- Joined
- Jul 5, 2012
- Messages
- 14,734
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- Location
- Massachusetts
- Website
- elizabethbonesteel.com
I have three books (published 2016, 2016, and 2017) in a series out with a trade publisher. They were, for various reasons, mis-genred and mis-marketed, and predictably they sank like a stone. I'm going to have to self-publish the last two in the series, but that won't likely happen until 2021 or so.
So I'm looking into doing some promotion.
Things I'm doing already:
- The Twitter/Facebook/blog/newsletter/website thing. I probably pick up a few sales here and there from these efforts, but not a lot. I do view them as critical "Liz isn't dead! She's still writing! Don't forget me!" efforts, though.
- Publishing short stories. I put them up for free on my web site (for various reasons I don't want to try to sell them, although I sold a thing that came out early last year). I'm not fast, though, so it's a story or two a year, tops. I'm hoping to speed up my output on this and maybe self-publish a book of shorts (some new to the collection).
- Writing another book. It is, by necessity, a non-series book, but I got an agent off of it, and I have some small hope it'll find a publisher. Thing is, because of the Catastrophe of the Series, I'll probably have to pub under a pen name, which won't help the sales of my existing stuff.
Things that seem impossible/not useful:
- I can't do price promotion because the publisher controls the price. I'm not even sure about the legality of hand-selling my author copies; when I've sold copies at cons in the past, it's always through a retailer who collects the money.
- I can do Goodreads giveaways if I pay for them, but I can only do them of hardcopies; I have no promotional ebook copies. Having been through the Goodreads giveaway thing before they charged, I can't say they produced a big sales bump, so I'm not sure footing the bill on my own would make sense.
- I volunteered to work at a con that seemed a good fit, and they didn't want anything to do with me. Because that kinda stung, I haven't been proactive about continuing to apply at cons.
Things I'm considering:
- I'm putting together some promotional images I can toss up on Instagram and Twitter, but I don't expect a lot of results from those.
- Pushing the con thing. I'm thinking I'm probably just going to have to keep cheerfully running my face into that buzz-saw. If nothing else, appearing at cons gives the desirable "Liz isn't dead!" impression. (I know I've bought the odd book because I liked how the author came across at a con.) This is probably necessary for my career in general, but I wouldn't expect it to do much for these specific books.
- I hear rumors that there are respectable book bloggers out there who sometimes cover older work. This might be my best bet, if I can find bloggers who are a good fit.
It's likely there's absolutely nothing effective I can do at this point. I do realize that. But I'm not sure my books were ever marketed/promoted in their actual genre. Hell, I'm not sure the second and third books were publicized at all. And I love them, and I'm stubborn.
Any thoughts from the experts?
So I'm looking into doing some promotion.
Things I'm doing already:
- The Twitter/Facebook/blog/newsletter/website thing. I probably pick up a few sales here and there from these efforts, but not a lot. I do view them as critical "Liz isn't dead! She's still writing! Don't forget me!" efforts, though.
- Publishing short stories. I put them up for free on my web site (for various reasons I don't want to try to sell them, although I sold a thing that came out early last year). I'm not fast, though, so it's a story or two a year, tops. I'm hoping to speed up my output on this and maybe self-publish a book of shorts (some new to the collection).
- Writing another book. It is, by necessity, a non-series book, but I got an agent off of it, and I have some small hope it'll find a publisher. Thing is, because of the Catastrophe of the Series, I'll probably have to pub under a pen name, which won't help the sales of my existing stuff.
Things that seem impossible/not useful:
- I can't do price promotion because the publisher controls the price. I'm not even sure about the legality of hand-selling my author copies; when I've sold copies at cons in the past, it's always through a retailer who collects the money.
- I can do Goodreads giveaways if I pay for them, but I can only do them of hardcopies; I have no promotional ebook copies. Having been through the Goodreads giveaway thing before they charged, I can't say they produced a big sales bump, so I'm not sure footing the bill on my own would make sense.
- I volunteered to work at a con that seemed a good fit, and they didn't want anything to do with me. Because that kinda stung, I haven't been proactive about continuing to apply at cons.
Things I'm considering:
- I'm putting together some promotional images I can toss up on Instagram and Twitter, but I don't expect a lot of results from those.
- Pushing the con thing. I'm thinking I'm probably just going to have to keep cheerfully running my face into that buzz-saw. If nothing else, appearing at cons gives the desirable "Liz isn't dead!" impression. (I know I've bought the odd book because I liked how the author came across at a con.) This is probably necessary for my career in general, but I wouldn't expect it to do much for these specific books.
- I hear rumors that there are respectable book bloggers out there who sometimes cover older work. This might be my best bet, if I can find bloggers who are a good fit.
It's likely there's absolutely nothing effective I can do at this point. I do realize that. But I'm not sure my books were ever marketed/promoted in their actual genre. Hell, I'm not sure the second and third books were publicized at all. And I love them, and I'm stubborn.
Any thoughts from the experts?