Tag Archives: marketing

January 18, 2012

The naming of cars

By Ellen Gregory

Another of my new year initiatives is to undertake Kristen Lamb‘s course for writers who blog. Its aim is to help our blogs be of interest to readers beyond other writers — basically to encourage us to blog about topics other than writing.

We’re in the third week of the online course now, and it’s getting exciting! (Although I heartily wish I’d signed up for it last year when I wasn’t working and had more time to devote to it.) The result is that this blog will likely undergo a mild transition in content over the coming weeks as I try out some of Kristen’s teachings.

Starting with greater diversity of topics!

So today I thought we could name my new car. It’s a Volkswagen Golf (‘ultra grey’) and I’ve had it for nearly three weeks now. It’s particularly momentous because I’d been without a car since last February, when I had to give my work car back, plus this is the first brand new car that I’ve ever actually owned.

It still has that new-car smell on the inside, and I’m ever-so careful when opening the doors onto the brick wall of my garage! I daresay I will weep when it gets its first scratch.

I didn’t name my previous car, even though it was red, nor the one prior to that; but my first car, a 1975 white Honda Civic, was Lynden Brianna Orb… and my friend’s, an even older bright yellow mini, was Artagel Arutha Silk. Guess what books we were reading back then?

For some reason I once again feel the need to name this new car… Maybe because I feel so liberated. (I’ve been telling people that I’d probably be in love with any car just now, yet I have to confess that my Golf is ve-ry Smart with a capital S.)

In the first week of ownership, the spirit of my Golf revealed itself to me (right), but an appropriate name has so far not manifested. So I am appealing to my blogfriends for help. Please feed me your suggestions and it’ll be, like, a competition. Without a prize (unless you count the honour of having named my car).

12 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Poll

October 22, 2011

More on writers and platform pressure

By Ellen Gregory

Oh my, the debate about writers and platform expectations is still raging. Over the past couple of days I’ve spent hours knee-deep in blog posts and reader comments, my little introvert heart pounding with apprehension. (Hours not writing, I might add…)

Rachelle Gardner’s post on Wednesday talked about the need to quantify the size of your platform when dealing with publishers. And even though, as she goes on to explain in the comments section, she’s merely talking about how to describe platform and not how to attract a publisher (although the two are linked), I’ll confess that some of the numbers Ms Gardner has thrown about recently (such as 15,000 unique blog visits per month) have given me heart palpitations.

But it seems I am not alone in this. In addition to the posts by Anne R Allen and Roni Loren I mentioned last week, and numerous comments to the aforementioned post by RG, Jami Gold has written a response to RG’s post that questions how much can all these numbers (Klout ratings, number of unique blog hits, number of Twitter followers) actually mean? Ms Gold (and many of her readers who commented) wonders how much impact social media metrics (which are not necessarily a true indication of how many people one is actually engaging with, and can moreover be quite easily rigged) have in actually selling books.

I think deep down everyone knows that the numbers are meaningless if the book isn’t wonderful. No-one is disputing that. But this increasing emphasis on establishing an impressive platform is certainly getting a lot of writers depressed, as it seems like yet another hurdle to be surmounted in the quest for publication. Not to mention an enormous drain on time and energy. Just how much time should we devote to blogging and tweeting — not to mention reading blogs and following tweets (i.e. actually engaging and connecting)?

In terms of effectiveness, I certainly don’t think a strong platform can hurt — for example, I recently purchased one of Anne R Allen’s recently re-published novels, simply because I follow her blog and thus feel some kind of connection to her as an author. I can only presume many of her blog audience will do likewise, so there are probably several hundred (more?) sales.

But my instinct is that the great majority of readers out there don’t actually read author blogs or follow authors on twitter. Roni Loren posed the question on her ‘author’ blog this week, asking what readers wanted out of an author web site… and all the comments I could see were from other writers (who, yes, are readers too, but…).

Most non-writing readers I know follow blogs on knitting or food or cats or parenting or natural remedies… They might follow the blog of a select favourite author(s), but I suspect even that would describe a minority.

Am I wrong?

The case may be a little different on facebook. It’s very easy to ‘like’ or subscribe to an author and henceforth receive their updates, whether details on appearances and book launches, or everyday observations in the mode of FB updates. Perhaps this is a better means of reaching a spread of readers than a blog (which could of course feed into the author fan page). I would argue that one would need the readers first, however.

And then of course there’s the question of those readers who don’t engage with social media at all. Right now, there are plenty of people out there who eschew facebook and/or twitter and/or never read blogs. Not that this is likely to be a permanent state of affairs. I think it’s fair to say that social media will continue to grow in importance as a means of achieving the all-important word-of-mouth promotion of books, which everyone knows is the key.

I think buzz about a great book will be spread via twitter etc, particularly as the percentage of the population engaged increases. I just don’t know how great a part the author-originated blog or twitter stream will play in all this.

Nevertheless, marketing of a book must start somewhere, and the powers-that-be have decreed that a significant load lies with the author via social (as well as more traditional forms of) media. So platform remains essential whether we like it or not. Assuming for a moment that the numbers do mean something, the question then becomes how to make them impressive — particularly when you’re a not-yet published author?

How do you reach 15,000 unique hits per months on your blog, without having publication credentials to back you up? (Tongue-firmly-in-cheek.)

Some of the blogs I’ve started reading (with or without publication credentials) are approaching this figure by offering advice and information about writing and related topics on which their authors have specific knowledge or interest. It usually comes down to content, although sometimes it’s just sheer force of personality. (And I reckon the audience is still mostly other writers.) But not everyone is endowed with masses of virtual charisma or pools of wisdom.

According to social media writer guru Kristen Lamb (in another post discussing platform metrics), the key is connecting with readers beyond writers. I still don’t know how this is supposed to be possible when one doesn’t yet have anything published for would-be readers to, you know, read (and as I’ve discussed I’m not convinced non-writing readers actually read author blogs anyway), but — what the hey — I’ve signed up for her online workshop to find out.

I figure I might as well discover how to better leverage this blog, one way or another. I know this is a turn-around from last week’s post, but something Ms Lamb wrote resonated with me: Why spend all this time blogging for a small bunch of readers? If I’m going to spend the time then I might as well try to make it count! My instinct is still to fly under the radar, to not put myself forward, but if I have to engage in the social media space, then I might as well do so efficiently and effectively.

 

5 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Reflection

October 13, 2011

What I get out of blogging

By Ellen Gregory

Today I’m going to muse on a topic that has been floating around the writing industry blogosphere the past week or so — which is what writers get out of blogging and how big a ‘platform’ novelists need in order to sell books (or to even be considered for publication by the larger publishers). Anne R Allen and Roni Loren both have written great posts on the subject with lots of links.

I’m going to duck the ‘selling books’ aspect of this discussion, since that’s not exactly in my purview at the moment. But the question of platform is one that I’ve been thinking about all year, ever since I started this blog and joined twitter etc.

I first started blogging anonymously elsewhere in 2006. I had Things To Say: thoughts on books and movies, cafes and holidays, rants about the latest terrible customer service, favourite recipes… you probably get the picture. My personal writing journey featured heavily as well. What that blog doesn’t have is a distinct theme. It’s essentially a snapshot of my life.

But that blog was — and still is — as much for me as anyone else. An online diary of stuff I find interesting and inspiring and memorable. Its regular readers are my friends and family; although, as is the nature of blogs, some posts get regular external hits from googlers on the interwebs. The point is: I don’t care how many hits it gets. I keep that blog because I want to and I enjoy it.

And then last year it was borne upon me that, if I wanted to be taken seriously as a writer, I needed a public persona online. A web site that industry professionals could find and use to engage with me — should they choose to do so. It was time to be brave and eschew anonymity.

And so this blog was launched in January of this year. A blog about writing and my writing journey. A statement that I am serious and committed and passionate about being a writer.

I’ve always enjoyed blogging about writing, and a dedicated writing blog allows me to explore writing topics in more depth. The most likely audience is other writers, who can likely empathise with many of the issues I discuss, but I don’t delude myself that the majority of readers aren’t people I already know.

Should I care about the number of blog readers I have? I’ve always felt that it would be foolish to expect a high number of hits — after all, I still fall under the banner of ‘aspiring’. Sure, people I don’t know might find the odd post of interest, but why would they keep checking in to see where I’m at? (If/when I’m ever published, it would become a completely different scenario.)

I would of course like to have lots of readers. (Every writer wants an audience.) I gather the way to make blog-friends is to read everyone else’s blogs and leave comments so they come and visit yours. But, while I would love to do this in principle, I don’t know how people find the time. I regularly get overwhelmed by the number of writers — published and unpublished — who blog!

Having said that, for a successful blog you definitely need to have compelling content (and this is where the blog elite cite the Art Of Blogging). I do know of several very successful bloggers who have first novels pending — meaning they must have established their platform as unpublished writers. These writers are obviously just fantastic at the art of blogging and social networking.

(It’s worth mentioning here that some of the wider industry debate surrounds whether authors should avoid blogging about writing itself, so as not to bore readers. This obviously presupposes you have published works and a bunch of non-writerly fans. I would imagine that readers might find insight into the authorial process interesting . . . but then again that might be because I’m a writer. It would be interesting to know what proportion of non-writerly readers subscribe to the blogs of favourite authors. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the vast majority of blog readers are writers too.)

As an unpublished (fiction) writer, I’ve always been content to fly underneath the radar. My approach with blogging and social networking is no different — for better or worse. I cannot see the point of worrying about platform before I even know whether I’m a good enough writer to need one.

So I have this blog, my tiny presence on the interwebs, from which to occasionally engage with the wider community (every so often I stick my head up and leave a comment somewhere). All readers are welcome, and I’ll endeavour to be interesting and foster conversation; but my focus is (must be) on writing fiction – learning the craft, producing the words.

 

4 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Reflection, SF Community

April 20, 2011

Good advice

By Ellen Gregory

Last week I stumbled upon Anne R. Allen’s Blog and she has some incredibly sensible things to say about writers and blogging. Her series of posts on blogging (highlighted in her side bar) covers tips on content, search-engine optimisation, pitfalls to avoid . . . and how to attract readers. Highly recommended reading.

On the last point she emphasises the need to engage with the community by commenting regularly (and insightfully) on blogs that you read, thereby spiking interest and luring other readers over to your blog. Does this work, do you think? I’m not sure — it’s rare that I click-through to the blog of a commenter on someone else’s blog, and if I do it’s usually because I already recognise the name. I will keep it in mind though, and perhaps stop lurking so much… and bear in mind that such a strategy will only work if the content of my own blog is sufficiently engaging to keep readers coming back.

Anne’s blog also introduced me to the concept of ‘Slow Blogging’, which is essentially occasional but regular posting. Again it comes down to the fact that most writers should be spending time writing things other than blog posts (i.e. novels, if that’s your thing). This to me makes so much sense; it’s so easy to convince yourself that you should be posting every day or so in order to keep readers returning.

I am going to try this Slow Blogging scenario, which will probably mean weekly posts on Wednesdays, unless something comes up in between that I simply must discuss or voice. The focus will remain essentially a journal of my writing life, with occasional thoughts on industry hot topics.

Which brings me to one final post-worth-reading on Anne R. Allen’s blog that I wanted to mention, because it relates to my recent post on self-publishing and was in fact the post that drew me to her blog in the first place. Her post was written in response to the recent social media maelstrom and cyber-bullying that occurred when an indie author made some ill-considered responses to a less-than-glowing review of her ebook.

Anne poses three insightful questions to ask yourself before considering self-publishing:
1. Are you able to present a professional book in a professional way? (i.e. hire editors, designers, coders etc)
2. Are you emotionally ready for your close-up? (1.e. you’d better have very tough skin, because every book gets bad reviews, no matter how good it is)
3. Is you book really, truly ready?

Of these, I believe question number #2 resonated with me in particular. As Anne puts it:

There are some unspoken benefits to the old query-fail-query-fail-submission-fail-editorial meeting-fail, fail, fail system. It not only gives us numerous readers to help hone that book to perfection—it also teaches us to deal with rejection, failure and bad reviews. 

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Reflection, SF Community

April 13, 2011

Thoughts on self-publishing

By Ellen Gregory

Everyone is talking about self-publishing at the moment. Authors and agents are blogging about it regularly, and I’ve stumbled upon several blogs and websites that provide resources and advice about how to format correctly, produce for different devices, design covers, distribute etc. What was considered once-upon-a-time (not so long ago) to be a daft and unprofessional move is now arguably a viable and accepted route to publication.

The main catalyst, obviously, is the rise of ebooks and the dramatic escalation in esales over the past couple of years. Presented with the vast number of titles on offer on sites such as Amazon – along with the star-rating system, ‘people also bought’ suggestions and wide variety of prices – readers browse and select ebooks (and indeed treebooks) far differently than they did when confined to the wares of a single book shop. This has removed one of the major obstacles that used to exist for self-publishing: distribution.

The conversation is particularly vibrant at the moment in the wake of the ‘eisler-hocking deals’, wherein mightily successful self-published paranormal author Amanda Hocking recently got herself an impressive US$2mil advance with traditional publisher St Martin’s Press for four new books; while at around the same time, thriller writer Barry Eisler turned down a US$500k deal from the same publisher (coincidentally, I understand) for two new books to follow a self-publishing route. There are discussions about their various reasons all over the Internet. See here for a discussion involving both authors, moderated by literary agent Ted Weinstein, and here and here for discussions between Barry Eisler and author Joe Konrath.

Put briefly, Hocking is seeking the stability and broad reach of a traditional publisher and the prospect of even greater exposure through treebooks. Eisler, on the other hand, has done the maths and determined that he can earn more money courtesy of better margins, given his already strong reader platform to ensure volume of sales.

As far as I can tell, the industry is sitting on the fence and saying they are both ‘right’. From a monetary point of view, ‘indie authors’ can make bigger margins on each ebook, while still undercutting authors from traditional publishing houses. Yet it has led to much discussion about the importance of marketing and platform for indie authors. For someone like Eisler, who already has a platform, it seems viable. But what about all the unknown authors out there? How do they build up a following and generate sales?

It is obviously possible, as exemplified by Amanda Hocking’s sales and the number of ‘Kindle writers’ (to coin another new term) that are emerging. By actively pursuing reader reviews and selecting an appropriate price-point, savvy indie authors can leverage the online distribution platforms (not to mention social media) to successfully market their books. I suspect, however, that this road is tougher and less reliable than via traditional routes.

The other aspect to consider of course is that of quality – of story, of writing, of editing, of design. There can be no doubt that traditional publishing houses add enormous value in these areas, and many argue that if a book’s not good enough to be selected by such a publisher, then it ought never be published at all. Well, maybe yes and maybe no…

I personally do subscribe to the belief that a book published by a traditional house has greater credibility. It has been worked over by professionals and selected for its great story. It’s the ‘real deal’ so to speak. But publishing is a business and the opportunities are limited. We don’t live in an ideal world where every worthwhile book is picked up. Where’s the harm in competent yet unpublished authors self-publishing their books? Consumers are not forced to buy them, so why not make them available for those who choose to read them — and good luck to the authors.

There is a hitch though, and this is that anyone can self-publish these days — anyone from the author whose book only just missed out on a contract, right down to the wannabe who can’t write a coherent sentence. And, short of downloading free samples, it can be hard to tell them apart. I fear this will continue to plague the credibility of self-published books for some time to come. Indie authors who engage professional editing and design services will be doing themselves a favour, particularly if they are hoping to forge a route into traditional publishing.

It is nevertheless hard to deny that the industry perception is starting to shift. You won’t find many industry observers that dismiss self-publishing outright, simply because of all the success stories. Readers and ebook buyers are having the final say. There certainly seems to be a sound business model for self-publishing, so long as the platform is there to generate sales.

A recent survey by agent Rachelle Gardner on her blog suggests, however, that most serious writers would still prefer the more traditional route to publication. She summarises the results of her poll here, and I have to say I agree with each of her ‘five reasons to pursue traditional publishing’.

2 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Publishing, Reflection

January 9, 2011

Brave

By Ellen Gregory

One thing impressed upon me at last year’s Worldcon (Aussiecon 4) was the importance of having a presence on the interwebs for writers. For published authors it’s all part of marketing and publicity, while for unpublished writers it’s considered an indication that one is taking the business and craft seriously — another form of marketing I guess.

I have been blogging anonymously about writing and other things (including travel, books, cinema and anything else that takes my fancy) for several years. Today, in the spirit of my new year’s resolution that this year writing comes first, I hereby inaugurate a new blog in my own name dedicated to my writing life. 

I’m intending to explore the whole writing process in more depth than I have been doing on my other blog, which has readers who I can only assume are not interested in the intricacies of such issues as characterisation and point of view. I don’t know whether this new blog will be interesting for other writers — I hope it will be. The only thing I can be sure of is that it will document my journey towards finishing a novel I’ve been working on for a while now, while helping me to believe in myself as a writer. This is the year when I’m going to be brave.

Leave a comment   |  tags: | posted in Reflection

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