Buzz, Balls & Hype: Controlling the Future of Your Book(s)
M.J. Rose on Oct 18 2011 | Filed under: Business, Buzz, Balls & Hype, Marketing
Recently one of my AuthorBuzz clients was telling me about how powerless she felt – her hardcover/ebook didn’t do well and her publisher decided not to bring out a trade paperback re-release of her book.
It’s a sad fact that in the last several years getting a re-release in paper has become less of a guarantee if a hardcover book doesn’t do well.
What we did was brainstorm how to take her proverbial lemons and make lemonade.
The good news is once a book is published in e it stays on sale and can continue to be discovered and pushed indefinitely.
We have the power to keep readers finding our books in new ways.
Just because a publisher loses interest in a title doesn’t mean you have to. No book dies anymore and readers don’t look at pub dates – so a book is new to everyone who hears about it for the first time
We’ve never been more empowered than we are now to take control of our careers if we are proactive and productive–if we see publishers as partners and see ourselves as adults not kids. Publishers are not our parents making all the rules anymore. Or we can completely take control and self publish. Or we can do both.
Whichever way – it’s in our power to do creative things to revitalize and energize our books and careers.
Here’s what I just did.
My Butterfield Institute Series came out in 2005 and 2006. They weren’t published correctly. They should have been trade paperbacks but were published in mass market. The covers suggesting entirely different reads than what was between the covers. I got some great critical acclaim but mediocre sales. My publisher abandoned the series.
As it turns out I never sold the e-rights to the series. So this summer I gave the books new covers, re-released them as low priced ebooks and since June have sold thousands of copies.
And then I came up with an idea to kept the books selling and building some excitement around them.
The lead character in the series is a sex therapist, Dr. Morgan Snow. In each story she gets one of the thriller genre’s toughest heroes on her couch: Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, Barr Eisler’s John Rain, and Steve Berry’s Cotton Malone.
I published IN SESSION in audio and ebooks yesterday, Oct. 17th. My goal? To keep one of my favorite characters alive, to keep my books selling, to generate excitement. And to have fun.
Speaking of fun, I thought it would be fun to spend today here at Writer Unboxed brainstorming ideas of how you can energize your books and engage readers – using social media, short fiction, new ideas.
I’ll be checking in every few hours through the evening so we can go back and for with ideas.
Photo courtesy Flickr’s Fab.C
Kathleen Bolton
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Porter Anderson
Brunonia Barry
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Keith Cronin
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Jane Friedman
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Donald Maass
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Sophie Masson
Jael McHenry
Jan O'Hara
Debbie Ohi
Barbara O'Neal
Crystal Patriarche
Ray Rhamey
M.J. Rose
Chuck Sambuchino
John Vorhaus
Yuvi Zalkow
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Anne Greenwood Brown
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Suzannah Windsor Freeman
Kristan Hoffman
Jeanne Kisacky
Erika Robuck
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Dona McCormack on
Coincidence: This morning I got an e-mail from Martha Bullen recommending you for a project and I just switched to WU from your web site and, voila!, here you are. This is demo of the dynamic of the ‘community of writers’. We’ll be talking.
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I don’t have solutions, but I’ve read about this venture of yours and I think it’s genius. It seems as though you’ll cross-pollinate each other’s careers by allowing a short-term, reasonably-priced sampling of your work by a different-but-similar audience. I’d love it if you’ll report on your experience at a later date.
I’m also a fan of fun. It’s re-energizing for the author and I think that empowerment can be felt by one’s readership. (At least I hope it can, because at this point, I’m closer to knowing what makes me feel good than what an audience likes.)
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What a great experiment!
It equally exciting and scary to contemplate all the changes in the publishing industry. But it’s also inspiring to see writers like you finding opportunity in all the turmoil.
I wish you the best of luck with your new projects. Thanks for you generosity in sharing your knowledge with fellow writers over these many years.
Sheri
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Thanks Alex, Jan and Sheri and I will report back. So far its very exciting – and as you said Jan – it was fun which is something that we need to make sure we chase!
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Thank you so much for offering to brainstorm with us all today! I did get that right, didn’t I? I don’t have a book out, but can I ask questions, too?
I want to engage people now, but how do I go about that in a fun and original way when I don’t have a book yet? I figure the place I can do that right now is on my blog, but it’s different with not having readers familiar with my work and wanting to like it. Or maybe not, I really don’t know. I need a way to draw people to my blog, as well as keep them interested. And while a lot of writers are readers, as well, I want to use my blog to attract all sorts of people.
I don’t want to get too wordy, especially if I misunderstood and am making a fool of myself! But I have been perplexed for a long time about how to make the process of building a following/tribe or whatever I should call it , when I don’t have a “product” besides myself to sell. I do write short stories, I participate in twitter, a blog and a general facebook page, and I’m trying really hard to be original!
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Hi M.J., and best of luck with your newest venture. Very clever.
My question concerns getting the word out about an ebook. How do you make sure people are even aware that a particular ebook exists? Besides announcing on your site and social media, I mean.
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I’ve recently been thinking about what types of blogs or newspapers might be interested in my book given it’s subject matter (the impact of the global recession on ordinary people). I’m currently working on a plan to launch to financial papers/blogs rather that “literary” ones. They don’t do as many book reviews, but my potential audience go there, so it’s worth a try.
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I’ve recently been thinking about places (newspapers, blogs) to promote by book given the subject matter (the impact of the global recession on ordinary people). I’m putting a plan together to launch in financial circles – they don’t do so many book reviews, but it’s where my potential readers are and it’s less crowded than standard “literary” channels.
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Brilliant!
I’m the author of series that I feel is floundering and really doesn’t deserve to be. My publisher would love nothing more than sales to go through the roof. (Wouldn’t we all?)
At the moment I feel helpless – the fourth book in my series is due for release Feb/March next year. Considering how shit sales are I’m incredibly lucky to be able to say that and to have a publisher that believes in me and is willing to do the hard yards.
Meanwhile, you’ve given me an idea or two!
Thank you xx
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MJ,
Thanks for sharing your experiences. It would be neat to collaborate with other artists (musicians and actors) to develop a multi-media experience for the reader. Tough to put together, but worthy of consideration.
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Okay first – I’ll do each question in a separate comment:
Laura, look at my website – mjrose.com – the center is my blog – its called Museum of Mysteries. I do blog posts – each one shows up at Facebook and Twitter – about the subjects that I find fascinating and that show up in my books. So the blog isn’t about my books per se -but the world of my books and I try to make the posts really interesting. And frequent.
SO you could identify the world you are going to write in – say you love antiques and you know that your books in some way are all going to touch on that world and your readers will love antiques – you can do a blog on the subject.
The trick is be entertaining and person but not self promotional for 12 months a year. When you do have a book come out – interrupt to announce it – run contests but even during that time keep your posts three entertaining ones to every sell one and then go to 12 entertaining to 1 sell. Be very gentle about selling but always have book covers up on the side etc.
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But to Laura’s point, isn’t it preemptive to have a website/blog/twitter account when you have yet to publish a book?
By the way, In session: a fabulous idea!
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Mari – I could write a book about that – in fact I have and so have a few others – Buzz your Book by me and Doug Clegg – is at Amazon – its an ebook. It’s cheap. But seriously there’s no one way – there are hundreds of ways to get the word out and the problem with publishing these days is everyone is doing all the ways and so all the fields are very crowded.
You need to work it – it takes time. You can hire people to help – but that takes money.
Overall there is not one way there really is no end of ways. If you buy the book and have questions I can help. If you want to hire people to help I can suggest some. Its one of the reason’s I started AuthorBuzz.com – so we could help.
There are also places like KindleNation where you can advertise. Kindle message boards you can get involved in etc.
But most authors roll up their sleeves do a lot of research and do a few hours a day of promotion to get the word out. Its not easy and it does take either a lot of time or a lot of money – you do need one or the other.
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Dave – yes – I’m a huge cheerleader for standing out – I’d rather be the only book on a blog about the subject matter of my book rather than one of 20 books on a blog about books.
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Cat- yes you need to do something or a few sometings big and out of the box. Or better yet – how about getting the publisher to give the first book in the series – the e version away for free for a month before the new one comes out – or 99c – at BN and Amazon etc
You need to get thousands of people to read the first one and fall in love and nothing works to make that happen like FREE or cheap.
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Thanks for the idea and I’ll be poring over your website within the week. The novel I’m writing is contemporary fantasy, so there are lots of blog articles I could do about the different aspects of the book and short stories I write. I love it! And thanks for answering my question. You have helped more than I can say!
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Hi M.J.,
Intrigued by it all! Your books and the industry! This is a sideways thing I heard (I’m best at going sideways it seems…) at a conference by Stever Berry (which seems pertinent since Cotton Malone was mentioned). He said that every time he does ANYTHING to promote his book he sends out a newsletter thanking all the people who are involved in any way with his book/brand/whatever.
I thought that sounded so awesome. It may not generate direct sales, but it lets in the industry know how hard he’s working and how much he appreciates their help. Having heard him speak, he does seem like such a pay it forward wonderful person.
It’s probably good for writers to be thankful as often as we can as the desperation side needs no help!
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I really like it when authors release little extras to entice new readers into a book, or make fans happy and keep them reading a series. Side stories, crossovers, things like that. Giving the first book away for free or cheap has gotten me into several series. This is a unique idea and it’ll be interesting to see how it pans out!
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Hi M.J.
Here’s a sideways thing I heard at a Steve Berry conference (seems pertinent as Cotton Malone was mentioned!).
Every time he does ANYTHING to promote his book he sends a newsletter to everyone associated with his book/brand/whatever. It might not generate direct sales, but it lets everyone in the industry know how hard he is working and that he appreciates their help.
It seems so great for writers to be thankful when they can, as the desperation side doesn’t seem to need any help developing (at least mine has Herculean strength)
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Ellen – yes Steve is a real Southern gentleman – and a wonderful friend!
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Wow, this is all so true! I’ve never really analyzed the publishing process–mostly because I’m years away from coming anywhere close to it–but I’ve always thought of the publisher as the key to success and the one who holds all the cards. I guess one of the huge advantages to e-readers is that writers now have the opportunity to take control of their careers and publish on their own terms. Publishers shouldn’t be able to wield all the power. I hope your client doesn’t feel too discouraged!
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Truly inspiring. Our books’ future doesn’t end with the publishers’ decision. As long as we believe in our work, we can find ways on letting others now about our book’s existence. By the way, your book sounds interesting and great job in keeping your characters alive.
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“….a book is new to everyone who hears about it for the first time.”
Love that you took matters into your own hands. Love how this is possible for authors today. Smart, smart, smart!
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Good for you for reviving those titles! I’m having fun serializing my novel, Veronica’s Nap, on a blog, with new content from the book coming out every week. Alongside the weekly installments are my own blog posts about related issues and their context, extending to broader topics such as parenting and Jewish life in France and conversations about related current debates like Tiger Mom. It’s been a great community-building tool with an extended life span.
That said, I have learned that most readers prefer to read a whole copy at their own pace as opposed to a blog. So I eventually went ahead and created a paper copy, too, with an e-book forthcoming. There will be at least a four-month gap between the the two, which is a little unusual since most self-published authors right now seem to put out the e-book and paperback at the same time, but I like to think of it as an opportunity to keep reincarnating it. :-)
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I always welcome input from M.J.!
I’m in the process of getting backlist into ebook format and, yikes, it’s a challenge: reviewing/revising the books, learning the basic techie stuff, doing the blurbs and uploads–and then learning how to e-sell them. The whole process is confusion wrapped in constant change. (It’s also fun and liberating. :-)
I’m glad I found this post because I’ve already got some great take-away ideas. Now if you could just send me a bottle of e-energy, M.J. I’d be rolling.
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Thanks for tackling my question, though I was afraid of your answer before you wrote it: time – the one commodity I lack with a two year old constantly set to self destruct and a second book in the works. Just to clarify on the ever present alternative: what is “a lot” of money?
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