A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: The Quirkiness of Book Sales for Book Marketing Plans

 

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 post looks at the relationship between book marketing plans and book sales. Specifically, book sales can be quirky, which makes it difficult to put together a book marketing plan for self-publishing authors. (Publishers usually have established plans that they apply to all books, and they only accept books that they believe they can market effectively through their established marketing plans. Let's take a look at some favorite marketing barometers and see how they really stack up.

Amazon Top 100

If a book lands in the Amazon Top 100, it clearly has scads of sales, right? No, not always. Perhaps even not often. Amazon's top 100 is a "competition" among books in the same category of books, including hot new releases. A book in a very narrow niche, where few books are published, will fare better, given the same number of book sales, than a book in a broad category, e.g., bridge engineering vs. parenting. 

Top-viewed Blog Posts

A post that is widely read and widely shared is likely to sell more books, right? Well, not always. Perhaps even not often. While blog posts are important and do indeed help sell books by bringing awareness to the existence and content of the book, how popular a post is not necessarily an effective barometer of book sales.

Feedback from Friends, Family, Acquaintances, and Colleagues

Yeah, right! That is all I should need to say, but I will expand just a bit. This cadre of people are the ones who will often promise to buy a book or even say they bought it (when they did not). This is one of the biggest disappointments for authors, as well as a source of disbelief for them. They often insist that the distributor is not reporting all the sales, but distributors have no reason to "cheat" and would be quickly caught. Instead, family and friends are more likely not to want to say that they do not want to spend money on an author's book so fib/mislead to save face/relationships.

Book Scan

While many authors eagerly (or anxiously) research book scan numbers every chance they get. Unfortunately, Book Scan numbers can be way off and therefore not a good source of information for building a marketing plan.

Reliable Figures and Barometers

• Figures from distributors. These are often depressing for authors, but they are 100% accurate. These are the figures that authors should be using when making book marketing plans.
• Actual sales. These can be a guide for adjusting book marketing plans, keeping in mind that the best sales are generally the first day, the first week, and the first month. The first year itself is often an indication of lifetime sales. That does not mean that sales cannot improve over time, but it can be an increasingly greater challenge as time goes on. (Yes, there are late bloomers; we have had some; they are just not the norm.) 
• Launch success. Successful launches can indicate continued success in book sales. Generally, in order to have a successful launch, work has been put into a good marketing plan in advance, in which a book launch is but one element. Further, in order to have a successful launch, pre-publication marketing has to be in effect.

Bottom line: Book sales are quirky and some barometers iffy, but there are also some reliable markers; authors should pay attention to which is which.

For previous conversations on this topic, click HERE.

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. Also available as an e-book and an audiobook.

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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