Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
Location: Books & Such Main Office, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Whenever I’m on the faculty of the Mount Hermon Writers Conference, I’m always on the lookout for a chance to chat with editors about how their publishing houses are doing. I’m usually surprised by a thing or two in these conversation.
Here’s what I heard at the conference that could be instructive for you. Most of these changes reflect the way the economic downturn has touched publishing. (I might add at this point that the downturn is past tense for publishers; they’ve made their adjustments.)
- Most publishers have lowered the amount of advances they can provide. Sales are down 30% post-economic downturn, and that means advance must be lowered as well.
- Smaller marketing budgets.
- Looking for authors who really understand how to use social networking to sell books and to build brand, not just to report what they ate for dinner.
- Opportunities for books that were unlikely to make money but seemed important to present to readers no longer exist in most publishing houses.
- “Risk averse” pretty much depicts every publisher’s stance.
- Looking for authors who put money and creativity into their marketing ideas.
- Publishing committees use the Internet during the meeting and are fact-checking what proposals state. So when you proclaim you have a certain number of Twitter followers and Facebook friends, those numbers are readily available. So be honest! Also, your web site needs to be in tiptop shape because it’s one of the first places the committee will go online.
- Most editors look at the writing first before they read the proposal–that’s for nonfiction as well as fiction. Yeah! Writing still bears a lot of weight on the decisions publisher’s make.
- Your marketing plan, which you included in your proposal, is considered part of your contract with the publisher; so you better be able to deliver what you promise.
- To be a success in the eyes of your publisher, all you need is an upward trajectory of sales, not a huge climb in sales with each release.
- Editors still love good writing and have a sense of sponsoring in-house each project they take on. They use words such as “It [a project] is my baby,” “I want to fall in love with a manuscript.”
So now, talk back to me. What’s your response to the info you’ve just read? What’s news to you? What’s old hat? What scares you? What challenges you?
I’ll be honest here. The continued emphasis on a great marketing plan scares me–not because I’m unwilling to shell out some dollars or do different things but because so much of what I observe doesn’t work, at least for me. What I see from authors, “old” and new, is sell, sell, sell. Gimmicks, promotion, interviews, and instructions about how to write, sell, and get published even it’s only their first book.
I don’t think anyone is absolutely sure what does work for selling books (other than solid word of mouth). Some writers have great ideas to include in a proposal, but for me it seems like a black hole and undetermined as to the successes of so many different ideas and efforts. JMO.
None of this sounds out of the ordinary to me (a small business owner). Publising is a business and an entrepreneur knows they have to be creative, keep costs down, maximize profits and push forward with all new trends and technologies to keep up and market their product.
I do like that writing is still a piece of the equation though. 🙂
Nicole, you’ve pulled out of the equation the great unknowable–what difference does marketing/publicity make? It’s very hard to know what worked and what didn’t, mostly because it all adds up to momentum. Seldom does one element of a marketing plan make all the difference.
But you’ve also honed in on another important point: Authors who go for the direct sale seldom get the result they want. In today’s culture, it’s developing a relationship with your readers that sells books, much more than a “Buy my book” approach.
Being a well-published author has always been hard and has contained just a touch of “magic.” But in today’s market, the challenges are considerable. Dogged determination is a quality a successful author has to exhibit.
Good stuff, Janet. I have two problems with it:
1. “Building brand” and using the web to build a following is something at which I’ve been working very hard for about a year now, and I’ve been following the widely-available conventional wisdom in my approach, but I’m still not seeing much progress, while others seem to practically leap into near-instant blog-stardom. I’m missing something, clearly.
2. If publishers continue to gravitate toward those who can self-finance their own marketing and publicity, are we not headed for an industry-wide state of glorified, subcontracted vanity publishing, wherein the very few with real talent and wealth get published while those with only the former die in obscurity?
Janet,
Thanks for “telling it like it is,” even though I’d much rather bury my head in the sand and ignore the changes in the publishing industry. The author is not only the publisher’s partner in selling the book, sometimes it seems they have become the senior partner.
To quote my hero, obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk, “I don’t mind change. I just don’t like to be around when it happens.” But it’s happened, and here we are.
The marketing side has always intimidated me, much because I’m not sure how I would or should go about figuring out how to package myself as am author. But I run a book review/giveaway blog, facebook, ning, and twitter. I even interview authors when I feature their book. So, if that’s part of marketing I guess I’m on the right track…
Lauren, you are indeed on the right track. You have to take the long view in building a community that wants to buy what you write.
Richard, I think most of us would rather bury our heads in the sand than face such a rapidly changing industry. But here we are…
Nathan, if you can connect with those who are successfully building a brand, it would be great to ask them what little techniques they used that seemed to make a big difference.
For instance, one of my clients quickly built a strong following on Twitter by not only following everyone who followed her but also by following individuals they followed. (If you can “follow” that trail in my previous sentence.)
And you’re right that sometimes those who have the money to invest in marketing/publicity have an unfair advantage over those who can’t. It could lead to publishers looking like a cousin to vanity publishing, but I don’t think it will. That’s because lots of people in publishing receive such enjoyment from discovering and launching a new writer. I don’t know many agents or editors who aren’t on the lookout for that debut writer they can introduce the world to. It’s a natural high for those in publishing and should be a source of encouragement to those looking for a break.
Two of your points could spell “t-r-o-u-b-l-e” for writers: “Most publishers have lowered the amount of advances they can provide” and “Looking for authors who put money and creativity into their marketing ideas.” Most of the writers I know already invest significant portions of their advances into their own publicity. If advances are going down and the author’s expected share in marketing is going up, profit could cease to be a convincing motive for writing.
BUT I am challenged by the word “creativity.” Some methods of marketing and brand building are not all that expensive. Some writing friends and I started a website for almost nothing, and when we offered a contest to critique students’ stories, our readership tripled in one month. It cost us nothing but time (and a couple of donated books). With my homeschool curriculum, I’m offering a “Tell a Friend” rebate. The sale costs me nothing until one customer brings me another customer.
Creativity doesn’t always cost money, but it can cost time–another commodity that’s in short supply. Still, determination and perseverance may be the deciding factor in tough times, and the pay-off of success is worth the investment.
Lynn, thanks for making the important point that marketing doesn’t have to be costly–just creative. Often the inexpensive ideas pay off more than the grand schemes. Certainly the risk is lower!
Dear Janet,
I really appreciate seeing the facts in simple, matter-of-fact bullet form. We writers need to be reminded that publishing houses are in business to sell books. It is difficult for artists to make that transition. But every artist must–writers, sculptors, painters, actors–all have to sell their work. The reality is that we must be part of the process of marketing and selling. It is a proactive stance, and vital to our success.
This is a helpful list, Janet. Thanks.
I gotta tell you, though, the one that scares me is:
“Publishing committees use the Internet during the meeting and are fact-checking what proposals state. So when you proclaim you have a certain number of Twitter followers and Facebook friends, those numbers are readily available. So be honest!”
Not to mention the fact that God knows how many Twitter followers you have.
I can only assume that since editors thought they needed to mention this, people have actually lied to them. Yikes!
Thank you, Janet, for more clear, concrete thinking that removes some of the mystery. Your clarity can be both discouraging and encouraging to your readers, depending on how determined they are to move ahead.
Ed Hird+
All the more reason to have a good agent – someone who will find out these little tidbits so that we writers know which of the kajillion directions available we should go in. I sometimes get so bogged down with marketing – probably because I’m new at it – and all the options. It’s hard to know where to invest my time, especially when I so prefer writing pretty stories about other people to writing brouhaha (sp?) about myself. Gah!
Thanks, Janet. God bless,
Becky D
Thanks to each of you for your comments. I appreciate the feedback, including that you liked the bullet points.
And, yes, Sally, some people stretch the truth in their of how socially networked they are. They explain that they INTEND to build their connections, and what’s in the proposal is their goal. So doesn’t work.
Janet and all …
Great and timely article. I enjoyed reading the feedback. As someone who does handle branding/marketing/publicity for authors, I’m always on the lookout for what does/doesn’t work. My number one goal is to connect authors with their readers (and letting the readers spread the word about an author and his/her latest release). The authors that have been successful at building a following have done a great job on two fronts. One, they have a consistent and well implemented brand. Two they’ve taken the time to build relationships with their readers. I have seen the quality of relationships produce quantity.
Word of mouth is where it’s at – authors need to take the time to join in ongoing discussions and create discussions of their own outside of writerly/book industry circles. They need to be accessible. Yes, it can be time consuming at first, but you can accomplish a lot in 10-15 minutes a day.
Thanks for all the great info, Janet!
My first book was published in 2005. My husband saw the vision for online marketing and social networking way back when the proposal went to the publisher and he got me set up with a great website and introduced me to social networking before the book ever went to print. I believe that the vast majority of my readers have come though online contacts.
While the book certainly hasn’t broken any sales records, it has done well for its nitch. It hasn’t dropped below the top 3 listings on Amazon under the keyword search “infertility” any time I’ve checked over the past three years, something that continually amazes me and I thank God for allowing.
At the time I wrote Hannah’s Hope I had no intention of “becoming a writer” but was simply trying to share a message God was putting on my heart. Branding took a lot of work, but it was for a community of women I felt a passionate burden to encourage, so it was a rather natural investment of time and energy.
Now that I’m working on a second manuscript on a different topic, I’m trying to figure out how to adjust the brand I’ve already built (focused on infertility and motherhood) and use that platform to begin branching toward my new book’s audience (chronic pain and illness encouragement). I’ve started with an general encouragement blog for various life struggles (touching on infertility, health challenges and more) and built up a grand total of just 35 followers over the past couple of years. Any ideas on “rebranding” or expanding an existing brand when God carries you beyond your initial vision?
Jenni, that’s a good question. You’ve tried to tap into a point of commonality–encouragement through life struggles–but that probably is too broad to capture many readers.
When marketing online, it’s all about building community. You’ve built a responsive community of those dealing with infertility. Now, I suspect, you’ll have to build a community of those dealing with chronic conditions. Two different communities. I know, what a pain.
I don’t think you built a brand with your first book; you built a community. I think you’re still figuring out your brand; it’s developing, but it’s too soon to see clearly what it is.
Thank you, Janet. Very helpful insights. 🙂