Saturday, June 7, 2008

Think about marketing? Already?

That's right friends and neighbors. The time is now to start considering marketing. Who is in your target market? Which magazines, news outlets, websites, blogs, radio shows, etc. are the most productive for reaching your target audience?

Now I don't think you should go overboard, or loose focus on the main objective, finishing your book. But from all I have read, it seems writers often think only in terms of their creative outlet, not how to sell it. If you imagine the publisher will take care of "all that stuff," think again.

The authors willingness to market the book is probably the biggest factor in the success of the book, or lack thereof, in terms of sales. The publisher's job is to produce a quality product, the physical book. Beyond that, don't expect much, except maybe connections and help knowing where to market your book.

I hope this is not too discouraging. Better to know now than after the book is published. Just be aware that you need to pickup the marketing skill set, so you can have a published book one day that is read by more than your family. And believe me, this post is just as much for me as for you. I have only just begun to learn about marketing, so hopefully I will bring you more detailed marketing information in the future.

For now, Google away.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.myspace.com/jhughthomas

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The only comment I can make on this, is the idea is right, but I've been through all this and more - and still very few sales.

My book is available in online sites in dozens of countries throughout the world, from Japan, through India to the UK and USA. I've had feedback from Australia, Canada and South Africa telling me how good its is, yet have few sales.

I've posted several media releases - I've been in 9 newspapers that I know of, my name is sprinkled all over the net - yet still few sales.

I've been on radio twice, have a permanent listing on BBC radio Stoke-on-Trent website yet still few sales.

I've been interviewed on a number of other blogs - yet no response.

The feedback is brilliant from people who HAVE read my novel - they rave about it - so just WHAT is the answer????

Just how the hell do you push sales up.