It\’s something of a mystery for us all – writers, publishers, even as readers, it\’s not something we always understand. We readers do find books – all the time, we\’re discovering new writers, or new books by writers we\’ve loved. But how, precisely, does this happen? What\’s the process?
This is something which has confounded publishing houses for…well, longer than I\’ve been around, anyway! They still don\’t know. But indie writers are out there self publishing today, and relearning the same Dread Secret.
That there is no secret.
Some books just get an audience right away. Others get readers after a certain period of time. Others get ignored by the public. And telling which is which, or why one succeeds immediately and another does not, isn\’t a science. It\’s something more human than that, because storytelling is something which touches our hearts and souls more than our minds.
I hear constantly from writers who desperately flog their one book as many places as they can. They tweet about it, post about it, strive for review blogs to read and review their book, get Facebook and Google+ pages running… In short, they end up spending hundreds of hours of effort – maybe even thousands of hours – working hard to get just another handful of readers to pick up their book.
I have a theory on this. My theory is based on the idea that I\’d like many people to read and enjoy my work – let\’s say 5000 or more. It\’s also based on the fact that I simply don\’t know 5000 people – and I am betting most other folks don\’t, either. Sure, writers who\’ve spent years building fan bases have their core \”10,000 fans\” – which is a great goal. But for the beginner, unless you\’re famous in some other manner, I don\’t think you can count on reaching out and individually contacting those 5000 people.
But I am more and more sure that you don\’t need to, either.
Dean Wesley Smith has said many times that your best marketing tool is the next book. Barry Eisler said the same. Write more books – each is another draw which will pull in a few more readers, who will go on to read your other books if they like what you wrote.
So I did a little experiment.
I released a new book. I put it up on Amazon only, as ebook only (it\’s now available on Nook and Smashwords as well, and will be on Apple, Sony, and Kobo soon). Then I kept it completely silent. No friends and family sales. No tweets. No Facebook mention. No talking about it on any blog, or anywhere on the internet. It was a completely silent launch for two weeks.
And during that time, something interesting happened. That book averaged a sale a day, usually exactly one new book sold every day, even though I never once did *anything* to encourage anyone to buy the book.
Which means people were finding it without blog mentions. Without tweets. Without friends buying copies. Without reviews. Without anything at all.
A reader a day isn\’t a blockbuster. But it\’s not bad, either. And it demonstrates to me clearly that good books will find readers. Yes, you might speed up the process a bit by blogging about it (which I am here, my experiment done). But I\’m more convinced than ever that all the social networking and advertising in the world is not as important as simply working hard to write well, working hard to produce a quality book, and then getting back to the task of creating the next good book right away.
I\’m already hard at work on the next. How about you?
For now though, you can read the first of a new contemporary fantasy series, \”By Darkness Revealed\”, which follows the adventures of Ryan Blackwell as he comes into his full magical powers in our modern world, while attending the military college of Northshield University. Something dark is stirring there, and Ryan will have to rise to meet the threat – if he can – in this short novel.
The blurb: \”Ryan Blackwell thought to escape his magic by burying himself in the military college at Northshield, Vermont.
Instead, he finds himself in the midst of a deeper and more dangerous sorcery than he has ever encountered before.
Suddenly, only Ryan\’s wit, will, and the talent he once hoped to leave behind stand between a nightmarish creature and everything he cares for.\”
And the cover:
![\"\"](\"http://kevinomclaughlin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Darkness.jpg\" "\\"Darkness\\"")
Available on Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook, and Smashwords. Apple, Sony, Kobo, and trade paperback versions coming soon!
My experiment, with my first novel, was just the opposite of yours. I posted an early version, chapter by chapter, on one of my blogs and on another site. I wanted to know whether the “platform” I seemed to have from those efforts would translate into sales. The immediate flurry of sales told me that yes, that method was effective, but not as effective as I’d hoped. Another difference between us is that I published only on Smashwords to start with, then added Pubit. (My avoidance of Amazon is part of the experiment). Sales are now very slow, but continuing. My second novel, also serialized in an early draft, is almost ready for publication, so we’ll see whether that will boost name recognition (and sales).
Incidently, I have reason to believe that the continuing sales are probably coming from Goodreads reviews and ratings. I don’t tweet or do Facebook, but I did sign up as a Goodreads author.
Great post! Love the experiment!:)
Thanks! I really wonder what would have happened if I’d given it a couple of months, but I did tell a couple of people, who were literally chomping at the bit to get the book, and between them and my own impatience…well. 😉 Might have to try it again sometime: write a book under a pseudonym and let it sit for six months or so.
Great post! Love the experiment!:)
Thanks! I really wonder what would have happened if I’d given it a couple of months, but I did tell a couple of people, who were literally chomping at the bit to get the book, and between them and my own impatience…well. 😉 Might have to try it again sometime: write a book under a pseudonym and let it sit for six months or so.
My experiment, with my first novel, was just the opposite of yours. I posted an early version, chapter by chapter, on one of my blogs and on another site. I wanted to know whether the “platform” I seemed to have from those efforts would translate into sales. The immediate flurry of sales told me that yes, that method was effective, but not as effective as I’d hoped. Another difference between us is that I published only on Smashwords to start with, then added Pubit. (My avoidance of Amazon is part of the experiment). Sales are now very slow, but continuing. My second novel, also serialized in an early draft, is almost ready for publication, so we’ll see whether that will boost name recognition (and sales).
Incidently, I have reason to believe that the continuing sales are probably coming from Goodreads reviews and ratings. I don’t tweet or do Facebook, but I did sign up as a Goodreads author.
I tend to agree with you, Kevin, especially for unknown indie authors. I spent months before I posted my first story trying to build the almighty platform. A few sales might have resulted from it, but that’s it. The story has been for sale now for five months and I only get a few a month. If the story had really hit home with any of the people that bought it and read it thus far, it would be selling a lot more copies now. Word of mouth is the best selling technique and it’s not something any author has control of. You can blog and social network until the cows come home, but the quality of the story is ultimately what sells it.
I’m going to try running the same experiment with my new release – that is to make it a quiet release. I’ll let you know what happens.
I tend to agree with you, Kevin, especially for unknown indie authors. I spent months before I posted my first story trying to build the almighty platform. A few sales might have resulted from it, but that’s it. The story has been for sale now for five months and I only get a few a month. If the story had really hit home with any of the people that bought it and read it thus far, it would be selling a lot more copies now. Word of mouth is the best selling technique and it’s not something any author has control of. You can blog and social network until the cows come home, but the quality of the story is ultimately what sells it.
I’m going to try running the same experiment with my new release – that is to make it a quiet release. I’ll let you know what happens.
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[…] If you’ve missed the first chapter, you can read it here. If you’re curious about the (no) marketing experiment I did regarding the book, you can check that out here. […]