A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: I am a writer, why do I need to market my book? Isn't that someone else's job?

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 a never-ending one: book marketing. The sales of the books of many first-time authors suffer low returns because their authors believe that marketing should be the province of someone else (the publisher, the distributor -- and yes, both do market books) and are reluctant to learn the business end of the book industry. For those who believe (or a least hope) that the writing of their book frees them up to write the next one, here are some reasons to develop some marketing skills:

• Books published through Amazon (yeah, free) sell about 250 copies over an author's lifetime on average; that average comes from 10% high-selling books; 90% of books published on Amazon sell less than 100 copies.
• Publishers and publicists are not able to do it all for every book, especially in an environment where readers want to hear from readers and reviewers, not from publishers and publicists; traditional advertising no longer works; personal "advertising" does better.
• First-time authors rarely know that some of the bestt-selling authors have done their own marketing.
• Others will likely not know an author's book or niche as well as the author does. 
• No one cares about the book, its purpose, and is "mission" the way the author does.
• Today, many guerilla approaches do better at selling books than do traditional approaches; authors are better guerillas than publicists and publishers because they are on the ground in their local area and interacting with others among the group of potential readers; authors can offer workshops, include books in business activities, doing readings at libraries, having a table at a county fair -- for authors, the possibilities are nearly limitless.

Bottom line: You would not deliver a baby and walk away, leaving it to someone else (or no one) to raise; you should not do the same with your book.                                                                     

Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: Writing is not the last task an author needs to take for his/her book.

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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