Wednesday 12 November 2008

Marketing And Publicity: What Really Works?

Literary agent Nathan Bransford recently opened his blog up to a handful of guest bloggers in order to explore the issues involved in effective book marketing. One of the guests he invited along was M J Rose, who contributed this post in which she discussed what marketing and publicity actually mean, what works and what doesn't, and what sort of money has to be spent on a book to achieve the sorts of sales that we dream about. It's worth reading because in just a few hundred words she clarifies what everything means and what all that activity achieves--even if we don't have the budget to do what she suggests.

4 comments:

R.R.Jones said...

Another example of something I hadn't even thought about... Doh !

Jane Smith said...

My life is full of things I should have thought of. The only consolation is that as I get older I forget about most of them, so they don't worry me.

Wendy Green said...

I've found your blog very interesting - it's such a relief to learn that other writers are experiencing the same challenges as me in getting their books to sell well!

My first book, The Greatest Slimming & Healthy Living Tips in the World was published in January 2008. I recently learned from my (small) publisher that it has sold 'just over 1,000 copies.' I was initially disappointed - I'd hoped to sell far more. I had put my heart and soul into researching and writing the book and my publisher told me they were 'thrilled' with the content. However, I've realised that effective PR and marketing are largely what sells books - though I agree with MJ Rose - a book will only do well if it is good. It was heartening to learn that sales of 1,000 are 'normal' for the majority of books - unless of course you are a celebrity with a tv series or two on the go!

I recently had 4 more books published - a series of Personal Health Guides for Summersdale. This time the PR seems to have been more successful and at least two of the titles seem to be doing quite well - though at the moment I'm basing this assumption on their Amazon rankings, which can be quite difficult to translate into actual numbers!

Wendy Green said...

I've found your blog very interesting - it's such a relief to learn that other writers are experiencing the same challenges as me in getting their books to sell well!

My first book, The Greatest Slimming & Healthy Living Tips in the World was published in January 2008. I recently learned from my (small) publisher that it has sold 'just over 1,000 copies.' I was initially disappointed - I'd hoped to sell far more. I had put my heart and soul into researching and writing the book and my publisher told me they were 'thrilled' with the content. However, I've realised that effective PR and marketing are largely what sells books - though I agree with MJ Rose - a book will only do well if it is good. It was heartening to learn that sales of 1,000 are 'normal' for the majority of books - unless of course you are a celebrity with a tv series or two on the go!

I recently had 4 more books published - a series of Personal Health Guides for Summersdale. This time the PR seems to have been more successful and at least two of the titles seem to be doing quite well - though at the moment I'm basing this assumption on their Amazon rankings, which can be quite difficult to translate into actual numbers!