For authors and publishers, the announcement and release of a new book is a big event, but for potential readers, it’s just one among an average of over 200 books a day.
(According to Bowker’s Book Industry Statistics, there were about 77,000 fiction and juvenile books published in 2008 in the USA alone – and that number doesn’t even include POD, short run and self-pubbed titles).
So how do we, as writers, get the word out in a way which makes our book stand out from all the others?
Sure, we can all rattle off a list of things that we think would work: book trailers; reviews; podcasts; advertisements; guest blog tours etc, but for the best answers, I think we need to look at promotion from the point of view of the potential reader.
The primary goal of all these promotional tools is not so much to make the sale, as it is to entice potential buyers to find out a little more about the product. Therefore, if you checked out the blurb as a result, even if you didn’t make a purchase, the promotion worked.
With that in mind, from the following list, please select which (if any) online promotional methods have led to you seeking out more information about a book:
Book trailer
0(0.0%)
First chapter posted online in print or as a podcast
1(2.3%)
Online announcement
0(0.0%)
Online competition
0(0.0%)
Online link
0(0.0%)
Online promotion
0(0.0%)
Online recommendation/review
4(9.1%)
Something else, which I’ll mention in the comments
0(0.0%)
I have no interest in finding out more about a book based on something I see online.
1(2.3%)
Has over-promotion ever put you off wanting to find out more about an author’s book?
Yes
24(55.8%)
No
19(44.2%)
Thanks in advance for your input.
If you answered ‘Yes’ to the over-promotion question, feel free to elaborate in the comments, but please don’t name names.
Which online book-promotion techniques appeal to you as a reader?
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Comments
When you say overpromotion, I think of the author overpromoting it. And yes, that can turn me off. When other people are talking about a book a lot, that doesn't turn me off. That actually makes me want to find out more.
And that's what we have to remember. As authors, the best thing we can do is write a book that makes other people talk about it. Talking about it ourselves all the time is NOT going to sell books.
Me too. I think it's easy to cross the line between enough and too much.
Totally annoying
My thinking is, so long as I can make them entertaining, some of the folks who see them might check out the book. After that, it's down to the blurb and people's personal taste.
Thanks for sharing, Ailsa :)
but I guess that's not what you're talking about here. :)
Then again, that could just be me.
Thanks for the input, Sheela :)
I also love to read intriguing blurbs and I tend to search for author website and see if he or she has something else posted on the book I'm searching.
Over-promotion doesn't put me off, unless it's real intrusive. But as I follow lots of folks with similar interests that's kind of a risk.
Though I have to say that over-promotion, even of a non-vanity book, can also be off-putting just because the product can't possibly live up to the hype.
Yes. If that's all the person blogs about, I start skimming their posts and skip over any more mention of their book(s). I've seen this several times, with bloggers who posted their cover artwork a dozen times, kept track of its sales through Amazon or whatever, and so on. I love knowing about book signings, and behind-the-scenes stuff, but there's definitely something annoying about over-promotion.
Luckily, those bloggers moved on after the excitement wore off, and I'm back to reading their posts...
Jenn
wastelose time on a book that doesn't do it for me. That's why, for me, the best sort of promotion is one that sells me on the story, or the author's ability, or some combination thereof. I have purchased books based on a chapter (or chapters) posted on the author's blog or elsewhere. I add to my list books that bloggers I respect rave about. But if I read an author's blog - even if it is an author that I like - and ALL they are talking about is their book release, promotions, tour stuff, etc...it does turn me off.Thanks for sharing :)
I think interviews with book review sites is huge. And just network network network with as many readers as possible. Most of the books I buy are b/c I know the author... correction: most of the books I buy religiously on release day are authors I've gotten to know or get to interact with online.
My online reading limit is about a thousand words. Any more than that and I prefer to download and read later, but I often don't do either.
i like to hear the author and i like to read some of the book, get a feel for the style. trailers may get me to hunt down the author's website to look at what the author or book says, but they don't get me to buy the book.
Absolutely, but I would say the trailer's succeeded if the person who saw it types in the link to the book's info page.
Thanks for sharing. Tracy :)