Too often in publishing, we encounter authors who think their job is done the moment their book is printed.
Then they come back in a year’s time to find they’ve only sold a handful and don’t understand why.
How are people going to know that your book exists?
Have you been in a bookstore? Have you seen the thousands of books you’re competing against?
Have you been on Amazon? Have you seen the millions of books that are all vying for the consumer’s attention?
Now I’m sure there’s some exception in the world where the author did zero promotion and, somehow, their book sold.
But that’s what it is: the exception.
The reality in this industry is that you have to create awareness for your work, as well as for yourself as an author.
The industry is more competitive than ever. With self-publishing growing increasingly accessible, with ebook publishing becoming as easy as uploading a Word document, you’re in a market that’s not necessarily saturated, but flooded.
Authors expect that their publisher has some magical marketing formula, but they don’t. They’ll do marketing within their own circles – that’s something else to keep in mind. Just how big are their circles? Just how many people are they hitting up?
Also, consider this: take a big, big multinational publisher who are releasing X amounts of titles a year. Do you think every one of them is a hit? No. Most will sell moderately, or underperform. So even with their big marketing departments and all their money, even they find it impossible to manufacture hit after hit.
This is why it falls more and more on the author to be their own best fan.
Think about ways to promote yourself. Try get book reviews. Pitch yourself to podcasts. Do social media. Think laterally.
Years ago, we saw Matthew Reilly give an author talk at Eltham Library. Reilly talked about how he would sit on a bus with his first book – a self-published title – and pretend to read it, making appreciative noises. He held the book splayed open, so everybody could see the title and cover.
Did it work for Reilly? Who knows how much it contributed to building his author brand?
But it shows somebody applying some innovative thinking to getting themselves out there.
You need to do the same.
Don’t expect it to happen.
Make it happen.