This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids
answering” (based on this
video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every
author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and
their art.
Question:
What is the one thing you wish you knew before publishing?
The quick answer:
Marketing.
The long answer:
I’m guessing that wouldn’t have been the answer you
expected. You probably expected me to say something about the craft of writing,
right?
I know writing. It’s my aptitude. Making up worlds and characters
and describing them on paper is what I do. It brings me joy.
But what happens after you write “the end” and manage to either
publish it yourself or get it accepted and published through a publishing house?
Just go on to writing the next book?
Maybe it was that way fifty years ago or more, but it certainly
isn’t now. Ernest Hemingway didn’t have to learn Amazon ads or Facebook ads. J.R.R.
Tolkien didn’t have to post about his books on the numerous social media platforms
and get thousands of followers there. Octavia Butler didn’t have to learn Adobe
Photoshop enough to put together engaging graphics. Truman Capote didn’t have
to make his own website or post regularly on a blog. Isaac Asimov didn't have to send out newsletters every month. Stephen King didn't have to man tables at festivals to sell his books. The thought of these authors
doing those things feels a little silly, and yet these things are expected of
authors these days. It’s a whole new ballgame now. In fact, only about a third
of my author-related time is spent actually writing, editing, and revising my
books, whereas back then nearly all their author-related time was spent that
way.
These days, after you publish the book, the job isn’t over.
You have to get it in front of readers somehow or no one will learn about your
book, much less buy it or read it. Large publishing houses have massive
advertising budgets and people hired to do nothing else but advertising and
marketing, but small presses and self-published authors usually don’t. You have
to do it all yourself AND compete against those large publishing houses with
their big budgets. Good luck.
And what the heck do we writers know about marketing? I
certainly never got training. Thankfully, I’m pretty tech-savvy and have some Photoshop
skills. I also had the foresight to lay a good foundation to create a brand
prior to publishing my first book, with a social media presence, a logo, brand
name (“The Strange Worlds of Jason Kilgore”), blog, and website. I worked as a
scientist in an international biotech corporation and had picked up some
things. But that was only the barest step up.
Over the years I’ve read so many articles and books that it
makes my head spin, and attended workshops, too. Most of what I’ve learned was through
trial and error. What I really needed was a mentor who knew the ropes, but no
one gives you their knowledge for free.
These days, I help other authors make
Amazon ads and advise them on social media posting. It took years to get to
this point. But I still feel inadequate at it. Competing for people’s attention,
especially online, is mind-shatteringly hard, and the margins are razor-thin.
It’s also incredibly expensive. At least a third of my
annual author budget is spent paying for ads, but it’s hard to say if they pay
off. When someone buys a book, they don’t send you a message telling you how
they heard about you.
You can also pay people to do advertising for you, such as on gig sites like Fiverr.com, but be cautious. There are a LOT of scammers out there and amateurs who will take your money and give you nothing useful in return. It's better to go by word of mouth... if you can find an author who has actually paid someone and been satisfied. It's also insanely expensive.
If I had it to do all over again, I think maybe I would have
taken a marketing course before publishing, preferably one aimed at authors and taught by an author.
Cheers and happy reading!
