I was having a conversation today with a friend and author about marketing—what else, you might ask. When the conversation ended, it got me to thinking back when I was an agent and a strategy I used a couple of times successfully—get published by a small publisher, market the hell out of your book and, when it’s successful, sell the rights to a major publisher.
Like I said, it worked a couple of times for me and my clients. So now I’m a publisher and so I try to encourage our partner authors to market, but I think something got lost in the transition or the translation.
Everyone is so busy these days and one wonders how authors find the time to write novels. But writing is fun and relaxing, whereas marketing isn’t. Because it’s such an unpleasant chore, most authors put it off or expect their publisher to do it for them. When sales languish, they blame their small publisher for being small.
This is a shame. To draw attention from big publishers who are always looking to buy the reprint rights, a book beat them over the head to get their attention. Books don’t have to be bestsellers; they just have to have a solid sales record to get on some major house editor’s radar.
So what does it take to get solid book sales? The good news is it doesn’t take as much time as writing a book. Marketing can also be fun if it’s done right. Readers like authors who are accessible—so be accessible. Do not, however, go on Facebook and yell—Buy My Book, Buy My Book!! Why? That should be obvious. Social networks are all about, well, being social and soliciting a book is not being social. So how can I market if I can’t let them know I’ve got a book?
One of the best ways to sell anything is to be you. Be honest, helpful; knowledgeable—give something to get something. Be a friend. If your nice, people like you and if they like you they’ll want to know you and guess what? They’ll find out you’re an author and want to possibly know what you’ve written—because they like you. Wasn’t that easy?
But social networks are not the only way to market. They are just one of many ways. You should be on them, but they are not the end all. The main thing is to be known as an author. Find people who like you and like what you write and cultivate those people. One fan is worth 100 followers on Facebook—ten fan worth a 1000. Fans will help you promote so that you don’t have to do it all yourself. Lastly, your publisher can help, but he or she cannot create fans. You have to do that part.
The Gatekeepers Diary 