Hey,

I'm sure you know that feeling of not having enough hours in the day.

Indie authors especially struggle with this because the moment we begin to unwind a sense of guilt creeps in.

"Shouldn't I be doing something to promote my books?"

It's an easy trap to fall into, even when at the writing desk which is supposed to be our happy place. And that's especially true when sales slow down because that tricksy inner voice we all have can plant seeds of doubt. "What's the point if no one's buying them anyway?"

We all know this dance.

It's particularly insidious because producing more books is usually the biggest driver of growth - or opportunity for growth, to be more exact.

Yes, you can have a runaway smash hit and set yourself up for life with your first book... in theory. Over here in the real world, we know that releasing more books is usually the key to a sustainable career, especially if you write them in a commercially viable genre and organize them into something resembling a series.

But it can be difficult to constantly prioritize writing when we have this... perma-guilt lingering in the background, often about promoting our books, but sometimes about that pesky admin which always seems to insert itself into our days (and take over!).

Priorities, Priorities

In a sense, writing is always important but never really urgent; it's easy to slip into doing one of the million other things an indie author has to contend with.

It helps to have a clear idea of priorities - especially when it comes to marketing. A sense of which tasks are worth your time, and which are either too expensive or too ineffective or too much effort.

It's an important instinct to develop because the marketing world always has something new and shiny to distract us with, as well as plenty of people banging the drum for one reason or another, often self-serving, of course.

There is only one of us so must manage our time carefully - our energy too, and our creative energy especially.

With that as my guiding light, here's my book marketing tier list to help you prioritise.

You don't have to agree with everything here - I'm trying to generalize for all authors so I'm sure there will be plenty of disagreement, although I have tried to note some genre variance where it is more pronounced.

This is intended to be a conversation starter rather than the Last Word on anything.

F Tier

Some of these things are a waste of money, others are a waste of time - none are worth it, in my opinion.

Even the tasks here that can actually sell books, sometimes (like blogging), are bad choices for most authors as that effort could reap more reward if directed elsewhere (like having a regular newsletter for your readers).

I've done many of the things in this tier, and much more ridiculous things besides, so no judgement here; I'm the kind of person who prefers regretting the things he has done, it seems...

A lot here springs from outdated views on book marketing - things that might have worked in the past before the entire industry was turned on its head, or things that are simply less effective today, as reader behaviour changes over time.

Readings & Book Fairs

Book readings may have been more important years ago, when almost all books sales were made in person, by bricks-and-mortar bookstores, when most authors had agents and publishers and book deals, and before the internet democratized book recommendations and revolutionized marketing.

This type of thing is considerably less useful for the self-published author whose sales will be predominantly digital and online. Which is great because they are absolutely terrifying!

Book Fairs are similar, with the twist of being a bit scammy these days. Not the events themselves necessarily, but the "marketing packages" offering "exposure" at various publishing industry events. They are generally the domain of vanity press authors who have been hoodwinked by a fast-talking sales rep, unfortunately.

Some entities in publishing - who are less scammy, perhaps, but not exactly respectful of indie authors - can also engage in practices like this, with somewhat less price gouging, but that doesn't make them any more effective.

I've seen these sad, tired displays at industry events and I'm not one bit surprised they don't sell books.

Hollywood BS

Speaking of shady stuff, one surprisingly enduring scheme surrounds pitching Hollywood producers, selling movie rights, or turning your book into a film script - an ever-evolving wheeze which is always useless.

Sell enough books and this attention will come to you - the real kind.

Blogging/Blog Tours

Blogging can be especially attractive to non-fiction authors, but I urge caution.

I did it for years and generated millions and millions of views and made something of a name for myself in the industry as a result. But in pure bookselling terms, the effort is not worth it for most authors who would be better off putting that time into a newsletter and putting some of that content out strategically on social media.

Indeed, this is exactly what I do now instead of blogging, for the most part. I have a small amount of content which goes out via my blog but these days the lion's share of it goes to my newsletter, with select bits being published to social media. And it's a much better use of my time - far less time for a much juicier result, in fact.

And there's even less value to fiction authors in having their own blog.

I'm not saying it can't work - the writing community is so wonderfully diverse that there's always some rare bird to act as a counter-example for pretty much anything. But is it the best use of precious time for most fiction authors? I'm deeply skeptical

Appearing on other blogs with an established audience is a slightly different scenario - whether guest posting or appearing on book blogs, as part of an organized tour perhaps. This is still popular among authors in certain genres, particularly in non-fiction (guest posting) and romance/romance-adjacent genres as well as everything YA (book bloggers).

As with blogging generally, it can generate some sales but the effort is probably better spent elsewhere. Romance authors might disagree - fine; they know romance readers better than me. I am generalizing here and there can be variances across genres.

But I often hear reports from fellow authors that the experience was underwhelming - too time-consuming with all the requests for content, or too expensive for the sales generated.

Sure, you can get some new readers and have some extremely positive experiences, but maybe there are better ways to skin that cat.

Goodreads & Netgalley

I also feel the same way about the world of Goodreads and Netgalley (and review/ARC services generally).

Goodreads can be quite toxic at times - partly because it's supposed to be a reader space and they don't appreciate an invasion of flinty-eyed authors hawking their wares.

It's not all negative, of course; it's a huge community of readers. And with any large community you will get good and bad.

Ten years ago, Goodreads had some interesting giveaways (and a terrible ad platform). However, the giveaways were revamped several years ago and are not worth it these days.

Aside from the promotions (and the toxic aspects), some people still see value in building up a platform there - especially in romance/YA.

Which is fine. My own view remains the same though - that your time is generally better spent elsewhere - like building up your Facebook page or (even better) your list.

With Netgalley, I'm just not sure it's worth the cost - even as part of a collective. As with almost everything when it comes to book marketing, there might be strong genre variance here. However, I generally feel this way about all review/ARC services - and I've tried most of the non-romance-specific ones.

I just feel there are easier ways to get reviews, as explained in this old video. (link to video?).

I also feel this way about pretty much any marketing service coming from the traditional end of the industry. Some are outright scams, others are price gouging or otherwise exploitative, most are simply ineffective at selling ebooks.

The Media

The last one might surprise some people.

I often get email by writers who are in a... financially different situation than the average author. It's a question that used to pop up on the forums before everyone broke them. "If I had ten thousand dollars to spend on a book launch, what would you recommend?"

What I normally recommend is not emailing strangers to tell them you have ten grand burning a hole in your pocket! I kid, but this really is asking for trouble.

There are plenty of people out there who think they are too smart or savvy or to get scammed, but let me just point you to the entire cottage industry of vanity presses aimed at CEOs and business leaders. Or scientific journal scams regularly fleecing people with genius-level IQs.

Even if they dodge the obvious scams, these flush authors will probably end up in the clutches of a PR professional - and they can spend that money very quickly indeed.

Chasing traditional media attention is something that seems to be hardwired into authors. As someone who has had a fair amount of it, trust me when I tell you that it sells far less books than you think. (And from discussing this on panels with authors who made a far bigger media splash than little old me, my experience sounds typical.)

It's not that media attention is useless - clearly we are all aware of the power the media has to move the needle on almost anything. And that's what makes this a difficult point to communicate to those who haven't experienced this personally.

But the amount of media attention needed to truly make a difference is considerable - and exceedingly difficult to achieve. Which makes PR professionals who specialize in attaining that attention very expensive indeed. And if you don't have nationwide bookstore distribution, a lot of that attention will be wasted anyway, even if you have infinite money to play with.

Most people will ignore this point - hey, you can do whatever you like. But I know lots of bestselling authors who were generating significant income from their books - and running out of obvious growth areas - who decided to roll the dice. I don't know a single one who said it was worth it, or even close to being worth it, and these are authors who managed to garner national media attention.

Maybe the youngest generations are different - I suspect so - but many of us seem to reflexively think that success is driven by the media, and the traditional media specifically, which simply doesn't shift ebooks in the numbers you might assume.

Media attention can sell books. It can be fun. (It can also be horrible - just FYI.) But the cost-benefit is way out of whack here and even if I had ten thousand dollars of free PR services I'm not sure I'd bother using them. It's not that I don't value PR professionals, I just don't think that the kind of attention they traditionally aim for doesn't translate into book sales - at all.

Hey, it's not all bad, I just saved you a ton of money.

What's Left?

You might be wondering what that leaves us. Luckily, there's plenty to work with - genuine, ethical marketing activities which are worth your time, your money, your headspace. And that really do sell books.

Really!

We'll talk about them next time...

Dave

P.S. Writing music this week is John Martyn with May You Never.