Eldon Farrell's Blog: The Writer's Craft - Posts Tagged "promotion"
Promotion...what is it good for?
In the digital age one thing is certain; as consumers we are continuously bombarded with advertising messages and requests for our ever important dollars. It's become so ubiquitous that most of us don't even notice most of them anymore. How many of us notice that product placement in our favourite shows or realize that the nicely landscaped corporate logo on the side of the highway is just another form of advertising. It is quite literally all around us!
Show of hands, how many of you pay any kind of attention to traditional advertising? How many actually watch commercials on television anymore? How many notice the banner ads on websites as anything more than a mild annoyance?
I'm going to go ahead here and assume (since I obviously can't see you) that not that many hands are raised. Speaking from my own perspective I can tell you I don't remember the last time I paid any attention to commercials or took a book suggestion from a banner ad.
So then, given all this, does it not lend itself to concluding that promotion is good for absolutely nothing? If the known quantities can't use the massive marketing machine at their disposal to gain the consumer's attention then what possible chance does an unknown Indie author have?
There is certainly no end of options afforded to us from internet ads, to Facebook ads, to free promotions, to countdown deals, to God knows what else but you get the point. We can utilize plenty of options...but do they work?
At the end of the day, promoting for the sake of promoting is a waste. If we're going to spend time and money on promotion then we obviously expect to see that reflected on our bottom line - we expect sales from the effort.
I've written here before that sales should not be the goal and I stand by that. For those that seek sales though (and to some extent that's all of us!) how can promotion be used effectively?
Examining the landscape of modern day marketing reminds me of a line from Moneyball by Michael Lewis. To paraphrase "If we try to play like [The Big 5] in here, we will lose to [The Big 5] out there."
What this means simply is that as Indie authors we have nowhere near the means or capital at our disposal to market in the same ways that the established publishing houses do. Sure we can pay for an internet ad and post it out there but when the thousands of ads that they run barely receive our notice, why would our one little ad make a difference?
But despair not my fellow Indie scribes; we have something The Big 5 (or Evil Empire if you prefer!) doesn't have. We have approachability and a proven, yes I said proven, method that works.
Think of any big name author that you admire and who has had tremendous success. What do they all have in common? There was a time when no one had ever heard of them. No matter who they are or what they've accomplished this is true of them all. At one point or another they were where we stand.
So how do we get to where they are? How do we follow them? I'm going to say emphatically that it isn't with advertising. Does anyone remember a Stephen King ad before Stephen King was famous? I think not.
The way I see it, the path we should follow is to use our accessibility to readers and begin to network. Sure, this is a long road but whoever said there was a shortcut to success?
The best promotion is the kind that works. We've all read books because they were recommended to us by people we know. That's promotion that works!
So run countdown deals or free promotions; the more eyeballs you get on your book - if it's good - the more recommendations you'll get and the greater chance you'll have of racking up those sales numbers you dream about.
If you want to spend money on ads and the like, do that too, but be realistic about it. I'm not saying they can't produce sales for you; I'm merely saying that the odds are not in your favour.
For me, I'm going to continue meeting people and enjoying getting to know them while we discuss the words. I'm going to go after that elusive word of mouth. I want people to read my books because someone else they know read it, enjoyed it, and told them about it.
I want people reading my work not because it sounds good, but because they know it's good.
Show of hands, how many of you pay any kind of attention to traditional advertising? How many actually watch commercials on television anymore? How many notice the banner ads on websites as anything more than a mild annoyance?
I'm going to go ahead here and assume (since I obviously can't see you) that not that many hands are raised. Speaking from my own perspective I can tell you I don't remember the last time I paid any attention to commercials or took a book suggestion from a banner ad.
So then, given all this, does it not lend itself to concluding that promotion is good for absolutely nothing? If the known quantities can't use the massive marketing machine at their disposal to gain the consumer's attention then what possible chance does an unknown Indie author have?
There is certainly no end of options afforded to us from internet ads, to Facebook ads, to free promotions, to countdown deals, to God knows what else but you get the point. We can utilize plenty of options...but do they work?
At the end of the day, promoting for the sake of promoting is a waste. If we're going to spend time and money on promotion then we obviously expect to see that reflected on our bottom line - we expect sales from the effort.
I've written here before that sales should not be the goal and I stand by that. For those that seek sales though (and to some extent that's all of us!) how can promotion be used effectively?
Examining the landscape of modern day marketing reminds me of a line from Moneyball by Michael Lewis. To paraphrase "If we try to play like [The Big 5] in here, we will lose to [The Big 5] out there."
What this means simply is that as Indie authors we have nowhere near the means or capital at our disposal to market in the same ways that the established publishing houses do. Sure we can pay for an internet ad and post it out there but when the thousands of ads that they run barely receive our notice, why would our one little ad make a difference?
But despair not my fellow Indie scribes; we have something The Big 5 (or Evil Empire if you prefer!) doesn't have. We have approachability and a proven, yes I said proven, method that works.
Think of any big name author that you admire and who has had tremendous success. What do they all have in common? There was a time when no one had ever heard of them. No matter who they are or what they've accomplished this is true of them all. At one point or another they were where we stand.
So how do we get to where they are? How do we follow them? I'm going to say emphatically that it isn't with advertising. Does anyone remember a Stephen King ad before Stephen King was famous? I think not.
The way I see it, the path we should follow is to use our accessibility to readers and begin to network. Sure, this is a long road but whoever said there was a shortcut to success?
The best promotion is the kind that works. We've all read books because they were recommended to us by people we know. That's promotion that works!
So run countdown deals or free promotions; the more eyeballs you get on your book - if it's good - the more recommendations you'll get and the greater chance you'll have of racking up those sales numbers you dream about.
If you want to spend money on ads and the like, do that too, but be realistic about it. I'm not saying they can't produce sales for you; I'm merely saying that the odds are not in your favour.
For me, I'm going to continue meeting people and enjoying getting to know them while we discuss the words. I'm going to go after that elusive word of mouth. I want people to read my books because someone else they know read it, enjoyed it, and told them about it.
I want people reading my work not because it sounds good, but because they know it's good.
Hodge Podge
So as the title indicates, this week is all about a little bit of everything because there’s a lot going on! Let’s begin with…
Promotion
You know I feel like I spend so much time on here promoting and discussing my own work that I thought it would be nice to give something back this week and promote the work of others. And as luck (or fate if you prefer) would have it there is a bumper crop of new releases to go over beginning with...
The saga of Davenport House continues with the latest installment from Marie Silk. Do yourself a favour and snatch this one up so you can say you read her before she graced the New York Times bestseller list!
Up next we have...
Book 2 of the Dark Moon Trilogy; don't wait until Book 3 to dig into this one. It has a place on my kindle and should on yours as well. If you like history this wonderful author has you covered.
Also released recently...
Amazon bestselling author Susan May has given us another reason to skip going to bed with her latest supernatural thriller. Fans of Dean Koontz should love this one!
And if you dig historical fiction with a bit of romance and fantasy how about...
Another second in a series book so why not start with the first before diving into this one? And how's this for a tagline "You know Plato's account of Atlantis...Now find out what really happened."
This brings us to...
The debut novel to be released shortly that I've been anxiously awaiting for months. We all know that feeling you get when you just know a book is going to be great. I have that feeling here. This one is going to be BIG!
And of course I'd be remiss if I didn't make mention of the anthology of short fiction just released by a bunch of talented authors including Mehreen Ahmed, Denise Baer, Alexander Engel-Hodgkinson, myself, and many more.
If I’ve forgotten to mention any others feel free to add a comment below for some free publicity!
Best Laid Plans…
September 1st has come and gone, and as that was my target for the release of 2 novels concurrently you can imagine it’s been a stressful week. And of course if I’m writing here you just know something went awry. For whatever reason there was a technical glitch (we’ll call it) at Amazon that resulted in the oddity of Realm of Shadows (my third book) being available for sale for one day before Taken (my second book) went live. This despite the fact that I submitted Taken for final review 24 hours before Realm of Shadows. It’s never dull in the publishing world.
So…we have a series
Also this week I petitioned the overlords of Goodreads (aka the librarians) to have my 3 novels collected into a series and I would just like to formally thank them for their prompt response. Kudos!
Of course any series needs a name right? I settled on Descent and yes…there is meaning behind that moniker. For me the overall story running through the 3 books is, if taken on the whole, all about the journey that one specific character takes from a place of moral certainty down to one of ambiguity and uncertainty.
Best left unsaid?
I make it a practice to never comment on the reviews for my books, good or bad. I find that it just opens a can of worms and can lead to nowhere good. At most, if I feel I know the reviewer I will send them a message of thanks for their time.
Having said that though, I have received a number of reviews for Stillness now that comment upon the fact that during the height of the outbreak the town was not quarantined. Without addressing any specific review I’d like to comment upon this common suggestion here.
As a writer I greatly respect the intelligence of my readers. What that means is that I don’t feel the need to spoon feed them, to explain every single aspect of the story to them. I believe they’re wholly capable of taking certain deductive leaps on their own. The issue of quarantine, rightly or wrongly on my part, is one of these instances. It’s true that I never make mention anywhere in the book of any quarantine just as it’s also true that I make no mention of a mass media presence covering the story. But does that mean that neither thing happened? It’s also true that I make no mention of anyone leaving the town. If there was no quarantine—why wouldn’t they leave?
At the end of the day my style has always veered more towards allowing the reader to imagine aspects of the story for themselves as opposed to detailing everything for them. Just a personal choice.
Calling all authors
In the vein of giving back and free promotion (who doesn’t like that right?) I’ve been kicking around the notion this week of conducting author interviews once a month depending upon interest. Before I take the time to create a whole list of questions though I’d like to gauge interest. If any authors following me or reading this are interested in participating in a written interview feel free to say so below in the comments section.
Hope to hear from you!
Promotion
You know I feel like I spend so much time on here promoting and discussing my own work that I thought it would be nice to give something back this week and promote the work of others. And as luck (or fate if you prefer) would have it there is a bumper crop of new releases to go over beginning with...
The saga of Davenport House continues with the latest installment from Marie Silk. Do yourself a favour and snatch this one up so you can say you read her before she graced the New York Times bestseller list!
Up next we have...
Book 2 of the Dark Moon Trilogy; don't wait until Book 3 to dig into this one. It has a place on my kindle and should on yours as well. If you like history this wonderful author has you covered.
Also released recently...
Amazon bestselling author Susan May has given us another reason to skip going to bed with her latest supernatural thriller. Fans of Dean Koontz should love this one!
And if you dig historical fiction with a bit of romance and fantasy how about...
Another second in a series book so why not start with the first before diving into this one? And how's this for a tagline "You know Plato's account of Atlantis...Now find out what really happened."
This brings us to...
The debut novel to be released shortly that I've been anxiously awaiting for months. We all know that feeling you get when you just know a book is going to be great. I have that feeling here. This one is going to be BIG!
And of course I'd be remiss if I didn't make mention of the anthology of short fiction just released by a bunch of talented authors including Mehreen Ahmed, Denise Baer, Alexander Engel-Hodgkinson, myself, and many more.
If I’ve forgotten to mention any others feel free to add a comment below for some free publicity!
Best Laid Plans…
September 1st has come and gone, and as that was my target for the release of 2 novels concurrently you can imagine it’s been a stressful week. And of course if I’m writing here you just know something went awry. For whatever reason there was a technical glitch (we’ll call it) at Amazon that resulted in the oddity of Realm of Shadows (my third book) being available for sale for one day before Taken (my second book) went live. This despite the fact that I submitted Taken for final review 24 hours before Realm of Shadows. It’s never dull in the publishing world.
So…we have a series
Also this week I petitioned the overlords of Goodreads (aka the librarians) to have my 3 novels collected into a series and I would just like to formally thank them for their prompt response. Kudos!
Of course any series needs a name right? I settled on Descent and yes…there is meaning behind that moniker. For me the overall story running through the 3 books is, if taken on the whole, all about the journey that one specific character takes from a place of moral certainty down to one of ambiguity and uncertainty.
Best left unsaid?
I make it a practice to never comment on the reviews for my books, good or bad. I find that it just opens a can of worms and can lead to nowhere good. At most, if I feel I know the reviewer I will send them a message of thanks for their time.
Having said that though, I have received a number of reviews for Stillness now that comment upon the fact that during the height of the outbreak the town was not quarantined. Without addressing any specific review I’d like to comment upon this common suggestion here.
As a writer I greatly respect the intelligence of my readers. What that means is that I don’t feel the need to spoon feed them, to explain every single aspect of the story to them. I believe they’re wholly capable of taking certain deductive leaps on their own. The issue of quarantine, rightly or wrongly on my part, is one of these instances. It’s true that I never make mention anywhere in the book of any quarantine just as it’s also true that I make no mention of a mass media presence covering the story. But does that mean that neither thing happened? It’s also true that I make no mention of anyone leaving the town. If there was no quarantine—why wouldn’t they leave?
At the end of the day my style has always veered more towards allowing the reader to imagine aspects of the story for themselves as opposed to detailing everything for them. Just a personal choice.
Calling all authors
In the vein of giving back and free promotion (who doesn’t like that right?) I’ve been kicking around the notion this week of conducting author interviews once a month depending upon interest. Before I take the time to create a whole list of questions though I’d like to gauge interest. If any authors following me or reading this are interested in participating in a written interview feel free to say so below in the comments section.
Hope to hear from you!
Free Promotion
Just a quick note to all my followers that my debut novel Stillness will be free on Amazon starting tomorrow for three days to celebrate it being the Book of the Month for November in the Goodreads group A Good Thriller.
Start at the beginning!!
Some secrets won’t stay buried…
When people start to succumb to a virulent strain of plague in the seemingly idyllic hamlet of Stillness, the CDC is called in to investigate. Pulled from her training with the Epidemic Intelligence Service, Dr. Lynne Bosworth is tapped to head the investigation.
Many questions surround the outbreak, not the least of which is how did plague find its way to the heartland of America? Determined to find the answers and her own way out of the long shadow cast by her father, Lynne embarks for Iowa. Unable to isolate an index case of bubonic plague, patient zero is traced to Nikolai Markov; an old Russian bio warfare scientist.
Rumors of a bioterror attack are rampant.
Under examination, the bacteria present Lynne with many anomalies but few answers. The antibiotic resistance noted in the field is absent in the lab, while a synthetic gene is found that seemingly has no purpose. For her superiors it’s enough to deem the outbreak a biological attack, a conclusion that Lynne does not share. For her, something about the whole incident remains…elusive.
In search of evidence to either prove or disprove the bioterror claim, she crosses paths with FBI Special Agent Caleb Fine. Together, they come to believe that something other than a biological attack is going on in Stillness, and that the answer to what may lie in solving the fifteen year old murders of Bobby and Maggie Sullivan.
As the body count rises and the pressure mounts, they delve deeper into the shadowy past of this quiet town; in the process exposing secrets long thought forgotten until finally uncovering the shocking truth behind the cause of the outbreak.
Start at the beginning!!
Some secrets won’t stay buried…
When people start to succumb to a virulent strain of plague in the seemingly idyllic hamlet of Stillness, the CDC is called in to investigate. Pulled from her training with the Epidemic Intelligence Service, Dr. Lynne Bosworth is tapped to head the investigation.
Many questions surround the outbreak, not the least of which is how did plague find its way to the heartland of America? Determined to find the answers and her own way out of the long shadow cast by her father, Lynne embarks for Iowa. Unable to isolate an index case of bubonic plague, patient zero is traced to Nikolai Markov; an old Russian bio warfare scientist.
Rumors of a bioterror attack are rampant.
Under examination, the bacteria present Lynne with many anomalies but few answers. The antibiotic resistance noted in the field is absent in the lab, while a synthetic gene is found that seemingly has no purpose. For her superiors it’s enough to deem the outbreak a biological attack, a conclusion that Lynne does not share. For her, something about the whole incident remains…elusive.
In search of evidence to either prove or disprove the bioterror claim, she crosses paths with FBI Special Agent Caleb Fine. Together, they come to believe that something other than a biological attack is going on in Stillness, and that the answer to what may lie in solving the fifteen year old murders of Bobby and Maggie Sullivan.
As the body count rises and the pressure mounts, they delve deeper into the shadowy past of this quiet town; in the process exposing secrets long thought forgotten until finally uncovering the shocking truth behind the cause of the outbreak.
