Marketing for Authors - FBF 14 Reportage

Ich bin hier/I am here: © Alexander Heimann/Frankfurt Book Fair

A range of ideas emerged from The International Self-Publishing and Author Programme at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair on the subject of marketing.

The audience was most self-published or hybrid authors, but the information is equally relevant to trade published writers who are expected to do much of their own marketing. Discoverability is everyone’s problem.

Speakers included Porter Anderson of FutureBook, Edward Nawotka of Publishing Perspectives, Alison Baverstock of Kingston University, Orna Ross of ALLi, David Taylor and Robin Cutler of Ingram UK, Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn, Hayley Radford of Authoright, Jonas Lennermo of Publit, Julia Koblentz of Nook, Dr Florian Geuppert of Books On Demand, Camille Mofidi of Kobo Writing Life, Matthias Matting of Der SelfPublisher Bibel, Meire Dias of Bookcase Literary Agency, Victoria Sutherland of Foreword magazine, author Lynn Isenberg, author Kit Berry and author Dmitry Gluhkovsky.

The number one point made countless times is that authors who don’t market, don’t sell. Whether you do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you, marketing is a vital part of connecting to your readership.

The very word ‘marketing’ makes many authors shudder. But it doesn’t have to be a chore. One excellent tip is to find the marketing channels that suit your personality type. If you enjoying blogging or prefer Twitter to personal appearances or relish getting to grips with metadata - choose what works for you and make the most of it.

“Getting attention is different to getting approval” - Alison Baverstock

Paulo Coelho. © Bernd Hartung/Frankfurt Book Fair

Social media: build relationships and be authentic. Be generous - with useful information, with support, with introductions and connections. Posting only your own stuff makes you appear amateur. Many organisations want to scoop up interesting, quirky, relevant tweets, which will drive traffic in your direction.

Platform: This should be about more than selling books. Blogs where the last post was February 2013 do you no favours. Change the title of a blog post and repost. Use search engine terms and keywords. Host interviews, create a community. If you don’t have a blog, write posts for other people. Kobo Writing Life has a blog which hosts authors with something to say.

Brand partnerships: Lynn Isenberg wrote a book called The Funeral Planner - chick-lit for entrepreneurs - and formed alliances with funeral parlours and obituary writers. For an author friend who’d written Dogphoria, a non-fiction book of pictures and quotes about the joy of dogs, she engineered a cooperation between PETCO (dog adoption charity), gaining attention and celebrity tweets.

To free or not to free. Opinions differed on whether making your work free is a worthwhile strategy. Only a portion, or the first of a series, was oft-heard advice. But Dmitry Glukhovsky put his entire book up on his site, gathered an eager readership and community who contributed to a gallery. He has now sold the rights for a video game. Wattpad and Widbook are two platforms where writers can gain an audience by sharing part or all of their work.

Reviews. Tailor your approach, remain professional and make it easy for people to say yes. Have a strapline, a brief blurb and a longer description all on a one page with cover, puff quotes and all relevant links.

Grunt work. It’s essential to get the metadata right, include keywords and SEO factors. In digital publishing, you can change the title, add a subtitle, get frequently searched terms in your description. Learn what the pricing sweet spots are and which countries/platforms respond better to higher/lower pricing.

Collaborate. Work with other authors. Find a group of writers in the same genre and put out a boxset or offer to appear as experts at a literary festival. Hold an event such as a launch party or pop-up bookshop. Build alliances with bookshops and cross promote each others’ work.

Books in Motion. © Bernd Hartung/Frankfurt Book Fair

Moment marketing. Especially useful for non-fiction, but can be applied to fiction. Look for parallels in the news. Set up Google alerts for certain keywords and connect the stories to your book. Become the go-to person on that theme.

Print. Some authors feel print is only worthwhile once the ebook is flying. Others emphasise the importance of having copies to sign and sell at events, as giveaway prizes. Printed material of some kind - bookmark, postcard, flyer - makes people remember and have the details to hand.

Finally, Joanna Penn, author of How To Market a Book, advises integrating marketing slots into your day.

You are a writer. Fit the marketing activity around the writing, not the other way around.

In this issue of Words with JAM, you’ll find a second FBF 14 summary:

Global Trends in Self Publishing

Plus if you’re thinking of attending the fair next year, check out this post:

Five Tips on how authors can get the most out of a book fair.

Global Trends in Self-Publishing - FBF 14 Reportage

By JJ Marsh

This year, I attended the International Self Publishing and Author Programme at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Seminars, panel discussions, informal discussions, insider opinion and up-to-the-minute observations on what’s happening in the publishing world.

Are there too many books in the world?

With speakers such as Porter Anderson of FutureBook, Edward Nawotka of Publishing Perspectives, Alison Baverstock of Kingston University, Orna Ross of ALLi, David Taylor of Ingram UK, Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn, Hayley Radford of Authoright, Jonas Lennermo of Publit, Julia Koblentz of Nook, Dr Florian Geuppert of Books On Demand, Camille Mofidi of Kobo Writing Life, Matthias Matting of Der SelfPublisher Bibel, Meire Dias of Bookcase Literary Agency plus lots and lots of successful authors, the information was overwhelming. Here's my digested version of the big picture.

Global Trends in Self Publishing

Last year, the number of ISBN numbers purchased by indie authors surpassed those bought by trade publishing. The estimates of books published without ISBNs exceed 1 million. Trade publishing is watching the indie scene very carefully and regards it as “a seed bed”.

Established authors are considering the benefits of creative control. Edward Nawotka shared how the University of Houston’s Creative Writing Programme expressed an interest in self-publishing. Not for their students, but for faculty members - all successful authors and prize winners.

Self publishers are moving away from the Do Everything Yourself model and using expert resources. According to Alison Baverstock’s recent research, 59% used an editor, 26% availed themselves of marketing support and 21% had taken legal advice.

Success Stories

Companies are springing up everywhere to take advantage of this new demand. Freelance editors, designers, proofreaders, sales data tools, marketing services and specialists in intellectual property and entertainment law are a growing infrastructure to support the professionalism of the independent author.

Legal advice is an essential area. Without a publishing house’s lawyer to check copyright issues, potential libel and accusations of plagiarism or infringement, authors need to take this responsibility themselves. This gets more complex when dealing with translations. For example, while there is no copyright on titles in the UK & US, German laws prevent the use of a title if an existing work already holds that name. Pleading ignorance is insufficient. You’ll have to remove your book and may have to pay the other party’s legal costs.

Staying with Germany, a curious phenomenon is that many of the latest self-publishing initiatives have come from major publishers. One example featured in Publishing Perspectives’ Author Guide is 100 Fans (German only). This is a crowd-funding platform, supported by Münchner Verlagsgruppe. When a writer’s campaign gains 100+ fans, the book is produced and distributed as both print and ebook. When it gets over 1000 fans, it receives frontlist treatment in the publisher’s catalogue.

A variety of platforms and formats is crucial to connecting with readers. Every single speaker stressed the same message: exclusivity is a bad idea. Joanna Penn made the point that few companies in publishing are too big to fail. Some presenters made a strong case for building a successful name in digital only before venturing into print. Especially as indie authors have a hard time getting into bookshops, due to basic economics. However, many voices spoke up for the value of handselling and the importance of the paperback to their readership.

Audience at the Author Programme

New formats including audiobooks, games, translations and TV/film adaptations are fertile ground for self-published material. The adage used to be ‘bring an existing audience’, but now opinion is changing. One of these formats might be the place you find your audience.

One instance is the huge potential emerging in China. Tens of millions of people are reading on their phones or other hand-held devices. In The Wall Street Journal, Wei Gu quotes authors such as Tang Jia San, Li Hu, Liu Wei and Zhu Hongzhi, all of whom are under 40 and each has become a millionaire since publishing online.

And to end on a high note, Alison Baverstock made two points about self publishing. Firstly, she has found a fundamental difference between self published and traditionally published authors. According to her research, which you can find in her book The Naked Author, self published authors are generally happier. Secondly, the supportive and generous nature of the independent author community makes it a positive and helpful place to be.

Long may that trend continue.


In this issue of Words with JAM, you’ll find a second FBF14 summary:

Marketing for Authors

Plus if you’re thinking of attending the fair next year, check out this post:

Five Tips on how authors can get the most out of a book fair.

How to Find an Agent/Publisher - The Easy Way

By JJ Marsh

I know what you’re thinking.
This is misfiled and should be under the Satire section.
Wrong.
Let me explain.

Previously ...

Back in the days when I still wanted a publisher, I knew I needed an agent first. It used to take me a week to trawl through the Writers & Artists Yearbook for my shortlist.

Add several more to research each agent’s likes/dislikes/quirks of submission process, explore their client list, evaluate the agency and shorten the shortlist.

Plus I then needed to tailor each letter accordingly.

After all of that, because I don’t live in the UK, I needed IRCs and SAEs, the obtainment of which was a PIA.

I’m no longer agent/publisher hunting, but many writers are. So what if I told you there’s an easier way to do both?

Agent Hunter

Agent Hunter is a database of all UK literary agents, their agencies and publishers. The database is regularly updated, continually fact-checked, and extremely comprehensive. You can sort the entries on the database to develop your own personal shortlist of agents/agencies and/or publishers.

I’m going guinea-pig.

I’ll start by looking for an agency. I want large (6 agents and upwards) and definitely members of the Association of Authors’ Agents. No more IRC faffing about, either. They have to take email submissions.

Enter above requirements and bingo - 11 agencies, with list of agents, contact details, latest news, submission requirements, and further details - for example, open to foreign authors. Save that search - I’ll need it later.

OK, now to find the right agent. New search and much more opportunity to refine my requirements. I can search for likes/dislikes, number of clients, email subs, other passions, etc. Plus, all the details of how to make a submission and email address.

I write European crime. I want an agent with experience, with a limited list, open to new clients, who likes literary Eurocrime.
I input my details on Agent Hunter and in seconds, have a list of 18 candidates. I can see each one’s client list, blog, Twitter handle and likes/dislikes. Plus, all the details of how to make a submission and email address. Result!

Save that one for future reference and come at it from another angle.

Search for an agent who represents authors who write in a similar genre - Alexander McCall Smith and Kate Atkinson. (Caroline Walsh and Peter Straus respectively, if you’re interested.)

Onto publishers. OK, who accepts unagented submissions? 32 results for smaller/independent houses, 4 major houses, and 15 children’s. All details available, plus guidelines for effective submission.

So, the upshot of my experiment? Agent Hunter is effective, efficient, idiot-proof and a timesaving godsend to the harassed writer. And for twelve quid a year, a bargain.

How much?
Subscription costs £12 a year with a 7-day free trial

Agent Hunter is the creation of The Writers' Workshop, the UK's largest editorial consultancy for new writers.

Pubmatch

This is a global site for anyone involved in publishing - a permanent online trade fair.

For writers, service providers, publishers, adaptors, translators, agents and literary scouts, Pubmatch is a kind of online dating agency.If you're unpublished, need a cover designer, just published, need a marketer, published loads already, seeking an international rights agent, looking to sell audio/TV rights, want an illustrator ... they’re all here.

Registering as an author shows you and your books to rights buyers, suppliers and agents around the world. You can also search the network for agents and publishers who work in your genre, find cover designers, search for editors, etc, etc. Particularly handy if you’re going to a trade show, you can organise meetings via the site.

So I gave it a go.

I uploaded my author profile, added my books, lost the entire thing several times (tip: get all your metadata on one doc, including quotes and reviews to facilitate recovery and minimise tooth-grinding). I also created a catalog(ue) of available rights for my books.

I invited a few contacts for meetings at Frankfurt Book Fair (all accepted, which gave me a bit of a shock) and received several invitations, at least two of which look intriguing.

When using the site, I encountered a couple of issues, but both my emails received friendly, helpful replies and solutions within hours. Impressive.

So now I just sit back and wait for the phone to ring ...

How much?
Two possible memberships: FREE or Premium - $79.99.

Alternatively, if you’re a member of The Alliance of Independent Authors, you can take advantage of a special deal - Premium Membership for $9.99

PubMatch is a partnership between Publishers Weekly and The Combined Book Exhibit Family of Companies. Publishers Weekly is an institution in worldwide publishing arena. The Combined Book Exhibit Family of Companies has over a century of experience in the publishing industry - specifically in the arena of trade shows, marketing and connecting publishers for the exchange of ideas.



By JJ Marsh - author, reader, Triskelite, journalist, Nuancer, reviewer and blogger. Likes: pugs, Werner Herzog and anchovies. Dislikes: meat, chocolate and institutionalised sexism. Short story collection out now.