The Ad Man Answers #19

Thursday + Gregory Huffstutter = The Ad Man Answers

Q:  What are the economics of book promotions?  If a publisher says they'll run a 'good' promotion how much do they expect to spend on it?  How much time by how many people is considered adequate?  Is $10k a decent amount or a drop in the bucket?  Moreover, how do costs add up, that is what percentage normally goes to print ads, blog ads and general PR etc.?  I read about publishers promising the moon, then sticking a book on a shelf and letting it fend for itself.  What are the chances of getting them to actually commit to a campaign?

--Wplasvegas

A:   You have to give Wplasvegas credit for squeezing in six questions for the price of one… a veritable “upchuck of inquiry.”

Fortunately for this reader, the Ad Man picked up the Bat Phone and placed a call to an expert in this arena… the owner of this blog, Mrs. MJ Rose.

Take it away MJ:

“85% of all books get less than $2,000 of support.

For the other15%, promo budgets typically run from $2,000 to $250,000, with very, very few getting the upper reach and maybe ten books a year getting more.  Co-op placement (getting favorable position in bookstores) alone can run $20,000 and up.

As for the timing, publishers do trade promo when they sell the book in and then consumer ads when the book is out to the public.  But it’s usually nothing like what those of us with marketing backgrounds think is adequate.

When you ask about a $10K budget, you should find out if that budget is for co-op placement, marketing after co-op, or both. $10K is not a drop in the bucket.  It can buy a decent amount of marketing compared to what other books are getting… but it’s not comparable to what other products spend on marketing.

As for the percentages to each marketing effort…. It depends on the book.  But the budgets are typically eaten up by trade advertising, internal PR with ARCS (Advanced Reader Copies), and co-op placement. If your publisher has any money left, it can go to some online promotion or print ads. Rarely do budgets allow for radio or TV commercials. Sometimes the publishing house will hire outside PR, but that happens infrequently. 

As to the chances the publisher will commit to a campaign…It depends on the book, the sell in, the publishers’ excitement once the book is finished, and the line up of other books that season. There are a lot of reasons they promise and a lot of reasons they change their mind. NOT all arbitrary, and not all are wrong. Sometimes arbitrary, sometimes wrong :-)

It is hard to convince a publisher to spend money if they haven't already decided to do so. But these days they are all coming around to the idea that authors and publishers can work together to be marketing partners. I'd say that 90% of the authors I work with through Authorbuzz.com not only have their publishers' cooperation but their blessing. Is it right that a huge percentage of authors are spending parts of their own advances on marketing? No. We got in this to write books. But is it smart to do so?  You bet it is.”

For more sound advice on the publishing industry, be sure to sign up for MJ’s online class “Buzz Your Book,” which is only offered once a year.  Next session is Jan 7-Feb 8, 2008.

And next time, only one question per e-mail, ya freeloaders!

 

Gregory Huffstutter has been punching Ad Agency timecards for the past decade, working on accounts like McDonald's, KIA Motors, and the San Diego Padres. He recently finished his first mystery, KATZ CRADLE. The first 100 pages of his novel are linked here. For general advertising questions, leave a comment or send e-mail to katz @ gregoryhuffstutter dot com with 'Ask The Ad Man' in the subject line.

Comments

[wplasvegas]

Thanks mucho,

Sorry about the scatter-gun approach, sometimes I get carried away (occasionally by force).

You're right, 2Gs is bupkis in advertising. With a budget like that, anyone would be a fool to spend any money outside the internet. At $1550 your Author Buzz and Book Club package is probably the single best bargain going. If that's an 'average' budget the average author would be well advised to take their average advance ($5,000) and spend it mercilessly flogging the closest major market with personal appearances. Unless, of course, you could use it to bribe someone at your publishing house for a bigger ad budget.

[M.J]

Well, personal appearances are tough too because there are a lot of authors out there flogging books so the competition is fierce. I would check with the stores you are thinking of going to and finding out how many other authors are appearing that week. If there are too many, and you're not a big enough name,you won't get much of a crowd.

The trick is do as much as you can without counting on any one effort to solve the problem.