Ellie Lieberman's Blog: Dusty Shelves - Posts Tagged "selling"
Marketing in the Indie World
So, I was watching a youtube video by Hank Green about why NerdCon Stories wasn't doing so well. In it, he began talking about marketing and the event from a business perspective and with the way my brain works, through a labyrinth of tangents that probably would not make much sense to anybody else, it got me thinking about marketing for indie books in particular.
As some know, my mother, Barbara Lieberman, or Barb Freaking Lieberman as she's better known in our Indie circle, and I have recently started a publishing company, Pipe and Thimble (http://www.pipeandthimble.com/) and will be opening an indie-only bookstore as well! Marketing was already essential to us, being indie authors ourselves, but it now becomes even more so as we go forth with these new ventures.
Indie books present a unique challenge. I equate it to the handmade businesses we've run in the past, my mom's Seeds of Inspiration, and my Acorn Tops (http://acorntops.weebly.com/). Seeds of Inspiration sold not-your-everyday aromatherapy and scented products. Acorn Tops sells a variety of handmade fairy products such as fairy doors or Raggle Taggle Fairy Dolls. These are unique products that not everybody recognizes instantly or knows.
There's an advantage to this. It's one-of-a-kind. You have the corner market. But, there's also a disadvantage. It's different, so there's always a bit of hesitancy. There also requires a lot of education. How do you use it? Why that one in particular compared to the mass produced counterparts I instantly recognize? What is it even?
If we apply this to books, specifically Indie books, we're essentially answering the same questions. Instead of competition with the mass-produced, you're up against recognizable names and age old classics.
One of the reasons I've been given for independent bookstores to not carry truly indie books is because of name recognition. One bookstore in particular cited an experience where a reader gravitated to a lesser known book written by the author of The Lovely Bones, rather than a novel written by a self-published author. This reader never read a book from either author, but because she recognized the name, she was more interested in the work by Alice Sebold. This makes sense when you think about human nature. We tend to gravitate to what we know.
So, how as indie authors can we make something more recognizable, or at least these not so recognizable works into something people would feel more comfortable gravitating towards? You relate. You relate it back to the reader, hit something they recognize or that's at least common in our culture.
A prime example is Barbara Lieberman's Why Does the Moon Follow Me?. She compares her children's book to Goodnight Moon. Who doesn't know that rhyming bedtime story classic? On top of that, she describes this story as a lullaby in a book, which not only furthers the whole "rhyming bedtime story" marketing, but once again also gives you an age range and reading level.
Another great example is Squirrel Bait by Chip Davis. The book has been equated to a B-horror movie. Describing it this way allows for someone to make a connection and have an idea of what awaits them behind the first cover.
Evangeline Duran Fuentes does something similar with Cry on Hallow's Eve. She not only likens it to R. L. Stine's Goosebumps, which again allows a connection to be made, but also explains it's her twist on the folklore of La Llorona. Why is that so important to marketing? Anyone who knows Mexican culture and folklore knows La Llorona. The moment she says "La Llorona" many readers instantly gravitate toward the book because they or someone they know has grown up with the tale. If they haven't, she goes into explanation, but by including "folklore" readers can already make connections to the folklore they know of their culture or other culture.
You find a way to relate something unrecognizable. You educate.
Not only do you need to educate on what the book is about, but also the world of Indie and Self-Publishing. Unfortunately, there is still this negative stereotype and stigma surrounding the word "indie," especially in the world of publishing. Why is indie important? Why did you decide to go with self-publishing? Mentioning "indie" can be a huge turn off, so turn it into something positive.
Barbara Lieberman published The Unchained Spirit through a small press, Pipe and Thimble, because she enjoys the freedom that come with being an indie author and she wanted the book to be her words, unchanged and unedited. It was personal and it needed to remain that personal and that raw. And, the cover was just as essential to the book itself. The book is not about what sells and doesn't sell, it's simply a soul-changing story that needs to be told.
One of the biggest challenges, I think, is trying to market and sell your book. It's a business. It doesn't end the moment you put the pencil down or it's up on Amazon. It needs to be treated like a business, if you want to sell books, especially if your name is not "Jane Austen" or "John Green" or you don't have a publishing house like "Harper-Collins" or "Penguin." The reality of it is, we are little fish in a big ocean, trying to get someone to sink their lines into our stories and our words.
The best advice is to see what the other fishes are doing. How are they getting their readers hooked? What tricks do they have up their fins? Take what you like, leave what you don't and if something isn't working, try something else. Your best bet, though, is to relate it back to your audience, be it genre, comparison to other works, etc.
The best part about books and stories is that it is part of human nature. And someone someday soon will pick up your book because on some level it speaks to them. And, it was the right book at the right time.
As some know, my mother, Barbara Lieberman, or Barb Freaking Lieberman as she's better known in our Indie circle, and I have recently started a publishing company, Pipe and Thimble (http://www.pipeandthimble.com/) and will be opening an indie-only bookstore as well! Marketing was already essential to us, being indie authors ourselves, but it now becomes even more so as we go forth with these new ventures.
Indie books present a unique challenge. I equate it to the handmade businesses we've run in the past, my mom's Seeds of Inspiration, and my Acorn Tops (http://acorntops.weebly.com/). Seeds of Inspiration sold not-your-everyday aromatherapy and scented products. Acorn Tops sells a variety of handmade fairy products such as fairy doors or Raggle Taggle Fairy Dolls. These are unique products that not everybody recognizes instantly or knows.
There's an advantage to this. It's one-of-a-kind. You have the corner market. But, there's also a disadvantage. It's different, so there's always a bit of hesitancy. There also requires a lot of education. How do you use it? Why that one in particular compared to the mass produced counterparts I instantly recognize? What is it even?
If we apply this to books, specifically Indie books, we're essentially answering the same questions. Instead of competition with the mass-produced, you're up against recognizable names and age old classics.
One of the reasons I've been given for independent bookstores to not carry truly indie books is because of name recognition. One bookstore in particular cited an experience where a reader gravitated to a lesser known book written by the author of The Lovely Bones, rather than a novel written by a self-published author. This reader never read a book from either author, but because she recognized the name, she was more interested in the work by Alice Sebold. This makes sense when you think about human nature. We tend to gravitate to what we know.
So, how as indie authors can we make something more recognizable, or at least these not so recognizable works into something people would feel more comfortable gravitating towards? You relate. You relate it back to the reader, hit something they recognize or that's at least common in our culture.
A prime example is Barbara Lieberman's Why Does the Moon Follow Me?. She compares her children's book to Goodnight Moon. Who doesn't know that rhyming bedtime story classic? On top of that, she describes this story as a lullaby in a book, which not only furthers the whole "rhyming bedtime story" marketing, but once again also gives you an age range and reading level.
Another great example is Squirrel Bait by Chip Davis. The book has been equated to a B-horror movie. Describing it this way allows for someone to make a connection and have an idea of what awaits them behind the first cover.
Evangeline Duran Fuentes does something similar with Cry on Hallow's Eve. She not only likens it to R. L. Stine's Goosebumps, which again allows a connection to be made, but also explains it's her twist on the folklore of La Llorona. Why is that so important to marketing? Anyone who knows Mexican culture and folklore knows La Llorona. The moment she says "La Llorona" many readers instantly gravitate toward the book because they or someone they know has grown up with the tale. If they haven't, she goes into explanation, but by including "folklore" readers can already make connections to the folklore they know of their culture or other culture.
You find a way to relate something unrecognizable. You educate.
Not only do you need to educate on what the book is about, but also the world of Indie and Self-Publishing. Unfortunately, there is still this negative stereotype and stigma surrounding the word "indie," especially in the world of publishing. Why is indie important? Why did you decide to go with self-publishing? Mentioning "indie" can be a huge turn off, so turn it into something positive.
Barbara Lieberman published The Unchained Spirit through a small press, Pipe and Thimble, because she enjoys the freedom that come with being an indie author and she wanted the book to be her words, unchanged and unedited. It was personal and it needed to remain that personal and that raw. And, the cover was just as essential to the book itself. The book is not about what sells and doesn't sell, it's simply a soul-changing story that needs to be told.
One of the biggest challenges, I think, is trying to market and sell your book. It's a business. It doesn't end the moment you put the pencil down or it's up on Amazon. It needs to be treated like a business, if you want to sell books, especially if your name is not "Jane Austen" or "John Green" or you don't have a publishing house like "Harper-Collins" or "Penguin." The reality of it is, we are little fish in a big ocean, trying to get someone to sink their lines into our stories and our words.
The best advice is to see what the other fishes are doing. How are they getting their readers hooked? What tricks do they have up their fins? Take what you like, leave what you don't and if something isn't working, try something else. Your best bet, though, is to relate it back to your audience, be it genre, comparison to other works, etc.
The best part about books and stories is that it is part of human nature. And someone someday soon will pick up your book because on some level it speaks to them. And, it was the right book at the right time.
