James D. Macdonald said:
Do you actually get enough of a sales increase to pay for print ads, Cathy?
I'm not sure but that you're just wasting your time and money on 'em.
I believe we did get a sufficient return. It was a very conscious business decision on our part, not simply because we felt obligated or that marketing was "our responsibility." But consider the background of my situation:
1. We were unknown authors with no prior history in the genre (romance).
2. The line was brand new, with no prior history.
3. The publisher had never before published ANYTHING in the genre (Tor is traditionally a SF/Fantasy publisher). The paranormal romance line was completely untested.
So, we were new authors, in a new line, with an unknown publisher (in the genre). When we were first informed about our initial print run, they anticipated it to be 32,000 in mass market. That quantity is sort of a death knell for a new author. It was too small to pay back the advance, even if every one sold. It was too small for the publisher to get behind it adequately.
I started to market
a year in advance, sending out press releases to the PUBLISHING industry (not to readers) about the whole line. I sent out press packets to indie book stores about the whole LINE (but mentioned our book prominently
.) Since it was one of the debut books, there was a certain buzz anyway, but not about OUR book. We were an unknown quantity. I put thousands of dollars into print ads in romance magazines, into hand-printed ARCs (quality ARCs, just not from the publisher) to send them out to reviewers.
BUT!
By the time that nine months had passed, enough wholesalers and bookstores had started to talk about the "strange new book" that advance orders of the title caused them to DOUBLE the print run. Okay, now 64,000 is a much better number for a new author. Suddenly, booksellers were getting excited. Reviews started to hit websites and magazines all over the place. It was a strange little book in romance, being first person male POV, and even if they didn't LIKE the plot, they thought it was unique enough to recommend it to readers. The title shipped 100% and they went to a second print run within five months. Now, it didn't sell through as well as we'd hoped. We ended up with about 45% sell-through. But we EARNED through our advance easily, and it's still selling at about 100 per week, as we understand from our editor.
So, yes -- overall, I think the dollars were worth it. It secured our second contract with the publisher, and paved the way for the sequel to sell just as well.
egem said:
Do bookstores usual show the numbers to publishers that sell from their best spots? Also, was TOR the publisher that was running the Paranormal Romance contest?
They have to. When special treatment has been requested, they have to report these sales back when it comes time for the next contract. I haven't heard about a contest that Tor's doing. I know that Dorchester Publishing is doing the "American Title" contest, like American Idol. But that's the only one I've heard of.
SC Harrison said:
Before you say it, of course it doesn't make sense, and it's like comparing apples and oranges, but the folks on NEPAT have expended a great deal of effort trying to convince PA authors that this self-promotion thing wouldn't be necessary with a real publisher, and that money should always flow to the author, not away.
Remember, though, that the big difference is that I'm doing promotion out of
ADVANCE EARNINGS! I was paid thousands of dollars by the publisher to spend as I saw fit, before the book ever hit the shelf. Whether I spend it on food or clothes or to hopefully make MORE money, it's mine to spend. Same with the small press book. I
absolutely agree that subsidy press goes the wrong direction. In my case, the money had ALREADY flowed to me. I just let a bit slip back again.
See, I have no particular problem with authors from PA and the like doing promotion.
Even if PA were a LEGITIMATE small press (which they
aren't, BTW -- don't get me wrong), some marketing would be a good thing, IMO. I marketed our small press book too. It was a niche title and hasn't even sold through the first printing of 4,000 after two years. That's not because it's not a good book. It's just a niche title -- IF you like railroads, and IF you like historical construction and IF you want to read about stuff that happened in Colorado in the 1800's, THEN you'll probably buy the book. That's a pretty small market, though.
But again -- and let me stress this -- any sort of marketing DOES
NO GOOD IF THE BOOKSTORE CAN'T GET THE BOOK! If the title cannot be ordered easily and returned easily, the bookstore won't order it. They simply won't. It's not good business to throw money away, and that's what happens with a lot of subsidy titles. By applying the same rules to them as they do to other published books, the bookstore will lose money if they can't sell it. With traditional publishers, at least it's a wash. No money in, but no money GONE, either. Our small press title is orderable with a standard discount, and returnable. Otherwise, I wouldn't have wasted the money.
Canada James said:
I must admit that I've yet to either work in or hear about a bookstore that charges for face outs. Face outs generally occur because a bookstore has A) bought enough copies top make a face out, and b) there is shelf space available to do so. I'd cringe at the thought that I'd be breaking a contract because my shelves had too many books to face out all the books that publishers were willing to pay to have faced out.
As an author I've also never walked into a bookstore and been told that my book couldn't be faced out unless my publisher was willing to pay for such an honour.
The big chains do this, because I've had the managers show me the notations on the packing lists. I know that our publisher paid for this for the whole line, because national wholesaler representatives told me (they were
impressed with the publisher's commitment to the line.) The chain distribution warehouses send the books WITH instruction on how to place them. Only if there is no "upscale" of the title can they place it where they please. As for facing out your own books -- sure, a lot of authors do it (I'm one of them). But I'll bet you that at the end of the day, they go right back to spine out when the staff is straightening shelves.
Marketing is a case by case thing, and an author by author one. It worked for me. It might not work for everyone. I know some authors who have done it to great success (like one debut mystery author who paid a publicist several grand a month for about a year preceding the release to create a "buzz" about the title. It worked. The publisher had to double, and then
quadruple the press run before it hit the streets.) But others threw the money away without a single bite.
A recent article I read in a newsletter for an author group where you MUST be multi-pubbed was discussing publicists. The rule of thumb was to start thinking about hiring a publicist when you're spending more than HALF of your advance doing marketing. So, apparently a lot of authors DO spend money marketing or the issue would never come up. Paying a publicist IS marketing and it's a whole bunch of money (between $1,000-$4,000 every single month, regardless of results.) Nora Roberts spends her own money. LOTS of it! She even created her OWN publicity company, where she is the primary client.
Marketing sells books. It always has. But the question comes down to whether the money was there to start with. It shouldn't go out unless it's there. The way I think of it is that if you start with ZERO dollars, you should
spend ZERO dollars. If you start with $1,000 (advance paid by publisher), you can wind up with $1,000, or you can spend the $1,000 to try to make $2,000. It's gambling in its truest form. You might wind up with ZERO dollars. You might wind up with $5,000. There's no way to judge the public's reaction. EVERYBODY thinks they wrote a good book.
JMHO, as always!
