Whenever I speak to audiences about publishing, it still surprises me that so 
many new authors think that a traditional book deal is the ultimate solution to all-things-publishing. Most believe that with a big house deal they won’t have to worry about marketing.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case at all.
The hard truth is that traditional publishers don’t have the budgets to invest in all of their authors—especially new authors with no proven track record. Marketing budgets are primarily reserved for authors who already have established name recognition. The way they see it, a full page magazine ad for the newest James Patterson book is a sure thing. The audience is already there—they just need to know that a new title is available. It’s an easy sale.
How many full-page, glossy ads do you see for authors you’ve never heard of before?
In my own experience and from the experiences of my author friends, I can tell you that most traditional publishers do very little. They might print up some fliers or bookmarks for you to distribute. They will list your book in their catalog. If you’re really lucky, your book will get mentioned alongside several others in an ad, though don’t count on it.
Sometimes they have a publicity contact and that person will send out press releases and pitches for media. I worked with a publisher’s publicist once. She managed to get a couple of blogs to mention my book and landed me ONE radio interview. I could spend the next hour sending out radio pitches and book at least three interviews on my own by the end of the day!
The unfortunate reality is that publishers want authors to come to the table with a platform, which simply means they want you to have an audience. You will be expected to do the marketing work, and not just upon release of the book—marketing is an ongoing effort.
And sadly, you will not be sent on an all-expenses-paid book tour. In fact, if you’re trying to land a traditional book deal, here’s a tip that will get some attention from publishers: Commit to spending $10,000 or more on the marketing for your book. That’s right, list in your proposal that you will be spending money on a book tour or publicist or other marketing campaign and you will get the attention of publishers because they know they can’t do it.
Of course there are exceptions to every rule and some authors have gotten lucky with a hot topic or special attention from the publisher. But more often than not, the marketing effort will fall in the author’s lap.
It’s reasons like these that more and more authors are choosing to self-publish. I love this topic so I will continue with a series of upcoming blog posts about Traditional Publishing Myths. Stay tuned!
When coming up with the idea for my book, I had considered going through a traditional publisher. After doing some research however, I realized I would have to do the majority of the legwork either way. Self-publishing has put my book out there much quicker than it would have been had I gone the traditional route, and it has given me some good marketing experience. I will be releasing another book soon, and the channels I opened up with the first book will be widened with the second. I can also target my audience by posting to my blog and sharing bits and pieces of my books, something I would have to do either way as well.
My advice to authors, whether or not you self-publish, spend some time each and every day marketing. That is something I have learned from the experts: listen to them, they know what they are talking about. Have a great day!
You are right on target, Diane! A little effort each day goes a long way. It’s the authors who do the work that find the most rewards in the long run.
A very fair point, but I think it’s important to explain why: unless you’re one of the big six, you may simply not have the budget, surely. If the average publisher carried out the ‘big-splash’ launch-type of campaign you’re talking about, they’d be out of business in weeks. It’s to be expected that the more established authors will get the big bucks spent on them. This then drives in the revenue for the lower-level investment (fliers, catalogues etc.). I worked for a publisher in-house for many years, and the margins on their book publishing programme were extremely tight.
The traditional book deal may not give authors a huge marketing spend
but it will provide them with other things like an editor, a proofreader, a jacket designer, a sales manager, a distribution agent, the catalogue entries, the add-on of brand-related prestige, and warehousing facilities (a lot of writers still do want print copies of their work, and not all of them want to convert their garage!). And authors who self-publish are either going to have to wear all of these hats (and become good at wearing them) or cough up and contract out the work to freelances.
All valid points, Louise. Thank you!
Stephanie – your comments mirror those from other authors that have successfully gone down the traditional road and then decided to enter self-publishing. Writers like Joe Konrath, Barry Eisler, Dean Wesley Smith and others all share your views. That’s why I chose to self-publish as well, even though I sent out 100+ queries and was soundly rejected (not unusual for a first-time author). I spend about 30-45 minutes daily to self-promote on various social media. Why that amount? I found that if I spent more, my writing suffered (only so much time in a day).
Thanks for your post, very good perspective and reflective of my own experience.
Thank you for your comments, James. That daily promotion effort is essential and you’re smart to find the time commitment that works best for you. Keep running the marketing marathon!
I agree with you, Stephanie, and with Diane Ziomek. I’ve had a number of opportunities to be agented and published, and each time I heard what the deal was they wanted to offer, it didn’t make financial sense to me. Why would I spend $10,000 to $15,000 in PR and marketing and only receive a 12% on gross as my return on investment? Oh, and please let’s not forget that that 12% is less 15% for the agent’s North American and 20% to 25% less for foreign rights.
Since I still have 100% ownership less 30% (amazon.com) to 50% (google books; they’d be smart to increase that amount to match amazon or authors will continue to push their titles on amazon.com), I have a chance to actually earn some real money.
At a recent insider’s publishing event in Toronto, a panel of cover designers said that they were given no budget to design their covers – either for images or re-do’s. I would imagine that it would likely be similar in the U.S. Thus, if an author signed with a publisher doesn’t like the book cover, the publishing house doesn’t have the time or the resources to change and/or improve the cover. What you get is what your book is going to ‘wear’ for the duration of its life under that imprint – even if the cover doesn’t make any marketing or visual sense. Or if you can’t stand it.
I have learned to use Photoshop and Illustrator to the point where I can now design my own covers. I have also learned to enjoy being a marketer. I test my covers to see which ones people respond to the most. I can buy the lists of talk radio stations (JoeSabah.com I believe has a great list of 850 plus producers/shows he’ll update in January). And I have finally learned enough about WordPress to set up my own websites. Yes, the learning curve to do all these things may have been steep. But I plan to write a series of inter-related books, and want to be able to have my books available for a good long time, and not have them become remaindered, or have to find a new publisher as the industry will consolidate even further due to e-book pressures.
Thanks to great strides in POD presses, I also no longer have to print 10,000 copy offset run and rent space or give up another room in my home. I can print a couple of cases, and if one title begins to take off, I can find a good distributor and then print up copies and still have my books turn up in stores. I had always wanted and intended to be in the publishing business for the long haul. When I started out, I didn’t think I’d ever want to self publish. Now, a publisher would have to present me with one heck of a business case as to why I’d want to hand over such a large chunk of my rights to them and not get very much at all back. I know many other authors who were with mid to large houses who are all exercising their rights to get the ownership and marketing of their titles back.
Thanks, Stephanie. I look forward to reading the rest of the posts in this series.
What a great response, Julia. I loved that you said you’ve learned to “enjoy being a marketer.” I think that might be the single most important factor for any author who wants to truly be successful. There are no shortcuts when it comes to book marketing. It takes ongoing effort and dedication. Best of luck to you with your series!