Back to Writing and
Publishing Archives.
Writing and Publishing, Part 51:
Becoming your own publisher:
Marketing:
Advertising Methods:
Contests and Other Promotions.
First about contests, if you wish to aid an organization in their
marketing effort, this is probably a good way to do it.
I have enter four of my books in contests. I sent my book,"
The Siege of Acheron" to Foreword Magazine in December of
98. The entrance fee for that one was $45.00.
In November of 99, I sent "Supreme Commander George"
to Foreword Magazine. They upped the ante to $50.00 for that one.
At the same time, I entered "Supreme Commander George"
and "The Anatomy of a PC" in a contest by Writer's Digest
Magazine. The fee for that was $140.00 for both books.
Of course, none of my entrees became winners.
Okay, call me a slow study. I had to contribute $235.00 to the marketing campaigns of these two magazines before I figured it out. Here is what I have finally surmised. The magazines or groups which sponsor contests get millions of miles in advertising out of it. It does not cost them anything. The contestants pay for the contest.
I have finally realized that it is not cost effective to enter my works in contests. If I want to gamble money, I have many other options with somewhat better odds. I believe that in contests, the emphasis is on the con, not on the test. Contest are about the marketing effort of the sponsoring firm, not about the writers, or the books, or publishing. They are about membership and/or circulation. In addition, I have discovered that entering a contest will get you on yet another sucker list.
But, how can I win if I don't enter? Okay, even if you win, which is very unlikely, so what? I must ask the question, who would be willing to act as a judge in a book contest? Who would be willing to spend time reading what are sure to be mostly bad books? Would it be a very busy and successful writer or editor? This is something I should have realized and did not. I have finally decided that the judges must be, by and large, inept hacks. I suspect that they would not know a truly original work if it jumped out and bit them. I suspect everyone knows that.
Just as one example, Writer's Digest Magazine sends a critique to everyone who enters a work in their contest. This critique is written by the person who actually judged the book. For my "Anatomy of a PC," the critique revealed that the judge knew nothing about computers and nothing about hobbyists. He was eminently unqualified to critique any computer or hobby book.
Enough on contests. How about other promotional efforts? At one time I thought that giving books to charitable organizations was a good idea. After a few attempts I have revised my opinion. Most of the organizations simply ignored my offer. One did not. I offered the Flint chapter of The America Red Cross 500 copies of The Gaffer's Shorts to be used as a give away in a blood drive. They accepted and I actually delivered the books to them.
What came of it? Nothing! The stupidity was, the woman in charge of the blood drive did not exploit the opportunity. She was just another Red Cross volunteer. She went on local TV and implored people to give blood. She did not bother to tell them that she had a bonus gift for the donors. To be sure, that is the reason most of us are workers rather than owners. We lack the skill to properly exploit opportunities.
I also offered books to two different PBS TV groups, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and another Red Cross chapter. As I said, each offer was diligently ignored. I also gave 500 copies of The Gaffer's Shorts to our local Goodwill industries. If you would like a copy of the book at a great discount, go to their store. The give away did me no good at all, but it was a nice gesture; don't you think?
In addition, I have offered The Anatomy of a PC to several high schools for use as a text book. Some schools simply ignored my offer. One highschool did accept my offer. It was a suburban school in Fenton, MI with a reasonably progressive administration. I also got some interesting responses which helped me to understand why inner city kids are failing to learn. Here is the reply I received from Kearsley Highschool in Flint. It speaks for itself.
Mr. Steinman:
Thanks for the offer of the textbooks but we will not be able
to put them to use in our district. We do not offer a course that
could use the books. The Skill Center offers a course in Computer
Design and Repair so a few of our kids go there for the class.
In addition we have a rather lengthy process to incorporate new
courses so the soonest we could offer a computer course is two
years.
I appreciate the very generous offer but am sorry we need to decline
at this time. Thanks again.
Kevin Walworth
Assistant Principal
Kearsley High School
I am still stunned that people, who are pretending to educate children in a world where technology changes on a daily basis, need two years to implement a change in curriculum. Walworth offered it as an explanation. I read it as a profound confession of failure.
Here are brain dead bureaucrats at their worst. We have a school system which is desperate for money. Yet, they cannot be bothered to try to figure out a way to use $3000.00 worth of new, free textbooks. This was very distressing for me. Everywhere I turn, I seem to encounter brain dead bureaucrats. They erect stone walls of cowardly stupidity. Obstructionism seems to be the mode of the day. I wrote a thoughtful letter about this deplorable situation to the editor of the Flint Journal, a Flint newspaper. He ignored it.
I can also tell you about the response from my own old Alma Mater, Wyandotte Highschool. The response was very similar to the one I receive from Walworth. When I attended the school the principal was a man named Whitney. He was rather inept, but I did not realize it at the time. Now, some fifty years later, the Principal is a woman named McFarlane. Some fifty years from Whitney to McFarlane and nothing has changed. What amazes me is that some kids actually manage to learn under these conditions.
To some extent, this has to do with ethical behavior, but it
is not about publishing. Next time I will have more to say about
ethics in publishing.
Back to Writing and Publishing
Archives.
|
|
|
|