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It seems there are two opposing camps in terms of author marketing.
On the one hand, there are people who say “Just write a lot of books” and the books themselves will sell the other books and you don't need to do any other marketing. The evidence for this can be seen in Amanda Hocking's ebook sales numbers and other writers on JA Konrath's (brilliant) blog who basically write and distribute ebooks but do little hardcore marketing. It looks like they all do something but don't focus on it.
On the other hand, there is the “build your author platform” camp advocating blogging, social networking, speaking, podcasting, videos and more. Obviously all this marketing takes away from writing, so which should you focus on?
I try to be very careful on the blog to only talk about things I've done myself. I don't have a huge back-list of novels ready to load up into the Kindle store, I'm not making thousands per month on ebook sales. I have built a reasonable author platform and I have enjoyed every minute of it, so clearly I sit in the second camp at the moment.
BUT/ Amanda Hocking's sales numbers gave me pause so I thought we'd better discuss it here. Justine Musk also wrote a brilliant post over at Tribal Writer on the same topic.
Here's my thinking on the matter but please leave a comment as to what you think at the bottom as this is a critical discussion point as we all have limited time.
What are your overall goals for your career as a writer?
I want to be able to define myself as an author, speaker and blogger and I want to help people. I'm also an entrepreneur and sell my speaking services as well as online products. I make the least amount of money from fiction ebooks and the most from other products and services (at the moment anyway). Therefore my author platform gives me more than just a sales platform for fiction.
I speak at least once a month and last year spoke at a writer's retreat in Bali, all from my online presence. I couldn't do those things if I just had books. So my overall goals involve having a platform to run my online business from. I'm also passionate about sharing what I have learned in order to save you time, money and heartache so I have an inner drive to get the message out there.
What do you enjoy spending time doing?
Writing and being a blogger can be a solitary profession and as much as I love being alone, I also enjoy the community we have online as bloggers and also on Twitter and Facebook. I enjoy connecting on Skype and making my podcast and videos. I love being part of a group and improving my blogging/online marketing skills as well as my writing. So my author platform also serves a personal development and social purpose that goes beyond selling books. Blogging has given me so much joy in the last few years that I would continue doing it if I won the lottery! Writing a novel is a totally different feeling altogether.
What do you think is more effective for author marketing? Writing lots of books or spending time building an author platform? Why do you do what you do?
Joanna Penn says
Here’s another post from thriller authors Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath – amazingly Barry turned down half million to self publish
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/03/ebooks-and-self-publishing-dialog.html
“Now, with digital books, once again there’s no more profitable use of an author’s time than writing. Not to say that authors don’t need to have a strong online presence; of course they do. But anytime you’re thinking about some other promotional activity–a blog post, a trip to a convention, an hour on Facebook–you have to measure the value of that time against the value of writing and publishing a new story. The new story earns money, both for itself and your other works. The social networking stuff doesn’t.”
Megs says
I will toss out there, from a READER’S perspective, most author’s platforms don’t give me anything I want. As a fiction reader, I don’t want information about writing. I want more stuff in the world or the research involved or exciting things like that.
As a writer though, I like the additional platform. And write a lot of articles, compile them into a book, and you’ve duly written another book from your platform.
But it’s also to each her own. I just don’t have the passion to write about writing and come up dry on another angle to set myself a platform on, so my focus is just keep writing stories.
Joanna Penn says
That is a really good point Megs. A reader wants to know about the world of the book, the characters – things that may have been edited out. Whereas writers want to know about craft etc – I may have to separate my blog into “For Readers” and “For Writers” – excellent point.
Sophie Li says
Regardless, the self-marketing aspects of an author or writer has become a part of the field .. for better or for worse. In one of Amanda Hocking’s interviews she mentioned how much self-marketing she’s had to do through multiple social media outlets. It was one of the reasons why she elected to go with traditional publishing – in hopes to alleviate some of the publishing-process burdens.
In regards to building a platform or relentlessly publish, I don’t think this is an either / or situation. With platform building, there are plenty of online opportunities and it’s not all that time-consuming. And in regards to relentlessly publish, as the saying goes, even a blind dog will find a bone if it dug enough holes in the ground.
So personally I’m leaning more towards a balance of the two, rather one vs. the other. Its a matter of time-management to allot times for platform based writing, social networking, and book writing. In the end, I think the more exposure an aspiring author has the better. Unless its a compromising YouTube video of course.
moulton Mayers says
Hello:
I find the whole discussion on this topic quite interesting. It is a superb venue at which writers can gather and thrash out their feelings and frustrations on this much heated debate of author platform building. While the idea that different strokes are for differnt folks does apply here, one should not downplay the significance of both approaches–they both have merit. Building an author platform does promote name recognition and a much-needed online presence; writing new, well-written books also promotes name recognition and the surging potential for greatness. Ultimately, balance and reason would suggest that both approaches, handled properly, can enhance an author’s effectiveness and marketing success. Additionally, fads come and go; and some of these book-promotional methods are fads–they will linger around for a while, and then they will disappear. Hence the importance of balance, soberness, and reason in this whole matter of how to handle one’s authorship from a marketing point of view. Also, some of this is related to personal preference and how one prefers to spend his time. None of the sides is right or wrong; nonetheless, the discussion is a relevant and refreshing one for authors to have among themselves.
Moulton Mayers
Straws Publications
Nina Amir says
Timely post for me, Joanna (as it is for you)! I am firmly in the platform camp, but…I recently decided that my platform is growing and has grown quite nicely, especially with the launch of my book, How to Blog a Book. I have, however, probably 6-8 more nonfiction books to write and a novel waiting for editing. They aren’t getting written. I was at BEA this year and had bites on several books–just after thinking that I really want to focus my time and energy, like you, on writing, speaking and blogging and having this help me sell more book, products, coaching, and speaking gigs. I decided that that now that the platform is in place and growing, it’s time to write more–produce more books.
That said, indeed, it’s a juggling game. I do not believe you can leave your platform alone while you go off to your writer’s garret. You’ll lose your fan base if you never show up for the social networking party. You must be present and accounted for often, if not daily. So, I’m just going to have to find a way to spend more time writing and less time “messing around” on the Internet. I need to get more focused.
My biggest issue is creating the products and getting the books done. The blogging IS writing. I love it. But I have asked for guest posts at this point on two of my blogs to help me cut back a bit.
Expect more books from me in the near future. I do, in fact, believe that you do sell more books when you have more books, but you need that author’s platform in place (and growing) to get them selling (and keep them selling) in the first place. Books are money in the bank long term–but not if no one knows who you are or can find you and your books.
Joanna Penn says
Hi Nina, I heard you on the recording from BlogWorld 🙂
We’re definitely in the same place, but like you, I’m not giving up on the platform, but just trying to be more focused and disciplined with my time. I have learned a lot about how it all works, now I just need to keep spinning the wheel but I don’t need to put in the massive effort to get it spinning any more. More books will hopefully mean more people join the platform anyway, and then it becomes a circle that feeds itself. Exciting times 🙂
Nina Amir says
LOL! Yes…I asked a lot of questions; even got a free book from someone who took pity on me.
I think you are right. With a platform in place, more books makes the platform stronger. Each book and each launch draws more readers/fans. I see this happening with my current book, and as I turn to new books, it’s happening already–with no book announced. Not to mention that I see my worlds (the different fan bases) converging.
I think it gets easier once you’ve started. The key is to start, and start early.