The Indie Showcase presents, Helen Hollick
Today’s guest has a special place in my writing life. If it hadn’t been for her, I would never have been where I am today. She has encouraged me at every turn and I’m very pleased to welcome her to the Showcase.
The
Big Problem…
by Helen Hollick
‘Write
about anything, you, your writing, your books…’ said Richard when I asked him
what sort of article he wanted. So I guess my question – and his answer – were
both of those ‘how long is a piece of string’ sort of things. Unhelpful.
I have an ongoing problem. I didn’t always have this problem. Back in the days when I only had my Arthurian Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy ‘under my belt’, as the saying goes, it wasn’t a problem.
Nor was it a problem when my novel, Harold the King (titled I Am The Chosen King in the US) about the events that led to the Battle of Hastings in 1066 was published. It started becoming a slight concern when A Hollow Crown (titled The Forever Queen in the US) appeared in print.
And became the conundrum it is now when my series of pirate-based adventures, the Sea Witch Voyages set sail.
Marketing.
Spreading the Word. Shouting (politely and not too loud) about the books I’ve
written (and a few I still hope to write) that is the problem. To coin a
well-known phrase (with apologies to Bill) ‘To do or not to do, that is the
question?’
‘Do’
is the obvious answer of course. Without marketing how will readers know what
good books worth reading are out there?
Having a book available on Amazon, the Great Bookshop On The Interweb, is all
very well, but there are millions of titles on there (even trillions?) How, as authors do we do so? Yes we, for my problem is the
same problem for nearly every writer, especially indie writers, because ‘do’ is
easier said than done.
When
my Arthurian Trilogy came out, and Harold, I was with a mainstream publishing
house, one of the Big Names. But computers and the Internet, back then pre 2000,
were new-fangled things. Believe it or not there was no Facebook, no Twitter,
no whatever-a-gram. And – biggest shock of all – we didn’t even have Amazon! I know, amazing isn’t it?
The
publishers, back then when my first novel, The
Kingmaking was published in 1995, took care of the marketing. And boy did I
get marketing! They had paid a rather nice advance (for the three books of the
trilogy) and, so I thought, wanted their money back plus a lot of profit. Turns
out the first bit of that last sentence was true, but not the second bit. Once
publishers have had their investment repaid they lose interest, unless you
happen to hit the jackpot with a runaway best seller, in which case you become
their darling and you get marketed all over the place. Otherwise, forget it.
You get a month’s worth if you are lucky, then that’s it. Zilch. Nothing more.
If the book doesn’t sell, too bad, once the advance is earned back you are no
longer important, and neither is your novel. It’s the equivalent of being shoved
away in that old cupboard up in the attic, you know, where you put things you
don’t really want any more but don’t want to throw out in case it might be
worth a bob or two in about 100 years.
I
digress.
For
the Kingmaking I had my five minutes of fame (nope, not even
the traditional fifteen). The press were on to me: ‘Author has huge advance’
(not true by the way). The Evening
Standard wanted an exclusive so they took me and the family out for the
day: lunch, photos, questions. I was invited on to you-name-it-I-was-on-it
radio. ‘Wow’ I thought.
Then
the publishing company was sold. They were in financial do-do. The Kingmaking, despite the media
attention wasn’t a best seller. Part Two of the trilogy was published, Pendragon’s Banner. Barely any marketing
happened. I was told: ‘Don’t worry,
we’ll do the marketing when the pocket-size paperback comes out.’ That changed
to: ‘Don’t worry, we’ll do the marketing when the third book comes out.’ They
didn’t.
Skip
to the publication of Harold the King.
Ditto above.
A Hollow Crown, not even ditto. No marketing whatsoever. Historical
fiction in the early 2000s was no longer popular so the publishing house
dropped me. So did my agent. (Who, I must say, had done s** all for me anyway!)
I
spent two weeks sobbing, picked myself up… blah blah… and decided to go indie.
Which is when I realised that to sell
books meant to market yourself and
your books.
In
between 2006 and now, in 2018, I have learnt a lot about marketing, using
Social Media, going to conferences, giving talks, writing articles, running a
blog, getting my name (and my books) known.
The rule for self-marketing is: don’t go on and on about how wonderful your books are. Yes of course, every so often Tweet or Facebook with things like: ‘one of the best novels about 1066’ or ‘King Arthur – the man not the myth, what a refreshing change’ or ‘ I loved Sea Witch’ (see what I did there? Banging on about how wonderful your books are is a tad off-putting isn’t it?) So marketing is subtle: write articles as guest posts, blog about the subjects you write about, chat, make on-line friends, take up all your writing day promoting the book or books you’ve already written while being aware that you really ought to be writing the next one…
Ah,
is that ‘The Problem’ then, I hear you ask? All this stuff diverting attention
from the next book that I ought to be writing, instead of sitting here writing
this article for Richard?
Well,
no actually, I regard article writing and social-mediaring as all part of the
job, and I enjoy it. I get to meet new, nice people, and hopefully sell a book
or two at the same time.
The
Problem is… which book do I promote next?
I can’t do them all at once. Or can I? Hmm maybe I need to think about that…
Oh,
I’ve just taken another look at Richard’s guidelines:
“Don’t
moan or whinge’ he said.
Does
trying to share decision-making about what books to promote and how, in order
to try to sell them, but knowing it’s an uphill struggle and that you might be
wasting your time anyway, count as a whinge? Maybe not in this case, because I
know for a fact that every indie writer has the same doubts… and the same problem…
Hang in there folks. It IS worth it. Honest. (I think.)
©
Helen Hollick
Helen lives on a thirteen-acre farm in North Devon,
England. Born in London, she wrote pony stories as a teenager, moved to
science-fiction and fantasy, and then discovered historical fiction. Published
for over twenty years with her Arthurian Trilogy, and the 1066 era she became a
‘USA Today’ bestseller with her novel about Queen Emma The Forever Queen (UK
title A Hollow Crown.) She also writes
the Sea Witch Voyages, pirate-based nautical
adventures with a touch of fantasy. She has written a non-fiction about pirates
and one about Smugglers In Fact and Fiction, due to be published in 2019. She
also runs Discovering Diamonds, a
review blog for Historical Fiction.
LINKS
Website: www.helenhollick.net
Newsletter Subscription: http://tinyletter.com/HelenHollick
Main Blog: www.ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.com
Amazon Author Page (Universal Link) viewAuthor.at/HelenHollick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HelenHollickAuthor/
Twitter: @HelenHollick
Discovering Diamonds : https://discoveringdiamonds.blogspot.co.uk/
Thanks to Helen for a great post. I hope you all enjoyed it.
While you’re here,
why not have a look around the site? There are FREE things and a whole lot
more, just follow the links at the top of the page.
If you want to be
featured in a future Showcase, where you can write about whatever
(within reason) you want, then please let me know. Use the comment box below
and I’ll get back to you.
You can catch up on
previous Showcase posts by clicking HERE
Don’t miss next
Thursdays Showcase post, and my musings every Monday.
Have a great week,
Richard.
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