I’d put Mary DeMuth, Brandilyn Collins, Karen Kingsbury, and Robert Liparulo right up there at the top as far as marketing efforts and/or success in that area of publishing. Seriously, nobody tries harder to be innovative and fan friendly than these authors.
Today, let’s talk about Mary. Energetic and completely transparent author/marketer Mary E. DeMuth posted this article on marketing over at The Master’s Artist: http://aratus.typepad.com/tma/2009/06/the-prayer-and-paradox-marketing-strategy.html#more. It’s her conclusions and her honesty which make her so authentic. She’s such a giver.
Platform and marketing have become as valuable as the storytelling these days. Proposals require you to establish who you can influence to read your novel(s) and how you plan to do just that.
Once you have a real fan base, it’s less difficult to market because the devoted fans spread word-of-mouth recommendations like wildfire. But what about the new authors coming up from the ranks of the unpublished? These days a large percentage of them have established some kind of platform, be it ministerial or educational creds. Most of them don’t boast “A’s” in homemaking. Not saying it’s impossible for those of us with no platforms and a serious lack of supremo marketing plans to get noticed, but it does make it more difficult.
The thing I struggle with in all of this is exactly what Mary captures in her post. Too often we hear the lip service given to Christianity by professionals, but less often do we hear and see the practical application of the Jesus/writer relationship in the business end of this unusual business.
Since I write my version of reviews but never read others’ reviews until I’ve read the novel, I select my reading material from limited back cover copy—there are times when I don’t read all of it if I’m interested in the book—and the reactions to a novel by readers who I perceive as having similar tastes to mine. The marketing factor plays a small role in my case for selecting reading material. And, for me, I confess the oft-used phrase for writing (which of course I disagree with conceptually), “Less is better” should be used for marketing in many cases. Honestly, too much, too often, too many places where I see an author or book being trumpeted turns me the other direction. Am I all alone in this? Or is everyone too inhibited to answer?
What kind of marketing appeals to you? What do you design for your proposals?
Jesus, you’re the objective. Not the books. Help me to understand your plan for me. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Into the Fire 
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