In the interest of full disclosure, before I ask the question, obviously, we take advertising here for books and authors. So far we’ve had many an advertiser say they were very pleased with the number of clicks and purchases their ads here generated, which makes me happy because advertising a book, from my understanding, can be a very daunting prospect.
So suppose you’re an author and your book has just been published and you don’t have the kind of powerhouse name recognition that you’d like? What are your options for advertising a book?
To the best of my knowledge, there’s Romantic Times (no link for you, bad pandas) and Affaire de Coeur as the top two sources for placing your advertisements. But if, for whatever reason, you’re not into RT, what are your other choices?
There’s websites for the romance reader/writer community, like All About Romance, which definitely accept ads. Also, AuthorBuzz has a limited promotional schedule, and there are also advertisement options at ShelfAwareness‘s newsletter and FreshFiction.com.
There’s also a new website debuting this month that I just learned about: Early Ink plans to be a one-stop promotional location for new and upcoming books. Founder Mollie Smith, who as a daughter o’ famous author knows about the efforts of trying to sell a book, says the idea came about when she was told by a colleague in publishing that he had a sizable online advertising budget for a new book, but wasn’t sure where to effectively direct the money. There’s no centralized location to promote books, so Smith set out to create one.
According to Smith:
Early Ink’s primary purpose is to promote and preview new and upcoming books to readers. Among other things, the site compiles text excerpts so that they can be easily browsed, read online, downloaded as a PDF and emailed to portable devices and friends.
Authors and publishers can place book preview listings (ranging from one to four months in duration) with an administrative fee of $100/mo. Banner advertising is also offered at various weekly rates.
Attempting to keep up with new media trends, an additional section of site, tentatively titled AV Club, will showcase some of the more snazzy audio and video previews for books. AV previews will be selected at the discretion of the site in an attempt to include only those that are remarkable by way of technical quality and/or originality.
The site will also offer social bookmarking and reader comments, tagged themes, and RSS feeds.
However, the site will not encourage user book reviews (Amazon and Library Thing have got that covered) and has no plans to create original reviews. Early Ink is not affiliated with any specific retailer, publisher or genre.
I have to say, the obvious other choices for advertisement, TV and radio, are both expensive and really somewhat incongruous for books. I confess to being very irritated with seeing James Patterson’s head in close-up on my tv screen a few years ago, saying, “Buy my book Cat & Mouse!” I’m sure once your books have gone to movies, your ad budget goes bananas too, and that’s an opportunity not afforded to most authors.
If I had great powers, my recommendation would be to co-opt all these pants I see on young women that have words curved across the ass, only instead of “PINK!” and “LACROSSE!” you’d see the name of an upcoming book. Brilliant, right? No? Dammit.
So what’s your choice for advertising a book? Got a site or a venue to recommend?
hey, I just had to think about this too!My advertising plan went through drastic change in the last couple of days. So I came up with a self pimpage plan…it’s at my blog, yah duh.
It involves winning gift certificates.
Basically I’m going to pay people to read my stuff—not that different from RT except the dollar amounts are way smaller—as are the audiences.
Also I’m once again thinking about advertising at sites like yours. (RT took up a lot of my advertising bucks)
Thanks for posting this question, Bitches. While catching up on the folderol last night (I go away from the
comments
blog for two days and everything explodes!) I was wondering what an author could to do advertise their work if they chose not to advertise in RT.
And then I got to wondering what would happen if a bunch of publishers stopped not only advertising in RT, but stopped sending review copies to the publication, too. How big an impact would that have on sales of the books? In other words, how influential is RT these days? I’ve never read it, so it has zero influence over what I buy, but I’m just one reader.
PS I’ve looked and can’t find an equivalent print publication (other than Affaire De Coeur, which doesn’t really have an online presence as well)
Maybe someone should use this opportunity to start something new, assuming print is still a viable business.
I think Smart bitches needs to go to a three column template and leave a whole row for their reader/writers to pay them advertise in.
But no one asked my hairy ass so I’ll shut up now.
Ah, that’s the problem: is print still a viable business? Unfortunately, with romance reviews being such a niche market and the severe business issues many print publications are experiencing, I have great doubts that any new start up print competitor to RT and AdC would be able to survive for more than a year. Look at Arabella Magazine. Even though they were focused at the romance reading market in general and not reviews necessarily, they lasted, what, three issues?
As a reader, I primarily rely on word of mouth for e-books and print, and thanks to being a librarian during the day, reviews in Library Journal, Booklist or Publisher’s Weekly to pique my interest for print.
As a writer, I look at advertising and reviews more as getting my name out there more than anything else. My biggest advertising splurge was being one of 10 authors sharing a two page ad in RT’s May issue which I understand was to be available at the convention. I paid almost $150 for that and the ad featured one of my longer stories, which is still only a short novella. I won’t know how it might affect my sales until the end of July. I also spent a nice chunk of money on two months of ad space here at SBTB. I was happy with the reports I got from Sarah and Candy, but my sales barely cracked 50 copies for a three-month period. A shorter story that released at the same time, but is no longer available, sold over 100 copies in the same time period, 62 of which were sold in the first five weeks. I barely did any promotion for that title, so that dichotomy is quite intriguing to me, but I have no way in which to explore why one sold better than the other.
Promotion always strikes me as hit or miss. What may work one time, may not work the next time and vice versa. At this point, I’m just relying on my website and blogs and the promotion group I’m a part of with December as I have nothing new right now. When I do have something new, I’m going to evaluate what I do based on the length of the book and the potential earning power of it. But then, I’m a fairly new/unknown e-book author and any paid promotion I do is a big write-off.
Gotta say, I like the idea of the yoga pants advertising. (::ponders::)
I agree with Kelly. I did quite a bit of promo for one of my releases and the sales were abysmal. Really, really terrible. While I think there were a lot of other issues (delayed release, difficult to find online, stuff like that), I really can’t say with any degree of confidence that advertising for ebooks does any good at all. Better to just get with the biggest publisher you can find, and wait until your career starts to grow, to do a lot of advertising.
Print books are a different story, though, I believe. But I imagine there are people here who can confirm that one.
my recommendation would be to co-opt all these pants I see on young women that have words curved across the ass, only instead of “PINK!†and “LACROSSE!†you’d see the name of an upcoming book.
Great minds think alike! When my first book came out, my critique partner Victoria Dahl sent me Major Crush panties.
Word verification: showed58 😉
There’s also Romance Sells, from the RWA. It’s appealing for advertising for some authors, because it’s targeted specifically at booksellers and librarians (the people who decide to make it easy for customers to find your book in their store). Here’s the blurb about it:
RWA is always looking for ways to bring romance authors and their novels together with booksellers. One way we do is this is through our quarterly publication, Romance Sells, that mails out free to booksellers and librarians. The ad booklet includes a section of articles focused specifically on the needs of booksellers ranging in topics from hosting booksignings to ways of getting your bookstore’s share of the billion dollar romance-fiction industry. Click here to view the archives of Romance Sells bookseller articles. The best feature of the booklet is the pages and pages of ads for current and upcoming romance releases. You can also see some of the ads on-line….
My first book came out with Kensignton last July, and by the time I complete all my current contracts, I’ll have seven books on the shelf with them. (I’m working on #6 right now.) Since I signed my first contract more than 2 years ago, I’ve been thinking a lot about marketting.
Here is my To-Do list:
1) I advertise in Romance Sells, which goes out to a bunch of libraries and book stores. I buy ad space there in every issue.
2) I bought a list of romance-friendly bookstores across the globe from Pat Rouse, and a month or so before a book comes out, I send everyone on the list a package that includes cover flats, book marks, an excerpt and some reviews.
3) I use my website and the Aphrodisia Author’s blog spot to brag about upcoming things and great reviews. And then I belong to a few loops where I try to keep active.
4) I enter contests (hi Jennifer Echols!) and I judge them, which keeps readers aware of my name.
5) I just bought an ad in RT for my latest releases.
6) Also, the Aphrodisia Authors have a chat at Writerspace from 9-10 on the first Monday of every month, and I try to go to those. (They’re a lot of fun!)
7) I put together a list of on-line review sites, and I send them copies of my books several months before their release. This has earned me some Reviewers Choice Awards and Recommened Reading Awards. Some of these are very valuable. For instance, at Coffee Time Romance, they only give out one RR per month, and they feature that book on their front page. (Look for their review of my THE SUPPLICANT there in August.) But even if the site doesn’t feature a book when they award it, it still gets something that makes it stand out. For some sites (like this one), just getting a book reviewed is great PR. Who cares if it’s featured?
In no particular order, here is my list of my favorite review sites (but remember I write paranormals and print rather than e, so if you like e-books your site might not be here):
joyfully reviewed
coffee time romance
just erotic romance reviews
dear author
two lips
smart bitches
the best reviews
romance divas
fallen angel reviews
romance studios
road to romance
cupids library reviews
Paranormal Romance (PNR)
romance readers connection
all about romance
a romance review
romance junkies
romance designs
sensual romance
simegan
escape to romance
I don’t know which of these things work. I don’t know if any of them work. Some of them cost time. Some of them cost money. But I put so much into my writing that I’d hate for my work to fall by the wayside just because no one heard of it. I do my best to get my name out there.
And man, Candy, I sure would love for you to review MOON SHADOW!
SWAK,
Lucinda (who will shameless advertise now!)
http://www.LucindaBetts.com
PURE SEX, Kensington—out now!
NIGHT SPELL, Kensington—out now!
MOON SHADOW, Kensington—just released!
THE SUPPLICANT—July 2007
If I ever find myself in print, I’m definitely going to advertise in Romance Sells. One of my new local libraries puts it out with the new books for library patrons to peruse.
For ebooks I think just having a busy e-life helps a lot, forum sig lines, website, blog, visit other people’s forums and blogs etc. Paid ads and chats not so much.
IMHO choice of publisher is still a much bigger issue than writer-initiated advertising.
Hi ya
I give away a bunch of free review copies of my books and I’d love to send them to a snail-mail addie list of romance-friendly online reviewers. Trolling the blogosphere I’ve seen that few smalltime reviewers make their mailing addies easy to find, and my lazy ass don’t wanna search, inquire via lots of emails, etc. In other words, “somebody” oughta post a mailing list. Think of all the free books and other goodies authors would send to e-reviewers, I betcha.
Not an author-but one thing I’d do is get mu editor to request an interview on author John Scalzi’s AOL blog. He does one every week-and no,you don’t have to be sci/fi fantasy. The blog has a large readership and it’s a great way to publicize the book.
Also,make friends with booksellers in your area-find some that really like the genre you read in and make sure they get copies of your books to read. Getting a bookseller to handsell your book is really effective sales wise.
Deb: I hear you on the friendly online reviewers bit, but I generally decline to post my mailing address online. I’m happy to give it out if an author asks via email, but I don’t want to make it that much more easy to find me, take satellite surveillance of my house and all. Many of us online reviewers are random schmoes with houses and families and while I’m sure most authors are beyond normal, I do fear the occasional rabid fan of an ab-tastic cover model!
Ditto on the fear of crazed readers. But I’m tellin’ ya, if online reviewers made it easy to send them books, they’d get lots of free ones. Maybe investing in a P.O. Box? Or . . . “somebody” ought to start a clearing-house site where authors could list their available freebies, including review copies. Then reviewers, librarians and booksellers could drop the author an email with a mailing addie.
“I confess to being very irritated with seeing James Patterson’s head in close-up on my tv screen a few years ago…”
I thought I was the only one put off by that. The first TV book ad I saw was Janet Evanovich years ago, and last night I caught one for Nora Roberts. I can’t put my finger on the exact cause, but they always make me cringe. If I wasn’t going to buy the book in question anyway, those commercials would not win me over. Quite the opposite, actually.
Co-opting butts for advertising…assvertising!! That’s brilliant!
It seems to work for the Huge Northeastern University I attend—every other girl on the street has the name, initials, or symbol of the school plastered on her ass—I’m sure it helps attract at least a few more students every year.
At this point, if they put the title of the new book on their rears, it’d give me something new to look at when I’m climbing stairs behind them.
For those interested in the review sites, a group I belong to has a listing of review sites with links, I’m sure it’s not complete as new sites and blogs seem to pop up often. But I thought it, along with some of the other info there might be useful to some
http://www.authorsoferoticromance.com/?page_id=34
As for me, I seriously doubt the validity of most of the yahoo loops out there. I have to wonder if most of the loops are the same people, readers and authors, over and over again.
I’ve used the services of our lovely Ladies of the Bitchery, and plan to again—which reminds me I really must get back in touch :)—and also RT. I don’t know that RT did anything for me. But then it was a small ad (RT=expensive)
Absolutely, AnneD. You do a Yahoo loop chat, you end up talking to other authors all day (with a few exceptions.)
I suppose it’s possible there are readers who don’t participate but who lurk, and there are a few loops that are more active, but for the most part…
Okay—I’m just impressed by these guys because they took a rec from another self published author for my book and cooked me up an author page and asked about my genre because it happens to be featured next month: PNR (stands for paranormal romance)—it’s an online ‘zine…
So…how do I get my book on your blog?
I’m going to have a t-shirt made with my book cover and the publisher’s website on the back. Then I’ll sit in Starbucks, typing furiously on my laptop.
—Chumplet