Musings on Marketing

This is an odd post, and one that I didn't expect to write.

Before Christmas I went all out on marketing - blogs, promotions, even a book launch and signing. After Christmas I stopped. Aside from one token offered in a competition right at the start of January I have done no promotion at all for the last six weeks.

My sales figures are exactly the same.

This hard data is a telling comment on the effectiveness of my marketing efforts. It's also a good reason to stop spending any time or money on them and focus on writing.

The only things I am likely to continue with are the Project Wonderful ads (since the publisher manages those) and sending out review copies. Anything else appears to have very little effect.

Many indie authors take the line that the best marketing is the next book. I think I will be working on that principle for now on. However, any further books will be after April - between christmas and April is the busiest time for my day job an I am rushed off my feet at the moment.

And before I forget, Happy Valentines!

Promotion and proofing

Today has been an interesting mix of editing, spell-checking and promotion work.

I've finished a first look through on the manuscript, highlighted areas of concern, corrected the spelling errors that I found, and then switched to promotion work since I was having trouble focusing on the pages.

Things have moved rather quickly on the marketing front. There is now a site up at vhfolland.co.uk. It's bare bones at the moment, but does have a forum for interaction. Two teasers and a book trailer are now ready at my end, although unreleased. I'm not sure what the publisher intends on this front, but I thought I'd make sure there was something available.

Yesterday if you googled VH Folland you got a few links to Folland Gnat fighters with that registration. Today, I'm on the front page of search results, so I think the work is beginning to pay off. Now I need to manage the same with "adventure author" as the keyword, but until the book is out that will be a challenge.

All those years consulting in information, engineering, security, media and ecommerce have come in surprisingly useful. The first three gave me something to write about. The last two are helping me let people know that I've written it.

Marketing and publicity

It seems early, since the book is still being edited, but promotion work is already underway. Once the book is released, promotion and publicity has a hard deadline as a new release becomes yesterday's news very quickly. Although the publisher does the marketing and promotion, any additional work the author can provide can only help; after all if no one knows about your book, how can they know if they want to buy it?

My efforts are already taking effect. This blog is one of the more obvious, as is the online presence I am building. Book trailers and videos are under discussion, and the first mention of a cover was made recently which caused my ears to prick up.

I know how the book reads, but I can't wait to see how it looks.