Promoting a book BEFORE you get the deal -- why are people doing this?

Huh. Interesting. I’ve come across it once or twice, and thought it was strange as well. Following this thread because I’m curious now!

That... seems like a bad idea? If the book bellyflops with agents or publishers, then what? Besides embarrassment that is.

I have a website for my world, and on the website I plan to put free novellas. The timing seems important--get the book out first, and coordinate everything.

My best bet on the question is that these folks are querying and there is mixed advice out there of having a website, etc, plus the query manager question DO YOU HAVE A WEBSITE? all gives off the YOU BETTER HAVE A WEBSITE vibe.

My guess is people are trying to get their ducks in a row, and there are so many options out there (I mean, so many, and growing by the day--there's a thing to add to the list called audio dramas, and a new thing called AMP stories by google. I think in this 'rapidly changing environment' people figure there are no rules--just get your stuff out! I'm old enough to remember when blogs first came out, and the sense was, 'Who are these people? Journalists?' Things keep changing.)

Clairels said:

I suppose many of these people are going into this assuming they'll self-publish if can't find a publisher. Which on its own shouldn't be embarrassing, but if you've been publicly parading your book in front of publishers, it probably would.

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Other reasons this is a bad idea:

- You're publishing a portion of your book. Yes, putting a chapter on a public web site is publishing.
- A publisher (and sometimes an agent) will likely have edits and revisions they want you to do, which will render your published novel excerpt obsolete.

I wonder if the one-in-a-million Wattpad success stories are feeding this?

I've seen a lot of so-called marketing and publicity experts claim that you should promote your books as soon as you possibly can.

It's ridiculous.

Until your work has been signed, edited, and proofed you have no idea what the final version will be, and so the extracts you put up online can be horribly misleading. Also, it does not help sales. It just makes people bored with your book before it is even signed.

Don't do it. Be sensible.

Sometimes because of the terrible advice some people throw out - that agents/publishers won't give you a deal unless you have a "following" (note: I'm talking about fiction here, not nonfic where a platform is important).

Sometimes because of excitement and wanting to share their work.

I met an aspiring writer a couple of years ago who was absolutely convinced of things like: Most writers only get published because of who they know, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, if you have enough Twitter followers you’re bound to be published, etc. He was a walking sign labelled Wrong Ideas.

Introversion said:

I met an aspiring writer a couple of years ago who was absolutely convinced of things like: Most writers only get published because of who they know, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, if you have enough Twitter followers you’re bound to be published, etc. He was a walking sign labelled Wrong Ideas.

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Pretty sure I know that guy. He's also the one who insists you beta-read the first draft that he finished last Wednesday, and when you send your notes back (four days later) he says thanks, but he's already sent it out to the publishers. All of the publishers.

And then he explains - at quite some length - that the trick is to interest everyone at once, to build an auction.

On a first draft.

LOL! And when I said “I met”, it was when he became my new boss for a short time.

Introversion said:

LOL! And when I said “I met”, it was when he became my new boss for a short time.

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Why is Wrong Idea Guy always hired to supervise poor suffering people who just want to do their jobs? Is it because he is So. Completely. Confident. ABOUT EVERYTHING? Agh I hatehimdieWrongGuydie

WrongGuy had Significant Issues. Perhaps off his meds. In any case, I didn’t have to work for him very long.

The ironic thing was, Spouse has been published. I several times told him that his Wrong Ideas were directly contradicted by her experiences. He wanted to know if she could introduce him to people, because that’s how you get published...

Pretty sure he stalked me here, too.

Yeah, pretty sure he was here for a time, before flouncing. Sorry about that.

Introversion said:

Yeah, pretty sure he was here for a time, before flouncing. Sorry about that.

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No worries. Closest I ever got o fame.

For everyone else: Wrong Guy heard that my wife was published, and asked for a link to her books, and I told him that we hang out here (“in a forum for writers”), before I knew he was Wrong Guy. I’d never have given her (or the rest of you) up to Wrong Guy.

Introversion said:

For everyone else: Wrong Guy heard that my wife was published, and asked for a link to her books, and I told him that we hang out here (“in a forum for writers”), before I knew he was Wrong Guy. I’d never have given her (or the rest of you) up to Wrong Guy.

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Don't beat yourself up. There's a WrongGuy for each of us.

Earthling said:

Sometimes because of the terrible advice some people throw out - that agents/publishers won't give you a deal unless you have a "following".

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We live in a world in which C$75 gets you 15,000 followers. It's easy to build a platform this way. That's what attracts other businesses or so goes the thinking.

Achat d'abonnés sur Instagram: une pratique «frustrante» mais «très présente»
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/...ne-pratique-frustrante-mais-tres-presente.php

Translation: The Pretty Runner was a scam to check how easy it was to build followers on Youtube and Instagram.

Earthling said:

Sometimes Often because of excitement and wanting to share their work. ego.

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Fixed.


-cb

They're amateurs.

(ok, 'amateur' is a problem word here if you like to quibble* - but what I mean is that this sounds like the kind of thing done by a person who fails to quite 'get' how professional/established publishing works, or they are willfully ignoring it because thier primary motivation is a fantasy about publishing.)

*I love to quibble.

I was bluntly told by a small press owner that I had to have a "platform" before even querying the book. That sounded ridiculous to me, but I realize now that this was only because they had no inclination or ability to do any marketing themselves, so it was up to me. When I sent back my R&R, I noted all the stuff I had done to comply with this supposed requirement. They still rejected my revisions. But I think many people are taking these instructions to heart, and it's kind of become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

What the others have said here. Plus, potential for embarrassment aside, it's probably not the best use of an aspiring authors limited time. Better to spend it writing. I'm not saying that participating in social media platforms you enjoy isn't a good thing, but the low-hanging fruit is long harvested there, especially for unknown writers.

Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, there were some early blog adopters (like John Scalzi) who published a first novel on their blogs, chapter by chapter. Scalzi, at least, eventually got a book deal out of it, and Old Man's War launched his very successful career as a SF writer.

It didn't hurt that Scalzi had background in journalism (or something along those lines) already either. I think he had people who knew who he was before he even started blogging.

It's going to be much, much harder to get traction doing that now, even if your book is brilliant and you have a knack for blogging. Even established authors with well-reviewed books with decent sales don't have the kinds of followers Scalzi's blog still boasts (and he mentioned some time back that his blog has lost followers in recent years, because there are so many other ways for people to follow their favorite authors online). Social media and the endless parade of distractions on the internet, not to mention blog saturation, means unknown people on the internet are far more likely to get tens of followers instead of thousands (let alone tens of thousands).

I'd feel so silly doing that. I didn't even tell anyone I'd written anything until I got offers!

I've been blogging for years, and built up enough of a following that I was paid to moderate panels at book conferences, but before being published it would never have occurred to me to promote an unpublished manuscript. (And even then my blogging had nothing to do with my offer.)

I’m a journalist, and I’ve had writers contact me to ask me to “promote” or “publicize” their unpublished books. One guy suggested an article in the paper would help him get an agent. We have a system for covering self-published books, of which there are tons (even just counting the local ones). So I try to tell these people as gently as possible to go get published in whichever way works for them, and then come back and we’ll talk. (And when you come back, please don’t tell me you want to “collaborate on marketing” your book. Ads cost money. Editorial content is not “marketing.”)

I’ve heard of books that were popular in contests like Pitch Wars creating such buzz that they got huge deals; perhaps that, like Wattpad, is a source of this belief. But nothing generates buzz randomly. I also get literally dozens of book publicist emails every day (most touting self-published books), and every single one touts the book as buzz-worthy and ground-breaking. I don’t open most of them. You want to make me take notice, send me a physical book through the mail (but, y’know, check our guidelines first).

I can understand the urge to tell everybody about your book. I wrote a bunch of books before the first sale, and every time I finished a ms., I thought I’d done something amazing. I wanted to shout it from the rooftops. But now, having seen the sheer volume of books out there (via my job), I know the truly amazing accomplishment is writing something people want to read.

Right now I’ve done almost all the work on a book that’s slated to be published in a year, and it’s killing me not to be able to talk about it and post the cover and so forth. But I’m waiting. Trade publishing teaches a person patience. When I do start talking, I know I’ll be entering a very, very crowded arena and I’ll need all the support I can get from publisher, agent, friends, etc.