THE Group for Authors! discussion

Importance of promoting yourself
If you’re going to get bigger cash advances you have to prove to the publishing world, agents, editors, publishers, distributors, booksellers and book buyers that your manuscripts are worthy. That LOTS of people will buy them. Not hundreds of people or even thousands, but tens of thousands. That’s when publishers will sit up and take notice.
Other arguments I frequently see are: I’ve done the hard stuff, the writing, now it’s the publisher’s turn to print and promote my masterpiece; Even if my first book doesn’t do that well, there’s always a second book and other publishers. Besides, I already have the cash advance.
If you sit back and wait for the publisher to promote your pending masterpiece, it’s virtually guaranteed to go nowhere in sales, perhaps not even breaking 100 copies sold. If that happens, your publisher won’t even consider a second book. After all, if you were a publisher, would you consider a writer on whom you’ve already lost a bundle of money? I doubt I would. Of course, that leads to the third part of the vicious cycle I described, that of no further advances. Excerpt from Self-Promotion for Authors

Well, Larry, I did everything I knew of to promote my recent novel: got professional reviews, sent out press releases, did click ads on Goodreads, sent out slews of free copies, etc. etc. The book is very well reviewed on Amazon and it's on Kindle, but I still haven't beeen able to sell it. I just gave up. The name of the book is Therapy: A Novel by Harrie Rose. I'd pay you for your help--provided you're not too expensive. I've been slammed with thousands of dollars in medical bills incurred by an acccident, and we're facing more as my husband is having major surgery

Elaine,
Sorry, I don't work that way. I'm not about to take money from someone who's already having a tough time. Thank you for your interest, but rather than take serious money from you, I'll simply ask that you buy the Kindle version of Self-Promotion for Authors, read it and see if there are things you've missed. Depending on what you discover, just send me a private message and we can discuss possible alternatives. May your luck change and best wishes for your husband's surgery. Please keep me posted.

Best,

Larry

I'm rowing the same boat as Elaine. My book, Casey's World, is out there, but so far as I know, and I won't for another month, I haven't seen any sales. I haven't heard a peep from all our Goodreads friends either. Perhaps, unless we become infamous, the odds are as good as the Lotto. Darn shame too, not only for me, but for some worthy charity. I've announced that 1/2 of all earnings from the book, shall go to a charity -readers choice.

I found some really helpful advice in Catherine Ryan Howard's book Self-Printed. It makes you take a long hard look at your publication and the way in which you are trying to promote it. And she writes with a great sense of humour too.

Promotion and writing are different skills and callings. I'm no good at promotion - I really hate promoting myself and my work. It feels a little icky to me every time I do it, so I do it rarely, and usually only when opportunities fall in my lap. I realize my books probably won't sell as well without the regular self-promotion, but, you know, self-promotion also requires countless hours of work. Sometimes it costs money. Instead, I prefer to accept my moderate sales and ongoing royalty payments and leave the bulk of that work to my publisher.

Skylar wrote: "Promotion and writing are different skills and callings. I'm no good at promotion - I really hate promoting myself and my work. It feels a little icky to me every time I do it, so I do it rarely, a..."

Have to disagree. Unless you're secretly a top author like Stephen King, Warren Adler or James Patterson, it's unlikely you'll receive any real promotion from a publisher. For decades they've been leaving the authors to their own devices when it comes to publicity. I believe that an author who fails to promote is destined to fail.
As I note in my book: Self-Promotion for Authors, you are the brand. That's borne out by the numerous author success stories I've included. That's my take on the situation.

I agree with Larry. Even megastars like Jodie Picoult has to do a huge amount of tweeting and facebooking to keep her name uppermost in the minds of her readers.

Self promotion doesn't come naturally to most authors. I agree that in today's market publishers need you to push your book, but writers are by and large a reclusive breed and the need to constantly work at promotion not only drives you insane, it also takes away precious time from writing. I have spent hours every day this week reading reviews and posts on Good Reads. I'm not cribbing, because it's been both interesting and informative :) I now realize how much I have been falling down on the job -- I don't even have a Facebook account, which makes me a particularly moronic dinosaur. But how long can anyone keep this up, and shouldn't we try and change the rules of the game somehow?

Harini, I can tell you it doesn't take long to burn out. I dove in because my publisher and publicist told me to - NOT! I was so overwhelmed after 4 months, I pulled back to what I could manage. Since then, I have branched out, but at the pace I feel comfortable with, not anyone's preconceived idea of what an author should do and how one should promote.

As for Facebook, my adult daughter had to help me in setting up a personal page and then a blog - which I hadn't heard of until then. Twitter? Well, she cringed that Mom was on Twitter and then LinkedIn.

Lately I've been posting on my blog about the history of publishing and the parallels between today and the mid to late 1800s. Perhaps the most informative one is titled "Repeating History in Publishing".

http://allonbooks-thekingdomofallon.b...

Thanks, Shawn -- it's nice to know I'm not the only one floundering. But it's not as simple as it seems. I have two grown up daughters, too, who are very supportive and would help me set up accounts on Facebook, etc. It's also that I hate to give in to the 'dark forces' :) Just kidding, I know I'm just an ornery stick-in-the-mud. I do find your blog very interesting, and your research on the publishing industry is illuminating. Looking forward to more on the topic, and to reading your books one of these days!

Thanks. And you are not the only-stick-in-the-mud! :) All these I have done kicking-n-screaming, wishing for the old days (about 10 years ago) when publishers took care of their authors and all we had to concern ourselves with is writing!

And yes, the 'dark forces' seem to lurk at every turn, seeking to suck out our creative juices in favor of tension filled days on Twitter, Facebook and Linked in, Oh my. ( A title to a post I wrote on social media.)

Harini wrote: "Self promotion doesn't come naturally to most authors. I agree that in today's market publishers need you to push your book, but writers are by and large a reclusive breed and the need to constantl..."

Hi Harini: First, you don't have to have a Facebook or Twitter account to promote yourself. Second, you ask: "But how long can anyone keep this up, and shouldn't we try and change the rules of the game somehow?" To which I must ask: "How strongly do you want to be successful?" There is no shortcut to success and no way to eliminate the need for publicity. I've spent 45 years in various aspects of publishing. Unless you totally rebuild the way people think and get reliable information (Hint: It's NOT the internet for books) you must work within the system. That's my input for whatever it's worth.

Hi Larry! Yes, you're right -- it's a choice each writer has to make -- how much are you willing to give up to gain how much? On the whole, I agree with Skylar. But when it starts affecting our publishability, I guess we will have to rethink the lines we have drawn for ourselves.

Harini, it helps (a lot) if you can build a blog around a subject you're passionate about. Then it becomes energizing, instead of draining.