revenue, that the publishing house will show a net profit;

None of that has changed in the last millennia.

What has changed, is that the ease, and cost of entry has dropped,resulting in everybody and their brother publishing the slush pile. Nonetheless, unless the slush pile is the only thing on offer, consumers won't buy it. And even then, discriminating consumers will bypass the slush pile.

Would Bridges of Madison County become a best-seller, if it was released today? In theory, it would not have been necessary for the university press that originally published it, to sell it to one of the Seven Sisters, because POD can contract or expand, depending upon the quantity that is ordered that day. POD reduces the requirement to store umpteen unsold copies in the basement..

So it's really really hard to write and polish a good book. It's many times harder to promote it. And pimp is the right word for SM.

Marketing of books has always been a specialty within the world of marketing. What is new, is that the major media have completed abandoned even the pretense of marketing everything but their most expensive production.
If you are an author, who can't do marketing, your only option is to hire somebody who knows how to market books.

^1: I had forgotten her surname, and her books are so forgettable, I don't even remember what genre they allegedly are. I think I read one or two, but in as much as I don't even remember either her name, or their titles, I can safely assume that it was slush pile quality, with no redeeming features.
edit: (I found her name using a DDG search on her first name, "social media" and "publishing contract".)

[Quoth]

No, most of what you say positive about SM is fake snake oil promoted by social media.

Indeed most else is very accurate.

If you are an author, who can't do marketing, your only option is to hire somebody who knows how to market books.

This is depressing and other than luck (Rowling) it's true.


The late Clive James
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6919618.stm Text
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007tjpf Audio (may be region locked)

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by Quoth

This is depressing and other than luck (Rowling) it's true.


The late Clive James
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6919618.stm Text
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007tjpf Audio (may be region locked)

Luck played only a supportive part in Rowling's success. She had her fair share of rejections. Also her books make for great reading.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Quoth

No, most of what you say positive about SM is fake snake oil promoted by social media.

And continuous, repetitive diatribes against SM (and large corporations in general) by a vocal minority pretending to be the only ones enlightened enough to "see the danger" are tired and annoying to many. There's no revolution to lead.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Luck played only a supportive part in Rowling's success. She had her fair share of rejections. Also her books make for great reading.

That's pretty much the key. Harry Potter didn't really become the massive success until book 3. In general, word of mouth brought in new fans until it reached the point where it exploded. I found out about the books from a friend who had kids who were in the targeted age. The key was that a lot of people really liked the series. One of the phrases people use for such a situation is catching lightning in a bottle. It certainly isn't something one can count on.

SM can be useful for word of mouth on a new book, but as I said earlier, I was really talking about established authors. Some authors crank out books on a predictable schedule. Patricia Briggs has been coming out with a new book every spring from almost 20 years. Her publisher does a good job of getting the date out months in advance, and I assuming, paying Amazon to make sure they send out notices to customers who either follow or buy her books. I get the notice, I pre-order and the book shows up in my library on schedule.

On the other hand, even though I follow Roger Zelazny on Amazon, I have to remember to look to see if any of his books came out in ebook recently, because I sure don't get any notices.

There are a number of what I would call mid-tier authors, who I read a few books, liked them ok, but I unless I remember to check, I have no idea if they have a new book out or not and forget about them after a while. I have no idea if they stopped writing (fairly common) or if they have new books out.

That's really the sort of author who would do well to try to keep their fan base engaged. Perhaps they are on social media and that's working for them, but social media is kind of fickle. Platforms come and go. A lot of authors are on facebook, but facebook has become unpredictable with regards to if your post appears on someone else's feed.

One indie I like is Marc Alan Edelheit, who writes the Stiger's Tigers books. He has a web site, which gets updated when a new book comes out. It's a nice enough web site, but has zero info on what books are coming out next and when they will be out. His last blog post was about a year ago. He writes really good, award winning books, but dang son, how about letting fans know what your basic writing schedule is? What's the next book and when do you think it will come out? Maybe throw some tidbits out every so often.

On the flip side, there is another author that I really like, Michael J Sullivan, who started as an indie, still does some indie publishing but now has a contract. His web site is excellent. It has all the books, books that have been written, but aren't published yet, when those will be published and what's in the pipeline. Hum, he just published his most recent book Age of Empyre yesterday. Both ebook and audiobook are available. Awesome! Something new to read! BTW, you might want to check out his website and read through some of the pages. It give a lot of insight in how writing and publishing works.

https://riyria.blogspot.com/

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

On the flip side, there is another author that I really like, Michael J Sullivan, who started as an indie, still does some indie publishing but now has a contract. His web site is excellent. It has all the books, books that have been written, but aren't published yet, when those will be published and what's in the pipeline. Hum, he just published his most recent book Age of Empyre yesterday. Both ebook and audiobook are available. Awesome! Something new to read! BTW, you might want to check out his website and read through some of the pages. It give a lot of insight in how writing and publishing works.

https://riyria.blogspot.com/

Oh, I like this author very much. I've read the first duo of Riyria. Thanks for making it known about his 6th 'Age of' book! You poured so much into your post, but I can't match that. Happy reading.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Jerry had a well loved column in Byte Magazine before the Internet existed. I think called Chaos Manor.

I used to read Chaos Manor all the time. It was my favorite part of Byte. Sorry to hear that Jerry Pournelle has died (two or three years ago). (I may have read some of his SF and not even put the "two" writers together... weird to realize this.)

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I used to read Chaos Manor all the time. It was my favorite part of Byte. Sorry to hear that Jerry Pournelle has died (two or three years ago).

Me also, all three points.
I've read little of his own full novels. Some collaboration with Larry Niven, I do have the famous (infamous?) Lucifier's Hammer. I've read the 1st book in his Janissaries series. Need to get the 2nd, but I have the 3rd.