The Author Trap

Author Judy Gregerson  wrote me a note last week about something she'd noticed. Her question is in italics and after my answer in regular type.

Judy Gregerson's Question: I've noticed in the last year or two that authors are getting into viral marketing. But the other thing I've noticed is that they are marketing to each other through Myspace, Blogger, and LiveJournal.

I'm on Myspace and I can't tell you the number of authors who want me to add them as a friend. I don't mind having author friends to network with, but networking is not marketing. My target audience isn't writers and the first place I want to get the word out about my book is to librarians and booksellers, which is partly where my marketing time is going, and then it will expand into other arenas.

I've done some calculations. If an author has even one thousand networking friends and one third of them buy their book, they have only sold a little over three hundred books. That is NOT significant in any way. In fact, it's minuscule. So, it seems like a big waste of time to me.

It's not like there isn't a huge amount of information on the net about marketing a book. There is. There's more than you can read in six months if you were reading for five hours a day.

So, tell me, why do you think that authors get caught in this trap.

MJR's Answer: It's great to have friends who are writers. It's great to commiserate and offer support and share information. But that's not marketing. 

I'm probably going to get flack for my answer - since I got flack for it before - but I don't believe that writers are our best audience.  I think we're demanding too much and relying too  too much on our own community.

There are hundreds of writers blogging and putting up myspace pages and doing other networking efforts that are totally geared to other writers. And while they might be making friends, having fun, being supportive sharing a lot of great writing tips, bonding in many ways -- doing all sorts of great and worthwhile things --- what they aren't doing is making a  smart marketing effort.

But it feels like it is. And there I think is the draw.

It's a great ego boost to have a blog that gets read by 200 writers every single day. And of course some of them might buy your book and even tell other people about the book.

No effort is wasted. But if we're looking at the most effective effort. I don't think it's other authors.

It would be if you calculations were right. If I could get 33% of all the writers I can reach to buy my next book, I'd say they were a good market. But that's not going to happen.

In my experience, you won't get 33% of a group of writers to buy your book unless its an amazing genius marvelous book about writing or they are really good friends because every writer is inundated with books written by friends to read. (I have a TBR stack of over 100 books, written by friends, that are waiting for me to get to. Some of them I'll never read. And of them, I think I actually bought about 5 of them.)

If you want to market a book find readers and find people are who are interested in the subject matter of the book are even if they don't know they are looking for a book.

Meaning, if it's a literary thriller about a lawyer - I'd go to Bookreporter.com and blogs and websites for lawyers and law students. I'd go after avid suspense readers - who read Bookreporter and then l'd go after lawyers and law students who might want to read a book that delves deeply into to a subject they care about.

If it was a novel about writers - then by all means - target writers.

Everything we know about marketing and advertising tells us to spend our time and money on the groups most likely  to purchase and to spread the word after trying/tasting/reading.

Comments

[Alison Kent]

I guess this depends on how you use your MySpace, your site, and your blog. I don't seek out authors to friend. I did originally in order to build up a friend base and so that their readers might find me through their spaces. And I still will from time to time, and I certainly friend them when they ask.

But I now do specific searches for readers who read authors who write similarly to me or who read in my genre. And I now have a lot of regular visitors to my website and blog who I found through MySpace and who have followed me over to my own site.

I also make sure that I don't blog about craft or the writing life every day. I keep that to one or two, maybe three days a week and the other posts are aimed toward readers. My blog is read by between 900 and 1000 people daily, and though some of those are other authors, a huge number are strictly readers.

However, authors ARE readers, too. And I buy almost all my books through what I see on author's blogs. I've recently bought Patry Francis and Jennifer McMahon because I found them on MySpace. I can't think I'm the only reader who does so.

[David J. Montgomery]

I don't have any sense of what effect having a MySpace page might have on selling books. (I suspect it's little.) But it hardly takes any time (and no money) to manage. So if there's even some limited benefit, it's probably worth it.

[Katharine Weber]

I don't see any marketing benefit, really. It feels to me as if there will soon be a saturation point reached with everyone providing content, everyone spewing out words and words and words, with fewer and fewer people being pure readers of any kind of text, let alone book buyers.

The meaning of "friend" has changed, now that it is a verb, and there is something of the tiger chasing its own tail about people being thrilled to have hundreds of so-called friends at MySpace and elsewhere. It seems to me that this is a very unproductive activity for a writer if it's is meant to be anything other than gratification, the print equivalent of, well, not even going to a drinks party -- more like going to the mall and hanging out with all the other cool kids. Fine, if that's what feels good, but have no illusions about what it is you are actually doing.

As a writer I want to use my writing energies for the actual writing. I have recently made a very conscious decision to cut way back on posting in online discussions for this same reason.

[MJ]

David and Alison - my point isn't that those efforts are worthless - its that they shouldn't be considered an authors "marketing effort". There are lots of reasons to do all those things, I just don't want authors to fall into the trap of thinking that networking with other authors is as effective as marketing to readers.

[Jeff Nordstedt]

As both an independent musician and publishing cobnsultant, I am in a unique position to comment on Myspace.

I recently did a marketing analysis of my band's Myspace "friends" and found some interesting things. First, of our nearly 3000 friends, almost half were other bands. They are a reasonable networking tool, but almost useless for marketing.

Also, I learned that the ideal Myspace friend has about 100 other "friends." At most they have 500. Myspacers with thousands of friends are so oversaturated by garbage content that your message is lost on them.

Ultimately, I learned that fewer than 700 of our "friends" were actually vital marketing leads and many of those people were already on our mailing list, visitng our real website or already have ourr CD.

It is important for authors whoa re considering investing time in Myspace to understand how all of that works.

It is also imperative that authors have a real firm sense of their market before mucking around in Myspace. It is not just a place for teenagers, however, it is also clearly not a place for the AARP crowd either. If you are taregtting somewhat hip, tech-savvy, gen-X/Y readers, than myspace might be worth a try. If you have done your homework on comp titles and related media (movies, TV shows, etc. that may appeal to similar customers) then you can use Myspace's search technology to find targetted customers to add as friends. Be sure to remember that it is that quality of the friend profile that counts though, not quantity.

Ultimately, Myspace is definitely no magic marketing bullet. But it is free and if you are savvy about your market and the Myspace culture, it can make for a nice add-on to your web presence. Just don't let it suck all of your time and energy away from more proven and effective marketing efforts.

[MJ]

Thanks, Jeff. As usual totally helpful.

[Joe Moore]

“But it feels like it is. And there I think is the draw.”

MJ, I agree with your comments. I believe that forward motion does not always equate to progress. I could be wrong, but I think the motivation for so many writers hanging out at writer forums, spending time blogging, or playing with MySpace is that it’s something we can control. It feels like forward motion because we are making something happen. There’s so much about the publishing industry that is completely out of our control. Once we hand over our manuscript to the publisher, it enters a Twilight Zone that cannot be breached by mortal author. But we CAN control what we put on our websites, our MySpace, our blog, and who knows what else is out there. I think becoming involved in the electronic media on the Internet gives writers a sense of ownership in an industry where most feel like a sideline observer. There’s always some benefit derived from it, but it should be part of a balanced marketing plan. The problem comes when more time is spent thinking up a topic for tomorrow’s blog rather than spending the same energy writing the best book you can.

Joe

[patry]

Next week I'm doing a workshop called
"Blogging for Writers," in which I will be sharing my experience--and heartily agreeing with everything here.

I've met some fantastic writers through my blog, and a few through Myspace (thank you, Alison!), but most of the people who pre-ordered my book, wrote about it on their blogs, reviewed it on Amazon, and introduced it to their book clubs were readers. Readers I've come to know, and who have come to know me.

Jeff's Myspace experience--and yours-- echoes my own. It's fine (and kind of fun, too) but should represent a limited time investment for a writer.

Of course, Katharine's concern is very real and valid. How much does all of this detract from the writing? If you're talking Myspace, the answer for me would be very little. The blogosphere, on the other hand, could easily eat my entire day. The reason I continue to do it transcends marketing. I do it because I love it, and because the friendships I've made through the blog have become real and important to me.