Ebooks and Pre-Promotion

K. Victoria Chase · Mar 12, 2013

Hi Everyone!

Since ebooks are "forever" and you can market at anytime and continue to reap sales based on longevity, what are your feelings about NOT promoting prior to your book's release?

My publisher has banned the showing of book covers prior to the books release date saying "data" shows that showing covers doesn't positively impact sales. People want to be able to buy the book when they see the cover so if it's not available, you lose the sale (publisher reasoning).

Any thoughts on pre-promotion being irrelevant?

SelmaW · Mar 12, 2013

I will say that's what I did for the book I just self-pubbed *points at avatar* Of course, I have no point for comparison since this is my first, but I'm pretty happy with how things have gone so far, so I wouldn't say it leaves you dead in the water or anything.

As far as I can tell there isn't any hard proof either way.

veinglory · Mar 12, 2013

These days I don't promote until the book is out.

Toothpaste · Mar 12, 2013

Well I think it depends on the genre. I know my next book (which is my first foray into ebooks) I'm planning on treating very similarly to my other titles. In the YA world there are things like "Waiting on Wednesday" and special blogs all about blogger buzz. Plus you have galleys before the title comes out through Netgalley. If it isn't YA, I can't really say. But I think building buzz is important, whether you do it before or after the book comes out, it probably doesn't matter as much with ebooks. I know that I personally like the idea of building anticipation for something. Get people talking.

But it's very interesting, and something I hadn't really thought of before. Thanks!

Polenth · Mar 12, 2013

Pre-promotion can be overdone, but it's better to make three announcements about different aspects, than repeat the same buy-my-book announcement three times. Splitting out the cover reveal is an obvious way to make an additional announcement.

I'd caution a little on the ebooks are forever thing. It's true for self-publishers, but this is through a publisher. You can't rely on them being around long enough, or offering your book for long enough, for a slow build to work. You need them to sell your book now. If they're doing a lot of other promotional things, then okay... but if they're holding off on everything on the basis that it'll build slowly on its own, that's a bit worrying.

Becky Black · Mar 13, 2013

I think it depends on who you are too. If you're a huge bestseller then of course you can promote months ahead and build up a frenzy about it, have people marking their calenders, pre-ordering etc. If you're not then that's not going to work the same same way. If your books don't go up on retailers websites until the say they are for sale, then you're not going to get people to go pre-order when they see some promo for your book, so if it's too far ahead of release day they'll probably have forgotten by the time it is released.

But there are places like Goodreads, where a book can go up on the database before it's available to buy, and people can add it to their To Read list, so they've at least got a reminder that they liked the look of that, and go convert that into a sale later. But I know I've sometimes taken a second look at one on my Goodreads To Read list and thought "Nah" and deleted it. So it's not as useful as having the instant opportunity to buy.

I do most promo once the book is out. I tend to do a giveaway contest on my blog for the week leading up to release date, make announcements that it's coming beforehand, but not much in the way of full on promo.

veinglory · Mar 13, 2013

I agree that release day/week is still huge. For me that is still when most of the sales happen.

elindsen · Mar 13, 2013

I agree with Becky. Unless you can pre-order, the week of is what's important.

Deleted member 42 · Mar 13, 2013

K. Victoria Chase said:
My publisher has banned the showing of book covers prior to the books release date saying "data" shows that showing covers doesn't positively impact sales. People want to be able to buy the book when they see the cover so if it's not available, you lose the sale (publisher reasoning).

I think it depends on whether or not the writer already has some kind of online community—including things AW as well as Facebook and Twitter and blogs/websites.

If you do, if you already have people you interact with regularly, I think cover reveals are not only fun, but they help people remember that they want to buy your book.

I'd suggest that a month before release a cover should be close to final, even if, say the text/title treatment isn't, for an ebook, and you should post on your site or on the publisher's site a synopsis, an excerpt, the cover and a release date.

Many people are paid monthly, still, and lots of us budget our book buying addiction.

nkkingston · Mar 13, 2013

There's some stuff you have to set up in advanc - blog tours, hops etc, and any paid advertising - but I'd go with release day as a good time to actually set it up to start.

MumblingSage · Mar 13, 2013

Because reviews can take so long to come out, if I plan to contact any reviewers myself I try to do that as soon as my publisher grants me a review file to send out. Also, for the sake of keeping my web pages live, I'll post updates on the process for any reader who wants to follow along. If release week will be busy for me (I have an ebook scheduled to come out while I'm in Ghana at the end of this month!) I try to have a detailed plan ready to execute when the time comes. But most of this is a matter of making life easier for me than for selling big. That comes, as others have said, in release week. And for that it mostly helps to link, link, link to where interested readers can find & buy your book.

K. Victoria Chase · Mar 15, 2013

Hi Everyone!

Thank you for providing feedback. I agree that the cover is needed in advance to set up tours and advertisements to run at the time of release (if you're not going to do any pre-promotion) and that the week before--to generate buzz--does help.

It matters whether or not an author has an online presence/loyal readership (and genre too), but a lot of the authors in the company are new and not being provided a cover until release day (this is the policy), or told not to show it to anyone I think is a bit much. A person might equate this to mean they can't do any pre-promotion...

Becky, I hadn't thought about how this would impact using Goodreads and thankfully, I'm self-publishing my next title so I'll set up an ad in advance.

Polenth, yes, ebooks are forever but our contracts aren't. If a book isn't selling, a publisher might not offer to renew the contract and the author would have to start over anyway.

Thanks again, everyone. I've heard the rule that people generally have to see something several times before they decide to buy/make a decision about something, so I'm going to try Polenth's 'Rule of Three' suggestion about a week before release and we'll see what happens!

nkkingston · Mar 15, 2013

It's certainly useful to have a cover in advance, since almost everything you might set up in advance to run on release week is going to want it as a nice visual "click me to buy me" aid. Without a cover, by the time you shcedule everything the book will have been out a while.

Ebooks and Pre-Promotion

K. Victoria Chase

SelmaW

Follow your heart; take your brain

veinglory

volitare nequeo

Toothpaste

THE RECKLESS RESCUE is out now!

Polenth

Mushroom

Becky Black

Writing my way off the B Ark

veinglory

volitare nequeo

elindsen

Zombie lovin'

Deleted member 42

nkkingston

Bemused Girl

MumblingSage

Inarticulate Herb

K. Victoria Chase

nkkingston

Bemused Girl