Marketing 101 Means “The Five P’s.” But in Publishing, There Is a Sixth…

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Wednesday + Josie Brown = Hype Hell

Any marketing major can tell you what the five P’s stand for: product, packaging, price, promotion and place.

But what do these components mean in relationship to authors, the books they write, and the publishers who print and distribute them?

A lot. In fact, it is the difference between having a bestseller and a bomb.

If you aren’t familiar with these terms, or if you are, but you haven’t really contemplated their specific roles in the marketing of your books and your brand, then use this as a mini-primer:

PRODUCT. That’s the book. For the author, it represents the last year of his life (more or less). His blood, sweat, and tears. The best creative product he can put out there. And of course, he appreciates the fact that his editor is already an integral part of success, what with the way she has given succinct insights to make his plot engaging, and his characters deep and nuanced.

But her job doesn’t end there. Today’s editor must also be his in-house marketing advocate. That means playing cheerleader for his book with the sales and public relations staffs, and cajoling a larger helping of bookstore co-op funds for his book from her editorial director. (More on that below.)

The term product also refers to the author, who, if he is wants to keep getting published, must keep writing—and get discovered by readers who love him. Truly, it’s publish or perish.

PACKAGING. That means the cover art. It’s also the book’s blurb. And guess what? This extends to everything that carries your book’s cover, it’s title, or YOUR Name, be that your website, or your bookmarks, or the pens that you’re giving away as a promotional item. In other words, packaging is the face and message of your product.

PRICE. Publishers have their own rhyme and reason for the price points they put on their books. Hopefully what goes into that equation is the book’s primary reading audience. For example, if the book comes from a first-time novelist who has an edgy voice that resonates with disaffected twentysomethings and a quarter-of-a-million dollar advance in his pocket (there’s a lot of you out there, right?), the price alone may merit hardcover, but a $30 price tag may be out of his audience’s reach. Financial and critical success comes from demand, which is why correct pricing is crucial to a book’s success.

PROMOTION. Traditionally, this marketing component was the domain of the publisher. But in this day and age, an author who doesn't promote his own book (and push his publisher to do the same), won't be in the game for long.

At most publishing houses, promotion begines and ends with the publicity department, where a specific staff publicist is assigned to introduce you and your book to  book critics and feature editors at newspapers, magazines, and in some cases, the broadcast media, be that TV or radio.

In it's minimal form, this is done with a press kit. Sadly sometimes the sole component of your kit is the press release. If you’re lucky, your release will use an innovative “hook” (talking point) about the book. If your luckier, your press kit will also include your photo, an advance reading copy, a photo of the book’s cover, and anything else that might entice a story on your book; say, some promotional item that can be tied to the book’s plot.

But the promotion of your book should not begin and end there.

Another important promotional component is the book’s online marketing, which can—make that SHOULD—start the day the book cover and the back cover blurb are approved. The publisher should immediately uplink this in Bowker, so that all bookstores (both online and brick-and-mortar) have access to it, to upload on their own sites, and for pre-orders. And of course, your publisher should also be uplinked onto Amazon’s, BN.com’s and the sites of other major online bookseller’s sites, too.

And yes, the author, or the book, should have its own website. Ideally it will reflect the theme of the book, or the style of the author. You’ll note a lot of candy-hued sites for chick lit authors. Mystery writers tend toward more somber colors.

Besides your book cover and the blurb, your site should include an author bio, a question-and-answer essay about how you came up with the concept of your book, contests, and if you really want some sort of eye-catching visual gimmick, consider ponying up for a book trailer—sort of a mini-video ad for your book. They aren’t cheap. And yes, it would be nice if your publisher was its producer…

If your site doesn’t get enough hits to merit your asking, there is always YouTube. (until it starts charging…More on YouTube next week.)

And yes, your readers DO want to know what you look like. A professional photo is ALWAYS a good investment, although candid shots of you doing what you love most, or photos of other things that catch your fancy or represent your mood, will also be appreciated by your fans, trust me.

Also under the promotion umbrella is in-store co-op. A rule of thumb is that 10 percent of your book’s retail price is allotted for co-op consideration, times the number of books the store is sent. For a bestseller, this might merit enough for a stand-alone kiosk placed in the front of the store, shelf tags, an ad in the bookseller’s monthly catalog, end cap placement as well as front-table placement, or point-of-sale materials like banners. For the rest of us, point-of-sale means the bookmarks we have made and then dropped off at bookstores ,in the hopes that they’ll put them out near the information desk or the cash register, so that readers will see them.

PLACE. To the most part, this too is the bailiwick of your publisher. To most publishers, this means primarily the chain bookstores. If they are smart, though, they’ve established strong relationships with the independent bookstores, too, if just to push niche genres. Online bookstores are growing every year, by leaps and bounds. Grocery stores. Drug stores. Other types of retailers whose customers are the perfect audience for your type of book. An erotica author once told me that stores that buy porn were her biggest vendors—and that they don’t return the books. The same thing goes for books that end up in toy stores or wedding shops. So if you can think out of the box as to where to reach your audience—and convince your publisher to try to sell in that unique venue—these efforts may translate into some unexpected sales.

Now I’d like to add a sixth P to your book’s marketing mix: PARTNERSHIP.

After all, authors and publishers are in fact business partners. (Scary, huh?) That’s what the contract you both signed contends, anyway--even if, in most cases it doesn’t spell out specific terms such as how or where the book will be marketed.

That’s a shame. Because sometimes the author have the ideas and information that could make their book take off—

If only he had his publisher’s ear when it came to marketing his book.

Business partners DISCUSS things. Like how much money will be allocated toward marketing and promotion, and where and how those efforts will take place.

They both take time for serious consideration as to what graphics and copy will go on the book cover, and why; and then they mutually agree upon these very important packaging items.

They look at ACTUAL costs together, and they review sales figures together, too--on a WEEKLY basis, not every six months. 

They do what they can to extend the shelf life of their products, instead of discarding them after 30 or 90 days.

And they meet together with the sales team, to discuss the product's (the book's) strengths and selling points. Yeah, we get that the sales team has MAYBE a minute to pitch one book out of the 50 you're releasing that month. Just remember: our income--like that of the sales person's, and like that of the publisher--is predicated on the book's sell-through…

Which is why we authors live to give our sales person that one point that might just hit a home run with that Wal-Mart buyer.

If more publishers actually treated their authors as partners, more books might be successful.

And then maybe a larger number of authors would make more money than a Wal-Mart greeter.

Remember, for every buck an author makes, his publisher makes three to five. That alone makes adding that sixth P (and rethinking the other five) worth considering. 

Josie Brown left the advertising industry to become a crusading investigative reporter. Sadly, in our voyeuristic culture vulture society, there is an insatiable demand (and better pay) for celebrity journalists, which is how Josie came to rub elbows (not to mention egos) with the rich and famous. She still writes about celebrity, sex and scandal, only now as fiction (which, she insists, is just as strange as what she knows to be fact). Her novel, TRUE HOLLYWOOD LIES, is on bookshelves now. Her next book, IMPOSSIBLY TONGUE-TIED, will be out in December. You can read her books at her blog: http://www.josiebrown.com.

Comments

[Jeff Nordtstedt]

This is a fabulous post. As times got tougher in the book industry everything became very antagonistic. Publishers feeling like retailers are the enemy, author feeling like publishers are the enemy, and so on.

I walked away from my years of publishing understanding very clearly that the most important aspect of publishing is partnership. Publishers can't do anything without a strong author and authors can do little without the help of the publisher.

Too often authors think that once they have found a publisher everything should just be taken care of. This is just not the case.

I am working on developing a unique new imprint based on the principal of partnerships in publishing. I'll be looking to work with authors who understand and embrace their role as partner both in terms of time and money invested as well as profits earned.

Anyone interested should email me.

[Kate Maloy]

With my first novel coming out next year, I'm printing that whole post and putting in on my wall.

Question, though: What's the agent's role in this partnership? When it comes to matters of business, he has been the one to deal with my publisher. I have great rapport with my editor and would like to go straight to her with my questions, but how can I do that without offending my agent?

[Josie Brown, author, TRUE HOLLYWOOD LIES]

Great questions, Kate. The agent is the partnership's greatest facilitator, particularly, as you point out, in all business aspects.

And yes, marketing is a business item.

The first place to start is to ask your agent how she wants to handle any marketing questions you may have. She may say that these are better off coming from her. Then again, if you've developed a great relationship with your editor, he/she will level with you as to what the publisher can and can't do for you. Ideally, these questions are handled up front and as early in the relationship as possible.

Remember that the publiishing industry is in constant flux: if your editor is really excited about your book, and also has some polticial pull there inhouse, she/he may be able to help you get some extra promotional and co-op consideration than what had previously been allocated --

Which, sadly, may not be any more than $1000 - $2000 at the most. FOR EVERYTHING.

Being s a newbie is scary, because so much of what could make the book a success is out of your control. Sure, your novel may be great. But if the stars don't align for you (say, your book is released at the wrong time for its genre/subject matter, or something goes wrong in production, or the cover is lousy, or the title isn't a grabber, or the booksellers' buyers yawn at the one-liner the sales team throws at them about it, and passes) then your sell-through will stink...

And it's YOUR reputation that suffers -- even though you had NO say-so on any of those variables...

[Lynne W. Scanlon]

Josie, I beg to differ with you.

My experience being the marketing maven (Director of Marketing, Special Sales or Group Publisher for Developmental Product) for publishing companies, and having authored my own books as well (and marketed them), is that the author is not, repeat, not, in a partnership with the publishing company. The adversarial relationship begins with contract negotiations in which the best interests of the author are meaningless to the editor.

Lynne AKA The Wicked Witch of Publishing

[Michelle]

I have a question pertaining to the fourth P, Promotion. I have a new book coming out in March, and have just learned that it will be a featured alternate selection of four online book clubs--BOMC, Literary Guild, Mystery Guild, and Doubleday Book Club. This is good news, but I'm not sure a)what it means and b)what I can do on my end to capitalize on the exposure. What exactly is a featured alternate?

[Josie Brown, author, IMPOSSIBLY TONGUE-TIED]

Regarding Michelle's Question:

Hi, Michelle,
All of that is FABULOUS news, and a great jumping-off point for a press release, which ideally should go out from your pub house's publicity department. (They already have a great media hit list. However, if you want to supplement what they are doing, consider a freebee release, or a guaranteed paid release, on an online service, such as PRWeb, E-Releases, or PR Newswire. Prices will vary..)

Ask both the publicist and your editor to mention it to the sales team as well. It's a great selling point to booksellers.

Certainly you'll also want to mention all of this on your own website (if you can, use jpegs of these clubs' logos in your announcement). You should also post on as many readers' loops as possible.

Since the book isn't coming out until March, this process should take place closer to your pub date, say, 3-4 weeks prior...

And certainly, in any mention of you and your book from here on out, it should also be included. Congrats again!

[Josie Brown, author, TRUE HOLLYWOOD LIES]

Regarding Lynne's Comment:

Hi, Lynne,
Much thanks for this honest insight, from the publisher's point-of-view.

Youch! I wince at the term "adversarial," since many publishing professionals -- including Jason Pinter, who has a column here -- say they prefer to work in sync with their authors on the marketing of their books. Certainly, it would be great to hear other publishers and editors weigh in on this process.

Knowledge is power. In this biz, we all hold some piece of the puzzle that can make a book a success.

Certainly the author brings much more to the process than just the concept and (in marketing parlance) the product. Because of the author's intimate role in its creation, he/she has an innate understanding of the product's core audience.

While the author doesn't control some of those other variables such as promotion, packaging and place, in the best case scenario he/she can influence the process to some extent. The point I've made here is that the publisher should welcome the author to do so.

No one involved in the process wants to see the book fail. The purpose of this column is to generate dialogue between the various players -- the author, the editor, the publisher, the sales team, and the bookseller -- who can improve the marketing process, so that more books have a chance to be financially successful.

Both MJ and I came out of advertising. We've seen how a cohesive team can make a product a success -- that is, when marketing is not an afterthought, but the very FIRST thought in the product's creation.

If a good marketing idea can work anywhere else, it might work in publishing, too. The smartest among us will see that. We may not be reinventing the wheel, but with any luck, making it run further.

[M.J]

On a purely anecdotal note - I've between my fiction and non fiction I've had four publishers. Only one of those relationships was not a partnership. All the others definately were.