A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: What Matters in Marketing

It is Tuesday. 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, again, marketing. We address the question: What matters in marketing? 

Here are a couple of answers from our experience: consistency and presence.

What does it mean to be consistent?

• Be where people expect to find you once they "meet" you on whatever platform you are using. Blogging? Then, if you cannot blog every day (and most authors cannot), blog on specific days so that readers know that they can find you on blogger on Fridays, for example. Or, link up to the blog hops and participate in each weekly event. 
• Be about what people expect you to be about once they read your book. We write about books--our books-- on our blog (and other social platforms). Yes, we do deviate on Caturday with a cat post, but then, we have an author who is a cat (Sula), so many of those posts are really about our books, and if we deviate to write about another aspect of cats, then we also have a post that day about books. Caturday is extra, not in lieu of. Whatever the topic of your book, relate your posts, tweets, etc., to something related to the book.

What does it mean to be present?

• Be where people expect to meet authors. 
• Nowadays that means being in the social media universe. Pick a platform. Maintain consistency, and, if you find you have the time and energy, pick a second, or third, and maintain consistency on them all. Often, one post can be adjusted to multiple platforms to spread the presence of the author.
• Beyond social media, look for gatherings of authors through writing groups, writers' workshops, conferences, and even county fairs.
• Offer to interact with book clubs that read your book (And it never hurts to provide a free copy to the members or a highly discounted one--you can probably take it off as an expense on your taxes.)
• Look for interactive venues in addition to social media (most likely as supplements, since it is hard to be consistent with presentations since they depend on the schedules of other people and other organizations.
• Find podcasts looking for guests on the topic of your book and contact them.
• Offer to write a post for a blog; many bloggers welcome such posts if relevant to the blog's theme. (We do, too. We often post guest posts on our blog, which get transferred to our other platforms.)
• Look for magazines conducting interviews with authors and "sell" your bio and book.
• Leave comments on blogs, posts, and tweets. 
• Conduct workshops and seminars in person or online; these also lend themselves to being records and placed on social media via YouTube or other platforms. They also can lead to local media interviews.

Can big splashy events make up for consistency and presence? If one-time? Uh-uh. Not in our experience. Can expensive investments in large-size advertisements in big-name publications make up for lack of consistence and presence? Perhaps, for a while. But like the tortoise that won the race, presence and consistency will take an author far, without big outlays of money. Many small acts over time will eventually out-pile one big hill of activities upfront. (Of course, those big ads, if you have the money, don't hurt, but if you do not have the money, then step-by-consistent step, you should be able to reach reasonable objectives that you establish for your book.)

Bottom line: Many small, repetitive acts and interactions, typically free, can further your marketing goals without emptying your pockets.                                                                     

Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: Be consistent; be consistent; be consistent, in your presence.

See more Publisher Conversations with authors HERE.

 Learn more about publishing from an acquisitions editor -- how to get your book proposal accepted, why proposals are turned down/accepted, and how to find the right publisher for your book. On special sale for $5 while inventory lasts at MSI Press webstore.

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 that you would like addressed, leave the question in the comment section. Chances are, in our 18 years of publishing first-time and experiences authors, we have had a conversation with one of our authors that we can share with you.

                             

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