Tag Archive | best-seller

Author Confessions: Why Authors Hate Marketing

Jul29
Reading Time: 4 minutes

 Author Confessions: Why Authors Hate Marketing

Maybe it’s an exaggeration to say authors hate marketing. We’re expected to do it. I’m sitting here writing in a blog as part of a larger marketing plan. Gone are the days where an author can squirrel themselves away in a lovely little cabin and pump out book after book. Maybe a book signing here and there to meet their adoring public. Back in the olden days (before I ever started writing for publication), publishing houses did all that work.

The advent of the internet and those who are self-publishing has created a lot more content and choices for readers. Some publishing houses are struggling to stay afloat in a highly competative industry and authors are making less money as a result. It’s only a tiny percentage of published authors who write more than one book  who rise to the top as far as popularity and book sales. Those with big names don’t need to be all over social media to get readers to purchase their next best-seller. If you are already famous and write a book, they might do a few interviews on national television and then that’s it, voila, best-seller.

Now this isn’t about book sales, per se. But the reality is we live in a noisy world. I admit to getting sucked into social media, reels, videos, and posts. Sometimes I think life was better before I ever joined Facebook, and I’m not on there as much as you might think. I hired a virtual assistant for a time to help with some of that and I learned a lot. The goal was not to need him anymore. I still have one helping me for the moment with this blog, but she doesn’t write the posts. She does all the back door stuff and offers a ton of encouragemet (I love you, Bonnie!)

TIME

I don’t hate marketing. What I dislike is the time it takes away from writing. Part of this is as I’ve learned new things I’m dipping into my back catalogue of content to put together my media content. That takes a lot of time as I’m skimming books to get quotes, or looking on line for reviews to use to help people perhaps take interest in a particular title. And I can’t be all about sales either. Who wants that? So I search for cute images with quotes about reading, books, faith, or sometimes something silly to post to encourage my audience. Eventually I won’t have to do all that again, except for new titles, so getting it organized right now is the big investment. If I were to line up interviews or books signings that takes even more time (and money). Thankfully, if I plan well, I can post all of that in advance. Still, it takes time and planning.

INTROVERTS

The majority of authors are introverts. We are not necessarily out for attention. I’m supposed to do videos to promote my books and I’ve done a few, but I hate doing them! They are short, sure, but they take more time than you think and I can be pretty critical of my performance. I can do live videos and be fine with them if they are less scripted but it still is not a comfortable thing to do. I don’t want this to be about me–but about the stories. I write fiction so I have to try to show you, the reader, the value there is in reading my made up tale. That takes time and creativity to put together in something that’s only 30 seconds to a minute long with a moving background. As you can guess, I’m not on TikTok. My life is mostly private. Sure I share some stuff on Facebook, and maybe if I think of it, on Instagram, but that’s about it. I want to live a life away from a computer screen as much as possible.

MONEY

I have paid marketing experts to help me but in reality it wasn’t just paying someone to do the job, it was paying them to teach me how to do it. It’s not cheap and doing the job myself I can see why. It takes time and that is a valuable asset. So is money. My husband spent his life in marketing and sales but it was for a physical product and he would do the sales at a home with an appointment. It’s as different thing to sell content like a book. So I invest money (and time) and it might be years before I see a real return on my investment. It’s a step of faith to do that and many authors do pay others for the help, but even with that assistance they often have to pitch in by providing content to the assistant. Those assistants work hard. Book signings can come with a cost as well for the spot at a craft fair, and maybe goodies for those who come whether it be snacks or give-aways.

The reason why authors hate marketing is because it’s outside of our wheelhouse and takes away from our primary craft of writing. I don’t mind doing images and posting or playing around to creat my own unique images, but it takes time. My publisher does some stuff to help market books but the primary weight of this for most authors, falls on their shoulders. And if you want to be published, you need to have that audience already established, even without having a book to sell. Crazy, right? Unfortunately, that’s the reality most authors face as they try to get a book ready for publication.

Author Confessions: Reaching One vs Many

Jul15
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Author Confessions: Reaching One vs Many

As an author it would be lovely to have a best selling book. Except that how do you measure that? By overall sales? Well, that’s one way. My book Pesto and Potholes was offered for a week at an extremely discounted rate and it shot to number one on Amazon and stayed in the top ten that week for the catagory it was listed in. A friend asked me how it felt to be a “best-seller.”

Weird. Surreal.

It wasn’t real. The reality is most authors, this one included, do not make a liveable wage from writing books. Having said that, I’m doing fine. God has given me a calling and I’ve striven with His help to follow where He has led on this journey to publishing. He has provided for my physical needs. On paper, I make a small amount of taxable income but that is usually because I will not always include every deduction I possibly could when I file my  taxes. Too many losses when self-employed makes the IRS think it’s just a hobby.

Writing, for me, is not a hobby. As I said, it’s a calling. Sure it would be nice to have the accolades like other better-known, authors have. Oh, to have the income of a Richard Castle! Granted, he is fictional, but still, what a delightful fantasy to have that kind of financial resource to do whatever I wanted to do, go wherever I wanted to go, and live without any worry over investments, inflation or anything else. The only battle he had was against himself and writer’s block. And maybe his vanity? Or how about Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote? Not so much living the high life but definitely not worried about her finances, although it seemed she found foul play around every corner. Not the kind of life I would want.

Oh, maybe I need to be writing murder mysteries? Or erotica. They do seem to sell well.

Nope. That’s not what God has called me to do. I write romance because the best romance is the one we have with our Savior. It’s real. It’s personal. It is life-changing. By His grace we have been given real-life love that reflects or mirrors that of our relationship to God.

I digress, but it was an important point.

The reality is, when I get to heaven, God isn’t going to ask about my book sales. He’s not even going to be worried about how many books or blog posts I’ve written. He will only be concerned with whether I accepted the free gift of salvation found only in Jesus Christ.

After that all the rest is a reward based on my obedience and the lives I influence for HIS glory while here on this planet.

That isn’t always reflected in book sales.

That might be the interaction I have at a craft fair with a young teen who loves to write. He or she may not even purchase my one of my books but I encouraged them to pursue their passion. If nothing else, good writing skills will always be an asset in any career field. It might be a friend I sit with to listen, love, and pray over. It might be the small group of people who meet in my home to study the work of another writer that encourages us to grow in our faith. It might be a student in a writing or theology class I’ve taught. None of which has anything to do with any book I’ve written.

None of that translates into book sales, does it?

I can do all the marketing, pay lots of money for ads, do interviews, and blog tours and it still might not make me or my publisher any more money. My books can be high quality without having a huge readership and income.

If one person’s life is helped. If they are encouraged in their faith or finally understand God’s love for the first time through a story God led me to write. That’s priceless.

The down side? That doesn’t help pay the bills for myself, my editor, publisher, cover artist, marketing person, or virtual assistant.

Maybe I’m not doing this marketing thing right. I’ve hired help and I’m working hard but I’ll admit to occassional discouragement when I see only two reviews on one of my favorite titles. Great reviews but I’m sure more than two people read that book. Reviews help others find great books. Sales also help. Even if you pick up my book at a church library or the public library, a review is sooo helpful to an author. Yes, it’s encouraging to know people love my stories. Reviews help other people find them as well.

I used to pay more attention to reviews and sales than I do now. They are not a reflection of my worth of value as a follower of Christ or an author, although some might make that corralation. Ultimely, I really won’t know the value or impact my words have had until I get to heaven.

In the meantime I’ll keep writing. I have learned over the years that it is the time spent with people, quality time, one-on-one, listening to their story, encouraging them, praying for them, that has greater eternal value. I’m not minimizing the hard work that I put in to writing and editing a novel or novella. It can be grueling at times. It takes discipline and saying no to other great things I might like to do. Reaching one vs many is the tension I live with but when the scales are off balance, I suspect it will always be in favor of the one.

Lessons Learned While Writing: I’m Not As Good As I Think I Am (aka Humility)

Apr4
Reading Time: 2 minutes

I had started writing in a way many in that genre write, from an omniscient narrator perspective which meant I’d hop from one character’s thoughts and experiences to another without pause. Well, if older writers could do it, why not me?

Oh, how wonderful I thought my first book was, until I began to get the critiques back. What was head-hopping? What do you mean I have too may points of view? What is a point of view anyway?

Because that was then and this is now. I read, and got feedback and I rewrote the book taking out one character as it was too long. Then I rewrote it again with only two points of view. I revised it another time sparsely adding the point of view a villain who appears in subsequent books to give it a darker, more suspenseful tone. Instead of writing a lighthearted Regency-era romance, my novels were more Gothic!

Every time I write a story there is a mixture of pride and fear mixed into the process. Will it be good enough? Will the story resonate with readers?

Sometimes I wonder if big sales have eluded me because I’m poor at marketing or because God is protecting me from pride—that erroneous belief that I wrote those books and I’m wonderful.

I did write them—with God’s help and that of others. And I am wonderful, as a child of God which means I’m also a flawed human being.

Every round of edits can bring up fears of not being good enough. But in reality, I’ll never be good enough. I can only hope to grow to be better than the last book I wrote.

My daughter told me not to worry: “You’ll be famous when you’re dead.” I laughed. Guess I’m not in a hurry to be famous then because I have a lot more living to do should the Lord allow me to remain here.

Sometimes I wonder when it will end. Writers don’t really “retire,” so as long as I have the ability and the imagination, I suppose I’ll keep writing, and leave fame in the hands of God.

What projects do you struggle with to find humility? What works for you to keep you from wallowing in self-pity or puffing yourself up too much?