Um, hi! Uncle Jim thought the following might be useful for this thread. I’m sure he’ll point out any errors I commit. And whup me upside the head for overt snarkiness.
This is a message that was posted on the board of an infamous POD publisher. (Can you guess which? I knew you could.) I feel it reflects what far too many newbies become convinced is True by unscrupulous agents and publishers out for their money.
What makes this message doubly sad, is that it was from one of their authors, answering questions by fellow authors that by all rights should be answered by the publisher. But that’s a whole ‘nother topic. My comments are in [brackets].
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Message:
Okay, so to answer your original questions:
1)Does the publisher give us any training or send us any instructions on marketing? [They shouldn’t. Marketing is a publisher’s job. Why would a publish risk their investment by allowing amateurs to do their marketing? Oh, wait, they don’t have anything invested in you, do they…]
- PA will send you a small looseleaf booklet about the basics in marketing. Now is the time to do your own research. Get some books at the library on marketing. Read the past posts on these forums as far back as you have time for. You will find a huge amount of marketing information right back to summer of 2004 at least. [Actually, to keep you from finding the answers to your questions, they’ve clipped their database so that posts only go back 30 days. So unless you know advanced Googling, good luck.] Use your search engine and find the topics you are looking for with key words. Your marketing begins when the manuscript is sent to PA. [But what you should be doing is starting your next book.]
2) What exactly does the publisher do beside send out our list and press releases? [Upload your ISBN and cover pic to Amazon. Most of the time.]
-That is pretty much it. Just like most other publishers they do not market or even edit much. [*universe screeches to a halt* Folks, just sit and read that a few times. Now think of your last trip to a bookstore. Or WalMart for cripe’s sake. How did all those books get there? Not from the author driving from store to store begging the manager to stock their book. They got there because the Person In Charge of Ordering was visited by a Professional Marketer From The Publisher who, after wining, dining, and/or glad-handing, did grace the Person In Charge with a catalog of current releases and a schedule of discounts and a “if you order this new series we’ll throw in the author’s backlist and this nifty cool standup”, yada, yada, yada. And the Person In Charge orders with confidence, because s/he understands that the publisher has not only a financial investment in their product, but also their reputation riding on the reader liking their books. Which segues into competent editing, cover design, and book construction, but I gotta stop to breathe.]
Most of this is up to you. It is part of being a writer. It has nothing to do with any lacking on PA's part. It is just the way things are in the writing world. You are on your own. [*choke, sputter, gasp* No, you are NOT alone. Even the smallest press, if their interest is selling your book to readers, and not to you, will have a marketing plan/network in place to get your book into stores. You may need and/or be asked to assist with promotion, but that’s an entirely different animal. Homework: research the difference. Hint: An endcap display is marketing. A book tour is promotion.]
PA will send out 100 notices to contacts. If you have them send you one too, you can photo copy it and send it to anyone else on that list. PA provides a free postcard which you can use to help announce your book to anyone you know with an email address. [Spamming will result in as many sales as including your flyer with your check to the water company. (And, yes, stuffing return envelopes is considered a valid Marketing Tool by PA.)]
PA will send newspaper press releases to your local newspaper outlets. You must provide them with the contact information. Be as detailed as possible. If possible, give them a contact name as well. [And yet, when the author calls to follow up, the newspaper rarely remembers them. So much for impact.] If you have multiple newspapers in town, list them all to PA. Follow up with an email or a phone call at the newspaper office. [Editors just love calls like this. /sarcasm] You may want to consider sending in your own Press Release. [Risk: it may reveal more than you intend about the quality of your book.] Just because the paper gets a release does not mean they will use it. There is lots of competition for print space. [Yes and no. Editors have finite amount of space to work with, but they keep a file of interesting stuff to stick into a page to balance it out. And the key word is …?]
3) Exactly how do they sell our books? [They don’t. If it’s POD, you do.]
-PA has contracts with Ingram and Baker & Taylor. These are 2 of the largest bookstore and library book distributors. Most bookstores order from them. [But they can’t order your book because they don’t know about it because they don’t receive a catalog from PA.] PA also accepts and encourages direct orders from individuals and retailers by offering higher discounts. [Um, yes, they offer a $3 “discount” if one orders from their webpage. But guess how much S&H is.] For instance, Ingram's discount is 20% off to retailers whereas PA's begins at 40% and escellates with an increased number of books ordered. [But PA authors don’t get royalties on the books they buy themselves, and the royalties they DO get are paid on net. Which means that the bigger the discount, the less royalties they receive. *head hurt*]
3) Or do we have to sell all of them ourselves? [After all, they tell you that your book is available in all major bookstores. But I guess it depends on what the definition of “is” is.]
- Authors have multiple methods of getting books sold. Some resort to selling the books themselves. I do not agree with this particular method. [Halleluiah!] I am a writer, not a store. I do not have capital, nor am I willing to pay for shipping twice (once to get the order from PA and again to send to customer). If you try to sell books, you will need to keep track of taxes, charge shipping and handling, have packaging material on hand and be glued to your office - rather than writing. [Not to mention get a business and/or retail license in most states/localities.]
Your discount at PA begins at only 20%. And authors do not receive royalties on books they personally purchase. So your profit is reduced. As well, you have to keep tight records of which retailer has your book on commision, how many copies they have and so on. [Now, why would an author need to place books on commission? If their “publisher” doesn’t offer a return policy, which is Death to getting 99% of stores to put it on the shelf.] Personally, I do not go this route. Market like crazy, promote like mad and pester retailers. You'll get in the stores if you keep working hard. [Tried and true! One PA author got her local Borders to stock her book on their own dime! One author. Out of thousands. One store. Out of tens of thousands. You may weep now.]
4)One of my most difficult challenges will be visiting my target audience where the setting of my book is. The book is a biography of a man back in Texas. Does anybody have any suggestions that make my marketing any easier?
- The internet is your greatest marketing tool. You don't have to come from Texas or anywhere else to find a book worthy of reading... Better start hitting the Net and get your marketing plan designed... [A Professional Marketer would first get your book into local chain stores. Then they would ferret out the local historical societies, museums, etc., and send them 8 x 10 color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one expounding how your book would just be perfect for their gift shop….]
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So what does my rant boil down to? A thick sludge that I hope you will smear upon your forehead in the shape of a dollar sign, to remind you every time you look in the mirror that the only way you are going to see any profit from your sweat and ink is to write your next book while your publisher sells your current one.
Thank you for your time. I now return you to your regularly scheduled program.
