Let’s talk about something that none of us like to discuss here in the Word Mines — social media.
When I started Stoney Creek Publishing, I thought I had everything I needed to publish good books: editors, designers, proofreaders, indexers, a great distributor. The part of publishing I liked least was promotion. So, I wouldn’t do it. Most publishers do a lousy job of promoting books anyway, I figured. And most authors, me included, wind up thinking their book would have succeeded if only the publisher had supported it more. So Stoney Creek would encourage authors to handle their own promotion.
Such naivete. I quickly realized that most authors have little idea how to market books. And while authors may think they would have sold more books if their publishers did this or that, they don’t know that for sure.
In fact, almost no one knows how to market a particular book because each book is different.
The other thing I realized is that, like me, most authors would rather spend their time writing their next book than marketing the one they just finished. After all, it’s done, right?
Wrong. Whatever effort you put into writing the book, you need to put twice as much into marketing it. Book signings are great—it’s always a thrill meeting your readers—but a good signing might sell 20 books. That probably doesn’t meet your definition of success. Some bookstores are now requiring authors to guarantee a certain number of attendees before they’ll host a signing.
In the 21st century, we have a better way to meet large numbers of people. Most authors don’t relish social media, but if you don’t have an online presence, you’re guaranteeing that you won’t sell many books.
Indeed, many traditional publishers factor social media followings into their contract decisions.
To be sure, a strong social media presence doesn’t ensure strong sales. In fact, the correlation between social network activity and sales can be maddeningly disconnected. But if you aren’t on social media, you’re at a tremendous disadvantage. It is the most likely way that readers can connect with you.
The more posts followers see from you, the more likely they are to check out your book.
If you have eschewed social media, it’s time to embrace it. It may seem annoying and trite but think of it as a global book fair. No single platform is most effective. Find the one you like best, and build an audience there. Don’t use AI to write your posts. You’re trying to build a genuine connection with your readers. You can’t do that if you let the robots write for you.
Make no mistake, social media takes a lot of time. Just look at the gaps between entries on this blog and you’ll see that I, too, fall victim to online pitfalls.
I don’t have all the answers for making social media effective. And I’ve been at this long enough to tell you to be suspicious of anyone who claims they do.
I now realize the folly of thinking I could build a publishing company that left the marketing to the author. I hoped Stoney Creek would build better partnerships between authors and publishers. Marketing is part of that. Authors and publishers must work together to give books an opportunity for success. No matter what else you do as an author to promote your books, social media must play a role.
At Stoney Creek, we’re constantly working to improve our online marketing. And we can help new authors build their social presence. But ultimately, effective social media connections are up to the authors themselves.
We’d all rather be writing the next book, of course. But if you want people to read the book you just finished, you can’t expect a modern audience to find you.
Life in the Word Mines 