This was a rant I wrote about 3 years ago, and decided not to publish because it was too rant-y. I’m now running low on character interviews for The Protagonist Speaks, so I decided to temper it down a little and publish.

So here you are. A semi-relevant, rant-ish marketing advice from a lapsed author (ie take with an asteroid of salt), and an open invitation to participate in The Protagonist Speaks, whether you have in the past or this is the first time you’re hearing about it.

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Many authors complain about book marketing being hard. And I’ll admit, it isn’t easy. There is no magic formula, there’s no sure-fire way to succeed. (Or rather, there are plenty of those who would try to sell you such — but they don’t necessarily know any better what would make a best-seller than the big publishers, who are currently floundering).

There is one invariable truth, though: Consistent, focused effort does lead to results. Perhaps not the magical results you hoped for (certainly not right off the bat), but results nonetheless. It’s also very obvious when you don’t put in any effort — then any previous achievements quickly peter out. For example, I haven’t had time over the past few months to do promotions, and it shows.

So, anyway, yes. There’s work involved. You have to keep at it, adjust with the times as markets shift under you, keep producing, and just work-work-work so you can reach new readers. And, if you’re lucky and don’t give out during a slump or from the (completely expected) sloooow progress at the start, then you’ll spend a decade at it till one novel breaks through and you make it. And then someone would call you an overnight success.

I’m not the only one saying it, BTW. Read these survey results by Written Word Media about Author Income: How to Make a Living from Your Writing. These really aren’t any earth-shattering new revelations — in order to eventually succeed, you need to keep writing, produce your books to professional standards, market them, and then repeat.

Important Side-Note!

At this point you might look at authors with a 20-volume back-list who keep pumping out 3 epic-fantasy books a year, and despair.

Stop it.

But what keeps surprising me is how many authors don’t even bother with the basic essentials of marketing (while still whinging). I admit I don’t have a magic bullet/hammer/wombat. I’m very much at the “work at it” phase — or will be once I can kick my own ass back into gear.

From a publishing perspective, I’ll only open Purple Toga for submissions once I crack the “how to make money off books” thing to a point where it’s not just a self-funding hobby (ie. better than golf) but enough to justify a business that can pay others. I’m not holding my breath, but that’s no excuse to not keep plugging at it, keep working, keep trying different things, keep making progress. How else can one “make it”?

Here’s an example:

Many authors don’t even bother with, or don’t follow up on, marketing opportunities. While winning SPFBO is amazing, chances are slim (300 books, only one winner — kinda like Xerxes in Thermopylae). But the Facebook group is lively, and the networking and interactions are priceless. Also done from behind your screen, comfortable for even the most introverted writer.

As such, (back in late 2019) I posted an open invite to all in the group to have their characters interviewed on The Protagonist Speaks. It ain’t money in the bank, but it’s free marketing, right? It’s a bit of effort to write the interview (maybe an hour of writing time), but it stays up and it’s ‘evergreen’ — you can reuse it and refer to it again and again.

You’d think that was a no-brainer.

Here are some stats to challenge that assumption:

• Pool Size invited: 300 (Actually the FB group has 1,100 members: current entrants, past members, judges, and other interested parties)
• Responded with a request for interviews: 47 (and about 3 of those were people I personally poked, because I wanted to interview their characters)
• Actual completed Interviews: 21

Really?

It has been consistent. I post a call-out occasionally on public groups. Only a few respond, and out of those only half finish an interview. It’s… tiring to chase people.

Yes, I know that between wanting to write and surfing cat memes, working on marketing is not as glamorous. While the interviews are fun — everyone who’s done them says so — I want to talk about marketing in general. I know I don’t always have the time or inclination these days to participate, as I’m on sort of a forced break (I think everyone’s life kinda exploded into burn-out level of overload in the past couple of years). But if you are actively writing and publishing, you should also be marketing. It’s the icky bit, but it’s a necessary icky bit whether you’re an indie or traditionally published.

So here are some things you can do.

The Obvious

The obvious is that when an opportunity presents itself, you should try and act on it. It doesn’t mean every single invitation (learning to say no is important by itself, but that’s a lesson for another day). It’s understandable that some times you may not have the capacity to take that on. But if you do have the time, then take that opportunity! A large part of marketing and advertising is about repeated exposure.

So… Remember that other blog I run dedicated to character interviews? If you’ve got a book published, why not request an interview?

The Power of Groups

Doing things together is often easier than doing them all alone. You get the combined reach of everyone in the group, exposing your work to a bigger pool of potential readers. Sometimes these form organically when someone steals someone else’s pants (though I assure you, there is #nocabal). If you can find and form such a group of like-minded individuals who write in the same genre, that’s awesome! Hold on to them, and have fun.

Other times, you just need to find your tribe. Social media is currently undergoing major upheavals, so your mileage will vary. Especially if you compare to any advice written over two years ago. See below on advertising. So just experiment and find what works for you, where you find your own support group.

StoryOrigins

Talking about groups, StoryOrigins is an amazing platform to reaching new readers, based on group promotions via newsletters. You should have a regular newsletter (which is a good idea regardless – another topic for the future) to fully utilise the platform. In return, the platforms offers group promotions, newsletter swaps, distributing review copies, and other features — all for free! It’s same or better than many such paid services, while still being completely free (developed by one very dedicated man and a strong community).

Optimisations

Another thing I noticed that made a difference was optimising the book page and metadata on Amazon. The use of book title, subtitle, and series — “Murder In Absentia: Urban Fantasy in Ancient Rome (Stories of Togas, Daggers, and Magic Book 1)” — is laden with keywords that would be relevant ot my ideal readers. The text above the fold (above the “read more”) reiterates the message and brings social proof in the form of credible review quotes.

I also played with the keywords associated with the books in the KDP publishing. You get seven “fields”keywords” entries, but that doesn’t mean each entry is a single word. In fact none of mine are. The shorter are two words “historical fantasy” and “paranormal detective”, and the others have 3-6 individual words that are related. The first two I mentioned cover the categories, the others help in search results. Note that I chose terms I believe my ideal readers would be searching for, not random ‘hot stuff’ the general audience is after on any given day.

I’ve noticed an improvement since I’ve implemented this, which I can attribute to these changes. I’m not at risk of retiring on royalties, but I do consistently sell a handful of copies each month.

Publishing more

There is a definite boost in sales of previous books whenever you publish a new sequel, or even just a new book under your name. I have certainly observed that effect. Momentum takes time, building a community of readers take time. Unlike products based on engagement, selling a book is transactional. To create a long term relationships you need to provide more value in the form on new books. So not only are you writing for the fun of it (or at least I hope you are), but there is value in doing a good job and then publishing and moving to the next project.

Just see above note on not measuring yourself against those who already have produced a 20-book series. You do you. Write your own stories, at your pace, until you’re happy with them. And then publish, market, rinse, and repeat.

Advertising

This is something I haven’t done much, so I am not qualified to voice an opinion on. But I can explain why I haven’t done much with it to date, which may help you too along your way.

Basically, it comes down to budgets, times, and ROI. I understand a bit about marketing (from a cross-over with my day-job). I know how the quickly advertisement market shifts, how long it takes to find something that works, and how quickly what worked yesterday is no longer relevant.

Even if I had the budget to dedicate, I don’t have the time to do so. I call BS on those who say it’s a “15 minutes a day!” kind of thing. They suffer from the curse of knowledge, and I can almost guarantee it will take you or me — at least in the beginning — a lot longer. Nothing wrong with that, I just don’t have the time right now.

The Caution of ROI

Measuring a return on investment in marketing efforts is a science unto itself, and all credit to those who mastered it. It can be a complex discipline when you do it as a full time job, so doing it on the side, as a cherry on top of the whipped cream of your book marketing that rests on that cake of your books, well — that might be a bit much. But if you don’t, how can you tell which of your marketing efforts is working?

Perhaps character interviews fall into this category. It’s hard to attribute direct sales to that. It’s a type of content that helps in exposure and gives you something to engage with potential readers, but is it worth the evening you invested in it? 🤷‍♂️

All I can say is, when you put time and money into marketing — time and money you could have spent writing at a coffee shop — you need to at least attempt to track its effectiveness, to attribute back to it. It’s easy with ad performance, but there’s a certain element of aggregate exposure which is unquantifiable, that you should be looking at the total time you are investing vs long-term trends in results.

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In summary

• You need to market your books (right after you covered the basics of professional editing and cover)
• There is no magic secret to marketing, regardless of what gurus are trying to sell you
• There’s just consistent effort, with a lot of trial and error until you find what works. Writing more is an important component.
• Peer support helps!

I’m sorry if I poured a bucket of dirty ice water on your quest for a a silver bullet. Better you hear it from me and prepare yourself, then spend good money after bad advice.

Now go out there, put in the time (within reason), grab a character interview slot, and remember to have fun creating!

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Enjoying the articles, but curious if I’m just full of it or really make use of those varied subjects? Happy to elaborate! Go meet Felix, the protagonist of the Togas, Daggers, and Magic series, an historical-fantasy blend of a paranormal detective on the background of ancient Rome.

You can Felix and his multi-faceted world on the free short stories and novels!