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Marketing 101: Introduction

Anyone who has ever done a course in marketing will have heard of The Four P’s that form the basis of marketing strategies – Product, Price, Promotion and Place. But how does that apply to publishing? Over the next few weeks, my Saturday posts will look at what you need to know about the Four P’s and what you can do to successfully market your book.

I’ve read several current books on the subject of book marketing, and I’ll be reviewing each of them over the next few weeks, with my posting on Wednesdays. While most of the books are aimed at those who are self-publishing on Amazon and other sites, some of them have information that is useful to all writers, regardless of where they are on the publishing journey, and whether they are trade published or self-published, as there are many common principles.

As the author, your level of input into the development and implementation of the marketing plan will depend on whether you are self-publishing or have a publishing contract. Different publishers will have different levels of expectation of their authors, and this should be covered in your contract. However, all publishers expect their authors to participate in marketing to some extent, and having established relationships with readers should improve your chances of getting published.

Have a Marketing Plan

The first step is to have a marketing plan (to echo Stephen Covey, begin with the end in mind). What do you want to achieve? Do you want to sell lots of books? Do you want to make lots of money? Do you want lots of people to read your books? (Those goals might be mutually exclusive.) What must you do to achieve that goal?

In my view, it’s never too early to begin thinking about marketing. For example, one of the first decisions an author needs to make about their book is what genre it is. Is it fiction or non-fiction? Is it a devotional or a self-help book? If fiction, is it contemporary or historical, romance or action? If you’re not sure what the different fiction genres are, I suggest you reread my series on genre.

Know Your Genre

Knowing your genre will help you understand your target market: an essential piece of a marketing plan. If you don’t know who your target reader is, you won’t know how to connect with them. This is one of the key points in Karen Baney’s book, 10 Keys to Ebook Marketing Success.

Knowing your genre will help you determine your author brand: the way you want readers to see you and your work. Understand what you are, and ensure all your marketing efforts (including tweets and Facebook posts) reinforce that brand. You don’t need a fancy tagline (although a tagline is a way of keeping your marketing efforts on track), but you do need to consider and manage your brand. Joanna Penn discusses this in How to Market a Book.

Understand Your Author Brand

It’s never too late to develop and implement a marketing plan, but the earlier you understand your author brand, the earlier you will be able to begin developing and implementing a marketing plan (including that all-important platform) that introduces and reinforces that brand. An established platform will be an invaluable asset if you are seeking traditional publication, as agents and commissioning editors are more interested in authors who understand the need to be active on social media. And an established platform is essential if you decide to self-publish, as it gives you a built-in group on which to focus your marketing efforts.

Book Review: How to Market a Book by Joanna Penn

I’ve read quite a few books on marketing books on Amazon (or marketing books in general), and this is one of the best. Many books I don’t even get through the Kindle sample before finding something that’s outdated, unethical or just plain wrong. Of the ones that pass the sample test, many end up being little more than ‘how I did it’, with little understanding of the principles of marketing. Most concentrate purely on promotion, ignoring the other key aspects of marketing: having a marketing plan that guides decisions around product, place, price … and promotion.

Joanna Penn’s book is different. She begins by asking authors what they want to achieve, because it is only by understanding the desired end result that we can plan marketing activities that will achieve that goal (including the importance of good professional editing). She then discusses branding: the meaning of brand and the need for authors to display a consistent brand across all platforms.

She talks about short-term marketing tactics, and why authors should develop a long-term marketing platform, which includes discussions on topics such as websites, email marketing, content marketing, social networking, audio and podcasting, and the use of video. There are many ideas in here that I initially dismissed as not relevant, but that’s like an author saying they only read hardcover books so there’s no need to release an ebook. Just because I don’t listen to podcasts or watch video doesn’t mean they don’t serve a purpose in an integrated marketing plan—and maybe I should consider them as well.

How To Market A Book contains dozens of links to useful websites, and for this reason it’s probably best read on a tablet or PC, as the Kindle isn’t designed for surfing the internet. It would also be good read as a real book—I found I highlighted a lot more material in this than I usually highlight in an ebook, and I still could have highlighted more. Maybe I’ll have to buy the print version as well …

If you are looking for a book with five simple steps to launch your book and sell millions of copies, or three easy ways to gain 10,000 Twitter followers, this isn’t it. What Penn does show is a solid method for developing and maintaining a brand-driven platform that will support your individual business aims, whatever that is. Recommended.

What Makes A Good Book Review?

Following on from my post last week about getting book reviews on Amazon, I thought I’d address a related question: What makes a good book review?

Looking at Amazon, it appears that a lot of authors automatically consider a five-star review to be good and a three-star or lower review to be bad. I disagree. As a reader, a bad review is one that doesn’t give me enough information to make a decision, regardless of the rating. Here are some examples of bad reviews:

I love this book! Even better than Twilight!! Smith is the best author EVA!!! and I could just swoon over Jamie all day!!!!

This book was okay. Amazon makes me write at least twenty words for a review so now I’m done. Yay.

Reviews are for readers.

The objective of a review is to help a potential reader decide whether or not they will like a particular book. Should they spend their hard-earned money buying this book? Is it worth their time to read? My time is valuable. I don’t want to waste hours reading a bad book, even a free book, when I could have been doing something more enjoyable (like scrubbing the toilet, or better still, reading a good book).

Over the years I have come to the conclusion that there are five main aspects that contribute to my enjoyment of a book, and these are the questions I try to address when I write a review:

  • Plot: Does the plot make sense? Is it exciting? Romantic? Do the sub-plots add to the overall story? Is it believable? Is it original, or do I feel I’ve read it before?
  • Characters: Do I like the characters? Are they people I’d want to know and spend time with in real life? Or are they too-stupid-to-live clichés?
  • Genre: Does the book conform to the expectations of the genre? If it’s Christian fiction, does the protagonist show clear progression in their Christian walk? If it’s romance, is there an emotionally satisfying ending? If it’s fantasy or science fiction, has the author succeeded in convincing me the world they have created is real?
  • Writing and editing: With many books, especially those from small publishers or self-published authors problems with the writing or editing take me out of the story (like a heroin wearing a high-wasted dress). Bad writing or insufficient editing makes a book memorable for all the wrong reasons.
  • The Wow! Factor: Some books, very few, have that extra something that makes them memorable for the right reasons. The Wow! factor is usually a combination of a unique plot and setting, likeable and intelligent characters (I loathe stupid characters), and a distinct and readable writing style, or ‘voice’.  This is highly subjective and other readers might not agree with my taste. And that’s okay.

Some reviewers, especially Christian reviewers, are of the view that “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”. I disagree. That doesn’t mean I’m going to be cruel, but it does mean I’m going to be honest. Reviews are for readers, and readers deserve honest reviews. They want to know whether a book is worth their money and time—or not.

It’s hard to write a less-than-glowing review. It’s much easier to write a four-star ‘I liked it’ review (and even easier to write a five-star ‘I loved it’ rave). I wish I could write more five-star raves, but a lot of books are missing that Wow! factor, that originality that takes them from a four-star like to a five-star rave.

I will, on rare occasions, not publish a critical review—usually when another review already covers all the points I was going to make. But I publish reviews for around 75% of the books I read—and over 95% of the books I accept as review copies (because this is a condition of accepting a review title with most online book blogger review programmes). If I accept your book for review, I will review it. I might take a while and you might not like the review, but I will read it, and I will review it.

Critical reviews are especially hard to write if the book is from a lesser-known author with fewer reviews. I don’t enjoy writing a review saying a book was full of cliché characters, a predictable plot and editing errors. It’s not my fault I’m the first person to notice a book refers to Barnaby’s Star when it’s actually Barnard’s Star (true story. The author said even his NASA beta-reader didn’t pick that up).

Reviews are not book reports or a critique. They are not a way for authors to get free feedback on the quality of their writing. If you want feedback on your writing, ask an objective reader, find a critique partner, get a free critique through a writing organisation, or get a paid critique from an editor. I provide manuscript assessments as part of my editing services. They are far more detailed than my reviews, and provide concrete advice in how to rectify the weaknesses. I can’t do that in a short online review.

Because reviews are for readers.

 

Book Review: How to Get Good Reviews on Amazon

This is one of those times when I’d like Amazon to have half stars. This is better than 4 – “I liked it”, but I try to reserve 5 “I loved it” to books that are outstanding. I really liked this short guide—it’s a solid 4 ½ stars, but to be outstanding it would have needed to venture outside Amazon. I’d like to have written it myself, but never mind.

Theo Rogers has written a solid summary of Amazon reviewing—an introduction to what motivates people to review, the main methods authors can use in selecting appropriate Amazon reviewers, and advice on approaching reviewers. There is also valuable guidance on the ins and outs of Amazon to help ensure authors don’t get stuck in the minefields of Amazon.

None of this is new information. Any author could learn this by spending a few months lurking in the Amazon discussion forums. But that’s time that could be spent writing—so why not save yourself a few hundred hours and buy this instead? Read it and apply the principles (while Rogers doesn’t mention reader sites like Goodreads or other retail sites, my experience suggests most of the same principles hold true).

I would suggest one correction: Rogers comments on the number of reviews of self-published books that say the book was in desperate need of professional editing and proofreading. I’ve made similar comments myself, and in some cases the author has responded that the book was professionally edited.

If so, I’d prefer their books were competently edited, as it seems that how much an author pays for editing doesn’t necessarily translate into a quality product. In fairness to my editing colleagues, I’d also say that some self-published authors are merely uploaders with no understanding of what makes good writing, let alone good fiction, and no amount of editing will help. What these people need is a competent ghostwriter.

Anyway, back to the topic of Amazon reviewing. At best, reading How To Get Good Reviews on Amazon will help you gain a respectable number of honest reviews. At worst, you will learn how to avoid ruining your writing career before it’s even begun.