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Writing and Publishing, Part 35:
Becoming your own publisher:
Marketing:
Introductory Notes:
With the essay, Writing and Publishing Part 34, I concluded what
I believe is important about the creation of the book, from the
author's conception to the actual manufacturing. There are three
more areas which I want to cover. First, the most important from
the standpoint of success, is marketing. I also want to give some
time to other problems and issues we may face in self publishing.
Much of this has to do with ethics.
Finally, I will be taking a very brutal look at my own efforts in publishing so far. I intend to take each of my five books and analyze what was good and bad about them. Much of this will be about my own errors, but I will also talk about some things which were done to me by others. I have said this before, but it bears repeating. I have been singularly unsuccessful in marketing. If you learn anything at all from me, it will be about what does not work.
Thinking of marketing, one thing to understand is that there are tens of thousands of new manuscripts submitted every year. Of those tens of thousands, most will never be published. Of the ones which are only a few hundred will ever see the shelves of bookstores. Of those few hundred, only a handful will sell well enough to warrant a second printing. Very few will sell well enough to ever make the New York Times best seller list. In fact, the chance of writing a book which will become a best seller is similar to the chance of winning a big lottery.
New people do get published, but it makes me sick to realize how it happens. I have already noted that the discovery of the Potter books was a complete accident. There was no technique or honest effort by the publisher involved. Of course, skill is helpful in getting published, but it is not the main ingredient. More important is an enormous amount of luck or a great deal of inside help. Skill by itself is not enough.
You can liken this situation to that of professional athletes or actors. For example, of the millions of kids playing highschool basketball, there are only a few hundred pro positions available in that trade. This means that less than one kid in a million has a chance of being a pro and a great deal of luck is involved. The few really lucky kids will be discovered by a Tom Izzo or a Bobby Knight. If we encourage the kids to play on the chance of being a pro, almost all of them will be disappointed. We should encourage them, if at all, to play for the joy of it.
This same logic applies to writing and publishing. To actually realize a best seller is something of a miracle. It is not likely to happen. Most of us then must be satisfied with the simple pleasure of doing what we do. We are like the kids playing sandlot baseball. The joy is in the doing. Then, if we are even moderately successful financially, it's a bonus. If you cannot do that, you may want to reconsider what you are doing. You may be in the wrong business.
As to financial success, although I am happy with writing and publishing, I would also like some sales, if only to offset my costs. To that end, I have tried many things. Still, I feel there are some marketing techniques which I have not been able to use yet. My method will be to constantly work at discovering new and unique ways to bring my books to the public's attention.
In the meantime, I can tell you about my experience to date. As you read through the analysis of my trials and travails, you will be able to see what I did wrong. I'm sure you will believe that you can do better, because you will not make the mistakes I made and you will not be as bullheaded as I have been.
I hope you will do better and that you will be successful. I wish you all of the success in the world. Am I a fool? To be sure, I am. Am I my own man? You bet your butt, I am. I answer to no one. I bow to no one. Would I like to be more successful, financially? To be sure, I would, but not at the cost of selling out my integrity.
What I would like is to see so many people self publishing and marketing their own books that the giants will have nothing left but the twaddle. In that scenario, thoughtful people will begin to realize that they must shop around for the good books. The best will not be in the giant's stores, but at small publisher's websites.
Now, here is the list of items which I believe to be important in marketing. I will cover all of them, but not necessarily in this order.
Setting the book price.
Creating a web site.
Creating a catalog.
Reviewers and phony reviewers.
Organizations like PMA and SPAN.
Industry journals.
Publicity agents, etc all.
Advertising methods.
Contests.
Promotions and ethics.
Next time, I will get into the art of deciding the cover price
of our book.
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