“One of my first bosses in the industry told me that publishing is a hits-based business. Publish enough books, the hits will buoy up the titles that don’t sell many copies. Now more than ever, it feels like there’s often a push from on high for more volume – throw more at the wall and more will stick – but often, it’s very much a case of more for less: more books without more marketing spend; more output but no more budget for quality editorial and design; more authors but no more resourcing to ensure good author management.”
From an article in The Bookseller, May 2nd(NB the link may not be accessible for everyone).
GOOD NEWS!
Good news for Liz Fielding fans!
She has a new book out!
This time she’s giving us a mystery set in one of her much-loved English country towns, Murder Among the Roses. I pre-ordered it and read it in one gulp, deep into the night. I can tell you, it has her signature tone of kindly humour, allied with a cracker of a mystery!
As a fellow writer who is pretty clueless about all things marketing, I wanted to ask Liz about the practicalities of promoting a book which is, for her, a new type of story.
Promoting a book: when to start and who does what
Q1 When did you start to tell people about Murder Among the Roses, Liz?
Has it set you any new challenges?
Thank you, Sophie, for that wonderful introduction. And for the question.
Promoting a book, unless you are already a guaranteed best-seller, is – as the quote from this week’s copy of The Bookseller testifies – very much down to the author.
Writing for many years for a publisher who promoted the brand over authors, I quickly learned that any promotion for my books was entirely down to me. I’ve been learning on the job for the past thirty years, but these days it’s a lot more than sending a press release to your local paper and radio station – although these are both still very important. As is making friends with your local bookshop and library. My local bookshop is running an event for me to celebrate Crime Reading Month.
The received wisdom is to start six months in advance of a new release, but I didn’t have a title or a cover or even a buy link until very late. So there was little I could do until about month before publication date, other than put the publicist I have used in the past on stand by.
Q2 We hear about desperately overworked publicists and marketeers in publishing. How do you co-ordinate?
The article in The Bookseller was pretty depressing but it’s something most of us have known for a long time.
This is my first book with Joffe Books, but despite everything running very close to the wire, they have been brilliant. Again quoting The Bookseller “There are publishers who…. give each title the best possible chance and spread their marketing resourcing evenly and realistically across their catalogue.” Joffe, I’m thrilled to say, are in that number.
Short of putting it on the side of a bus, they couldn’t have done more. In return I did my best to share it on my blog and my social media.
My own input was to engage Nas Dean, a publicist I’ve used for years. She has her own review team and she organised five or six blogs on cooking sites (using a recipe from the book), and on writing and gardening sites (my amateur sleuth is a garden designer). A lesson in promotional thinking outside the box.
Promoting a book for free
Q3 Everyone knows that publicity is expensive. What can you do to get the word out there without it costing an arm and a leg?
There is quite a lot you can do that will cost nothing, Sophie, beyond your precious time.
Assuming that you have a website or blog to keep your readers up to date with what you’re doing, Amazon should be your first stop on the promotion trail.
Amazon
There are helpful guidelines here – A+ Content (amazon.com) . And, on the left hand sidebar of that page you’ll find a list of ways you can promote on Amazon.
Bookbub
BookBub also offer free way to market your book. Sign up for your author page, add your books and use a Bookbub graphic on your social media to encourage people to follow you.
Add new books as soon as they have an online listing. Much like the Amazon author page, these will be added to BookBub emails to your followers. Reviewing books you’ve enjoyed will help raise your profile and follower numbers. And do follow authors whose books you enjoy.
Once you have 1000 followers, you can use their pre-order alert, which costs just a few dollars, depending on the number of followers you have.
Newsletter
If you offer that on any social media platform, you will be inundated with people who offer to review – usually for $35. Don’t go there. I’m pretty sure Amazon will take a dim view.
Social Media
It can feel that you’re standing in the middle of the room and shouting when using social media for promoting a book, but the images pass at lightning speed and followers will be in many different time zones. Use tags and hashtags to help spread the word. And if you have them, use your pets.
With Twitter, more is definitely more, but use a variety of images to mix things up a bit and quotes from reviews. But don’t just use it for promoting a book. Engage with people. Share your life. Share your Wordle. Create a tribe.
I haven’t yet got to grips with Tiktok but Fiona Lucas has a Tiktok for Authors group on Facebook where you’ll find a lot of help.
Promoting a book by paying for it
Q4 If you decide to invest some cash, what options are there to promote the book, especially to new readers?
My advice is to set yourself a budget and be thoughtful about where you spend it.
My favourite has to be a blog tour – the price will vary on the number of people and days involved.
The best blog tour organisers get booked up very quickly, so get in touch at least three months in advance. You will be paying for the organisation involved. The readers who sign up to review your book get nothing but a free book. They are self-selected volunteers, so presumably enjoy the kind of book you have written. Be very, very grateful.
As I’ve said, along with many of my colleagues, I use the services of publicist, Nas Dean, who always does a really good job of promoting a new release.
Q5 How do you identify the message you want to promote? Is the publisher’s strapline enough?
Obviously, my biggest concern was to take them with me into this new genre and Fiona Marsden, who is the most fabulous supporter of romance writers (and an award winning writer herself) gifted me the best response ever to a book when she wrote on Twitter, “It’s so good. All you love about a Liz Fielding book but with murder.” That’s it. Perfect.
How much time to invest in promoting a book?
Q6 Finally, how much time does it take? I assume it isn’t a single task and then it’s done. Do you continue to monitor and/or vary the message depending on feedback? How long will you continue to do that?
To be honest, if you’re a procrastinator, looking to do anything but write, it can take over your life. A disciplined time slot is your friend here, but it isn’t a one-shot job.
Ongoing promotion can be linked to themes in the book, to locations, to events that coincide with the date your book is set. With a Coronation, maybe. 🙂 Or in a run up to the publication of your next book. Try and set aside an hour or two to do something every week.
What next?
Thank you, Liz. Very interesting and helpful. I’ve taken careful notes. And just one thing more – I’m panting for a sequel to Murder Among the Roses. What are the chances?
Thank you for allowing me to witter on about my favourite subject, Sophie.
I hope you and everyone else will find something they can use to help in promoting a book they’re bringing to the market.
As for the next book in the Maybridge Mysteries series – look out for Murder With Mistletoe this autumn.
I’ve been looking forward to this blog from the moment Joanna told me about it, and it was well worth waiting for. Thank you for all this useful information, Liz. I’ve bookmarked it for future use!
Thank you, Christina, I hope you’ll find it useful!
As a new writer, (as yet unpublished), I look to you ladies for inspiration. I am very much aware that I have started my journey at possibly the worst time ever for writers but I love writing, so I won’t stop. I really enjoyed this thread – so very informative and encouraging. Thank you for being so honest and sharing your experiences Liz. I really enjoyed your first crime novel and I’m looking forward to your next one!
Susan, I can still remember being a bundle of nerves when my first book was published. It was my husband who phoned the local papers and local radio station to ask if they wanted an interview – they were all keen and absolutely great and it’s still very useful. There wasn’t much else, apart from local radio, back then. The market may be more crowded now, but there are so many more ways to put your book out there. I hope all goes well for you. And thank you for being so kind about Murder Among the Roses.
Brilliant, thank you, Jenny and Liz! I’ve been looking forward to this blog, too, and will have to rein myself in, or I’ll be trying to do all of it NOW. And I, too, can’t wait for Murder with Mistletoe.
I hope it will be useful, Lesley. One step at a time — not need to rush! When is the next Libby Sarjeant being published?
Thank you for this blog, Liz and for mentioning me. I just do what I can to help publicize a book and gain exposure for it. But the hard work is done by you. I loved reading Murder Among the Roses and was on edge of the seat to know who was the murderer. Your stories have always enthralled readers and this one had romance as well as a murder.
Congratulations on Murder Among the Roses and I’m looking forward to Murder with Mistletoe!
September – I think!
Pleasure, Nas. And I’m delighted you enjoyed the book.
It’s pre-ordered!
What a useful post. I had to laugh at my comment being useful for promo 😁. I loved Murder Among the Roses and look forward to including the mysteries among my regular rereads of your books.
It’s just perfect, Fiona! So glad you enjoyed the book.