by Neal Wooten
I’ve been publishing books for seventeen years and in that time, I’ve been contacted by over a thousand authors seeking a publisher for their first book. And while first-time authors have many questions, there’s one question I get more than any other: “Do you market the books?”
As authors, this is what we dream about. After all, we’ve done our part of the job. Right? We’ve spent countless hours for a year or more writing, rewriting, editing, and proofing. At this point we know, we absolutely know, this is the best book ever written. Now we just need other people to recognize this and run with it. These “other people” will take our creation and make it a success and we’ll sit back and rake in those big fat royalty checks.
It’s a wonderful dream. Sadly, however, that’s all it is. In the real world, it doesn’t work like that. I mean, sure, for big-name authors published by one of the major publishers, it might. You probably have seen ads for books like these. You might walk into bookstores and see cardboard displays in the front of the store displaying these books. (That’s high-dollar rental space by the way.) Big publishers are likely to spend money on big-name authors because it’s a proven commodity and they know they’ll get a return on their investment.
For 99% of authors, however, your work is far from over after you finish writing. Promotion is a never-ending process. I had an author once ask me how long they should promote their book after it’s released. I answered with, “How long to do plan to live?” Your books are like your children. Some seem to excel more than others, but deep down, you love them all the same and you love them forever.
Even if you have a medium-size publisher who will at least send your title out into the world for reviews and to hopefully land some interviews, the bulk of promotion will always fall on the authors. That’s just part of being an author and I make sure people understand that up front. I want authors to take their first steps into this industry with their eyes wide open.
But because all authors want someone else to do this for them, marketing and PR companies are a growing trend. Most are very expensive. I think most of them are legit, but the question is, are most of them worth it? I can’t say for sure because I’ve never tried one, but I doubt many authors recoup their investments.
The bottom line is, if you want to be a published author, understand that promotion is a part of it. A big part of it. In this day of social media, there are so many ways to get the word out about your book. Free ways that only take up your time. Use them all and use them often. Have fun with it. Stop thinking you’re being pushy, or self-serving, or whatever you think and promote the heck out of your book. You may think posting about your upcoming book signing one hundred times before the date is overkill, but I say it’s not enough.
If you truly believe your book is the best book ever written, and you better, it’s up to you to make everyone else believe.
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Neal Wooten is a contributor to the Huff Post, columnist for the Mountain Valley News, author, artist, and standup comic. His new true-crime memoir, With the Devil’s Help (Pegasus Crime/Simon and Schuster), is being made into a miniseries. He is also the creator of the cartoon, Pancho el Pit Bull, which is being made into an animated series in South America.