Shareware ebooks

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Richard Herley

As I believe I mentioned to you in private, if you talk to any publisher, he will tell you that word of mouth is what sells books. Advertising is a waste of money; professional reviews are treated with scepticism; bookshop signings and chatshow appearances by non-celebrity authors don't achieve much. No, it's your workmate or cousin saying "Hey, you've just gotta read this!" and handing you a copy: that, replicated a zillion times, is what makes a book a success.

Applause.

I've spent time trying to get this across to people. The publisher's advertising, more often than not, is for an established author with a following, and isn't intended to sell the book. That's already happened. The audience is already motivated to buy because they are fans of the author. The advertising simply lets them know there is a new book available for purchase.

Reviews help a bit, as do signing tours, but ultimately, word of mouth is what sells everything.
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Dennis

[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.

[moz]

I am a big fan of author/artist email lists for exactly this reason. It's like advertising, but it's much cheaper. And it is more accurate as well.

I'm on about 20 musician notification lists (a couple are label lists) where I have said "only tell me about new albums" and a few more where I get "tell me about events in my area, and new music you have out in general" (Mal Webb does TV music and stuff as well as albums, so I download shows he does music for). The ones I am still on are the ones that do not get abused - there is no spam or "sponsored" mailings, only "Penelope Swales is appearing at The Harp in Sydney on the 19th of May" and "Elefant Traks announce the release of 'Distant Sense of Random Menace' by 'Urth Boy'". Those are great, and often result in me paying the sender money.

I would love to be on similar mailing lists for specific authors. Unfortunately most of them don't do this. The "but I only have a new book every two-four years" does not wash. In 5 years Mal has released 3 albums. Even if 90% of the addresses on his "new album" list bounce so what, it didn't exactly cost much to reach the remaining 10%, most of whom will buy the album, probably immediately. Especially if the author gets to pocket most of the cash... which is why I prefer to buy direct when I can. I pay authors, not advertisers, because I want books, not ads.

[DMcCunney]

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.

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

[Richard Herley]

Dennis, I love the idea of a professor of quantum physics or Sumerian philosophy going on the couch with Oprah!

moz, one of the reasons I set up a subsidiary blog was so people could subscribe to the feed. Any new post gets sent along to your service, or to your email inbox if you prefer. I'll be judicious about new posts on that blog, restricting them to word of newly released books or necessary information about existing ones (e.g. if I've screwed up and let some typos through and found it necessary to upgrade the files).

Feedburner is a free Google service, so all writers, whatever medium they work in and however their books are distributed, might be well advised to consider doing the same.

[TallMomof2]

This is a fascinating discussion to me because I've never pondered the nuts and bolts of publishing, promoting, and selling books.

Before the internet, I would peruse the local bookstores weekly looking for good books to read. I had/have a list of authors (SF/Fantasy) that I would either buy anything they put out or at least look at. I only occasionally read SF magazines, never have attended a convention so would only find out about new books/authors by what was available locally. I was introduced to a few authors by friends but very few of my friends read much less read what I read.

Nowadays, all I have to do is visit a few sites and I have a tremendous number of book suggestions. There's a lot of drek out there but there is also an amazing amount of really interesting well written books. My backlog used to be measured by the height of the book pile beside my bed, now it's measured in gigabytes.

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

SNIP

...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. ...

SNIP
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Dennis

Is that Wen Spencer, by any chance? Wen has certainly done a good job of promoting herself and her work. Of course, the fact that her work is darned good really helps...

Xenophon

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

Is that Wen Spencer, by any chance? Wen has certainly done a good job of promoting herself and her work. Of course, the fact that her work is darned good really helps...

Xenophon

It is indeed Wen. Nice lady as well as splendid writer, with a good pragmatic grasp of the realities of publishing.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Richard Herley

Dennis, I love the idea of a professor of quantum physics or Sumerian philosophy going on the couch with Oprah!

So do I, though I don't think this chap was either of those.

No chance of actually getting booked, however, so the point is moot.

My friend was mostly boggled that the professor thought there was a chance.
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Dennis

[tompe]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

It is indeed Wen. Nice lady as well as splendid writer, with a good pragmatic grasp of the realities of publishing.

I have missed this promotion. I read A Brother's Price because it was recommended by a friend and I think the recommendation was caused by a Tiptree nomination. I really liked that book. I kind of like the Ukiah Oregon books but you cannot read to many in a row. I have only read the first Tinker book. Is the rest more of the same?

[Richard Herley]

Just a note to say that I am back online. I confess I was sorely disappointed by the initial reaction to my site -- 11,000+ downloads, but only 25 people troubled to make a payment (many of whom were MobileRead forum members).



My rethink has been occasioned by my SO, who insists, and has finally persuaded me, that I didn't give the project enough time. I'm back to stay, and am working on a new novel which I hope to launch ahead of schedule and on the same terms as the others. My long break from the e-book scene has left me out of touch, so my contributions to this forum will be a bit sparse until I have a better idea of what's been happening.

[igorsk]

Welcome back! I hope you'll have better success this time.

[Richard Herley]

Thanks, igorsk. Patience is a virtue, they say.

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by Richard Herley

Just a note to say that I am back online. I confess I was sorely disappointed by the initial reaction to my site -- 11,000+ downloads, but only 25 people troubled to make a payment (many of whom were MobileRead forum members).



My rethink has been occasioned by my SO, who insists, and has finally persuaded me, that I didn't give the project enough time. I'm back to stay, and am working on a new novel which I hope to launch ahead of schedule and on the same terms as the others. My long break from the e-book scene has left me out of touch, so my contributions to this forum will be a bit sparse until I have a better idea of what's been happening.

Well... When I tried visiting your site last week (and also the week before), all I got was a 404 page from the underlying host. (That's a page-not-found error, if you're not geekly enough to recognize it.)

If you're back on line, I'll toddle over and dump a tip in the jar -- I just finished the books a couple of weeks ago, and quite enjoyed them.

Xenophon

[Richard Herley]

Thanks, Xenophon.

If anyone else would like to follow suit ...