Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Do Book Giveaways and Other Low-Cost Advertising and Promotion Activities Help Independent Authors Sell Books?

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".

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