Guest Blogger Barry Eisler on: It's The Marketing, Stupid.

And its a  topic near and dear to my heart as readers of this blog know. I'm pleased to welcome back one of my favorite guest bloggers, Barry Eisler, whose new cyber thriller, Fault Line, will be published at the end of the month.  (Pre-order it now, here, its fantastic!) - MJR

Barry's Post: There's only so much you can do about a down market, much of which will involve cost-cutting and other areas in which I'm not in a position to offer a meaningful opinion. But it certainly wouldn't hurt matters if publishers could be more competent at the fundamentals of the business they're in.

One of the great things about the industry is the way it attracts people who love books, and the way that love infuses the culture. But the overlap between love of books and native business acumen is fairly narrow. Partly as a result of that narrow overlap, the industry is characterized by a startling lack of innovation and what might best be described as cargo cult thinking.

Here's a relatively trivial example. Recently, one of my publishers sent me a proposed jacket bio that began with, "Barry Eisler is the author of Rain Fall, Hard Rain, Rain Storm, [etc]. He was born in 1964 in New Jersey..." and ended with, "Eisler lives in the Bay Area, California." Buried in between was information about how I spent three years in a covert position in the CIA and earned my judo black belt at the Kodokan in Tokyo, and that the first of my books, Rain Fall, has been made into a movie starring Gary Oldman and will be out in April '09.

See anything wrong with this picture?

If you live in a cargo cult universe, you think: "All books I've seen have things called author bios on the jacket. The bio things include information on where the author was born and when, maybe on some other books he's written, something about a movie if that applies. I'll cut and paste whatever form we've used for other authors and presto, there's the required bio and now it's Miller time."

But if you're thoughtful, you pause and ask, "Why do we include a bio? What is its function? What objective is the bio intended to accomplish?"

Answer: in the longer term, the bio is intended to hone and amplify the author's brand. In the immediate term, it's intended to get the potential customer to flip the book over and read the inside jacket. Or start reading the first chapter. Or take whatever other immediate preliminary step is likely to make her more motivated to carry the book to the cash register.

Let's analyze the means by which the bio above would have accomplished these objectives. Have you, as a potential customer, ever been moved to buy a book by when the author was born, or by where? Or by where she's living these days? "Holy smokes, this guy was born in Newark, sounds like my kind of writer." "Damn, she lives in Bakersfield? Gotta read this book." Is a brand that would be honed and amplified by such information even conceivable?

As for a long listing of the author's previous works, readers who know them all are already going to buy the book, in which case their mention in the bio is useless (besides, they already appear inside the book under "Also by"). Readers who don't know the previous titles will be put to sleep by their recitation.

So not only is bio information on place and date of birth, previous titles, and current residence useless, it's actually harmful, because its appearance increases the likelihood that a potential customer will yawn and replace the book on the shelf before getting to the useful parts -- in my case, CIA, judo, and movie, all of which are relevant to my brand and increase the chance that someone who reads them will take another intermediate step closer to the cash register.

I see this kind of sloppy stuff from publishers all the time in a variety of areas, so I get a little impatient when I hear complaints about what a tough market it is. Yes, it's a tough market, but when has a market ever been easy? Business is always competitive, and if you want to succeed in it, you're obliged to work not just hard, but smart, too. Sushi is delicious, but how much of it would be sold if it were marketed as "Cold, raw, dead fish?" Which, if you look at a lot of titles and jacket designs out there, is pretty much the way publishing houses are hawking their own wares. You can't complain that people won't buy it if you don't know how to sell it.

For more of my wishy-washy opinions on marketing, how to package a book, and related topics, check out the For Writers page of my website. =

Comments

[Fleur]

Had never thought about my bio in that way--wow. And it's something I can actually fix myself (at least on my website). Made me look at myself, and how I could be more interesting to readers, in a whole new way.

[Paul Elwork]

I always tend toward very short bios with previous publications and geographic info, partly because I assume no one much cares who I am. But your point is well taken, Barry, and you've caused me to reconsider my views on author bios.

And congrats on the release of the film!

[Joe Moore]

Good post, Barry. There’s nothing more frustrating than seeing someone take the “but that’s how we’ve always done it” route.

[I.J.Parker]

Agree with everything but the mention of previous titles. These establish credentials, something which a brand-new-to-the-author reader will want to see. A multiply published author is clearly a safer bet than one with only one title to his name.

[Barry Eisler]

Thanks for the comments, folks, and glad my thoughts seem useful. IJ, agreed on the objective -- establishing credentials -- but still believe that a recitation of previous titles is the wrong way to achieve it. "Jane Smith is the NYT-bestselling author of 20 previous books," or "Over 25 million of Jane Smith's books are in print in over 30 languages," or "Jane Smith's 12 previous books have won the X award, the Y award, and the Z award," or whatever strike me as more effective ways to get the job done. It's like exposition to fill in back story -- yes, you need the backstory, but naked exposition is the wrong way to accomplish the task.

Cheers,
Barry

[Stuart Neville]

Excellent post. It's too late for me to have a second look at my book's bio, unfortunately - wish I'd read this a couple of months ago!

[Mary Cunningham]

Wow! Gotta rewrite my bio!

[Missy Jane]

Haha, Love it Barry! You make such a great point. I admit to the yawning and placing a book back on the shelf when the jacket flap doesn't catch my interest. Unfortunately that tends to be the blurb.

[Karen Lieb]

Great info, Barry, thanks. It helps to think in terms of marketing myself to my potential audience as I work on my bio. Professional speakers and politicians do this all of the time . . . authors should too!

[Tony A. Curtis]

Thanks Barry! Good info to know regarding the bio. Loved your "sushi" anology as compared to marketing"cold, raw, dead, fish" You're right! I have been a saleman for 22 years, insurance, but same concept. Nothing begins until something is sold. Sell the sizzle not the steak. Kudos on your success! I am an aspiring writer currently working on my first book at my pace. Toughest thing I ever attempted but learning much.

[Jude Johnson]

Hey Barry,

Thanks for confirming what I've always felt: Bios are boring, at least they are to me - until I've finished the book. Then I would rather know what influenced the author than where he or she lives. I haven't put mine on my book jackets, only on the last inside page, and minimal at that. Tony C's right: the sizzle and the aroma definitely start the salivary response for the the steak, and that's really what marketing is about, no matter what you're selling: Make 'em want it. Thanks for being such a generous writer and sharing your knowledge with us. I have so much to learn...

[Sue Ann Jaffarian]

GREAT post, Barry. My publisher recently used a bio of mine from several years ago in their catalogue. Made me nuts, esp. since bio in last year's catalogue was more up-to-date. Cut 'n paste, sometimes I feel that's all they know how to do. Although I do love my book covers.

[Samantha Hunter]

The one thing (among many) I love about writing for Harlequin is that they let us write our own book bios, so we can include some fun and funky stuff, as well as the usual patter, and we can change them. I also love writing Reader Letters -- those are great, a chance to talk to the reader about some personal theme or behind the scenes element of the book.

I always feel lucky to write for a Harlequin line that allows me to write my own reader letter. Some of them had the editors do it, and the reader letter was just a summary of all the books out that month -- little more than an advertisement.

My website bio is a kind of dorky interview with my characters -- them asking me questions -- and sometimes I wonder about it, but so many people have told me they get a kick out of it, I'm leaving it there. :)

Interesting topic,

Sam

[Kimber Chin]

So true about bios being part of branding.

I love it when author bios are written in the same voice as the book. A humorous book should have a humorous bio. A casual book should have a casual bio. Etc.

[AE Rought]

My favorite bio is for my penname:
Ever watch the movie To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar? Remember the little old lady dressed as a drag queen? She looked at the cop and said, “Nothing this pretty could be real.” Well, that’s me—I am not real. I am the hot and naughty erotica writer lurking in the mind of a fantasy author. The cat fights over who has control of the keyboard can get pretty violent, but most often the two creative people in my brain play nicely and I have published books under both names.

Its fun, quirky, in voice and fits that persona. Personally, as a reader, I ignore the author bio--they're dry and boring, like cardboard for the brain. I'm going to read a book for the author's voice and the story, not for the number of years they spent hunched over dusty tomes in college, or the breed of dog they have living with them in their cute little Cape Cod on the East Coast.

[Krylons.wordpress.com]

Thank you for an excellent post and for opening my eyes to the importance of the author's Bio. To take this one step further, with the proliferation of social network sites, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many more, the bio attached to each of these sites must be reworked to the same standard to establish and maintain a brand. It looks as though I have my work cut out for me as I start to rework all of my various sites.

Thanks for the eye opener... Ray
https://krylons.wordpress.com/