Category Archives: Marketing

New Book Market: Hotels

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Top hotels are adding a new amenity for their clients: libraries.

The move is intended to keep patrons in the bars and lobbies longer. Books are being stocked in central areas, dedicated suites and even reading rooms. The cozy feel and the availability of their favorite authors helps them connect with younger patrons, who want a community feeling even while away from home.

Country Inns and Suites, with 447 hotels across the nation, now has an exclusive deal with Penguin Random to stock their authors.

If you’re a local author, don’t downplay the importance of that with your local hotels. If any are stocking books, stop in and place a few copies with the manager yourself. Be sure to sign the copies!

Amazon Dukes It Out with Overstock.com; Indie Booksellers Lose

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On Friday, Amazon began offering discounts that have never before been seen even on its own site. The move is supposedly a response to Overstock.com’s full frontal assault, which consists of discounting books to match or beat Amazon’s prices.

Dan Brown’s Inferno is now available on Amazon at a a 61% discount. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini has a 58% discount. Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In is at a 64% discount. A whopping 64% discount is offered on The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

There are signs, however, that even Amazon is not invincible in this battle. J.K. Rowling’s The Cuckoo’s Calling, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, is discounted only 42%. That’s right in the usual discounting area of 40% to 50 percent. Amazon likely doesn’t want to discount something that is selling well regardless of price, and wants to keep the profits involved in that title.

Overstock.com’s shot across the bow of the mighty frigate Amazon is a long-overdue attempt to take some of the wind out of Amazon’s sails. The recent verdict against Apple has already spurred Amazon toward discounting books to eliminate the real competition that is left: the thousands of indie booksellers who together hold more clout among readers than any website ever will.

Unfortunately indies do not yet hold any kind of combined economic clout with publishers and so cannot discount books at the same rate. Thank goodness someone has noticed what’s going on in book publishing and has thrown the economic might of their company onto the battlefield.

What’s in a Subtitle? The Impact on Book Algorithms

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Titles are important. Any author can agree to that. But are subtitles as important, less so, or possibly more important?

One consideration is how subtitles impact algorithms that help readers find a book. Subtitles that seem unwieldy because they are so long can actually boost sales on websites.

A second consideration has been around for a while: a descriptive subtitle tells readers exactly what they’ll get from the book.

Finally, a subtitle can indicate the author’s voice (funny, academic, etc.) or tone (the emotional quality of the work). That can be attractive to readers and thus generate sales.

Subtitles are clearly not more important than titles…but they are equally important.

Hope for Indie Bookstores: Quote from Dan Cullen of the ABA

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Dan Cullen of the ABA says, “Customers are making decisions to patronize locally owned retail stores because they recognize that where they spend their money makes a difference. They’ve seen the closure of important local stores or institutions and kind of woke up to what’s important from that regard.”

Combined with readers making choices based on supporting local businesses, the failure of Borders means many regional markets are suddenly open to smaller shops again. Bookstores are being opened now by individuals who realize a bookstore is a community gathering place. New models are combining books with other things like workshops, meeting spaces and much more than the usual coffee and cookie.

That means better hand-selling for authors of all kinds.

Ender’s Game Boycott

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The Ender’s Game movie that will be released November 1 is already under boycott.

The reason is that Orson Scott Card, author of the Ender’s Game series, has been vocal about his opposition to gay marriage. While the script has been reviewed by Glaad and found to contain nothing offensive, the petition to boycott the movie has suddenly gained a lot of attention and supporters.

Card himself has issued pleas for potential audience members to overlook or tolerate his views. No matter where people fall in the range of science-fiction fandom, the fact is that every piece of literature is best read with an understanding of the era and society in which it was created.

Fanny Fern’s Ruth Hall, for example, was written when women’s rights were being fought for and won. John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath appeared during a time of great difficulty for the nation. And recent works like Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love reflect the surging movement among women to regain and redefine their needs, goals and desires.

Before, what an author believed personally meant little. Card finds himself in a society that disagrees with his personal views more so than not. Should this alone be enough to support a boycott, or should Card have been more discrete about his personal views while using his platform as an author?

The Penguin Random House Merger

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Well, it’s happened again.

Two of the top publishers have merged forces. The new Penguin Random House is now the dominant publisher in America…and since American publishing is the top of all nations, that makes it the biggest in the world.

The combined companies control over 25% of the book business. One of their top priorities is to “crack the code of discoverability,” to figure out how to put more books in front of more buyers in a market that has seen fewer brick-and-mortar stores every year.

One consultant said that they could use their large list to create digital subscriptions, like an e-book of the month club.

Harlan Coben noted that every author is worried that fewer houses mean fewer opportunities to get books published. He also said that the business is changing so rapidly that any predictions made now will likely fall flat.

How to Determine if a Manuscript is Publishable

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Considering how much change has come to publishing in the past few years, determining whether a manuscript is publishable is important. Authors want to know what their chances are before they invest a lot of time, effort or money in creating new drafts, revising and rewriting current drafts, editing to the final stage, or creating book proposals and query letters.

The two most important things to consider when asking whether a manuscript is publishable are:

1. Quality

2. Marketability

Quality issues for fiction encompass the writing level (voice, use of structural elements, etc.) and storytelling skill. For nonfiction, quality includes the writing level and how the content is presented.

Marketability is an issue that can trend across timelines ranging from a few months to a decade or more. It includes areas outside publishing as much as what is being published now and what is scheduled for publication over the next two years. And since those same issues affect self-publishers (although in different ways), authors who are committed to that path often have the same question about whether their manuscript is publishable.

Authors can access twenty years of experience across a broad range of categories and genres by having their work read by Writer’s Resource. The service that determines if a manuscript is publishable…and if not, to guide the author along the steps to be taken to make it publishable…is a baseline review. The review usually takes 2 to 2.5 weeks to complete and costs $425. The nominal investment can safeguard authors from spending much more on editing or other services that will not pay off in the long run.

Latest Trend: Steamies

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All right, YA authors, heads up! Recently I posted about the trend toward New Adult fiction…works that target slightly older audiences aged 18 through 24. There’s already a subcategory for New Adult: Steamies.

These are works that focus a bit more (and sometimes a lot more) on erotic or sexual aspects. It’s natural for individuals in that age group to explore and wonder how sensual and sexual activities fit into their lives and personalities, so it’s also a natural for inclusion in novels.

Some publishers welcome Steamies. Others reject them out of hand. Readers will be the same. Know before you pitch to publishers or readers what you’re offering so you can target your audience with pinpoint accuracy.

How to Tell If a Publisher is Interested

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Recently a client contacted me about a manuscript that had been submitted to several of the top publishers. His first manuscript had been picked up right away but this one seemed to be lagging behind. He wondered if “no news is good news” on this front.

The answer is yes. Publishing has changed quite a bit over the past several years and response times can be much slower. Generally, rejections are provided fairly quickly. Any time lag in response often means someone at the publisher wants the book; they just have to go through a series of hoops before getting full and final approval.

So, take silence to mean that a publisher is interested…they’re just trying to figure out where the book will fit in their lineup, how the marketing department will handle the work, or a host of other issues.

Meanwhile, keep working on the next book!

Two New Trends in Young Adult (YA) Books

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Tired of vampires and other incarnations of the undead? There’s hope!

The pendulum in YA is swinging away from the paranormal back toward contemporary fiction. Yes, zombies are also hot right now and it will take time before readers completely turn away from them. Meanwhile, publishers are ramping up to focus their marketing efforts again on modern fiction.

Mysteries and thrillers are also becoming hot for this age group. This is happening because YA readers reach into the adult market for these kinds of books but the material isn’t suited well to their level. So many more adult authors are shifting their focus or revamping material to fit YA readers.

New Trend in Academic Juvenile Publishing

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The No Child Left Behind policy changed publishing when it first was implemented. Now the focus is shifting away from that and toward the Common Core.

This is a hot topic with publishers right now. The focus is on helping young readers gather facts and learn how to think.

This means that there is a renewed focus on nonfiction titles for young readers, particularly middle-grade chapter books. Publishers are looking for things that are fun to read, a little quirky, and especially things that don’t read like homework.

Have something that fits the bill? Dig it out…today! Hone your pitch to this new trend and fire it out!

New Juvenile Imprint

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Algonquin Books, long known for their focus on high-quality fiction and nonfiction, is launching a juvenile imprint this fall.

They will start with five titles, a substantial amount considering that they limit their adult titles to a total of 20 every year.

Their goal is to eventually publish 15 juvenile titles in middle-grade and YA markets every year.

Whenever a publisher launches a new imprint, pay attention! Your chances of being considered are much higher as they work to build their list for years to come.

Novellas are on the Rise

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One of the latest trends is an increase in the popularity of novellas.

It used to be that novellas were a tough sale. Often publishers and agents would only take them if they were paired with other novellas to create one long book or were embedded in a collection of short stories.

Ebooks have had a hand in changing this for the better. Novellas now are easier to sell because the market has changed. Reading on cell phones has had a particular impact because the shorter form is better suited to that style of consumption.

If you’ve been hanging onto a novella because you heard the market wasn’t buying, take it out of the drawer. See what happens when you send it out to agents and publishers today!

Good News for Indie Bookstores

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The demise of Border and the reduced presence of B&N has actually had a benefit.

2012 turned out to be the best year ever for indie bookstores. They posted an 8% increase in profits over the year, which outpaced B&N’s slower growth. Publisher’s Weekly thinks “the worst days of the independents are behind them.”

Celebrate by visiting your local indie bookstore and making a purchase!

The Difference between Memoir and Autobiography

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Here’s a question I get all the time: How do I know if I’ve written an autobiography or a memoir?

The answer is simple: An autobiography covers pretty much your entire life. A memoir covers a specific aspect of your life (like a lifelong battle with lukemia) or a specific time period (a marriage that fell apart and the triumph built out of the life post-divorce).

Most people nowadays are writing memoirs. A few who have led spectacular lives (yes, ordinary people can live spectacular lives) are writing autobiographies.

Be sure to categorize your work correctly when you approach agents and publishers. You’ll also want readers to know exactly what they’re getting if you self-publish. The answer is simple yet applying the knowledge is important for your pitch and your marketing efforts.