Promotion is Secondary to the Work

There’s a new book out by bestselling author John Locke about how he sold a million copies on Amazon in five months. It’s called: How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months!

Here’s the thing: online marketing didn’t get him those sales numbers. What he did to promote his books was very similar to what other indie publishers have already done. There’s nothing new there.

So how did he achieve success? John Locke mastered his craft and wrote a bunch of great novels before he sold a single copy. Then he released the books, one after the other, on a short time frame with an introductory price of ninety-nine cents and wrapped promotion around that. His covers are great, his content was geared toward mass market rather than literary audiences, and he wrote consistently over several books. It was the aggressive release schedule coupled with a quality product at an attractive price, moreso than online marketing, that got him those numbers.

His story supports the old adage that most novelists will make money on the volume of books they write, as opposed to one individual release. (Lightning-in-a-bottle excluded.) And good for him! I am happy for Locke’s success.

The truth is that no amount of marketing will sell a book (or a series of them) if they’re crap or if they don’t resonate with an audience. It still comes back to whether or not the author is a good storyteller and if the readers enjoy that particular flavor of story. There are books have have been promoted heavily, with millions of dollars poured into advertising, and they just don’t sell. Some of them are amazing books; others not so much.

So if you’re a writer who wants to indie publish, the marketing take-a-ways here are: 1) What does your release schedule look like? 2) Do you have professional-looking covers? 3) Who is your target audience?

And, most importantly, numero quattro: Are you ready to sell your books?

For more on book covers and indie publishing, the How to Write Shop has a lot of information.

How to Create a Facebook Page on the New Facebook

Do you have a profile on Facebook? Have you seen those pages circulating around Facebook where your friends can become a fan of authors, movies, books and more? You can create a Facebook page as a way to promote your book or game, too. I’d like to help show you how.

    STEP ONE: NAVIGATE — Click on the Create a Facebook Page link. If you have an existing Facebook account, I recommend not logging in to Facebook until the prompt appears.

    Please note that as of April 14, 2009, you will have to “verify” your account via an electronic signature. It appears that Facebook is trying to ensure that a live person is behind the page in a profile, so businesses can no longer appear anonymously.

    Here is what Facebook is looking for, in their own words from their “Help” section: “The name you enter as your electronic signature should match the name on your account. If you have a business account with no name or profile, or are trying to create an account when you create your Page, please enter your legal first and last name as your electronic signature.”

    STEP TWO: CHOOSE YOUR PAGE TYPE — Choose what kind of a Facebook page you want to create. The choices are: Local (For a company or business), Brand or Product (Self-Explanatory) or Artist, Band or Public Figure (Band, Musician, Writer, etc.) for a personal profile. For this example, I’m going to choose the third option.

    STEP THREE: NAME YOUR PAGE — If you’ve chosen “Writer,” you’ll want to type in your author name. I don’t have a pen name, so I’m going to create a page for me. Once you’ve put in what name you want to be referred to and searched by, click on the blue “create page” button.

    STEP FOUR: LOG IN — Log in to the prompt here, or create your Facebook log in.

    STEP FIVE: CUSTOMIZE YOUR PAGE — Now that you’ve created your Facebook page, you have the ability to customize it in a number of different ways, specific to the page type that you’ve chosen. Here are a few of the ways that you can choose to customize your Facebook page.

      Add a Picture: The maximum filesize for an image is 4 megabytes. I’ve found that a good picture size to use is 250 pixels wide by 250 pixels tall because there is a lot of white space on the page.

      Pull in Your RSS Feed: To pull in your blog or website’s RSS feed to ensure there is current content on your page, you’ll want to click on the “Add a Note” feature. On the right hand side in a small, grey box you’ll see “Notes Settings” where you can import your blog.

      You will see your full expanded posts in the “preview,” but this is not how the RSS feed will show up in your Facebook page. Once you confirm the import at the bottom of the page, your RSS feed will display in the “Notes” box on a per post, per title basis.

      Add Information: Underneath your profile picture is a place to add information about you, your brand or your product. I recommend adding one or two paragraphs of text written in a style appropriate for people who don’t know anything about you, your company or your product.

      Add Video: If you’re playing around with video, I’d like to mention that there is an extra “verification” layer to use that option and the upload is not immediate. One option would be to have a shorter video in the “Video” box, and offer a link to your existing video by posting it on your wall.

      Favorite Other Facebook Pages: If you are a company and have a product, you can add your product’s page as a “favorite” and vice versa. This is a good way to help your customers and fans become familiar with what you’re offering.

      Rearrange Content: You may be looking at your page wondering where you can find photos or videos to add. If you don’t have content for every box, I recommend rearranging the elements on your Facebook page so the boxes that you do have content for show up first. I also recommend posting on your wall with a personalized message so the spot doesn’t appear to be empty.

    STEP SIX: PUBLISH — After you’ve customized your Facebook page, you have to “publish” the page to make it live.

    STEP SEVEN: PUBLICIZE — Now that you have your new Facebook page, you’ll want to publicize it and get “fans.” You can do that either through word-of-mouth advertising, through a Facebook ad or by adding a Facebook badge to your website.

      Adding a Facebook Badge: To add a Facebook badge to your website once you’ve created your page, refer to the “Help” section of Facebook. In this series of articles about How to Create a Facebook Badge, you’ll be able to read more about it. If you’re logged in to Facebook, you can also click on create a Facebook badge and follow the customization instructions.

For an example of a recent Facebook page that I had created, take a peek at Musicnotes.com on Facebook. Remember, that getting fans and people to interact on your Facebook page will take time. Regardless, it’s a good idea to know what Facebook promotional tools you have out there not just because this page creation is free — but because Facebook continues to be a popular social media outlet that you may want to consider branching into.

Hope you found this article helpful in your quest to promote you and your work. If you have a Facebook page you’re looking to promote, either send me or post the link in the comments below and I’ll follow up later this week with a list!

10 Ways Writers can use Blogging for Marketing

Just yesterday, I posted an article about whether or not blogging affects a writer’s ability to write. I’d like to go into a little more detail, and cover my ten ways writers and freelancers can use blogging for marketing their work, building careers, and enhancing their professional “brand” personality. You may (or may not) agree with the points I bring up here, and I will always encourage you to share your feedback.

Blurred deeply behind these ideas, is the notion that a professional writer will understand copyright laws, contracts and, of course, agreements with publishers about what they can and cannot write about. If you’re not aware of these things, please read my When do writers need a copyright? article for more information and stay tuned.

No. 1: Build Excitement for your Upcoming Work

Whether you are freelancing for a newspaper article or you’re knee-deep in a romance novel, blogging about what you’re working on not only gives people an inside glimpse at your writing process, it also “soft-sells” your project. A hidden benefit to “soft-selling” is that readers are more appreciative of someone who doesn’t beat them over the head with the words “buy me.”

No. 2: Allows you to Promote Charity and Good Deeds

What better way to wade through the rants of the blogosphere by contributing something positive and uplifting? I mentioned earlier about Yasmine Galenorn’s contribution to the 2008 online juvenile diabetes auction; other writers have blogged about sites like do one nice thing (every Monday). Being public about community-centric involvements is good PR; even if you don’t feel comfortable talking about your good deeds, you can always admire someone else.

No. 3: Dispels the “Writers are Egotistical and Anti-Social” Myths

There are some of us out there who have days where we want to crawl into a cave with a pen, a notebook, and a flashlight to work furiously on a novel or a project. That doesn’t mean we are all socially-backward or have an ego the size of a small island, however. As I continue to learn through my day job, letting your personality shine through your blog allows agents, publishers, readers and potentially employers see you for who you are.

No. 4: Builds a Writer’s Community

If you think that readers only look exclusively at your work–guess again. Many reviews mention similar authors who write in your vein, or other products customers might be interested in. By exploiting that view, rather than hiding it underneath a stack of books, you take control of that aspect by choosing who you feel is similar. In my opinion, there is no better recommendation for any writer than from his (or her) peer.

No. 5: Encourages Fan/Reader Interaction

Some readers follow a writer’s work from the beginning through until the end. Loyal, buying every book (whether they enjoy it or not), if fans don’t have a destination to go “somewhere” to talk about your work they will create their own. In my opinion, blogs are better to start with for fan interaction simply because low-trafficked forums make you appear unpopular and your books unloved. It’s pretty easy to set up blogs to have someone else manage your comments as well.

No. 6: Mention your Upcoming Appearances and Events

Are you speaking at a local college? Going to a bookstore or convention? Interviewed by a webzine? Promote yourself by talking a little bit about where you’ll be and how readers can get more info to come see you in person. Linking to interviews helps promote other sites, shows you’re appreciative of the nod toward your work, and provides your readers with more info about you.

No. 7: Clarify Misunderstandings More Easily

Every author sometimes experiences a “faux pas” with their work; maybe a blown deadline, maybe a publisher killed the book. By having an official blog, you can support press releases and easily clear up misunderstandings that may occur–especially if your fans or readers only get a snippet of the real story elsewhere.

No. 8: Build your “Author Brand”

In today’s market you’ll hear “Tad Williams writes Aquaman comic” or writer contributes to “George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards series. Publishers around the entertainment industry have discovered that well-known author names sell. If you, as an author, have any aspiration of sticking around in the industry, a blog can help you build your “author name brand” in the way that you design.

No. 9: Talk about your Interviews and Book Reviews

If you’re promoting yourself through traditional means, then you’re probably being interviewed or encourage reviewers to read and comment on your book. A blog allows you to acknowledge your interviewee and thank your book reviewers, but it also contributes to that overall “soft sell” for your product and your “author brand.”

No. 10: Offers you the Chance to get Instant Feedback

If you don’t have a blog, this point may take time as you build readership. If you do, there is no faster way to put information out there than the internet, especially if you are an author with some “weight.” If you’re curious about what your readers think, and are savvy enough to do it well, then a blog is definitely for you.




Monica Valentinelli >

Looking for Monica’s books and games that are still in print? Visit Monica Valentinelli on Amazon’s Author Central or a bookstore near you.

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