On Marketing and Success
© Anthony G Williams
A version of this article was first published on my SFF blog on 1 September 2007
Amended 21 July 2009
Marketing is an issue for most authors these days, not just for those like me
who self-publish. Only a small percentage of those published even by the big
publishing firms are given full marketing support, and they will probably be
required to go on book-signing tours etc as a part of that investment. The costs
of extensive advertising, of salesmen who will go around to bookstores to
promote books (an important element in success), and of paying bookstores to
feature books in displays, are beyond the reach of individuals or small
publishers.
So the great majority of authors have to spend time on boosting their own
chances of success. The traditional routes are well known, the main one being to
send out review copies to all appropriate paper and electronic journals (but
there are far more books than there are review slots, and well-known authors and
big publishers tend to take precedence). The internet permits other
alternatives, such as websites, MySpace, blogs and book
discussion forums (although most of the forums understandably take a dim view of
authors trying to promote their own work). Perhaps one of the best routes,
particularly for those of us who use POD publishing and rely on on-line sales,
is to accumulate a lot of reviews from satisfied readers on Amazon. Even that
has its downside, however, with the unscrupulous getting their friends and
family to post glowing reviews (something which Amazon is trying to address).
There is also, of course, a Catch-22 with Amazon reviews: getting many good ones
probably boosts sales a lot, but since only a tiny percentage of readers bothers
to comment, you need a lot of sales before you can get those reviews.
The problem for authors is that however much effort you put into marketing, the
results are completely unpredictable. I have been reflecting on this lately due
to the varied fortunes of my two novels. At the time that the first one, 'The
Foresight War', was published at the end of 2004, I knew little about fiction
publishing, and decided to self-publish because I wanted to hit a particular
publication date (the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the end of World
War 2). I put very little effort into marketing: a few review copies, a few
mentions on websites, and that was all. Yet the book started selling immediately
and has sold steadily ever since. Despite the fact that I paid for a full
service from my publishers (Authors OnLine), profits from book sales recovered
those costs twice over some time ago and continue to deliver a small but steady income.
For my second novel, 'Scales', I was much more organised. To minimise the costs,
I did more of the preparatory work myself (and a special thank-you to Oleg Volk,
who designed the cover for me), and I took a much more systematic approach to
marketing, sending out a lot more review copies and providing details to many
different booksellers. I was even lucky enough to be interviewed for a podcast
on The Writing Show, as I
described in an earlier post. However, the book's sales since its publication in
January 2007 were so slow that I eventually decided to cut my losses and offer
it as a free download on my website, rather than let all that work go to waste.
Why this difference in sales success? One possible variable is of course the quality of the work, but I doubt that is
a factor. 'The Foresight War' is actually weak on some of the usual elements of
fiction, particularly characterisation, because I wrote it in order to explore
ideas about an alternative World War 2, so the characters are mainly there to
carry the plot. 'Scales' is much more focused on the principal character (and
the story is told in the first person to emphasise this), and the feedback I
have had from those who have read both is that it is a much better novel. It did
get off to an unfortunate start with one reviewer who took a great dislike to it
(it happens; something which all authors have to live with) but the few reviews
posted since then have been much more favourable. Even so, it did not sell.
The conclusion which I have come to is that it is the plot which makes the
difference. While 'The Foresight War' is probably of little interest to most
readers of fiction, it appeals strongly to those fascinated by the Second World
War, and particularly those who enjoy discussing the "what ifs" of that
conflict. There are discussion forums which focus on just that, and their
members are interested in hearing about novels on the subject. In fact, there
aren't that many novels published which deal with such 'alternative WW2'
scenarios, so there is little competition.
'Scales', on the other hand, fits into the mainstream SF category. It's set in
the present day and concerns what happens to a man who acquires non-human
characteristics and abilities as a result of an accident. It is, I am told, much
more interesting and enjoyable for non-WW2 enthusiasts than 'The Foresight War'.
However, it battled for attention with countless others and, being
self-published, has a much lower profile. It simply got lost in the sea of
fiction.
So what lessons can be drawn from this?
The first is that success (particularly for self-published works) is more likely
if a story appeals to a niche market which can be identified and reached.
The second is that it is easier to build sales if succeeding novels are in the
same genre; and easier still if they form a series, which is why publishers like
authors to write sequels to successful novels.
Finally, a philosophical approach is required. Most novels (whether
traditionally or self-published) lose money, which is why publishers put such a
lot of effort into identifying and promoting the few best-sellers which make all
of the profit.
To sum up; write if you must, publish if you can, market as vigorously as you
feel able to, but keep your expectations low and be prepared to be very patient
and persistent!
Anthony G Williams is the author of The Foresight War and Scales
Click on the titles for details, reviews and to read the first chapters of 'The Foresight War' online, or to download 'Scales' free
A longer article on publishing fiction is HERE