With advances shrinking even for proven mid-list authors and the market becoming extraordinarily competitive, it’s become increasingly important for authors to ask…
How does my book fit into my bigger income picture or business plan?
Why? Because the answer will help determine not only how much time and energy you put into the marketing of the book, but how much money you can justify spending.
For example, if your plan to generate revenue from your book is to rely solely on your advance and any additional royalties if and when you earn out (or sales, if you self-publish), it’ll be difficult to justify certain more aggressive marketing expenses, like pay-per-click ads, direct-response (on or offline), display, TV or radio ads and a variety of other more substantial promotional channel costs. Because the increase you get in sales rarely ever justifies the expenditure.
But, if you are inclined to build a bigger business plan around the book, like merchandise, newsletters, keynoting, private events, info-products, interactive learning environments or consulting, where your book is no longer the sole source of revenue, everything changes. Or, at least you have the opportunity to do a lot more from a marketing standpoint.
Because, rather than the book being a standalone driver of revenue, it becomes a component of your “content marketing” plan for a much more significant venture (caution – your book should still always still be the best book you can write.
And that makes it far easier to justify spending more to market the book.
You’re no longer just marketing just the book, but rather leveraging the book as a tool to drive people into a bigger marketing funnel that will lead to “back end” revenue.
For example, you would never run a pay-per-click campaign that ended up costing you $2 for every book sold when your sole source of revenue was $1.50 royalty per book. But, if that ad campaign drove people not only to buy the book, but inspired them to join a list that let you market other revenue-drivers, then ended up netting you an average of $5 to $10 per person from secondary sources of revenue, it becomes much easier to justify the spend.
So, as you explore how you will market your next book, take a step back and identify all the potential revenue sources that may “flow from” the book. See if your book can play a role in a bigger venture.
It’s not always possible, nor is it always desirable for some authors. But, if you can build something more substantial around the book, it may open up the potential to tap marketing channels that would be off-the-table when marketing a book alone.
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This makes perfect sense for a non-fiction work such as your own, which, at a base level, can function as a foundation from which to build additional complimentary products such as those you noted above. But does it work for the average fiction writer as well, I wonder?
You suggest that we should “take a step back and identify all the potential revenue sources that may “flow from” the book. See if your book can play a role in a bigger venture” but for a work of fiction, this, at least to me, seems to be limited to two specific areas – 1) other formats such as comics, film, audio and 2) other territories (foreign language sales of the same work). In my own career, I’ve pursued both areas, with mixed results. Building secondary products around a concept, such as lifestyle design or the way we perceive and give our trust to those online, makes more intuitive sense to me than doing so around a fictional world or concept. Perhaps I’m just not looking at the picture broadly enough – I honestly don’t know.
I’d be very curious as to your thoughts (and those of your readers, as well) with respect to how a business plan might assist a novelist in expanding their career in a similar fashion.
Joe,
I agree, it is easier to build the bigger business model around non-fiction, especially prescriptive non-fiction, which is where this is most often done. But, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to do with fiction. What a lot of fiction writers overlook is the fact that, if people are drawn to what you write, they are often also intrigued by you, your process, your insights into the worlds you create and the world of writing in general. And, those areas can sometime be leveraged to create experiences readers are willing to invest in. But, yes, it is more challenging and you have to be willing to share another part of who you are and go naked beyond the world you create in your fiction. And for some authors, that’s not a fun thought.
Jonathan,
Thanks for your thoughts on how a fiction writer might use this approach to expand their careers in a manner similar to that of a non-fiction writer. My personal opinion is that this is the kind of thing that would probably work better for those who produce series work, rather than stand alone novels. When you have a readership that is invested in the world that you have created, particularly over several novels, then their interest in that world and the creative process to bring it about seems to reach a new level. It’s this phenomenon, I believe, that allows writers to spin off secondary characters from one successful series into an entirely new series of their own. (This presupposes, of course, that the writing is good – the first series never would have been successful if not.)
-Joe
I have taken time to develop a marketing plan for my book; I developed it after I self-published my first book. Some professionals insist that this should be done prior to publication; however, I’m not convinced. Without the advantage of celebrity or name recognition, marketing one’s book becomes real work. Fortunately, one can use the power of the Internet (and related sources) to leverage this tool to develop a readership/following for virtually little money. Any new author must realize that it can take up to five years of dedicated marketing before one develops significant sales. Of course, there can be exceptions, as demonstrated by J.K. Rowling. Identify and know your market niche – that alone can save you time, money and heartache. And the old adage is STILL true. People don’t plan to fail; they just fail to plan. And yes, PLAN is a four-lettered word.
Hey Joe,
Thanks for the comment. I approach it differently. In fact, my take is that it’s mission critical to begin building your tribe, your relationships and your plan as far in advance as possible. Then, when the book comes out, you have a much deeper, more connected web to tap and turn into evangelists and readers. I know a number of authors, me included, who’ve done this very effectively and ended up selling a nice quantity of books (a few even hit the NYT and WJS lists). I’d always rather be ahead of the ball, instead of chasing it.
Also, like Joe’s question in the comment above, this is more of a challenge for fiction writers, but still very doable. You just have to approach it differently, more that way I described in my reply to that comment.
This is a great article and presents another perspective that most authors don’t think about. (I know because I e-teach book proposal writing under the umbrella of WOW! Women on Writing and authors are always surprised when we do marketing.)
I am interested in what you said here:
“But, if that ad campaign drove people not only to buy the book, but inspired them to join a list that let you market other revenue-drivers, then ended up netting you an average of $5 to $10 per person from secondary sources of revenue,”
How exactly is that done? What does this mean? I would be very keen to know.
Thanks.
Great advice, Jonathan!
Hey Jonathan!
Yeah, you showed me the light!
And it’s so cool how what begins as one vision can morph and grow into another, far superior vision. The earlier (naive) vision was that I wanted to use the internet to put my story out into the world. Who knew there was already so much else already there? Uh, not me.
Since then I have ~ through trials and errors galore ~ conceived of something so exciting to me that will go along with my story AND is now the *real* point: encouraging and supporting tween girls to be creative and philanthropic. Who knew this is where I was headed? Gotta love those trials and errors!
The approach you describe…
“…my take is that it’s mission critical to begin building your tribe, your relationships and your plan as far in advance as possible. Then, when the book comes out, you have a much deeper, more connected web to tap and turn into evangelists and readers.”
…seemed beyond my tech-savvy-less abilities. But it had more to do with wanting to be further along than I was when I began. I see now that I’m right on time as I spend time forming for-real relationships online. I can’t imagine doing without them as I look forward to launching the interactive part of my site this summer… and continue to post illustrated chapters of the story.
So, thanks, Jonathan. My 1-2-1 time with you last summer keeps serving me… and I’m psyched with how it’s going!
Jeanne
It used to amaze me how many authors write books without much of a plan behind them. After writing and publishing my first book, I now see why. Writing an awesome book is HARD work. You really have to pour your heart and soul into the work. This leaves many authors drained. So when they find out that they now have to spend even more time and energy promoting the book, they’re not really up for that.
As seasoned marketers, my co-authors (one of which has already published other books) and I approached it a bit differently. We knew it would be a LOT of work to promote it in a strategic and cost-effective fashion. But what’s surprised me is how many moving parts there are to a promotional plan… and how easy it is to get scattered and try to do too many things.
Andrea – What Jonathan was referring to was using your book as a front end to a broader business (a true product funnel). Your book attracts people to a website/blog where they can subscribe to receive free updates/info. Over time, some of them begin to like the other things you have to offer and begin to buy the products/services that make sense to them.
Ed, thanks for your note.
Oh, I got the purpose of attracting people by using your book to sell merchandise, a series of tapes, classes, speaking engagements, etc.
What I wanted to know was how you sell “lists”? Who buys them? Where would you connect for potential markets? If you list is made up of authors who write self-help books where would you be able to sell that kind of list?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot for my novel, so I’m glad that you wrote this and that it brought up the fiction issue.
I’ve always seen my novel, Chasing Sylvia Beach (in the hands of editors now, deciding the fate of this book!) as a piece of my business. It’s a book about unconventional women who live outside the box and the need for role models for living authentically. It’s also about a young woman who wants to write.
Not coincidentally, in my coaching practice I help inspire women who want to write and who want to live their own way. Did I write a novel to match my business goals? No. I wrote and work from my own deep quests. My writing, both fictional and non-fictional, reflects my values and the issues I grapple with.
So I’m fortunate that when the book is published, I’ll have lots of ways to share the message with readers that will also (hopefully) impact my business’s bottom line.
A couple years back I wrote up a description of how I’d promote my novel. Since it was for a contest, I got creative and stretched my thinking about what would be possible to promote it. I had a lot of fun and generated some good ideas.
Joe, I’d look at themes or audiences that show up in your novel and look at ways to connect that to marketing venues. For example, my book is set in Paris, 1937. I got a grant from the Alliance Francaise. Now I have an entire global network of that organization to speak to once the book is published. Since it’s about living abroad, it will hopefully resonate with that audience.
What might be similar in your novel? What real-world connections can you make? I bet you can brainstorm at least 10 in 10 minutes.
Jonathan , thanks for reminding us to be strategic in our thinking. I’m excited to promote my novel; just need to net a publisher.
Thanks for this article, Johnathan. It’s important to know that writing a book is not a stand-alone project, that the book is just part of a bigger picture of “now what?” that can include anything from flanker projects to well, the next book. It’s not just writing the book, it’s creating an interested audience.