I was talking about my BSM (before social media) writing career with someone the other day and as I spoke, I realized that many of my readers here might not realize that this social media for authors thing was a direct result of me being an author whose books went out of print. I didn’t just decide that I was going to become an expert at social media . . . oh yeah, for authors. I am an author. And I am thrilled with social media. And much of what I see happening in social media right now is primed for authors. The publishing industry may lose midlist authors at the speed of sound, but the social media industry is saving them.
Yeah, I was one of those lost authors. Back in the 1990s, I wrote books, eight of them in fact. I sold all of these books without social media (or an agent for that matter) and I learned a lot about how tough the publishing industry is.
It’s tough. It used to be tougher to get yourself noticed by publishers. Back then, there wasn’t Facebook or Twitter or even blogs. This was 1997; the Internet was AOL. I had only been online for two years and my computer was so old (a used 486 laptop) that I had to turn off images whenever I wanted to download web pages. I had an extra phone line for my dial up Internet access. (Yes, I did live way out in the boonies; in a town of about 1,500 people actually.) I helped the postmaster with her email, often going back into the mail sorting room to restart her hard drive. (She still remembers me and tells my mother hello all the time!)
So it’s not like I didn’t have the Internet or email. I did. And I used it to my benefit by connecting with a lot of information, including how to write book proposals and how to approach publishers. The first publisher I approached didn’t do royalties (I was so naive without an agent, I didn’t care) and gave me a flat sum to write seven books for them in 1997 and 1998. They had liked my poetry. (Again, yes, I was a poet once. I poured out my grief in verse after the death of my beloved grandmother.) And so, I was published.
How did that happen? I still don’t know. I was in the right place at the right time. My books may have been from a packager/small publisher, but they scored endcaps in Targets for three years straight. My books were in gift shop catalogs for years. I remember, because I sent out letters to local gift shops telling them so. (Businesses like gift shops didn’t have email back then.) I talked up my books for as long as they were in print.
That may surprise many of you. I know a lot of authors who believe that marketing and promotion of a book only happens in the six weeks leading up to and after a book is published. Yes. And those authors are now out of print.
Just like me.
And I didn’t ever stop marketing. I’m still out of print. It doesn’t mean my books are bad or poorly put together (they were gorgeous hardcovers with vellum book jackets); I have several sitting on my shelf right beside me. It means that there was too limited a way for readers to find out about my books. It means that there were no tools in place to help authors promote and market their books for as long as they are in print.
Things are so much easier in 2010 (I am so thankful!) and my next book will be so much fun to promote! I, for one, can’t wait to start the promotion part. It’s now my favorite thing to do (second to actually writing and revising my book).
Why, you may ask? Why would you love to market and promote?
Because it’s so much better now. It’s possible for authors to promote and market their own books better than their publishers. It’s possible that authors will become bigger brands than publishers!
And that gets me very excited.
Action Tip: Have you been thinking you’ll only have to promote your new book for a couple of months around the release? Can you change your mindset?
In future posts, we’ll be brainstorming ways that authors can promote their books to keep them in print for many, many years and in a way that doesn’t let the promotion take over the writer’s life. Stay tuned.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Dude, this is a brilliant post. I worked as a book publicist for a boutique PR agency and, unfortunately, a New York Times review is no longer the be all and end all of book sales. Readers want a personal connection, not some opinion from a faceless reviewer. Readers want personalized recommendations, friendly neighborhood book bloggers and fan pages where the author actually responds. The opportunities are so limitless, I’m like you – the marketing is the fun part! No more waiting around for your publisher to do some half-assed attempt as book promotion
Marian, thanks for the props. It is a pleasure to meet you and you are so right. This new promotion game for authors is much more fun . . . and authentic. If an author even just realizes this, they are way ahead of the game, as so many authors are just not willing to accept the new social media world. (They want to go back to the old, easy way, when only a few got those NYT book reviews, I guess.)
It’s funny that the most vehement opponents to using social media have the biggest opportunity. As if the NYT would ever come calling at THEIR door (or mine for that matter). I’d rather sell my books to folks who know me and like me than to try and convince an audience that has no idea about me to plunk down 24.95.
But I’m odd. I also plan to be very published in my life, though, so I’ll go with social media.
{ 1 trackback }