I've just put up a "book trailer" for my forthcoming Grand Central
Arena (at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgzM0J9XikU ), and I now have a
website dedicated to it (www.grandcentralarena.com). I'm also posting
chapters of it (about 3 a week, 7 up so far) on my LiveJournal and on
Baen's Bar. I'm even looking into testing the results from doing a
billboard, just for laughs.

        What methods do you people use, if any, to publicize your books? Any
that you've found work really well?

--
                      Sea Wasp
                        /^\
                        ;;;    
      Live Journal: http://seawasp.livejournal.com

In article <hdu5k4$q7...@news.eternal-september.org>,
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) <seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:

Well, *I* never did any.  But I'm going to read in a post that
Patricia Wrede made on the subject, some years ago.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
From pwrede6...@aol.com Thu Apr 13 10:13:34 PDT 2006

.....

OK, one thing at a time.

1) What you absolutely need to have:    Business cards.  You don't need to
buy a box of 600, but you need some.  I got stock from Office Max that's
pre-printed in a design I like, and run off a page or two when I need them.
There are about eight cards to a page, and two pages is usually plenty,
though I'd probably run off some extras if I were going to Worldcon or World
Fantasy.

2) What is a good idea to have:  *One* copy of the book OR cover flat OR a
largish printed-out version of the jpg your publisher sent you, to hang off
the table when you're on a panel so people can see what your book looks
like.  A largish color print-out is actually better for this than a cover
flat, because it's more easily visible in the back rows.  You don't have to
give this away.

3) Things that are nice but not necessary:  Everything else.  Bookmarks,
book plates, postcards, flyers, cover flats, posters, key rings, T-shirts,
mugs...  You don't need these.  The more expensive ones (posters, T-shirts,
mugs, etc.) have a ludicrously negative ROI -- they cost you *far* more than
the royalty you are going to get on the sale of the book, even if every
single one generates one or two new sales (and that's assuming a hardback
first printing; for a paperback original, practically *nothing* is going to
earn out).  Cover flats are nice, but I've never had any to give away.  Not
ever.

You do not have to bribe people with freebies.  You do not have to give away
stuff at a con or signing in order to get people to buy your book.  If you
actually talk to people, you will find that mostly this doesn't work -- the
flyers and bookmarks and so on are, at best, reminders of someone people
heard on a panel and thought was interesting.  If you *want* to do
something, printing out a flyer (which you can make up using your jpg of the
cover and the flap copy, or you can make up your own extra flap copy if you
want) can be nice, but you don't have to.

Next:  conventions and appearances and other publicity stuff.

1)  What you absolutely *have* to do:   ALWAYS be really nice to the sales
staff in bookstores.  These are the people who will hand-sell your book if
they like you, and steer people away from it if they think you're a jerk.
Ditto librarians.  If you are not naturally a nice person, at least keep
your mouth shut and don't do damage.  If you are a total jerk and can't even
manage to keep your mouth shut, give a fake name...

1a)  What *else* you absolutely positively *have* to do:  Nothing.

That's right.  Nothing.  Zip, zero, nada.  Fandom is actually quite a small
part of the SF readership.  Even if you went to Worldcon and got every
single one of the 6,000 people there to buy your paperback book (an
extremely unlikely prospect), if *only* those people buy it, the book will
be the most dismal of flops.  Writers, and sometimes publishers, forget
this.

There are lots of good reasons for going to conventions.  Getting publicity
is not one of them.  Publicity is a convenient and useful side-effect of
doing something that *you would do anyway for fun*.  If the *only* reason
you are attending a convention is to promote your book, stay home.  The ROI
just isn't there.  If you *like* conventions and talking to fans and meeting
up with old/new friends and partying and so on, then by all means take your
business cards and maybe a few flyers and be sure the programming people put
you on some panels and maybe give you a reading or an autographing at the
conventions you go to, and then take the expenses off on your taxes.  But
you don't *have* to do this stuff.

2) What you don't *have* to do, but what is a Really Good Idea:  Sign stock.
Face-out your books.  That is, whenever you go into a bookstore, sneak over
to the section where your books are and turn them face-out on the shelf
(shoving loose books together to make room).  Eventually, the staff will
come around and put them back, but in the meantime it makes your book more
visible.  If you have friends in other cities, get them to do the same.
Also, some bookstores have "Local author!!" stickers or flags that they'll
put on books, if you let them know you are one.  Do this *before* you go
over and face-out your books.  Also, whenever you go into a bookstore,
introduce yourself and ask if they'd like you to sign stock -- many
bookstores also have "autographed copy" stickers, and this can be a
sales-booster, especially right before Christmas.  You don't have to make a
big point of doing a tour of bookstores to do these things; just whenever
you happen to be in a bookstore, do them.  They don't cost you anything, and
they help a little.

3) What is *maybe* a good idea to do:  Worldcon and/OR World Fantasy Con,
your local convention(s), local autographings.  Worldcon and WFC are where
the editors and agents go, and lots of other writers; they're a good place
to network professionally, if you need that.  (If you're a one-book-a-year
writer and you don't do short stories and you're happy with the publisher
you have and they're happy with you and you're not going to be branching out
into anything new any time soon -- in short, if you haven't got anything to
sell -- these are less directly useful, and they're the most expensive of
the cons, so they're skippable.  I go to Worldcon or WFC maybe once every
five years or so, when it's somewhere close to me or somewhere really
interesting that I want to visit.)  It is polite and useful to go to your
local SF convention -- it's usually not as expensive, and they're usually
willing to make a bit of a fuss over you *because* you're local, so you get
practice at doing cons and panels and you get to meet their GOHs, and they
get another Real Live Author to be on panels, and everybody benefits.  If
you're close enough, you can sometimes even skip the hotel room and just
commute from home for these, which makes them cheap to free (cons often comp
the memberships of authors who participate in programming).

Local autographings can be nice if you have a friendly relationship with
your local independent bookstore and/or big-chain store.  They give you a
sense of Doing Something, and they provide an opportunity for friends and
family to watch you Be An Author; they also can provide some local
publicity.  If you have a possible-but-slightly-unusual-potential-audience,
like David with his lawyers and students, then they can be a good way to
reach out to those people.  And they don't cost you anything but time.  On
the negative side, they tend not to generate a lot of new sales (i.e., most
of the people who come and buy the book are people who'd have bought it
anyway).  And it's easy to flood a local market -- it's better to do one
signing at a local bookstore that brings in twenty people (even if they're
all your friends and relatives) than to do ten signings that draw two people
each.  Remember, from the *bookstore's* point of view, the signing is
supposed to generate sales for *them* -- if you bring in 20 people, they'll
want you back for the next book; if you bring in two, you'll have trouble
scheduling another one until you hit the NY Times bestseller list.  It can
be fun to combine one of these with a "book launch party" -- which is just
what it sounds like, a party at a bookstore where you have food and stuff to
drink and maybe do a reading and then sign.  For this kind of thing, you
furnish the refreshments (sometimes you can talk your publisher into kicking
in a few bucks) and invite your friends, but you also do flyers and send out
press releases and so on to get other people there.

4)  What is nice, depending on your point of view, but very definitely not
necessary:  Everything else.  If you like conventions and would go anyway,
then go and be on panels -- the publicity aspect lets you deduct the
expenses.  If you don't like them, and wouldn't go except for the publicity
benefits, then don't bother.  Some writers find them enjoyable and
invigorating; others find them draining but fun, still others find them a
right nuisance.  Figure out which camp you're in, and plan accordingly.

In Summary:  Twenty-five years ago, three editors and two sales reps sat
down with our writer's group at a convention to give advice.  The advice
they gave, much to the dismay of several of the writers, was:  The best
thing you can do to improve the sales of your first book is to write your
second book.  In response to a point-blank question ("What can we do to help
the sales of our books?") the sales rep, in tones of horror, shot back,
"Nothing!"  The consensus was that doing publicity served little purpose
other than to make the writer feel good, except when the writer screwed it
up (when it actually damaged sales).

In the ensuing 25 years, I've seen a lot of writers who work in a lot of
different ways, and I wouldn't go quite so far as to say "do nothing."  But
writers are not publicists, and many of them dislike and/or are not good at
promoting their books.   And you don't *have* to -- my observation,
...

read more »

Dorothy J Heydt <djhe...@kithrup.com> wrote:

It's a nice post.
But its horribly out-of-date.

You-tube trailers aren't even listed on the lists of things you don't
have to do.  In fact, just about the only digital form of promotion in
there is "blogs"... no mention of facebook, or twitter...

There are so many new ways to pretend to be doing something helpful
nowadays.  >:)

And I think author websites should be at least on the "really, really
nice" list and I'm even tempted to put them on the must list.  Any
author that doesn't have a website with a biography, bibiliography and
contact information of some kind, (even if it's "inquiries can reach me
via my agent at...") is just asking to be ignored by the continually
growing numbers of online book buyers.

As for Sea Wasp's question.  I can think of a few ways to try promoting
oneself, but I have no way of knowing how efffective or ineffective any
of them are.   :(

Maybe some of the ways that the webcomic community have found to be
useful might also work for authors? There's an ad service called
"Project Wonderful"  that might be worth looking into.  Exchanges of
various types with other authors with similar works... interviewing each
other, or having your characters interview their characters,  contests
of various kinds... even creating informal (or formal) author's
collectives would probably be helpful also.  

I always kind of wonder about contests that you really need to have read
the book to be able to enter that then get a copy of the book as a
prize, though... I assume that the author is hoping that they will give
the spare copy away or something?  I think what you want is a contest
that will sound like something that might be fun to do, to the sort of
people who will also find your book fun.  You want to promote to people
who wouldn't have heard about your book otherwise, right?

Anyway, if you run the contest on your own blog, or whatever, you're
selling to the pre-sold.   Thats why I suggested it as part of an author
promotion exchange thingy.

--
Michelle Bottorff -> Chelle B. -> Shelby
L. Shelby, Writer  http://www.lshelby.com/
Livejournal http://lavenderbard.livejournal.com/
rec.arts.sf.composition FAQ http://www.lshelby.com/rasfcFAQ.html

In article <hdu5k4$q7...@news.eternal-september.org>,
 "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:

I've tried going to sf cons, putting up posters (just 8 1/2x11), putting
out piles of bookmarks, and the like. I have no evidence that any of
them worked.

I also gave at least one reading at a local bookstore. The lady at the
bookstore who arranged it ended up buying a copy--I don't know if anyone
else did.

--
 http://www.daviddfriedman.com/ http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/
Author of
_Future Imperfect: Technology and Freedom in an Uncertain World_,
Cambridge University Press.

In article <Kt9G7x.1...@kithrup.com>,
 djhe...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:

...

Thanks. A very good account.

--
 http://www.daviddfriedman.com/ http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/
Author of
_Future Imperfect: Technology and Freedom in an Uncertain World_,
Cambridge University Press.

   I'm not in a position to publicize anything yet, but I have to agree.
Most, if not all, of the agent and publisher blogs that I have read all
suggest that an author must have some kind of web presence.

   I used PW to advertise my webcomic, and it was probably the best bang
for my buck.  It's not the best bang, though -- it's not the best way to
advertise, it's just the best way to advertise cheaply.

   To put estimated numbers on this, I spent maybe $50 on PW.  That ad
campaign lasted for months, got small ads put up on major webcomics like
Girl Genius (and a lot of minor comics), and by the end of it I'd estimate
that my comic picked up about 100 readers.  I don't have a hard number
because of the randomness involved with PW -- you bid your ad's price,
and websites may or may not accept it at that price, so which sites your
ad ends up on varies from day to day.

   As a point of reference, I also did a coordinated ad campaign with
Keenspot.  It cost $300, and saturated all Keenspot comics with my banners
for two weeks.  I picked up about 500 or more readers during this time.
So the more expensive options are often the most effective, I'd say.  

   (If and when I publish a novel, I might just buy spots on BoingBoing
and CNN.com.)

   With webcomics, word of mouth is the best form of advertisement, and that
is often generated when you draw fan art for someone else.  Where novels are
concerned, you'll get word of mouth from famous bloggers.  I know of at least
one who has openly said that he'll blog about any free book anyone sends him.
(No guarantees that his review will be good, though.)

   But working the bloggers is getting back into social networking.  If you
know how to be social, you probably don't need to be told who to suck up to.
Assholes like me, well, we need to keep our mouth shut and figure out where
to apply money to the problem.

...                                                                  ...
Remus Shepherd <re...@panix.com>
   Journal:  http://www.livejournal.com/users/remus_shepherd/

"Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:

I don't know, but I've been told, all that glitters...

No wait, it isn't "all that glitters", it's "all that twitters", yeah,
that's it.

I've been told that setting up a twitter account and twitting about
your progress is a good way to promote nearly anything.

I'm a doubter, I've tried twitter and found its user interface to be
reminiscent of a cosmic fart (it's stinky).  But if you're desperate
enough it might be worth a try.

I've also been told that one of the benefits to having a publisher (as
opposed to self-publishing) is that your publisher deals with
publicity.  Go figure, I must've rode in on last night's turnip truck.

--
  arggh, is it priate day again?

Pornographic cover art could be a requirement of our times.

--
  arggh, is it priate day again?

For most books, most of the publisher's publicity efforts go towards
getting the bookstore buyers to buy the books, so that they will be on
the shelves.  

This is probably wise, because if the book isn't there, very few people
will go to the extra effort of special ordering it.  It's what you might
call a major achievement, and it's one that the self published author is
unlikely to *ever* reach.

And yet, just getting the bookstore to stock the book is insufficient
for it to achieve commercial success.  Not only must the books be there,
but a significant number of people need to buy them as well.  So many
professionally published authors, possibly even most, seem to feel that
some additional effort on the part on their part is worth trying.

When Patricia made her post, there really just wasn't much most authors
could do.  But now that we have moved even further into the digital age,
it is possible (although by no means guarenteed) that an author can
have, all by their lonesome, enough "reach" for their marketting efforts
to have a noticable positive effect on their sales.

However, as close as I can figure out.  Most of them don't have that
reach, and spend all their marketting efforts "selling" to their
existing audience.

On the other hand, if they are having fun, and not wasting undo amounts
of time or money this can still be a postive achievement.  Unless the
author comes across as a total jerk, it tends to make that existing
audience a little more loyal.

--
Michelle Bottorff -> Chelle B. -> Shelby
L. Shelby, Writer  http://www.lshelby.com/
Livejournal http://lavenderbard.livejournal.com/
rec.arts.sf.composition FAQ http://www.lshelby.com/rasfcFAQ.html

On Nov 17, 11:54 am, mbotto...@lshelby.com (Michelle Bottorff) wrote:
(...)

Someone checking out a web site might not have the book yet, or might
not have your newest book yet, but a cooperative seems like it would
be a good idea.    I know of authors who distribute fliers in other
people's books.   I think something like that would be useful, too, so
long as care is taken not to spend more than is gained.

I won a "door prize" in an online author chat.    It was a signed
novel.    When it arrived in the mail it had the author's signature
but wasn't personalized.    I considered this a "fail".    It's one
thing to sign books in a book store so that people will pick the book
with a signature, but how hard is it to write "to Julie" if an
individual wins an autographed copy?    There doesn't have to be more
of a note than that but I know many authors add the year and a
standard quip.  "Enjoy the adventure!"  or something like that.   I
don't consider that at all necessary... but I think the "to Julie" is
a must.

-Julie

news:f4b9f06a-dbc3-4781-8497-a5976717a5d2@u16g2000pru.googlegroups.com...
On Nov 17, 11:54 am, mbotto...@lshelby.com (Michelle Bottorff) wrote:
(...)

I will never pen "to Julie" without express permission.  Maybe Julie is your
SCA name only; maybe you plan to gift this book to your niece/nephew and
want their name in it; maybe you live with an abusive partner who would bash
you if they thought you had a relationship with an author.  I don't know,
and the first two at least happen often enough that I'm not willing to
guess. (Myself, I get really really annoyed when I am addressed as "Susan"
so I am cautious.)

On Nov 18, 11:43 am, "Suzanne Blom" <sueb...@execpc.com> wrote:

Well... generally when someone is standing there you ask.

And to get the door prize they had to get my mailing address.   "Would
you like the book personalized?" seems easy enough to do in that
situation or if the book is a prize on a web site.

I can sympathize with the author's dilemma you describe but I don't
think it's that difficult to find out when something is *supposed* to
be a special award what the awardee wants done, and as the person on
the receiving end, unfairly or not, I was annoyed.

-Julie

Remember that in autographed-book circles, a not-personalized signed
book is actually worth more than one signed "To Joe, with best regards,
Famous Author."  (I believe the exception is dedications to other famous
persons; thus a book signed, "To my brother Bobby, hope ya like it!
Love, Jack Kennedy" would be more valuable than one simply signed by JFK.)

So by not personalizing it the author is actually maxing the value of it
for you.

Brenda

        Of course, my assumption is that you want the signed book for you, or
for your kid, or whoever. If you want it for value (I now laugh at the
very thought, HHAHAHAHAHAHA!), well, that strikes me as not quite the
point of my signing the book.

--
                      Sea Wasp
                        /^\
                        ;;;    
      Live Journal: http://seawasp.livejournal.com