Marc Johnson's Blog, page 18

My Month of Marketing and Promoting

I've spent the entire month of April marketing and promoting my book, CATALYST: THE PASSAGE OF HELLSFIRE. Now that it's May, I'm done actively promoting my work. I still have a couple of interviews down the pipe, but I'm no longer going to email people to try and set something up. If other people contact me or finally return my email, that'll be fine.

I'm going to be working on my next book in THE PASSAGE OF HELLSFIRE series and that's much more important to me than promoting or marketing. I believe that if you have a backlist, you'll see an increase in sales because your name will be out there more.

That said, let's see what I did for the month of April.

I emailed a total of 123 people. Those people consisted of book bloggers, podcasters, and other writers who liked to promote other writers. 44 of those people accepted my book for review, featured it, or interviewed me. 17 people rejected me because they were too busy, backed up on books, or just weren't interested. 62 people I never heard from.

In other words, 50% I never heard from, 36% accepted my book, and 14% rejected me. I'd do a pie chart, but I'm terrible with Excel.

What surprised me the most was that I never heard back from half of the people. Going into this, I expected about a 50% rejection rate. What I didn't expect was to not hear back from people. Even when I queried agents and publishers through the mail, I heard back from them. It did consist of mostly form rejection letters, but at least I know they received my query. I'm not sure if this is the standard. I thought I would have heard back from everyone considering I emailed them. Also, all these emails were at least two to four weeks old.

The most disappointing thing were the podcasters. I'm a podcaster and I've contacted these people before to play my promo, send a suggestion, give feedback, etc. I've always heard from them even if they didn't run with my suggestion or read my email on the air. I didn't hear from most of them. Not that I'm ENTIRELY surprised. Podcasting is a very tight-knit community like pretty much every group. One that I'm not in. In fact, I don't feel that community in any group, which is probably why I'm terrible at networking, but that's another story.

I also paid for advertising but that won't take place until the end of the year. That should give me a boost in sales, but it'll also be the holiday season, my book will have been out for awhile and on every retailer, and I'll hopefully have good reviews.

Will all this help? I honestly don't know. I would like to say it couldn't hurt, but that's not true. Currently, I have one review on Amazon and it's a one star. That stands out if you don't actually click on the book, read the description or the review. I also find it funny because the guy says my book is good for a first time author but still gives me a one star review.

I'm going to let the chips fall where they may and hope that my good book, the reviews, blogs, interviews, and advertising will all help. My book's been only out a month. As much as I wanted to come out with a bang and ignite the world on fire, that wasn't going to happen. The fact is I have no platform and no one knows who I am.

But I can't let that get me down or even worry about it. Because it's on to the next one…

Marc Johnson

Your Picture

I recently read a post where the blogger said you should show your face on the Internet. Unfortunately, I can't find the post, but she said when people leave comments or tweet her, she's more receptive to the smiling, friendly face than some random image.

I disagree with her. Of course, it's a lot easier when you're an attractive woman like she is. Maybe it's because I'm one of those people that hate taking pictures because I'm not very photogenic. I'll reluctantly take them with family, but I don't smile unless someone makes me laugh. I hate fake smiling. That's not to say I'm not a good looking guy. I am. I just don't see what the point of it is.

Unlike movies or television, people don't buy books based on what authors look like. That's just not how it works, at least with fiction. You can be the most attractive person in the world yet your characters and world are going to be vastly different from you. Since most people aren't going to meet or talk to you, you can't sell yourself to sell your book. Therefore, your book must sell itself.

I'm one of those people that believe that since you're a writer, that you should entice people with your words. It doesn't have to only be the sample in your work but also your blog posts, tweets, panels, or interviews.

I suppose having a nice, attractive picture of you, gets a person to look at your book a second longer. That counts for something for a physical book. However, in the digital age, it doesn't do much. Having worked in a bookstore, I've seen a ton of bad photos by bestselling authors too. As a reader, there's nothing more annoying than having the author's picture on the back and blurbs in the front, and having no idea what the book's about.

I also like having people off guard. People are prejudiced towards everything. By seeing what I look like, you'll THINK you'll have a notion of what my world or characters are supposed to look like. I've had people listen to my podcast then see my picture and say, "I thought you looked like such and such." I don't want to give any such notions.

Now, there's nothing wrong with having your picture out there. I do have it on my private Facebook page. Just remember it's going to be out there for EVERYONE to see. If you're going to have one, might as well get a professional to take it instead of you using your camera phone.

Marc Johnson

Playing Around With Your Published Book

There are a couple of downsides to the digital revolution in publishing. Being able to make changes to your book is one of them.

Once your book is out there, it's out there and you shouldn't change, modify, or mess with it. I think by doing that you're doing a disservice to the people that have already bought it.

I took over about a year and a half on working on putting CATALYST: THE PASSAGE OF HELLSFIRE out. My goal was to not only put out the book I wanted to, but to put out the best possible book I could for me and the readers. I think a lot of indie authors forget that aspect. They think they can easily change and "fix" things. They're right. They can. But should they?

Now, I have nothing wrong with uploading a new copy because of formatting problems or typos. In fact, I recently uploaded a newer version of my book because of a formatting problem. Smashwords didn't accept what I did for their premium catalog because of the margins so I had to redo them. I'm glad they did because now it looks better. But those aren't the problems I'm talking about.

I'm talking about changing the story in your book, whether it's tweaking the characters or the plot because you thought of an idea to add more tension or create a new scene. I think the worse offender are people who publish their book because they can't afford an editor, hope to make money, then reload a new version after they pay for editing. I don't know how many of those people actually make enough money to do that or follow through with it.

In either case, what's the point of it all?

You only get one chance to make a good impression and you want readers to be blown away. While I know there are going to be people that don't like or get my book, I don't want them to say, "The story was good, but it needed a good editor." I also don't want to make constant changes because that would be unfair to the people that already bought my book.

If you're going to make changes that have nothing to do with story, typo, or formatting issues, you should release ANOTHER version of your book–an enhanced version. Think of it like the Extended or Special Edition of your book. I would make it more expensive than the original version, but it should also have a lot more things added it in. In someways, it's a completely different book.

Once you upload the best possible book you can, leave it alone. It should be finished and done. After that, forget about it then get started on the next one.

Marc Johnson

I Am Just An Author

If there's one thing I'm learning, it's that there's a HUGE schism between those who advocate self-publishing and those who advocate traditional publishing. While I've never been drawn into those debates, I'm baffled about how passionate people are for either side.

Me? I am just an author.

When I do tell people I have a book, I never tell them I published it myself unless they ask. It's not important and to be frank, readers don't care who publishes it. They just want a good story for a reasonable price.

Here are the questions people do ask when I tell them I have a book:

1. What's it about?

2. How much is it?

3. Where can I buy it?

They never ask if I published it myself. Readers don't care about publishers, so why should writers?

The pro-traditional people want the validation of their agents and publishers. That's really important to them. Some people believe that the publishers will do a lot for them, but unless you have a name, they won't. You're going to have to do a lot of the marketing and promoting yourself and the only people who you should care about are your readers.

The pro-indie people are tired of getting rejected. They want to take destiny into their own hands. While I like that, they have to remember they can't do everything by themselves, and should hire people. They also tend to rush things, instead of taking their time.

The only time I let people know I'm an indie author are for those sites that specially promote indie authors. I use it to my advantage. It's very similar to when I queried agents or publishers and didn't let them know that I'm querying other people when they wanted to be exclusive. But I never go out of my way to scream, "I'm an indie author!" I don't see the point and odds are, I won't be that successful to be an indie author figurehead.

Yes, I'm straddling the fence even though I am an indie author. I can see both sides and both have valid points. There's no us vs. them. We all love to write and we all love stories. I just want to write my stories, have lots of readers, and hope they love my work. I'm betting that both sides want that too.

I'm many things–businessman, entrepreneur, publisher, but most importantly, I am just an author.

Marc Johnson

Checking Ebook Sales

The excitement for finally having my book released, after 16 years of working off it, took about three days to wear off. The first thing I had to overcome after that passed, was to stop checking my sales.

I checked to make sure everything had been uploaded properly and to see how all the reporting worked. I admit, I felt giddy seeing that people bought my book. I also learned that if you use Opera, when you check Amazon, your sales will look like they're under the Units Returned column.

There's no reason to check your book less than once a month. However, if want to check more because you can't resist, check at least weekly. I'm amazed and confused that there are people that don't only check once a day, but multiple times a day or even hourly. What's the point of checking so much? To stroke your ego. However, unless you're selling a lot of books, your ego will be deflated.

You want to check your sales to try to deduce trends or why you're selling or not selling. You want to see if the guest blogs, book reviews, advertising, cover change, price adjustment, or releasing a new book is having an affect on your sales. You can't get that by checking daily or hourly. The patterns don't emerge and you don't get a big enough sample size.

Granted, you're still estimating why your sales are either up or down for that month, but at least you have reasons of why they MIGHT be affected. If you didn't sell a book yesterday, today, or the last hour, what does that tell you? What does it tell you if you did sell?

Asking these important questions and trying to figure out why is far more important than the actual results. Without the why, you won't know what you need to do to adjust or what you're doing well.

Remember, you're not a businessman, you're a business…man.

Marc Johnson

What Now?

Once the excitement passed, that was the first question I asked myself as soon as I released my book. What do I do now? What good is having a book if no one knows about it? Now, I have to market and promote it. I'm taking a month off of editing and writing to do it.

The first thing I did was contact as many book bloggers as I could. Their only requirement was that they had to read fantasy and accept ebooks. I emailed them or filled out their website form. I tried to tailor it to each blogger, but my emails ended up being very formulaic. I introduced myself and my book, offered to give them it to them in any digital format, and thanked them. Most of them were very kind and were able to take my book and review it. A few said no because they didn't have time. Others I haven't heard from.

Secondly, I emailed a few podcasters. This list wasn't as big as the blogger list was. I stuck with podcasts I listen to and podcasters I know. There were only a few writing podcasts while the rest were general geekery. I don't know if they'll ever get back to me or have me on their show, but it was free and there was no risk involve to just ask.

The last thing I did was pay for advertising over on Kindleboards and Kindle Nation Daily. What I paid for was expensive but after discussing it with my business friend, we figured it was worth it. We weighed how much it would cost, the target audience, how effective it was, and how many books I'd have to sell.

The only problem I have is I have no idea how effective any of these will be. To figure that out, I will have to look at that month's sales and see if they increased when the ads went live or when the reviews come out. There's also the problem of time. It's going to take months before any of these things happen and they're going to overlap each other. While my ads are live, book bloggers will also have reviewed my book, and an interview or two will be out. So any one of those things can boost my sales. They can also NOT boost my sales and something like word of mouth can, or maybe I'll go viral.

Over the next month expect a lot of posts dealing with marketing, promotion, and advertising. With exposure and a little luck, maybe I'll sell some books.

Marc Johnson

It's Here!!!

My book, Catalyst: The Passage of Hellsfire, is finally here! And I feel…oddly relieved more than anything else. I do feel excited, but it's also like I'm catching a breather. While I have a book out, now comes the hard part–marketing and promoting. What good is having a book if no one knows about it?

If you've enjoyed my posts or learned something, please support me by buying my book. It's only $4.99 and can be found at the following retailers:

AMAZON

BARNES & NOBLE

SMASHWORDS

I do hope to get it into other retailers soon, but don't know if I'll get accepted into Smashwords Premium Catalog or how long it will take. I'm using them mainly as a distributor. If you go to any of the sites, they'll be a 20% sample. The book's also DRM free. You can email me at marcanthonyjohnson.at.gmail.com if you're a book blogger or a podcaster and I'll give you a free copy.

Enjoy!

Marc Johnson

Formatting and Converting An Ebook

Instead of paying someone to format my manuscript into an ebook, I decided to do it myself. I had no idea whether it'd be hard or easy. I'm not technological savvy, but I do know enough to get by. However, getting by wasn't enough in this case. I want to do things perfectly. Luckily, I found some posts to help me.

First of all, this site How to Format Your Ebook (the non-migraine inducing way) was the most helpful. It showed me how to correctly format Microsoft Word in simple terms. I also looked at The Smashwords Style Guide. It's a lot more detailed and can be a bit overloading, but for the smaller details, it also helped.

The biggest problem I ran into was Microsoft Word. I didn't know this, but MS adds a lot of unnecessary code to your document. I spent a lot of my time hitting the delete button to get rid of the arrows created by pressing the 'tab' button.

After that, I added a copyright page, acknowledgement page, and contact information. I debated on adding a table of content page because it is  unnecessary in fiction. I decided to and scoured the Internet. Trying to figure out a TOC page was hard. According to a lot of people, it involved HTML code, which I know little to nothing about.

This is when The Smashwords Style Guide came in handy. It showed me to create a TOC in Word. It was easier than I thought it'd be. However, the problem with doing it that way and not by code, is that I don't believe it shows in the Kindle edition. The TOC will be there, but in the Kindle's menu system, it won't be. It's fiction so I don't believe it's that big a deal.

Once the formatting was right, I had to actually convert the file. I used Mobipocket Creator and Calibre. Both were free. Mobipocket turns your Word doc into a MOBI file, which is good for the Kindle. Calibre will turn your file into EPUB, MOBI, and many others. However, I only used Calibre for EPUB. I tried it in MOBI, but I didn't like the way it looked on my Kindle. I thought Mobipocket did a better job. And don't forget to fill in as much information as you can like cover art, title, author, website, description, etc.

Now, you can't use your Word doc for Calibre. If you use Mobipocket, it'll create an HTML file, which you can use. Again, I know very little HTML. If I did, I would have done it myself and made a table of contents the proper way.

After I was done with all that, I checked, double checked, and tripled checked everything. I used free programs such as Adobe Digital Editions, Kindle for PC, and Nook for PC. I also have a Kindle so I uploaded my file there. I skimmed my book, looking for formatting errors and typos, saw how the layout was, and made sure the links worked.

After being satisfied with what I saw, finally came the easiest part. I uploaded it to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords, and waited. It took a day for Smashwords and two or three days for Amazon and B&N. I believe the reason for the extra wait, was that I did it on a weekend. I have no idea how long it'll take to get approved into Smashword's Premium Catalog so my book can get distributed to outlets that won't allow people to upload the books themselves.

All in all, it's a relatively simple process that takes a full day or two. Now to try to pull myself out of obscurity. Because while I've uploaded my books, I've not done ANY marketing or promotion. I wouldn't be surprised if not a single one sold. I will soon promote my book and I'll talk about how that goes and what I've done.

Marc Johnson

Counting Words

It feels like I'm the only writer who doesn't count how many words I work on per day. I never have, and I probably never will. However, everyone I follow on Twitter, the podcasts I listen to, or the blogs I read, constantly talk about it. Word count just has never been important to me.

I write from a outline and sometimes, I'll spend days never turning the page of that outline because the scenes are very long. Other times, I'll write a couple of pages from that one page outline then turn the page. I know that the first draft is supposed to be rough, but if I'm working through a tough, emotional scene, I want to get it right. By right, I mean have the impact of what I intend it to be so that when I work through another draft, it'll be easier or I'll know what I want.

In the day of digital publishing, what good are daily word counts? You're not limited by word counts and your novel doesn't have to hit a word count. I've never worried about length. I write until I'm done and my story reaches the end. Since I'm writing fantasy, most of my word count will fall around 100K, but I didn't plan it that way. The world building of fantasy forces books to be long.

I also am a little annoyed by how everyone states their word count. It's as if people are trying to prove to other people that they're actually working or just showing off. It's very keeping with the Joneses syndrome. Am I supposed to be impressed by how much they're getting done or sadden that I haven't reached their word count?

Don't misunderstand me. I do have a daily goal. Since I've spent the last year in the various stages of editing, my goals have involved pages. To reach my self-imposed deadline, I divided the time it would take by the amount of pages. During my first intensive developmental edit, I tried to get a page or two done a day. During the last copyedits, I tried to cover 25 pages a day. It varies on what I'm trying to reach. I just don't think you should stress over not reaching your word count nor should you slack on your goal.

Marc Johnson

Changing Your Ebook Prices

While I've still not decided on what I'm going to price my upcoming book, on the sites I lurk at, a lot of indie authors constantly change their prices. Most of them drop it to $.99, some raise it to $2.99, and a few even higher. It's all over a short time span.

I'm very logical and I think things over for a very long before making a move, planning out everything. It's in my nature. My point is, I used to regularly play poker. I've said before that I treat writing and this business like poker, and grind it out. What that means is, I try to win one big bet an hour along with a few small bets, instead of going for a bunch of big scores.

In poker, to truly judge how good someone is, you look over a long period of time. You don't look at their scores or winnings over a year or two or what they've done lately. They could be running hot or they could be running cold. And just because you win a pot, doesn't mean you played it well. Sometimes making the right decision means you're going to lose the hand.

It seems to me that those authors who change their prices are playing poker badly. They're making decisions based on a small sample size. That's something you don't want to do.

The ebook market is only approximately 10%. While it's growing, that's a small number. People are changing their prices after only a few months or even weeks or week,  to try and increase their sales. People are also looking at their sales not everyday or every week, but every hour.  I'm baffled as to why.

They're not going to be able to understand anything by constantly fluctuating their price. Yes, sales increased around the holiday season as they did for everything, but other than that time period, no one knows why their books sell or don't sell. Did they do guest blogs, interviews, advertising, contests? If you do those things, then you should look at your sales over that period and decide if what you did worked.

You don't lower your price without valid reasons. Just because other people lowered their prices or you didn't sell a book last week or only sold two the entire weekend aren't good reasons. You're running a business and must make solid and logical business decisions, not emotional, flippant ones. You must also figure out what works for you. There's a reason why businesses look at things quarterly, not daily or hourly.

The longer you've had your book out for one price, the more a pattern will emerge that you can base this decision on. And take a look at your genre. What are others selling it for? What do their covers look like? How is their blurb?

Just like poker, there are a lot of factors you should think about before you change your price. Unlike poker, you don't have to make a decision within a few seconds.

Marc Johnson