I’ve heard (and read) from different authors about the on-going necessity of promoting yourself and your books. Now, my question is … How much time do you feel is necessary to promote?
More and more publishers are requiring their authors to jump onto the promotion wagon. Whether its sending out notices, blog hopping, or doing appearances at conferences or signings. It seems we’re required to take more and more time away from our writing to promote our writing. There is something seriously wrong with that picture. I ask you … how can we promote our books if we don’t have the time to write them?
I don’t know ‘bout you, but given my present circumstances, there is no way I can churn out more than one book a year. To make a decent wage in this business, you almost have to come up with two — or even three books — a year. Throw promotion into the mix and you’ve just cut into your writing time.
Yes, I can quote the downward spiral of the economy when discussing the promotional requirements of publishers … but for some reason, I ain’t buying that. Not entirely. Seems to me that the promo wagon was launched well before 2008/2009. Sure, when my books were first published by Samhain, I was all for promoting myself. After all … who would do it better? Who had the most to gain? Yep — me. So I did the mailings, I did the ads in “Romance Sells”, I went to conferences (although I was doing that before the books were published — love conferences), and I did signings. Did it help? Sure. Did it cut into my writing time? You bet.
Lynn Viehl pretty much said it all in her October 20, 2009, post over at Genreality when she wrote a terrific blog about “Destressing”. Check out this link. Lynn was covering the stress that writers are feeling around now. She pointed out ways to de-stress yourself … how to put your work first, learn to say no (whether to the PTO, family and/or your publisher who wants you to go out on the road for three weeks), and to look after yourself … first and foremost. I’m totally with her.
Again … see above question. How much time should you spend promoting yourself and do you feel its necessary?
A month leading up to a release and about a month after are when I usually spend a good chunk of time promoting instead of writing. Seeing as my book came out a week after I had my baby, guess what’s priority these days? It’s certainly not my release. Anyway, I devote about 50 to 75% of my time toward promotions and the leftovers go toward plotting my next book.
For me, all of the promo authors do these days doesn’t convince me to buy their book. A good back cover blurb does that. Also, one of the best pieces of promotional advice I’ve heard is to write your next book. Not the number of ads you buy, swag, or the conferences you attend. Although, they are fun.
I recently read an article about Twitter by booksellers, and it concluded that instead of reaching customers, they were reaching other booksellers. lol I do wonder about the validity of Twitter and Facebook as promo.
I’ll find out when the time comes, but I think Marcia has it right. I know how stressed I was with ATV. I think I’d be the same with a book.
Unfortunately, I think it’s extremely important if we want to have any chance of being successful. We have to get our names out there. The more people see it the more inclined they will be to buy our stories. I’m already promoting myself and I haven’t even finished a book yet. But I will. And I will sell it and maybe, just maybe, someone will remember having seen my name and give it a chance. That’s my hope!
I’m not sure if that really answers your question. How much time? Lots. Any chance you can get. That’s my answer.
Liz,
That’s an excellent question. And a tag to that–what about the writer who isn’t a good promoter because she/he is shy, for example.
I think each author has to decide what the comfort level is for her and what amount of time she can give to promoting. And stick to that. What promotion you do will be the better because you aren’t stressed.
Right now, I’m relying mostly of friends and family and contacts to spread the word about me. Since this is my first published book, I don’t know how much it’s working. I do know I’m getting more hits on my website and blog and my agent thinks those a good promotional tools for now.
Bottom line. I think writers need to write, do a bit of promotion if it works for them, and get a support base to spread the word. You spread yourself too thin and your writing and your life suffers. Oh, and did I mention health?
Yeah, I can see where the new little darlin’ is going to take up your “promotion” time, Marcia.
For me personally, I like getting swag at a conference. Granted there are certain things that I gravitate toward … such as bookmarks and more practical items.
As far as the book blurb attracting your attention, I guess my point is, the reader has to know you’re out there in the first place. That’s my beef with buying on line via Amazon or one of the on-line bookstores. Unless I’m holding and looking at a physical book in a bookstore, I’m not going to know about a new author to go looking for that person’s book on line.
I suppose you can also view the time spent on promotion as a sorta “down time” between books. I’m sure a lot of my attempts at promotion ended up in the circular filing … so was it worth it? Don’t know.
I remember that even before she was published, Allison Brennan made it a point of being very visible on the web. Her name seemed to be everywhere. When her book came out, there was instant name recognition … so it worked beautifully for her, Elle. However, you have to have the time to devote to this type of cyber-blasting. Does it take away from your normal writing time? And is it worth it? You have to have a primo product in order to attract and then keep a fan.
I agree, Mary Jo. You have to decide your own comfort level when it comes to promoting. If you’re shy, you’re not going to attend conferences or do signings. You’d probably being shooting yourself in the foot because you risk coming off as stand-offish while in reality, you just cannot bring yourself to participate. Waste of time and money. However, mailings are doable. You also have to determine what works for you and what’s most cost effective.
You gotta decide what’s the best bang for your buck. Personally I think word of mouth is a wonderful tool. As long as that word of mouth is positive.
Hey Liz, great Monday blog! I’m in the camp that says not to spread yourself too thin. Big publishers took a more personal roll in their authors pre-internet I bet. Rushing around with promo and writing to do seems to be the norm today, though. An author has to decide what works best for them, and stick with it.
Thanx, LaD. Yep. Once upon a time, it seemed like publishers invested more time and effort in their authors … but I think those days are pretty well gone. With the internet, it is easier for an author to make a presense for her or himself. Then again, it can be a fine line. Certainly don’t want to make an obnoxious pest out of yourself. I’ve crossed authors off my list of people to invest in because their continueal harping bugged the hell outta me.
I do think promo is necessary, but as to how much time…I don’t know. I think that varies per author. I think as much as you *can* do comfortably–without losing family time, without making yourself a wreck–might be a good rule.
To a certain extent, the promotion train probably tapers off once you’ve established a following. I know there are certain authors (yourself included, Cyn) that are on my auto-buy list … so no promotion is necessary. With new authors … particularly in the UF genre that I’m presently enamoured with, I’d like to see some promotion from them so that I know they’re out there. If it weren’t for the fact that I was trolling in a B&N the other day, there would have been at least four authors I probably never would have discovered because I’d never heard of them. I just happened to come across them because B&N had their books in stock.
You know so far the only promotion that has prompted me to buy the book has been some blog guest spots where they were pimping their book.
I’m bought three books in the last month off blog promotions. On Twitter, which I am very active on- while I get to know the people and visit their blogs, I don’t really visit their websites or check out their books. Or if I did go over there and check their books out, the book simply didn’t interest me.
So for me, I’m putting the writing first. I’m active online more as a means to connect with other people, and net work– but it has to come second.
I think this would change, if I had a book coming out. I’d probably start doing alot of blog hopping then, to promote the book. But until then, promotion gets the left overs.
Hmmm – I guess having (and being) guest bloggers actually helps, Theresa. Thanx for letting us know. I – on the other hand – find that if I read about someone interesting, I’ll go seek out their website and check out what they all have to offer.
And yes, it will probably change when you’re published and actively promoting. You’ll find yourself able to devote a certain amount of time to that end of the business … because it really is necessary. People won’t know ’bout you unless you make your presence known.
When you’re pubbed, Theresa, we’ll make sure we have you as a guest blogger over here at MM.