Into the Fire

Over at Rebecca Luella Miller’s blog “A Christian Worldview of Fiction”, she is doing a series on creating a “buzz” about books on blogs, and if you’re a fan of Becky’s blog, you know when she does a series, she covers all the bases.

For every attempt to create a stir about a to-be-published novel or one that is just being released, there are successes and failures. One of the ways publishers market a book is by sending ARCs, better known as an Advanced Reader Copy in the biz, to selected readers. I’m not completely sure what warrants being a selected reader of some books, but all I had to do for a recent ARC from Athol Dickson was to reply to a post on his blog and agree to speak about the story on my blog. The novel arrived the other day, and I read it and just finished my review of the book to appear here either in the final week of March or the first week in April. I will tell you this: I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Most of you who are seriously involved with writing a novel are forced—or will be—to consider the various means of marketing. For those of us with self-promotion issues, this is particularly difficult. And for those of us who do not hold degrees in Business/Administration/Marketing, it gets even worse. And for those of us with very limited funding to engage in self-promotion/marketing, it’s downright absurd. However, it is part of the publishing machine, so if you plan anytime soon on submitting a query or proposal, you better have some marketing schemes in mind.

In a way “schemes” is not too far from reality either. Because what works in one segment of the reading culture just might not even create the slightest interest in another. Forget about the mentioning of booksignings at your local Christian bookstores or at Barnes & Noble or Borders. For the most part, these endeavors have proven to sell very few books regardless of the fabulously decorated display tables, free gifts in the form of chocolate, latte coupons, or custom bookmarks. It has been the norm of recent times to literally bribe the managers of said stores with goodie baskets and free book copies, your winning smile and promises of untold loyalties to spending those yet-to-be-earned dollars from your book on someone else’s books in their stores. A wee bit cynical, you think?

You will mail hundreds of post cards with your book’s cover on the picture side of the note and on the back all the info about when it will be released with the blurb and where they can order it. If you can design them with your computer and print them out yourself, you will save yourself hundreds of dollars because they’re expensive when a print shop does them.

You will travel hither and yon making your face and fiction offering known to untold sellers of books. Do we need to discuss the price of gas or air travel? How ‘bout the discomfort of buses or the inaccessibility of trains?

I know you all are far more creative than me. And whatever your method of operations, I hope it works to the max for you.

Recently on his blog, Chip MacGregor mocked self-publishing for the obvious reasons and for the most telling reason against such an endeavor and that is the marketing factor. Unless you’re a whiz at the biz of marketing/publicity, you are at an even greater disadvantage with the marketing factor in self publishing. Now any major POD or self-publisher has a publicity department which will offer you any number of packages which you can PURCHASE in addition to the costs of paying them to publish your book. Any way you look at this marketing issue, it’s gonna cost ya.

An editor once had the audacity to tell me one of the most famous Christian authors spent 10 grand (yes, folks, $10,000) of his/her own money to produce little booklets to send around to stores to announce the coming release of the latest book. Uh-huh, I can do that.

So how powerful for sales and interest is the blog buzz concerning a new novel’s release? What if that’s all you’ve got? A blog buzzzzzz . . . Think it’ll work? We shall see . . .

God, we trust in you, and we look to you for direction in these matters. Apart from you we can do nothing. That much we know. So we do seek your guidance and instruction, and we ask for the obedience to do as you tell us. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

*Please continue to pray for Kristy Dykes.*