Promoting is a Job
Nadia Brown
February 06, 2007
Why write a manuscript? Why bother to get published if a book isn't worth “an author's time” promoting?
Many authors don't know how to properly market their books. Sure some promote, but to what extent? Four weeks of asking some folks to visit your website is not the most practical way to sell books.
Here are reasons why promoting should be a daily requirement:
1. The Challenge of Generating Publicity & Sales
Promoting is the author's job and not an option! It is an extensive, difficult, enduring process that requires research, planning and the commitment of resources. It involves substantial time and effort, which are needed to generate sales.
Marketing may include a variety of ideas, all of which requires a good deal of the author’s time:
. Getting pre-production and post-production reviews
. Sponsoring contests
. Sending press releases to local newspapers
. Contact organizations (schools, libraries…) about acquiring copies of your book
. Write and submit articles or poems for publishing
. Network with other authors
. Get interviewed and/or featured on publications
With a growing number of books published each year, an increasingly occupied public and declining reader's market shows how crucial the promotional process is. A lack of attention paid to marketing makes it more difficult to bring the kind of exposure that’s needed to have profitable sales.
2. Efficient Marketing is Useful
A number of authors do not advertise, or promote sparingly, as if promoting somehow has an automatic stop date in which many writers too faithfully observe. However, marketing should be both sufficient and long-term, not something you do casually for a few months.
Effective marketing can provide certain benefits that include:
Increase publicity for authors and their books
Create additional opportunities for exposure
Boost book sales
Most authors would like to sell tons of books right away. But authors typically receive nominal sales even after a year or longer of their books’ release. Bestselling authors know the value of promoting and often reap the benefits of hard work. It takes time, patience and commitment to create the buzz an author needs -- as many spend months, if not years marketing their work.
Some writers are published for the sake of being in print. But being an author really means becoming "the total package," which also includes being a promoter, salesperson, entrepreneur… as increasingly, selling books have become more daunting than having a manuscript published. Therefore, marketing is critical to an author’s success. And it is their responsibility to diligently promote what they have worked tirelessly for.
Many authors don't know how to properly market their books. Sure some promote, but to what extent? Four weeks of asking some folks to visit your website is not the most practical way to sell books.
Here are reasons why promoting should be a daily requirement:
1. The Challenge of Generating Publicity & Sales
Promoting is the author's job and not an option! It is an extensive, difficult, enduring process that requires research, planning and the commitment of resources. It involves substantial time and effort, which are needed to generate sales.
Marketing may include a variety of ideas, all of which requires a good deal of the author’s time:
. Getting pre-production and post-production reviews
. Sponsoring contests
. Sending press releases to local newspapers
. Contact organizations (schools, libraries…) about acquiring copies of your book
. Write and submit articles or poems for publishing
. Network with other authors
. Get interviewed and/or featured on publications
With a growing number of books published each year, an increasingly occupied public and declining reader's market shows how crucial the promotional process is. A lack of attention paid to marketing makes it more difficult to bring the kind of exposure that’s needed to have profitable sales.
2. Efficient Marketing is Useful
A number of authors do not advertise, or promote sparingly, as if promoting somehow has an automatic stop date in which many writers too faithfully observe. However, marketing should be both sufficient and long-term, not something you do casually for a few months.
Effective marketing can provide certain benefits that include:
Increase publicity for authors and their books
Create additional opportunities for exposure
Boost book sales
Most authors would like to sell tons of books right away. But authors typically receive nominal sales even after a year or longer of their books’ release. Bestselling authors know the value of promoting and often reap the benefits of hard work. It takes time, patience and commitment to create the buzz an author needs -- as many spend months, if not years marketing their work.
Some writers are published for the sake of being in print. But being an author really means becoming "the total package," which also includes being a promoter, salesperson, entrepreneur… as increasingly, selling books have become more daunting than having a manuscript published. Therefore, marketing is critical to an author’s success. And it is their responsibility to diligently promote what they have worked tirelessly for.
Print
Email
