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I hear the platform, platform, platform push a lot lately. I realize if you're a non-fiction author, platform is imperative. What about fiction writers?
Are any of you actively marketing yourselves online? If so, how? What are your results? Is it even useful for creating an audience, or just another procrastination technique to deter us from getting another manuscript polished and marketed?
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I blog (but a mommy blog, whereas my writing is YA sci-fi), I am very active on Facebook (though most of the people I'm connected to I *really* know, so it's not like I use it as a marketing tool exactly, though most of them are really supportive of my writing, so there's that. And there's plenty of "writer friends" on fb.) I own my own domain name. One of these days I'll put up the website for it (I need a professional website for other business reasons as well, so it'll have a dual purpose for my profession as an independent consultant and as a writer.) I am starting to put stories online via smashwords (and ultimately the Kindle store, when I finish.) I'm going to keep it small at first, but am open to the idea of epublishing my work at some point.
All of these, though, I view as more "business" activities than marketing activities. I think the idea of pushing yourself as a product and brand name and all that is a bit of internet hooey, though I have plenty of friends who are really committed to this (and who have some success - but these are friends with extremely focused missions/areas they work in. I'm way too much of a generalist for this, I don't have any single area I love so much that I only want to talk about it, lol.)
Dean Wesley Smith, who is a writer who writes about the publishing business that I like (I recently attended one of his workshops) says not to engage in any marketing you haven't been explicitly paid to do. Marketing = NOT WRITING. And if your profession is a writer, anything that pulls you from writing can be viewed as taking away from your income. He says it in a much more coherent manner, but that's the gist. I figure once I have a nice fat contract with a publisher, I can talk to them about what marketing they'd like for me to do. But until then I'll just keep working on the things I work on because I view them as essential to running my business (where writing books is what my business does.)
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Other than myself I have little to market. (although I have an extensive WIP and trunk folders on my computer.)
I will be setting up three websites in the near future though. One with my name, one with my pseudonym and one for a storefront should I choose to sell my works myself.
Gotta think positive. I'm also contemplating creating an e-book publishing business (the storefront would be part of that.) Sort of like Smashwords. If anyone would be interested in joining me in my endeavor, let me know. I'll be doing it part time.
Right now I've got a writer's blog that is not active enough (my fault exclusively).
Personally I'm not doing much either. I do have a blog but I probably should have started it back when my one published story was fresh in some readers' minds because I have only a couple of people who have read it. http://musingsofle.blogspot.com
I have heard that if we feel the need to do something we can pass out business cards with just our names and contact info-no titles such as writer- on them to agents ect..
Most published writers have blogs and/or web sites these days. That helps with the fan base and I would think would encourage readership. One pro writer has a lousy site that most not have been updated in years. By updated I mean improved.
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I think to build platform with a blog you'd need it to be about something you can draw a crowd with - kind of like Allie Brosh's witty paintbrush drawings which have managed to garner 30,000 readers or so.
I have always been a quiet person and the concept of self-promotion is something I'm not entirely comfortable with. That may change as needs arise, but I'd like to think that any publisher I work with will have publicity and marketing people who know how to promote my book (I still update facebook and my blog, but rarely - just to exercise the brain and think outside the box once in a while).
I think to build platform with a blog you'd need it to be about something you can draw a crowd with - kind of like Allie Brosh's witty paintbrush drawings which have managed to garner 30,000 readers or so. I have always been a quiet person and the concept of self-promotion is something I'm not entirely comfortable with. That may change as needs arise, but I'd like to think that any publisher I work with will have publicity and marketing people who know how to promote my book (I still update facebook and my blog, but rarely - just to exercise the brain and think outside the box once in a while).
Yeah, that is their job even though I've heard some publishers may not not be doing it as much as they used to. For midlist authors that is.
But for me the internet is different, its a way to keep in touch with your fans when you have any that is. Which can be said about me too. And as I said before that could be a way to sell more books, a few more anyway.
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BenM - that site is hysterical. I can see why she's attracting 30,000 readers. Thanks for sending it, as it's a good study.
KayTi - I like your reference to Dean Wesley Smith's philosophy. There's only so much time in the day for unpublished novelists to hone their craft AND keep their day job, so from that standpoint it makes sense to focus on your one desire.
But what keeps nagging me in the back of my head is that I've been a creative director for marketing and pr firms for the past fifteen years. I've watched as sites like Club Penguin get picked up for millions by major players (Disney), and I keep thinking - how can we do it as authors? I get how the songwriters, the multi-media artists, blogs (any one heard of the I Can Has Cheezeburger blog? http://icanhascheezburger.com/ - simple concept to 6 figures in eight months, now a major business), even the non-fiction writers are creating an audience, but I am completely stumped on how a novelist can when it takes over a year to write our product, let alone perfect it.
Meredith, you mention that the YA market is not reading blogs. This could be true (although I think they are reading character blogs such as James Patterson's Max Ride blogs), but YA and MG are a huge online demographic (mostly entertainment sites). Can we somehow tap into that? (I write mostly MG).
I guess what's nagging at me is that the power is still in the hands of the publisher, but only because we haven't discovered the way to foster our own audiences. Yet other creative people are successfully marketing and making a living online. I feel that if I could attract readers and approach a publisher with a built-in audience, my position would be much stronger. Heck - maybe you could even forgo the traditional route at that point. But I haven't seen any other authors doing it - except MCM - http://1889.ca/ - who claims to make 6 figures, though he's running multiple sites.
Owasm - I'm interested in hearing more about your project.
quote:Meredith, you mention that the YA market is not reading blogs. This could be true (although I think they are reading character blogs such as James Patterson's Max Ride blogs), but YA and MG are a huge online demographic (mostly entertainment sites). Can we somehow tap into that? (I write mostly MG).
Possibly, but I doubt it can be done with a blog.
Here are my reasons:
First is visual appeal. I think that to attract MG and YA readers, you'd need more and different graphics than are usual on an "adult" blog. I thought of hiring an artist to do illustrations of my characters. I still think that's a good idea, I just can't afford it right now.
Second is content. My blog right now is mostly about writing. That's frankly not likely to draw many readers of any age. Mostly, it's just other writers. Usually ones I "know" from here or from another similar site.
I can envision content that would be interesting to the readers:
Short stories involving some of the same characters/worlds as my novels.
Possibly character sketches, if done right.
Sample chapters (although, I'd wait on that one until I had a contract and then check how the publisher feels about it.
The problem with all of that is that it's just too hard to keep providing that kind of content frequently enough to keep the blog active. You might be able to get the readers to come to the blog, but could you get them to keep coming back?
For MG and YA readers, I think you'd probably have to go more high-end (expensive, unless you can do it yourself). Look at J.K. Rowling's website. It was inactive the last time I checked. But it has a lot of graphics, some fancy rollover animations. But even it didn't really have enough current content to keep MG and YA readers coming back frequently, except to check when the next book was likely to come out.
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I might be misguided in this notion, but I've decided not to market myself until I get three semi-pro or higher publications under my belt. Then I'll create a website and possibly a companion blog. I think its better to wait until I have some publications to show off.
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For blogging-platform authors, I'd suggest studying the online presence of (in no special order though the top three are probably on a different level to the rest): 1). John Scalzi 2). Cory Doctorow 3). Warren Ellis 4). Jay Lake 5). Jeff Vandermeer 6). Aliette de Bodard 7). Mary Robinette Kowal 8). Elizabeth Bear 9). Catherynne M Valente 10). Jim Hines
There are doubtless many more examples I could cite - I read a lot of author blogs, mostly on livejournal.
The best marketing is marketing that doesn't look like marketing. Relentless self-publicists tend to put some people off (I see a few ljs that suffer from this and make me cringe when I see post after post about the author's current book being seen in bookshops X, Y and Z), though doubtless they do attract others.
[This message has been edited by tchernabyelo (edited October 28, 2010).]
I have noticed that a lot of writers; long time pros, just starting pros, those with a couple of stories sold and those who haven't sold a thing, have blogs these days. I'm not sure if that is really marketing. KayTi is correct about what Dean said about marketing. Sometimes it's a release, that is a place to vent, or to share something wonderful you've just learned about writing. Sometimes it's a way to help follow writers and to tell your fans about your next novel.
quote: Well, once you sell your book, a forum might do the trick.
That could be why must of the sites done by pros I go to have forums. But is that marketing? As I said before it could help attract a few new readers or encourage older fans to spread the word about how great a writer and person you are but is it the same thing as marketing? In a way it is I think but in a way it's not.
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I have self-published three fantasy novels with smashwords (5 star ratings a good reviews). Marketing is .... problomatic.
Here's the previous reality: a publisher accepts your book, a set number print run is decided based on how many the publisher believes they will sell, copies are farmed out to the distributors, they sit on the shelves, some are sold, some go back. marketing consists of you, the author, attending signings and not usually much more unless you do it yourself. If your books sell out and sell fast enough, you get another print run; if enough of these the publisher might spend a buck on advertising and further marketing (which is also you - radio, whatever. In short, there really isn't much marketing for books (Dan Brown and a few other sure-fire bestsellers excepted).
Now, ebooks are changing the situation. Mid-list authors are turning to smashwords and other sites where they will be distributed through amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo etc. (starting with out-of-print and then adding material as contracts end). They already have a following.
Newbies, such as myself, are struggling to find ways to get looked at – (I get a 20% buy ratio from people who take a look, which is a fine enough ratio) – because if no one looks, no one buys. So, what have I been doing?
1: Facebook: some results 2: Blog reviews: 5 star rating, good review, available through lots of blogs: No result 3: Outlet reviews: ie, reviews people have added to Barnes & Noble site: unknown 4: Comments: adding comments on news stories about ebooks/ereaders, and mentioning The Last King’s Amulet: some results.
At some point, quite soon, someone will figure out a way to market ebooks effectively online and that person will make-a-fortune. I have a couple of ideas in that direction but I am a writer and just don’t have the skills to do the work or the money to pay for the work to be done. *shrug* So, we struggle until we build a critical mass of ‘fans’ who do unpaid promoting/advocating because they want to read more and they know we won’t write more unless we get paid. *shrug* What else can we do?
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Everyone - thanks for the great thoughts. You've stimulated lots of crazy ideas that I need to work out.
Meredith - I was considering Facebook apps for reaching the younger demographic -http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/do_kids_read_blogs_new_study_aims_to_confuse.php, but after reading your latest link, I'm reconsidering the blog, which I had thought was dead for my target audience. Thanks for that link! Great information.
LDWriter2 - a forum is marketing. Social marketing, which I am clueless about. Sure, I've been marketing for 15+ years...but traditional marketing - brochures, websites, trade shows, old gal stuff. ;0 I keep attending social marketing classes, but so far, haven't figured out a way to use them for writing or for my actual day job (mostly promoting corporations - now there's a challenge! HAHA).
However - the idea is to be able to involve your audience, and for MG/YA, I would think involvement is very important. What a forum does as well, is it self-perpetuates content. Constantly producing content is the problem for authors whose products are novels and take time to write, so discovering ways to self perpetuate content is key. I'd thought of RPG games and interactive quizzes, etc, but therein lies the time and money issue.
Which leads me to another point - in the link Meredith sent "If A Blog Falls in the Forest..." Bick cites Maggie Stiefvater's initial blog consisted of her posting artwork and teaming with 2 other writers to provide 1 story a week. The result brought readers "in droves." Now there's an interesting idea for writers without a lot of time. Partnering with other writers to provide consistent content for readers?
Again, thanks to everyone for the conversation...my head is spinning...literally...like a possessed marketer.
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I believe there is (or was) a group of writers working together as the Daily Cabal, between them posting a sub-500-word story every day. Sara Genge and Luc Reid are two of the names I remember as being involved. What the readership is like, I don't know.
The best marketing is almost certainly word of mouth, which is why things like Digg and Stumbleupon and so forth exist. It's also why some companies were trying to pay people to talk on social networking sites (and even in person) about how great their products are, though I'm not sure that really got anywhere as once people know it's happening they get cynical very quickly.
Many writer blogs are much more about networking and socialising than marketing. Writing is by nature a solitary profession, after all.
quote:...some companies were trying to pay people to talk on social networking sites (and even in person) about how great their products are, though I'm not sure that really got anywhere as once people know it's happening they get cynical very quickly.
That sounds like one form of SEO (search engine optimization). The form I'm most familiar with (because I battle it on another website) is posting on blogs with comments that are so generic they could be about anything, but the poster's website and email address are in the post, so the search engines will find it, and the more often they find it, the more likely the website will appear on a search and the higher it will appear on the search page, which makes it more likely that people will click on the weblink and go to the website.
I can see the point of using search engine optimization in relevant ways, but this generic posting drives me crazy.
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Amanda1199, there are a couple of articles in the September 2010 WIRED, under the title of "The Web Is Dead" that talk about this (especially the one by Michael Wolff).
[This message has been edited by Corky (edited October 29, 2010).]
I found this blog post and I thought a part of it fits with this conversation about how much marketing,
I didn't want to take the time to read it all-I know some of this already and I shouldn't take the time to even post this- but toward the end he has numbered points and he says no wasting time doing other than writing things:such as self marketing--except for your web site.
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