A Great, Big Thank You!

A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to my last post. I received some great feedback, which I carefully assembled and fired off to my editor in four very long emails. I've learned so much. In the past, I've been arguing from a position of supposition; now I  have some "proof" I can point to.

My biggest takeaway is that reducing the price of the first book in a series is enormously important. I know publishers hate this because they feel it devalues books. But this is the world we live in.  Even readers who've heard good things about an author via word-of-mouth are still reluctant to shell out full price for an unknown author. I can totally understand this. I myself will first look for books by an untried author at our Friends of the Library book sale. I'm famous for "proctorizing" books and I get really annoyed when I give up on a book I paid full price for.  Personally, I'd love to see the price of Angels dropped permanently, but I doubt that will happen.

Many of you mentioned the importance of Book Bub ads and Kindle Daily Deals in finding new authors, and several said you'll direct friends to a sale when you see a reduction for an author you've been recommending. I intend to really, really push for at least a temporary price reduction on Angels in the lead up to the release of the next book in the series. Fingers crossed.

Many mentioned using Amazon.com's scrolling "Customers who bought this item also bought..." ribbon or being alerted to new books by Amazon emails. I don't think that's something publishers can control, but it's still good information to have. A lot of readers find books at Goodreads. Book blogs are another popular source, which is interesting because I've heard  authors wondering, "Do we really know if anyone looks at them? Are they a waste of time? Do they do any good?" Nice to know readers do use them.

I was also comforted to discover that many readers first discovered my books at their local library. Yay for libraries! But you know what else I noticed? Only a couple of people said they'd first stumbled upon my books at a bricks-and-mortar bookstore.

Social media doesn't seem to be nearly as important as publishers think it is in terms of attracting new readers. But several people noted that things like Facebook, blogs, signings, and newsletters are important for making personal connections and establishing loyalty.  Good to know.

So, thank you to everyone who took the time to answer my question. And if you've more to say on the subject, please feel free to let me know!

(And if anyone's curious, that's a picture of my daughter's dog playing the Game of Life. Yeah, he's spoiled. But then, he was horribly abused before she rescued him, so he deserves it.)

What Works in Book Marketing, and What Doesn't?

My publisher has asked me for suggestions on how they can best market the next book in the Sebastian St. Cyr series. I've come up with a few ideas, but I thought I'd ask what you think works.

Time was, publishers pushed their authors to be active on Facebook. But now that Facebook only shows an author's post to 3-10% of the people who follow her, even publishers are admitting it's really not very effective. (I'll swallow the rant I'd like to insert here.)

I usually make a book video for my books, even though I doubt anyone has ever watched one and bought the book because of it. I make them because they're fun and because they make my publisher happy because it looks like I'm doing something to promote my book. Which is a really stupid reason to do something, but the truth is, I suspect a LOT of what authors do falls into that category.

I have asked them to drop the price on What Angels Fear and run a Book Bub Ad right before the next book's release. They don't seem too enthused, but I plan to keep pushing the idea.

I just had the book tour for Who Buries the Dead, so that isn't in the cards again, at least not this soon. I did a virtual blog tour last March, but I'm not sure how much good that did and it took a lot of time to write all those posts. Who saw them? Did anyone try the books because of them? Who knows?

I am in the process of revamping my website, but that is more because after eight years I'm tired of looking at it myself, and because Google is being a pain (swallowing another rant here; if you don't have a special page for mobile devises, your site's ranking is now knocked way down on a Google search).

So, any suggestions? What makes you decide to buy a book--other than having someone whose tastes you respect say, "I read a great book you should try!" What have you seen authors/publishers do to promote a book that actually worked?

Ideas?

Author Swag

Saturday's "Lemonade Social" at RT2014 reintroduced me to a subject I haven't thought much about lately: author swag.

As I watched my fellow authors stake out their places behind the venue's high tables and begin spreading out their bait--I mean swag--I realized, Oh, dear; I only brought myself (and a few paltry old business cards). Back in the day, authors who printed up bookmarks were thought to be going the extra mile (full confession: I've never made bookmarks). But in this ebook age, who wants bookmarks? I'm told even postcards and rack cards are rather passe (so many end up in the trash that some conferences have outlawed "paper swag"). Today's cutting edge authors spring for personalized lip balm, magnets, buttons, sunscreen, pens, first aid kits, chocolates, key rings, sewing kits, mugs; you name it, some author has probably $$$$$$$plattered her name/book cover across it. I even heard of one erotica author giving away samples of personal lubricant emblazoned with her book cover (I am not making this up).

So my question to you is, Does this stuff really work? I mean, just because I pick up Judy Author's sunscreen does not mean that I will buy one of her books. Readers might eagerly scoop up chocolates, but the author's special wrapper is quickly thrown away and forgotten. I have a magnet on my fridge that I picked up at RWA2001 because I thought the cover was pretty; it's still there, yet I never bought the book and couldn't even tell you the author's name unless I went and looked at it. I do wear a Robicheaux Dock and Bait Shop baseball cap that Steve gave me, but he gave it to me because I'm a fan of James Lee Burke, not the other way around. And Steve has a BAD MEN T-shirt that John Connolly gave him, but then Connolly is a friend.

I do see a place for postcards and rack cards, which can basically serve as oversized business cards. I struck up a conversation with one author and took her rack card so I'd remember her name. The entire experience motivated me to spend hours today at Vistaprint designing new business cards and rack cards (that I'll probably never do anything with!). And I must admit it would be rather fun to make up some of their stuff as giveaways to readers I knew actually wanted it. In fact, I'm seriously thinking of ordering this mouse pad for myself...

But the merchandise that isn't junk is not cheap, and giving it away in the hopes someone will buy one of my books strikes me as desperate to insane. Your thoughts?

Cross Marketing

I’ve been grumbling so much lately, I thought it was time for a post thanking my publishers for doing something brilliant. What are they doing? Since the paperback edition of Where Serpents Sleep is coming out in exactly the same month as the paperback original of The Solomon Effect, NAL and Harper Collins are putting ads in the back of each other’s books. So readers will find an ad for Where Serpents Sleep in the back of The Solomon Effect, and vice versa.

This little exercise in cross marketing was the brainchild of my NAL editor, Ellen Edwards—who is, by the way, both the world’s most brilliant, conscientious editor and someone who loves the Sebastian series every bit as much as I do.

The two series are extremely different from each other, given that one is a contemporary thriller with a breezy tone and the other is a fairly dark historical mystery. But there are sure to be some readers who will enjoy both books. And given that the print runs for my thrillers are about fifteen times that of the historical mysteries (from which you can gather that the Sebastian series is, for me, a labor of love), we’re hoping the Sebastian series in particular will get a big boost.

I tried to upload the image of the Harper Collins ad, but couldn't get it to work. But there'll be a picture of the cover, with this copy:

Think you know what’s real and what isn’t? Think again . . .
If you enjoy C.S. Harris’s unique blend of action, suspense, and rich characterization, you’ll love her new edge-of-your-seat contemporary thriller series! Collaborating with former intelligence officer Steven Harris, she now also writes as
C. S. Graham.
Don’t miss The Solomon Effect!

CIA agent Jax Alexander and remote viewer Tobie Guinness hunt for a lost Nazi U-boat that’s hiding a deadly secret in this new novel by the author of The Archangel Project.

www.CSGrahambooks.com

On Sale: 9/29/09

“I Can See Russia From My House!”

No, this isn’t a blog about politics. But I do intend to use politics to make a point about something. Marketers work very hard to come up with tag lines that can be used to “brand” products. But sometimes this branding happens spontaneously, and I think we could learn something by looking at how and why that happens.

Think about the way in which presidents, vice presidents, and candidates are so often branded, for good or ill, by one telling phrase. For Nixon, it was (cue lowered eyebrows, shaking jowls, and guttural voice) , “I’m not a crook.” For Reagan, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” (Reagan was lucky; if Afghanistan hadn’t crashed the Soviet Union, Reagan’s defining line would probably have been the endless dazed “I don’t remember” from the Iran-Contra hearings.) Clinton? Take your pick: “I did not have sex with that woman.” Or, “That depends on what the meaning of is is.” Bush II? “You’re doin’ a heck of a job, Brownie!” (closely followed by Mission Accomplished and “Bring it on.”) Think about Dan Quayle and what comes to mind? Potatoe.” Hart? The Monkey Business.

These politicians did not choose these phrases as their defining tags; the media and the public chose for them. Why? Because for some reason, these phrases resonated with people. We see this sort of thing happen with movies, too. Think about Make my day. I see dead people. Show me the money. You had me with hello.

Why do these phrases become so iconic? I don’t know. It doesn’t seem to happen as often with books. True, most people would recognize the first line from Pride and Prejudice. Gone with the Wind gave us three lines: As God is my witness I’ll never be hungry again, Tomorrow is another day, and Frankly, dear, I don’t give a damn. But were those phrases so well known before the movie? I don’t doubt there are other examples from books, but it says something that I can’t think of them.

Still, I suspect we could learn something important by studying these phrases and thinking about the way they click. So, thoughts, anyone?

p.s. I know Sarah Palin actually said you can see Russia from Alaska. But because Tina Fey’s line so wonderfully captured the essence of the absurdity of the original, that’s the phrase that will forever characterize Palin (that and the turkey massacre).

Defining Your Brand

So, we’ve done some research into what our readers like about our books, and we’ve looked at what readers like—and don’t like—about the competition (yes, I know we’re all supposed to be one big supportive writing community, but we’re talking marketing here). Now what?

Now we look at our readers’ comments, and think about our books, and come up with a list of what makes our books interesting, attractive and different. We add to this list anything that makes us, as writers, interesting, attractive and different. Why? Because while it may not be fair, the truth is that if you’re young and pretty and graduated from Harvard or Oxford, it will help sell your book.

This is the tricky part. To quote marketing guru Malcolm Schwarzenbach, “The real genius is in the editing.” Getting this part right requires an intuitive, up-to-the-minute grasp of our current culture—everything from the emergence of a “sustainability” movement (which, since it’s about saving us instead of saving the world, seems to have caught on in a way the Green movement never did) to “casual collapse” (the loosening up of society, less attractively known as cultural decadence) to political trends. Ask yourself, What’s going on out there that’s interesting and that connects with me and my books? Who out there would buy what I’m writing?

This is where knowing and understanding the competition helps. What else is out there that people are buying? Why are they successful? What is the market crying out for?

This is also where I have a hard time. Having lived so much of my life abroad, I am woefully out of step with modern America (I still remember the time when I was visiting my mother from the Middle East and noticed a magazine near the checkout in Borders; I asked my companion, “Who is Oprah?” and twenty people turned around and STARED at me.). I don’t watch TV. I get my news from international sources online, although I have started checking abcnews every day just so I have some insight into the “news” most people are seeing (so yes, I do know the latest in Britney’s life). If you’re culturally challenged like me, you may need some help here. The trick, as I understand it, is figuring out what is unique and different about your books, and yet not too unique and different. Even I know that now is not the time to try to sell a thriller with a hero named Mustafa Haddad.

To look at our earlier examples, What was so interesting about Anne Rice’s vampires? My guess is New Orleans and sex. Tom Clancy? Uh…I know guys like gadgets and…somebody help me out here.

Anyway, in pondering all these questions, I’ve concluded that the selling points of my Sebastian St. Cyr series are:
*fast pacing and action-packed suspense
*a sexy, Regency-era hero (hey; sex sells)
*my own background as a professional historian
I’d like to try to work in some of the other things people said they liked about my books, but I can’t see how to encapsulate those important aspects of my work into an easily conveyed image or tagline.

Now, having decided on our brand, the next step is to figure out how we convey that image to the world. I’ll talk about that next week.