Book promotion - a writer's nightmare, by Lu Hersey

 This week I joined a London Writers' Salon talk on zoom, called Taking Control of Your Writing Career. It sounded like something I really needed to do. The speaker was Orna Ross, a successful Irish writer, whose first books were published by penguin, but now chooses to self publish.  And she makes a decent living wage entirely from writing. How many writers can say that?

Orna is strongly in favour of self publishing, because it works better for her. She's keen to encourage others to self publish too, believing it has many advantages over traditional publishing - the freedom it can bring to the writer, and the unlimited income if you find your market. Apparently you just need to promote your book to the right audience (that'll be readers who enjoy books like yours, obviously) to succeed.

And there's the rub.

Self publishing works really well for Orna, and for many of the enthusiastic indie writers in the Alliance of Independent Authors (or ALLi as it's more widely known) - an organisation she started ten years ago as a support network for indie writers. But as she was very eloquently explaining all the benefits of online publishing and suggesting ways we could market our own books, I became increasingly aware - there were very few children's authors on board. 

I figured out why. Children have gatekeepers - whether it's parents, teachers or librarians - who do most of the choosing and buying of children's books. And the gatekeepers favour print books over e-books, because that's what children like to read. 

Although self published and other indie books are generally available both as e-books and as print copies, they're printed as print on demand - which is a more expensive method than multiple copy printing in traditional publishing. So the cover price of an indie print book will cost you, on average, £1 more. 

The bottom line is self publishing works much better for any writer whose niche readers are choosing books for themselves, and use an e-reader. 

As I write mostly for children and teens, self-publishing is less likely to work for me - but I was very interested to find out what Orna had to say about marketing, and how to promote your book. Because my latest book, Broken Ground, is indie published (not self-published) by Beaten Track. 

There are various kinds of indie publisher, many of them companies that simply help you on your way to self publish. Beaten Track is different - a more hybrid kind of publishing. Debbie McGowan, the award winning writer and publisher who runs the company, chooses the books she is willing to publish from those subbed to her, just as a traditional publisher would. If she decides to offer a contract, the writer won't get an advance, but won't incur any of the costs involved either. 

Debbie ensures the book is carefully edited, proof read and formatted, the same as in traditional publishing - and then makes it available online as an e-pub, or as print on demand copies, across various platforms worldwide. Net author royalties from sales are far higher than in traditional publishing, and the percentage Beaten Track takes merely covers the time and effort put in to making your book as good as it can be. Also, the book stays available to your readers indefinitely (or at least until one side of the non-binding publishing contract chooses to end it) - which, when you consider the very short shelf life of the majority of traditionally published books, is quite an advantage.  

The downside? You do all your book marketing and promotion yourself. That's the deal. Which brings me back to why I was keen to listen to Orna. 

With traditional publishing (my last book was traditionally published), a marketing team pushes your book on behalf of the publisher for some time in advance of publication, to get it into bookshops and in front of bloggers and reviewers. In fact they everything they can to push sales. That's their job. They are also big deciders in what will sell, which is why they hold the power at acquisitions meetings.  

But with an indie published book, it's all down to you. 

Despite this drawback, indie publishing does open up a world of new opportunities - and you don't have to worry about being turned down in an acquisitions meeting (which has happened to many of us). But to persuade people my new book is worth reading, I have to nail this blooming marketing thing. 

According to Orna, promoting your book is at least half the job of any writer. You have to find your niche readers and build your market. Which boils down to a lot of research, and spending far too long banging on about your book online. 

My social media posts are mostly about visiting badgers or the idiot bongo player who keeps me awake at night (especially on a full moon) on Glastonbury tor - along with any book news or other news I think people might find interesting. 

Promoting my own stuff now looms like Everest before me. Very daunting.

However, after listening to her talk, I was keen to take on board some of Orna's advice and expertise. So I kicked off my book promotion campaign by making a book trailer, with the help of a badger. Play to my strengths, I thought.

Pure genius, right? (Have to admit, got some help from Laura, a more tech savvy friend...)

Next, I'm going to try to make a more serious book trailer, which actually reflects the content of the book (sadly not featuring any badgers). And update my website (last visited by me about five years ago...)

I'm putting myself out there too. I've arranged a book signing. It's in the Henge Shop at Avebury on 30 July, where I'll be all day, in case anyone wants to drop by. It's the weekend before Lughnasadh, a Celtic fire festival that celebrates the first harvest, so it might be busy. 

Of course I know the majority of people visiting the Henge Shop that day won't be there to see me, but I'm relying on some passing druid trade to offload a few copies. Broken Ground is set at this time of year, and in the area around Silbury Hill, which might help. If I'm very lucky, a few crop circles might appear around there too, as that tends to bring in the crowds. (And there are crop circles in the book, after all...)

The Glastonbury town crier oyezing Broken Ground

Meanwhile, if you happen to read Broken Ground, please post a review - however short. It might help me find this elusive 'niche' market Orna referred to, where my readers hang out. I'm never sure if Amazon reviews help sales, but unless they say stuff like this is the worst book I've ever read, it's possible they might...

I'll let you know how it all works out. Indie publishing may be sneered at by some, but in these uncertain times, it could well be the future of publishing for many of us.

Lu Hersey

Twitter: @LuWrites

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