In my experience, book signings, personal appearances and constant direct-sales efforts are the only low cost (not
in time, though) activities that actually yield significant sales for independent authors. I
think too many new authors have an unrealistic expectation that if they
write a good book and put it out there it will be read. Unfortunately,
with few niche exceptions (e.g., erotica, zombie novels, etc.) most
independently produced books sit on countless lists without attracting
the attention of their intended market. And most affordable professional
marketing services are profitable only to the marketing professionals
that tout them. This includes the services provided by POD services like
Amazon and CreateSpace.
Yes, there is evidence that spending a lot of money on marketing plans
works, but for most indie authors unable to manipulate book rankings
with underhanded and expensive schemes such as those recently in the
news is not feasible (even if one overlooks the obvious ethical and
legal issues involved in perpetrating massive fraud on the reading
public by manipulating book rankings on the NY Times Best Seller's list
and elsewhere through expensive schemes to buy one's own books). With
few exceptions, most unknown indie authors will not recoup the cost of
advertising. I know those who provide such services will protest and
cite examples of fabulous sales by a handful of authors. If they are so
certain that their services will not only pay for themselves but make
authors a lot of money, I challenge them to provide them on a
contingency fee basis--let them provide the service for a royalty split
with the author of any increased sales for a period after the
advertising campaign launches, or make their fees contingent on
increased sales (e.g., guarantee their results or forfeit their fees).
No agency will take that deal for a new author's ad campaign even as
they point to the potential goldmine that their services can bring.
For most indie authors the only reasonable way to sell books is the same
self-marketing approach taken by self published authors from the days
of vanity presses through today's equivalent print on demand (POD) services: personal appearances, book signings, direct selling and constant promotion of their work.
I don't do personal appearances because of the time constraints of my
day job which leaves relatively little free time even in "vacations".
Also, frankly, self promotion and direct sales is not something I am
willing to do to any significant extent. I also don't sell through
independent bookstores that would carry my books (especially the
intellectual property book that sells fairly well for an indie book with
no advertising of any kind beyond an occasional mention in one of my
blogs). The problem for me is that independent bookstores typically want
50% of the selling price as their commission for carrying the book
which would force me to sell it at a much higher price than I want and
would also take more time than I have to travel to these bookstores (and
to service these "accounts"). Some also want up front listing fees on top of a 50% commission on the retail price.
If/when writing becomes my full time job, then I will revisit my
strategy. For now, even blogging takes more time than I have available.
Indie authors need to be true entrepreneurs in promoting themselves and
their product if they expect to have more than nominal royalties as
compensation for their efforts. There is no substitute for having a
reasonable business plan and carrying it out through consistent hard
work. (I teach law for the entrepreneur, a course I developed, and was
the dean of the business division at BCC for a very rewarding and
productive four years prior to deciding to return to the classroom, so
the business end of writing is not much of a mystery for me.) I love the
movie Field of Dreams, but also know that with regard to writing, there
is absolutely no guarantee that "if you write it, they will buy it".
No comments:
Post a Comment