How I "market" myself as an author, as of September 2014:
1. I call myself an author. I used to introduce myself as whatever job position I had at the time, and then do an "oh I write too." Now it's the other way around.
2. I keep in touch with readers. I prioritize the communication channel based on how close and personal it gets, not how many the "followers" are. So for me right now, in order of importance:
Meetups/Events
Email
Twitter
Instagram
Facebook
Wattpad
3. I reach out to new readers by giving away lots of free stuff. Because I write a lot and often. One free book once in a while serves to introduce me to people who might be willing to read or buy the other ten. This is super easy to do, now that I've focused on digital.
4. I don't just say "buy my book." I am routinely invited to speak about several things, because I've publicly given my position on them: Indie publishing, digital reading, copyright, romance, new adult as a category. If I sat down and planned my author career beforehand, I would have thought about this more carefully, but I don't mind this mix of topics. They're all things that I'm passionate about. It's important, I think, that as an author you be associated with something more than your book. (Otherwise you have the problem of people liking your book, but not necessarily you, and what happens when you have a new one?)
I'm speaking about this at the NBDB session at the Manila International Book Fair (1:30 PM, Sept 20, SMX MOA). Drop by! Ask questions. :)
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Maybe you have the answers: Book marketing and promotion in the Philippines
A few months ago I met Miriam College Communication Arts students Julhean Divinagracia, Moira Estrada, and Meredith Marcelo (and their friend Bea). We talked for a bit about books and publishing and writing, and yesterday they sent me a copy of the school project that came about from it. It's called "Books in Action: A Production Thesis on the Effectiveness of Book Trailers in Promoting Local Works of Mina Esguerra and Karen Francisco."
Some interesting bits from their paper:
"...it can be inferred that their reading preference is the books that are known and famous. For a book to be known and famous, aside from its good plot, it has to be marketed and promoted well to the public..."
"The main purpose of the study with the use of book trailers is to motivate and encourage the Filipino youth to read and acknowledge the country’s own literature through the experience of reading Filipino literary works that were written by young contemporary Filipino fiction writers just as much as they read other foreign literature."
"Romance emerged as the most preferred genre of the second year students from both sections 6 and 7. Other genres like Inspirational, Comdey, Adventure, and Mystery also got huge numbers in the result, the researchers can say that the respondents also likes variety in their reading choices."
"...the top five things the respondents do before buying a book are first, looking if the book interest them and second, reading the summary presented on the back part of the book cover. There is also a big number of respondents who see if it’s affordable or ask for their friends’ opinions before buying a book or any reading material."
"...it shows that the second year college students of Miriam College think that it is very important to get information about a book and the plot is the most important information they must know when they buy a book. So far, the students are not particular with the author and are more interested in the story."
"Based on the results presented in the table, the students who do not buy books online outnumber those who buy books online."
"...students who read E-books outnumber those who don't read E-books. The result can not classify which of these students are the ones who buy in bookstores and those who buy online but it can mean that some students, whether they buy their books online or not also reads E-books that are downloaded from the internet."
"In the result, beside the other chic lits made by Filipino authors, books by Bob Ong are the only local books the students have read."
I love that they did this, and will continue to read their paper with nerdy fascination. I think it's wonderful that they chose to do this, and I am convinced that young Filipinos will read more once we write what they want to read (if we aren't doing that already) and let them know that these books are available.
Oh, and the book trailer they produced for No Strings Attached? Martin Escudero (of Zombadings) was Dante. My heart fainted. My heart needs smelling salts. Or white flower. Wake up my heart.
Any other Comm majors want to take on this book marketing challenge? I'll help in any way I can.
Some interesting bits from their paper:
"...it can be inferred that their reading preference is the books that are known and famous. For a book to be known and famous, aside from its good plot, it has to be marketed and promoted well to the public..."
"The main purpose of the study with the use of book trailers is to motivate and encourage the Filipino youth to read and acknowledge the country’s own literature through the experience of reading Filipino literary works that were written by young contemporary Filipino fiction writers just as much as they read other foreign literature."
"Romance emerged as the most preferred genre of the second year students from both sections 6 and 7. Other genres like Inspirational, Comdey, Adventure, and Mystery also got huge numbers in the result, the researchers can say that the respondents also likes variety in their reading choices."
"...the top five things the respondents do before buying a book are first, looking if the book interest them and second, reading the summary presented on the back part of the book cover. There is also a big number of respondents who see if it’s affordable or ask for their friends’ opinions before buying a book or any reading material."
"...it shows that the second year college students of Miriam College think that it is very important to get information about a book and the plot is the most important information they must know when they buy a book. So far, the students are not particular with the author and are more interested in the story."
"Based on the results presented in the table, the students who do not buy books online outnumber those who buy books online."
"...students who read E-books outnumber those who don't read E-books. The result can not classify which of these students are the ones who buy in bookstores and those who buy online but it can mean that some students, whether they buy their books online or not also reads E-books that are downloaded from the internet."
"In the result, beside the other chic lits made by Filipino authors, books by Bob Ong are the only local books the students have read."
I love that they did this, and will continue to read their paper with nerdy fascination. I think it's wonderful that they chose to do this, and I am convinced that young Filipinos will read more once we write what they want to read (if we aren't doing that already) and let them know that these books are available.
Oh, and the book trailer they produced for No Strings Attached? Martin Escudero (of Zombadings) was Dante. My heart fainted. My heart needs smelling salts. Or white flower. Wake up my heart.
Any other Comm majors want to take on this book marketing challenge? I'll help in any way I can.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
What an author has to do
Universe, I'm telling you now, I want to do this full-time. This meaning writing, publishing, and marketing my own books. It's not at a level where it replaces income from my day job, but I want it to. Soon. Because if this were my day job, then my nights and weekends would be proper slacking off time.
One of the ways to make this happen is to do my own marketing, make sure people know I'm a writer and find out how to buy my books. What has worked for me:
1. Mailing list - It's opt-in, so I know that these people who sign up actually WANT to hear news from me. So I give them first dibs on everything, from cover reveals to freebies to discounts.
2. Author blog - It looks like this site is where I dump my thoughts on anything and everything, but it's also where people find out about me, see interviews I've done, and get links to buy my books. I also try to post stuff here about the books so people can get a feel of my writing style and themes, in case they're still deciding whether to buy or not.
3. Twitter - This is where I interact with the most number of readers and other writers.
4. Instagram - I haven't actually done any marketing on Instagram, but I noticed that readers were taking pictures of my books and sharing it to their followers. I'm now on it to thank them for the love. :)
5. People - I've discovered that one happy reader can be responsible for more new readers and sales than a fancy ad. I try to get to know who these people are and thank them as best I can. I've given cupcakes, free books, shirts... whatever I can get my hands on.
The way I see it, it's all about access and recommendations. Once someone's curious and wants to try my books, I'll do what I can so she gets the book in the format she prefers, and thank her for telling her friends about it.
It sounds like work. Shouldn't this be my actual work? Universe, you hear me?
Sunday, October 7, 2012
"New Adult" and why it matters
This is how I've had to classify my books in bookstores (online and off):
Romance - Because there's usually a romantic storyline in every book.
Contemporary - Because they're set in the present, or at least the recent past.
Chick Lit - Because they're advertised in women's magazines, come in candy-colored covers, and were published in response to a trend in this subgenre a few years ago.
Women's Fiction - Because some bookstores don't offer "chick lit" as a category.
Young Adult - Because there's no graphic sex, even for the contemporary romances.
Teen Fiction - Because I heavily use flashbacks that have the characters go back to college, usually when they're teenagers.
I've embraced all of these categories and genres, but eventually started to see how they can be confusing for international readers taking a chance on a book with Philippine characters and setting. American romance readers expect more sex in a contemporary romance, and they won't find that in any of my books. Young adult readers expect many of the coming-of-age tropes in novels to happen in high school, but in my stories they usually happen in college -- because many Filipinos start college at 16 or 17, though that's about to change now that we're transitioning into K-12. And for a great many Filipino young women, at least those I know, those things don't even start until they're in their twenties and working. This is a country that has only begun to acknowledge that sex happens between unmarried people, so I have to tread a fine line in presenting that in a way that doesn't seem too "Western." Should I take pains to explain all of this before a person buys my book? Seems too tedious, and I don't want to appear like I'm talking down to anyone with a "things you need to know about my country before reading this" intro.
Recently I found out about an emerging category called "New Adult"/NA. Think of it as describing the kind of stories that seem too old (mature? risque?) for YA, but too young (naive? innocent?) compared to adult lit. There's still some debate over whether it's "a thing" or "not a thing," because where have you seen a "New Adult" shelf in a bookstore? And why split a subgenre further?
And yet this term perfectly describes the section of universe where my books exist. I also think that it helps readers find the kind of stories they're looking for. What I don't want to do as an author is alienate a romance reader with a "too sweet" story, or a YA reader with one that doesn't feel authentic because the characters are too old.
So even though NA is not yet mainstream (I'll consider it so when local bookstores start using it), I'll add it to my regular categories anyway. I think, as a writer, and publisher, it's the category that describes my work the best. Since reading up on NA, I've begun reading books marketed as NA, and I'm usually happy with them. Turns out I'm a target audience for NA too.
More on NA here: NA Alley. Check out #NALitChat on Twitter too.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Yes, I'm an author: Reasons why I faced my fear of marketing
When my first novel was published, I didn't go about announcing it to everyone I knew. I wasn't even ready to admit that I was writing again, much less tell people to buy my book. And yet I was hoping they would do it anyway, without my having to ask.
So what I'm trying to say is, I suck at marketing. It doesn't come naturally to me. When I finish a story my instinct is to let it loose in a crowded area and then hide back in my room, as if by doing that I could say my work was done.
But now I regularly do the thing I thought I would never have to: sell my books to strangers. And here's why I eventually came around to doing the marketing thing:
1. It's polite to say thank you.
For me to be able to do that, readers would have to be able to reach me. So I chose to include my email address in my "about the author" blurb. I began receiving the loveliest emails from readers, and it felt right to reply and say thank you.
2. Might as well be the best source of info about me.
I set up this blog the year I got published, and it's got basic information about my career as an author so far -- a bio, some thoughts about writing and publishing, and a portfolio of my work. It has made answering questions from readers easier, because it's amazing the kind of conclusions people jump to when they want to know something and have no reliable source.
3. I'm a reader too.
This I figured out eventually: I shouldn't shy away from readers, because they too love what I love. I try to be accessible enough, but not so clingy that they feel they can't share honest opinions. It's a fine line, and I figure it out on a daily basis. I'm now on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and other online communities where I can gush about reading and other things with fellow readers.
4. I have to go beyond family and friends.
The goals I've set for my career as an author? Cannot achieve them by just relying on the support of family and friends. (I don't have that many friends!) So now I go and admit I'm an author when asked, and I've accepted invitations to speak about writing and publishing. I even have business cards featuring my book covers.
Ah, marketing. I've warmed up to it, because it doesn't have to be about constantly selling to people. Simply being out there, being genuinely interested in your readers, that's worth something already. I still have a lot to learn, but the baby steps I've taken so far have led to great people, fun experiences, and yes, more books sold.
Way better than just hiding in my room.
Bronze Age Media's Author at Once: Marketing will be on July 14 at Eastwood, Quezon City. The three-hour workshop will cover basics of marketing for published (and to-be-published) authors. Register at bronzeage.ph/authoratonce.
So what I'm trying to say is, I suck at marketing. It doesn't come naturally to me. When I finish a story my instinct is to let it loose in a crowded area and then hide back in my room, as if by doing that I could say my work was done.
But now I regularly do the thing I thought I would never have to: sell my books to strangers. And here's why I eventually came around to doing the marketing thing:
1. It's polite to say thank you.
For me to be able to do that, readers would have to be able to reach me. So I chose to include my email address in my "about the author" blurb. I began receiving the loveliest emails from readers, and it felt right to reply and say thank you.
2. Might as well be the best source of info about me.
I set up this blog the year I got published, and it's got basic information about my career as an author so far -- a bio, some thoughts about writing and publishing, and a portfolio of my work. It has made answering questions from readers easier, because it's amazing the kind of conclusions people jump to when they want to know something and have no reliable source.
3. I'm a reader too.
This I figured out eventually: I shouldn't shy away from readers, because they too love what I love. I try to be accessible enough, but not so clingy that they feel they can't share honest opinions. It's a fine line, and I figure it out on a daily basis. I'm now on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and other online communities where I can gush about reading and other things with fellow readers.
4. I have to go beyond family and friends.
The goals I've set for my career as an author? Cannot achieve them by just relying on the support of family and friends. (I don't have that many friends!) So now I go and admit I'm an author when asked, and I've accepted invitations to speak about writing and publishing. I even have business cards featuring my book covers.
Ah, marketing. I've warmed up to it, because it doesn't have to be about constantly selling to people. Simply being out there, being genuinely interested in your readers, that's worth something already. I still have a lot to learn, but the baby steps I've taken so far have led to great people, fun experiences, and yes, more books sold.
Way better than just hiding in my room.
Bronze Age Media's Author at Once: Marketing will be on July 14 at Eastwood, Quezon City. The three-hour workshop will cover basics of marketing for published (and to-be-published) authors. Register at bronzeage.ph/authoratonce.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)