A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: How Successful Authors Use Marketing Techniques to Contribute to the Success of Their Books

(photo by Frank Perez)

It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.

Today's topic is a little bit about marketing. A lot about marketing would take not only one book but many. For authors, marketing is an important "duty" and a rather daunting one at that. Very few publishers (well, probbaly none) have big enough pockets to take on the full task of marketing, especially for new authors without a natural fan base. So, they expect authors to help. 

So, let's look at some of the techniques authors can do to help with marketing.

Techniques that exploit the author's fan base (an author without a fan base is not going to sell many books):

• Authors need a landing place for their fans; that usually means a website (make it a nice one; if you are not an artist, hire one; ditto for the tech piece). 
• Spread the word as early as possible; let your fan base know that your fantastic new book will be out soon, sooner, soonest, and now here.
• Meet your fans; do book sginings, presentations at lirbaries or organizational functions, talks at community centers, chats at coffee shops.
• Try for a Ted Talk -- not easy to get in, but you never will get in if you do not try.
• Talk to book clubs if there are any in your area; make it possible for them to get your book at a low cost or even for free.

Techniques that provide free advertising:

• Advertising (okay, go ahead and do what you can; it does help, and it helps your publisher and your sales) is often not cost-effective -- it frequently costs more for a well-placed ad than you will earn in sales inspired by the ad (but repetitive advertising can take care of some of that; look for a future post on advertising; if you can't wait, check out over 100 book promotion sites HERE; they are examples of where inexpensive or free adversiting is available, and certainly free is worth the effort.). 
• The best advertising is word of mouth. Tell everyone you know about your book. This is not something that a publisher can do for you. It is something you must do for yourself.
• The second best advertising is reviews. Seek out review opportunities passionately. Ask influential (or any) bloggers to review your book. Try out Pubby. Consider some lower-cost services like US Review of Books. Library Thing has pros and cons; check it out and even try it out if it looks good to you. Ask acquaintances and friends/colleagues of acquaintances to review your book (expect them to be honest, not 100% supportive). Getting reviews is difficult, but possible. See our earlier post on this topic HERE.
• Exploit social media; it really is a topnotch inexpensive way to get the word out--Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram, whatever floats your boat enough that you will remain consistent and regular with it.

Whatever you can do will help your publisher and will help you and your sales. If you have some money to invest, do so wisely. (Get some advice.) If you don't have money to invest, then you must invest your time. Again, do that wisely. (Get some advice.)

Want to read more about this topic? Check out a good article on this topic HERE.

Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: Your publisher cannot promote your book in a vacuum; help out by doing everything that you can do.
In many cases, there is a lot that authors can do--even more than publishers can do. Authors are much closer to their fan base than publishers possibly can be. Pay attention to that base, and they will pay attention to your book. 

 Read more posts about publishing HERE.

The Tuesday talks reflect real discussions between the management of MSI Press LLC and our own authors or those would-be authors who come through our doors but don't make the cut--yet. If you have a topic you would like to see addressed, leave the question in the comment section. Chances are, in our 17 years of publishing first-time and experiences authors, we have had a conversation with one of our authors that we can share with you.