More Thoughts on the Marketing Machine

Since the Co-Op started, I've been thinking a lot about marketing and publicity for books. I am astounded by the sheer number of titles unleashed on the public every year. M.J. Rose estimates there are 1000 to 1200 books published every month. Not even October gets time off for good behavior.

According to Edward Champion, official New York Times Book Review watchdog, the number of novels reviewed in the Review came to a grand total of 11. The previous week, there were eight. By taking some liberties with math, let's say the NYTBR focuses its bright spotlight of love on an average of ten books a week. That's, hmmm, about 40 novels a month. If half of 1000 or so books published each month just happen to be fiction, approximately 460 of those are left without a mention in a major paper with a really big circulation.

Of course I'm oversimplifying. Some months, the number could be as high as sixty. Whoo hoo!

So what happens to the other books? The ones that took years to write, months to edit, days to print, money to ship? Those books live or die by word-of-mouth. At Booksquare, I suggested that publishers need to do a better job of getting ARCs into the hands of folks I'm helpfully calling "big mouths" (even though I'm not entirely sure that word-of-mouth is the most effective marketing strategy from a business perspective). Just like there are only so many pages in book review sections and literary journals, there are only so many books the big mouths can read and promote.

Other traditional ways of promoting new authors doesn't seem to work well. While established authors with solid fan bases might benefit from a book tour, it doesn't appear to be the best vehicle for most authors. BookAngst 101 has compiled the results of an exhaustive survey of authors and, not surprisingly,

...these authors came to the conclusion that the book tour, on virtually any scale, is not simply a waste of time & energy but, in fact, an exercise in public humiliation...

So what seems to be working? Blogs. Virtual book tours. Live book tours done in groups, especially when non-traditional venues are selected. Oprah -- you know, there's something seriously wrong with the system when authors have to beg a television host to reinstate her bookclub. Authors interacting with the public.

That last one is really critical. Sending an author to a bookstore in a mall teaches him or her to answer the question, "Where are the restrooms?", but it doesn't necessarily reach readers. Sending an author to a blog to talk about their work is going to reach a wider, more receptive audience -- readers of Sarah Weinman's blog aren't looking for books on curing depression. They're looking for interesting authors and titles, particularly those with a crime fiction bent.

If you're an publisher, agent, or author, you need to take another look at your promotion plan. If you're one of the lucky ones, the New York Times will notice your title. If you're not, it's time to start thinking outside the promotional box.

Comments

[Dan Wickett]

And even the NYTBR doesn't guarantee success. The recent Steve Stern article brought about a link to the New Yorker article about James Wilcox from about a decade ago. His debut, Modern Baptists received a rave review, front page NYTBR. It sold fairly well. The next book also received a rave NYTBR review, though not front page. It only sold about 4000 copies. He continued getting the reviews for the most part, while his book sales continued to dwindle.

I think the more specific targeted audiences make much more sense. It's also become obvious that some publishers are getting the idea, at least a little bit. I've received at least three requests from authors as to what "online sites" they should list for their publicists to send books to. These requests are being prompted by the publicists.

Enjoy,

[Lauren Baratz-Logsted]

Hey, I'd be up for a litblog tour this summer! Where do I sign up?

[booksquare]

I'm happy to hear that more publicists/publishers are getting religion. Targeted audiences are the key, of that I'm convinced.

Lauren -- Kevin Smokler does Virtual Book Tours. I'm also thinking that authors can do a lot for themselves by doing what Dan is talking about: finding the types of sites who might reach your audience. This takes a lot of blog reading, but if you're doing it to find places to promote your work, it becomes research instead of procrastination.

[Lauren Baratz-Logsted]

Booksquare, I believe I saw another litblogger saying Kevin Smokler charges an awful lot for those tours...and that none of that money goes to any of the blogs themselves. Have you heard anything about this?

[booksquare]

I don't know how the financial arrangements work out though I suspect Kevin functions much in the same way any traditional promoter does...they don't generally compensate the newspapers/television shows/etc that their authors are booked on. I'll let other bloggers who have participated in the VBTs speak to the matter of whether the work was worth the participation. There is cross-promotion happening between the participating blogs.

Though there is money to made from blogs, most of us aren't doing this for financial reasons. Authors can do the same work Kevin is doing, but there is a cost-benefit analysis to be done. Researching blogs, contacting them, making arrangements, that sort of thing takes time -- as does the writing of posts. Variables (and you know I'm in over my head when I use words like that) include promotional budgets.

[david]

I participated in the last VBT, and theer was no compensation (but none was asked for). I did it to help an author whose work I enjoyed (Tom Dolby), and the convergence of literature and music helped me start two new features on my site: authors creating mixtapes and musicians writing about books.

Since starting my "Book Notes" feature (which first featured Tom Bissell), I have had a bit more trouble lining up authors. I am waiting for a couple of authors' contributions, but most of my correspondence to publicists has gone unheeded.

[M.J. Rose]

I've done a VBT with Kevin and it was a huge success as far as I was concerned. We got the name of my book in front of over 100,000 eyeballs. And yes, of course he charges. Why wouldn't he, it's his business. He doesn't charge alot for all the work it is. He has to research the blog world to find the right blogs for the book, then send them the book and urge them to consider it as well as figure out the concept of the tour, educate the author in how to handle the tour, as well as hand hold the author along the way and be there the actual day/week. He is a full blown publicist booking a tour - but it's just not in a bricks and mortar world.

[M.J. Rose]

I've done a VBT with Kevin and it was a huge success as far as I was concerned. We got the name of my book in front of over 100,000 eyeballs. And yes, of course he charges. Why wouldn't he, it's his business. He doesn't charge alot for all the work it is. He has to research the blog world to find the right blogs for the book, then send them the book and urge them to consider it as well as figure out the concept of the tour, educate the author in how to handle the tour, as well as hand hold the author along the way and be there the actual day/week. He is a full blown publicist booking a tour - but it's just not in a bricks and mortar world.

[Alex]

I work for a publishing house, and I'm also a blogger. At the day job we’ve run blogads, and we are doing our best to do more blog outreach. As with most online advertising, the conversion rate on clicks is still very small – so I haven’t seen blogs driving direct sales (except for big name bloggers) But what I can attest to is that blogs can fill events, so I hope whatever the co-op does includes a tour or a reading series of some kind. I bet that's where you’ll see the most influence.
A

[Health News]

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