Sell More Books, Part 4. How to Build a Following
4. How to Build a Following
I’ve often heard it takes about ten years for an author to establish themselves. And I have to guess, that means writing more than one book per decade. Prolific or not, the road to fame and fortune is a long one, and the reason for this might have to with how difficult it is to build a following. Fans, readers, reviewers.
A brief history seems in order:
Around 200 BC, Emperor (and author) Qin Shi Huang of China was the first to build a following— literally. Some eight thousand clay soldiers were fashioned and baked in a kiln. There was a flaw in this plan however; none of the life-sized warriors were particularly fond of reading and very few actually left reviews. The emperor’s lovely collection of romantic sonnets fell into the slush pile only months after his death.
Centuries later, in the early 1800’s, the obscure British author, Jude Hastings struck upon the idea to gather an entire army of reviewers, some forty-thousand strong. It seemed like a solid plan and at first things were favorable. However, Mr Hastings could not possibly anticipate that they would fight amongst themselves. Chaos ensued. Perhaps it’s needless to say his great opus, “Lady Godiva’s Pony” is now lost to history.
In modern times, our armies are virtual but they all fall prey to the same drawbacks. Twenty thousand Russian follow-back bots on twitter serve no one but Putin. Facebook friends, who really only know your mom (and who post nothing but what’s on their dinner plate), are also generally useless. That email list of all people you’ve known since high school? Well, unless they have true penchant for being constantly annoyed, I’m not sure they can be counted as followers.
The pitfalls listed above are obvious. The question becomes: What kind of army should it be? What kind of followers should you seek? The answer is surprisingly easy: Book-bloggers, readers, reviewers, and die-hard fans. If one lesson is learned, loyalty is all.
You may have noticed by now that I’ve completely avoided the question of “how.” How do you build a following? The answer is surprisingly difficult. In the end we can only listen to the incessant voices whispering inside Kevin Costner’s head: “Write it and they will come…”
next week: reviews
I’ve often heard it takes about ten years for an author to establish themselves. And I have to guess, that means writing more than one book per decade. Prolific or not, the road to fame and fortune is a long one, and the reason for this might have to with how difficult it is to build a following. Fans, readers, reviewers.
A brief history seems in order:
Around 200 BC, Emperor (and author) Qin Shi Huang of China was the first to build a following— literally. Some eight thousand clay soldiers were fashioned and baked in a kiln. There was a flaw in this plan however; none of the life-sized warriors were particularly fond of reading and very few actually left reviews. The emperor’s lovely collection of romantic sonnets fell into the slush pile only months after his death.
Centuries later, in the early 1800’s, the obscure British author, Jude Hastings struck upon the idea to gather an entire army of reviewers, some forty-thousand strong. It seemed like a solid plan and at first things were favorable. However, Mr Hastings could not possibly anticipate that they would fight amongst themselves. Chaos ensued. Perhaps it’s needless to say his great opus, “Lady Godiva’s Pony” is now lost to history.
In modern times, our armies are virtual but they all fall prey to the same drawbacks. Twenty thousand Russian follow-back bots on twitter serve no one but Putin. Facebook friends, who really only know your mom (and who post nothing but what’s on their dinner plate), are also generally useless. That email list of all people you’ve known since high school? Well, unless they have true penchant for being constantly annoyed, I’m not sure they can be counted as followers.
The pitfalls listed above are obvious. The question becomes: What kind of army should it be? What kind of followers should you seek? The answer is surprisingly easy: Book-bloggers, readers, reviewers, and die-hard fans. If one lesson is learned, loyalty is all.
You may have noticed by now that I’ve completely avoided the question of “how.” How do you build a following? The answer is surprisingly difficult. In the end we can only listen to the incessant voices whispering inside Kevin Costner’s head: “Write it and they will come…”
next week: reviews
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