The Work
Aug
22
2005

So this weekend I’ve listened to writers whine online about promoting. Now, we all whine. It’s a pain to do when you feel the lure of your story beckoning. It takes time to get out there. But the facts are simple, you have to do it. Even if you are a big name the publisher isn’t going to do it all for you and most of us aren’t big names.

Someone said that promo wasn’t part of writing. Bullshit. Promotion is almost as important as the actual writing if you want people to read your books. And for those of us in epublishing, it’s one step more difficult because of the frequency of other books that get released. Readers don’t want to wait a year between books, they want a few months. That’s a lot of pressure to perform, but that’s the reality of this business.

I keep hearing people say they don’t know if promo even makes a difference. I have to say I’ve seen that it does make a difference, especially to a new author like me. My sales have been really good, which is wonderful but the book didn’t sell itself. I had to get out there to attach a person to Triad, give people a reason to choose it over another book with their limited book buying dollar.

And I like my readers. I really don’t mind doing chats, they’re fun and they are a great way to get out there and make contact with what people want to see and read in a fairly short period of time. I’m not that fab at creating banners and such (Megan Hart is amazing at this), but you know, I try and get my name out there where receptive audiences will see it.

I need to make promo items, both for when I send out prizes for contests and for RT (never to early to get started on that). I don’t know if my bookmarks will make someone buy my book, but it’s worth a try.

Essentially, I see promo as about 35% of my job and 70% once I finish the book until about three weeks after release and then it moves back to 40% or so.

(BTW, if you are reading this, I am not talking about you!)

2 comments to “The Work”

  1. Mechele Armstrong
    August 24th, 2005 at 5:11 am · Link

    LOL I won’t whine. I don’t really mind doing promo, it is fun sometimes. I just never realized once you sold that book, reached the holey grail, there was another summit over the next hill, the promo one.



  2. Lauren Dane
    August 24th, 2005 at 11:01 am · Link

    It’s true! It’s all a series of hills. But I’m slowly getting used to it and seeing what works and what doesn’t.

    My husband brought me home an article he clipped out of the WSJ for me about two books that had the same approximate level of critical acclaim and support from the publisher but one ended up selling 800K and the other 200K (both still amazing numbers, sheesh!) because one author got out and signed and spoke and promo’d her booty off and the other was a recluse.