A different marketing idea

 

Several weeks ago I received an unsolicited email on my website from Ben Shepherd who wanted to promote The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy on his website. We all get lots of those, most not worth the effort. But I read what he had to say and found his idea different and intriguing. It involved no monetary cost to me and since I suck at marketing, I thought I'd give it a go.

The concept revolves around the fact that most authors are readers. It's inevitable that a writer will gravitate toward writing what they prefer to read, which in my case is space opera with romance. As a result, they will have a list of favourite books that have influenced their own writing in that genre.

I was asked to come up with a list of five such books for which I would write a short opinion (not a review), concentrating on what made me pick that book. But first, I had to come up with a label that applied to my own book and my list, prefaced by 'the best'. The exercise required a lot of serious navel gazing, stops and starts, and tossed out examples. It certainly wasn't just a matter of 'here's my book cover and blurb' as is the case with so many of these 'promotion' sites.

There are comprehensive instructions on what your list should look like. Here's an excerpt.

1. Your title should target the perfect readers for your book. If your book is a history book about World War 2 and you create a list about “the best fantasy books with elves” that is not going to help get your book in front of the right readers.
2. Your title should attract readers to your book recommendation page. We use your title throughout our website and marketing channels to pull readers into your list.
3. Your title should be personalized and reflect your voice/personality. 

The title can be very broad, fun, and provocative with things like:

·         The best books to manage bloody depression

·         The best fantasy novels that sweep you into a very strange world

·         The best books that capture the magic of Galicia Spain

·         The best books on why the French seem to be in denial about their own history

Or, around a specific topic but personalized:

·         The best books about World War One that don’t have the same old story

·         The best books about Abraham Lincoln from a fan and historian

·         The best books on the most famous battles of the First World War

·         The best war books that go beyond bombs: how war affects families

All those links will take you to entries on the Shepherd site. They'll give you a better idea of the concept.

Eventually I came up with "the best science fiction romance books filled with action and adventure in the stars".

Then I had to select five books and write my short opinion pieces which took considerable time. You can see what I picked, and why, by clicking the best science fiction romance books filled with action and adventure in the stars.

I think this is a wonderful concept, getting authors to effectively promote each others' books, while also providing readers with a kind of benchmark on where the author thinks their book fits. It's a bit like Amazon's "if you liked this you might like blah" – but with more depth.

It wasn't easy for me to come up with my logline. The list of books was easier, but then I had to write a not-review which described why the book was on my list. So, it takes a bit of time to do the job well. Whatever else I get out of it, it has been a fascinating, illuminating exercise.

The link to the site's 'for authors' page is on the site's footer but there it is to save you the bother. The site earns its money from associate links and authors are not charged.

Have a look. It might work for you.

 

 

MARKETING TRICK LIKE A LEAD BALLOON

 stephenking.com

I read a charming, uplifting story by author Stephen King recently. But I wasn’t happy.

It wasn’t the writer’s fault. I love King, and his skills were in full play in Elevation, a low-key tale of a man who looks the same as always and feels even better, but for reasons unknown is inexorably losing weight. Not size, mind you. Just weight—by the pound, every day, week after week, with no explanation and no remedy.

This was not one of King’s screamers, with horrific images that cling to your mind years afterward. It was more like the character studies you find in his stories that led to unforgettable movies, like The Green Mile, “Stand by Me,” or “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.” Like The Green Mile, Elevation has supernatural elements, but that’s not really the point. The weird premise just provides a framework for the character relationships. And King is an under-rated genius at character building.

You can probably tell I wasn’t unhappy at the work itself, either. I enjoyed the story—recommend it even and perhaps especially at this holiday time of year.

No, my problem is with King’s publisher and marketing team, who tagged this work of some 160 pages a novel. That’s right, look it up and you’ll see it, right there on the cover: Elevation. A Novel. Even when I was writing TREK fan fiction we would call something of that length a novella, not a novel. And those of us who are Stephen King fans are used to works with some heft—1000 pages or more. In years past, Elevation would have been packaged in a collection of his short fiction, which is nothing to dismiss—did you see the titles in paragraph three above?

But this is the age of the dying dinosaurs of traditional publishing, and the old thunder lizards must squeeze every penny from their showcase artists. King reliably puts out a big novel every year or so, but that’s clearly not enough for his graspy publisher (Scribner). So the Powers That Be have apparently deemed that anything King produces will be published forthwith, at novel prices and with novel packaging. 

But, wait a minute, you protest. Lots of digital authors write short novels. Short is the wave of the future, especially in digital format. Readers want shorter, cheaper reads! 

Possibly, but, again, readers of this particular author are used to longer reads. And Elevation isn't cheap. The slim file costs $9.99 on Kindle. (Yeah.)

But who can blame that marketing team? I fell for their little trick, and so did many others. Elevation was named an Amazon Best Book for 2018, and is doing very well in some limited rankings. Not the general rankings such as Paid in Kindle or Horror, though. Those fans, like me, are not happy. 

But as I read through the reviews, the uproar is not only over the price bait-and-switch.I was surprised to see a number of very unkind reviews from readers who expected to see lots of blood and gore and didn’t like the character-driven nature of Elevation. They missed the point entirely, of course, and can go console themselves with a slasher film, in my opinion.

Artistically, King’s latest work is a high point. From a marketing standpoint, however, Elevation is sure to let you down.

Cheers, Donna