First of all, thanks so much to everyone who came to my chat last night! I can’t believe it went so late! After the official chat was over, a handful of us stuck around and talked movies until midnight (ET). Outrageous. And I learned that when you talk movies, it all ends up coming back to Love Actually. Which is kind of weird. Not one of my favorites… actually.
So all around the blogosphere, people are talking about promo,whether it’s weird maybe-viral marketing techniques, or polling on what promo works for you. having just come down off a huge promo push, I’m interested to hear about it. HelenKay Dimon, whose book Viva Las Bad Boys is on my book diet pile (sniff, sniff… ::pet pile longingly::) wants to know the following:
(Please note: this is just my own opinion. Many people feel differently, as you can see from HelenKay’s own post as well as the comments that follow it. I don’t expect other people to feel the same way I do about various promo techniques. Obviously, I’ve gravitated towards the type of promo that works on me, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize that other promo has worked on other people.)
What works for me and what doesn’t:
1. Website Banners: Never once clicked on a banner. I get a lot of requests to put other authors banners on my website. I now have banners of my own, which is fun, and arranged by my publisher. My favorite part was that it went out in a Daily Candy-style email.
2. Excerpts on author websites: Always read them. Of course I do! The whole point is whether or not I’m going to like the writing! I’ve bought so many books because the excerpts hooked me good.
3. Reviews: I read them. They usually don’t sway me as to whether or not I’m going to buy the book. I often like to read reviews of books I’ve already read and see if I agree with what the reviewer is saying. I think it does get the name out. People need to see you mentioned a certain number of times before it sinks in, so if you get two rotten reviews and then a good one, people may only remember that they’ve heard about you three times already.
4. Bookmarks or promo knick knacks: I have no use for bookmarks, and I wasn’t planning on making them until I got requests for them from a BUNCH of bookstore owners. I think the writers who are against bookmarks are approaching this from the wrong direcction. We may not need them, but they are free ads for our books at the front of the stores. As for tcotchkes, I’ve picked up a lot over the years. I never induces me to buy more or less of the books advertised on it. My favorites are the mini nail files and the tiny pads of paper. This is why I made the choice not to do random tcotchkes but only items people would be interested in if they specifically read the book (i.e., pins).
5. Author chats: I go to them, mostly for friends. This is a big discussion on one of the loops I’m currently on. Again, I think this is also looking at it from the wrong perspective. I find the chats fun for ME, and fun for people who already have the book. I don’t really expect to pick up new readers.
6. Author signings: Ditto. I had my first, and it was great, but it was massively advertised and included a lot of friends and family. I odn’t think I’m going to do many more.
7. Browsing bookstores: covers, blurbs, New Releases tables, etc: Absamalutely! I make all my greatest discoveries like that. Scott Westerfeld’s book Uglies jumped out at me from across the room because of the incredible cover, and regular blog readers know how THAT turned out (hint to others: I read every book he has written and blog about them at various opportunities). Also discovered Susan Squires that way. I’m embarrassed to admit that covers matter a lot to me (which is why I’m so thrilled by my awesome cover!) There are so many books out, and I need soemthing that draws me to yours. New Release table same thing. I browse all the new releases, and then specific genre tables. Rarely do I wander into the big general fiction section. Blurbs? Not so much. I can maybe count the books whose blurbs have induced me to read further and eventually buy.
8. Ads in the Sunday book review sections of newspapers or RT and similar trade magazines: Never noticed them. EVER.
9. Author blogs. Duh, yes! I read them all the time, and I’ve picked up MANY new authors because of their blogs: E Lockhart, Sylvia Day, HelenKayDimon, Justine Larbalestier… and many more new authors whose books aren’t even out yet because I have been following their blogs. For instance, I don’t know Rachel Vincent from Adam, but ever since I’ve discovered her blog, pre-awesome auctioned sale to MIRA, I’ve been looking forward to her book.
10. Author websites: You betcha! I’m a big web puppy, so I love author websites. The more content-heavy, the better. Nothing annoys me more than a big website that’s all flash and no content.
11. Trying new authors: I’ve gotten better at this over the years. I used to be very author loyal when I was a teenager and in college, but now I enjoy making new discoveries. You can see from my list of books read in 2006, to the right, that I’ve read a lot of new authors this year.
12. Word of mouth: on blogs (what they have begun calling book ads), personal word of mouth, blurbs on books… Personal word of mouth is probably the number one way I pick new books. Blurbs on books is like a step more distant than that. If it’s an author I love, I may treat it like a personal rec to me from “a friend.” Word of mouth on blogs is very dependent on the situation. If it’s completely spontaneous, like “y’all just have to read Scott Westerfeld because he’s a veritable demigod of YA spec fiction,” and it’s a blogger I read often, then yeah, I’m going to run out and get it. That’s how I read Spin, Flowers from the Storm, and Twilight. If it’s a blog tour, it depends on several factors. The standard blog tour where the blogger has not read the book will only sway me if I was interested in the book already, and the tour serves as a reminder that it’s available. (I’ve noticed the same effect on people who have commented on some of the blog tours that have appeared here.) If it’s part of the usual blog tour, but I can tell the blogger has read the book and/or is especially excited about it, I’ll look a little closer, because then, to me, it’s a hybrid of the tour and the spontaneous blogging about a book they love.
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So, what do you all think?
I’d also like to point out that most of the things on this list are author-generated publicity tactics. Most of the stuff my publisher and I are doing are not even on this list: ARC mailings, BEA appearances, radio spots, interviews and other articles, and, most of all, the big secret I’m going to tell you all about this afternoon…
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