From Anne R. Allen’s Blog:
A lot of authors get that deer-in-the-headlights look when I mention marketing books online.
But it’s pretty much the only way to promote books during this “stay at home” pandemic.
So we gotta do it. I understand your reluctance. Social media is full of trolls, scammers, and vast herds of bellicose morons.
And there’s also a lot of unethical and downright criminal behavior that gets labeled as “online marketing”.
Some online marketing “gurus” teach (expensive) lessons in manipulation, lying, cheating, and general flimflammery. I had one contact me just this week. He’d put a Google Alert on “guest blogging” and this blog came up, with my piece complaining about unethical behavior in requesting guest blogposts.
He’s such a lazy idiot that he hadn’t bothered to read the passage of the blog he cut and pasted into the email. But because I used the magic keyword phrase, he expected me to link to his website that teaches people to send unethical guest blogpost requests to bloggers like me.
Um, sure, right, dude. I’ll send my readers to Moron McSleazy University, so they can learn to use Google alerts to harass me.
Here’s the thing: trying to sell your books or services by gaming the system, abusing bloggers, and lying is a very bad idea. Even if you’ve paid a lot of money to learn how. What you want to do is establish a brand that people trust, like Stephen King, Doris Kearns Goodwin or Lemony Snicket—not Scams “R” Us. How do you do that? As Ruth told us last week, you reach success with patience and persistence, not tricks and gimmicks.
. . . .
1) Some Authors Claim Scams are “Genius Marketing.”
Some indie author left a Facebook comment on one of my posts about how Amazon scams are robbing real authors of royalties. His comment:
“What’s wrong with selling a 500-word book for $9.99? I call that good marketing.”
I naively tried to explain, “The reader is going to be angry and disappointed at being scammed and they won’t buy any more of this author’s books.”
The man replied, “Is this book plagiarized? Otherwise, this is genius.”
I was gobsmacked. This “writer” equated “marketing” with “sleazy, dishonest behavior.” And he admired it.
You know, those Old West snake oil guys only succeeded because they left town the next day to escape being strung up by a posse of disgruntled customers. Not so easy to do on the Internet where you can be doxxed.
There are also “genius marketing” companies that charge thousands of dollars to authors to “buy in” to 99c boxed sets that may possibly get the author “USA Today Bestseller” status. But there’s also a guarantee of no income–because all the money is supposed to go to marketing. But…
- Most of these don’t work anymore because readers have bought the sets and found most of the books sub-par.
- There is remarkable bad will, bullying and squabbling in these boxed set groups.
- Often the companies simply take the money and evaporate. Maybe to teach at McSleazy U.
David Gaugrhan tweeted about a new one just this morning. $5000 to buy in for “guaranteed” USA Today status. Might we say “caveat emptor”?
Online marketing should be about establishing a brand and growing a readership, not getting fake credentials or making a quick buck and skipping town.
Link to the rest at Anne R. Allen’s Blog
PG will add that, for most authors, success is a journey. Overnight success is a rarity. There has been more than a single one-trick pony who bombed with the second book in the book world. Overnight success that leads to long-term success is even more rare.
An audience of readers who are anxious to check out an author’s next book is the closest thing to gold PG has found in the writing biz. If the author treats them right, they will buy the next book right away when it’s released, giving it a great boost under Amazon’s algorithms. These same readers will tell their friends, post on their blogs, Facebook, etc., about the new book. They’ll post positive reviews with thoughtful comments germane to the book and, often, talking about why readers with similar interests will like this book.
Theoretically, it’s possible to buy a service that will post fake reviews that are convincing, but, to PG’s knowledge, this has never worked. Too many similar reviews, too many generalities, too many exclamation points and a general odor of inauthenticity.
At some point in time, an artificial intelligence engine may be able to digest the text of a book and spit out phony reviews, but, to the best of PG’s knowledge, that hasn’t happened and isn’t likely to happen in the near future. For one thing, there are much better ways for an artificial intelligence operator/programmer to earn way more money than by selling fake reviews.
For this reason, smart authors work hard to build groups of readers who like their work. Email lists, advance review copies sent to people the author knows personally who won’t grind out something phony or formulaic, engaging blogs with regular visitors, writing reviews of quality books by other authors in the same genre – basic literary marketing blocking and tackling.
Readers who buy well-written books aren’t dumb. If an author exhibits an online personality that’s a genuine reflection of who she is, a personality that may well show up in her characters and her books, people who like the way she writes, thinks and is will tend to stay connected and want to read the next book.
Unless the book promotion shill is a lot smarter than the author’s readers, she/he won’t be able to fool those readers.
But PG could be wrong.