Well, I guess you could say that I’m going into this kicking and screaming. It’s not really what I want to do with the little free time that I have, and yet, it’s to the point where I feel I have to.

You see, I’m the marketing director for Virtual Tales, an independent press based in Vancouver, Washington (part of the Portland, Oregon metro area) in the United States. We are very, very selective about the titles we publish. In fact, I would say that if we review 20 manuscripts a months, only 2-3 authors will be invited to submit their complete manuscript. After that, I would say that only 1 in 5 manuscripts we read complete is offered a contract.

Sometimes, we will ask the author to make certain changes and send it back to us in 6 months for another review. Very few do this, and of those who do… we’ll end up offering a contract on about half of them. We just don’t think that readers are willing to buy crap, to put it bluntly. In order to appeal to readers, we believe that:

1. A story must be well-written;
2. The manuscript has to be edited professionally;
3. The book/eBook needs a great cover to capture initial attention, and finally;
4. It must be marketed effectively to drive sales.

I think that Virtual Tales does a fabulous job on the first three requirements; where we seem to come up short is the last one. Marketing.

I’ve been marketing now for 25 years. It’s been my career, and I know a lot about things you can do to get the word out and create interest in products and services. The problem is, many of our authors don’t, and it’s hard for me to fix that because like it or not, if the author isn’t personally involved in the marketing efforts, a title isn’t going to sell. Period.

And when you consider that Virtual Tales specializes in new, previously unpublished authors… well, that explains a lot, doesn’t it? Still, considering that ALL of our authors are newbies, then why is that “some” of our author’s books sell like hotcakes, and others simply don’t sell? They’re all new and inexperienced, and their books are all good to begin with. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — VT has great authors, hard-working, professional editors and some of the best cover artists available to an “all-royalty” publishing business model.

I myself do the layout for each and every manuscript using InDesign and Photoshop — professional tools of the trade. I use Open Type fonts (for easier ePub conversions), and I can probably recite the artwork submission guidelines from our printers by heart. I’ve set up darn good templates to create artwork that meets their requirements for print and eBooks; in fact, our books fly through the acquisition process because they are set up properly.

So the books are quality. And we do eBook formats for almost every eBook market available, including iPhone apps now. So it’s not a distribution thing. Our print books are available on Amazon.com, through Ingram and now through Baker & Taylor, so bookstores can find them and order them. Readers can find them and order them…

But they have to know the books are out there to begin with, and that’s the sticking point, isn’t it?

There are limits to what I can do to market a book if the author isn’t willing to do anything. I don’t know their schedules, as we have authors all over the world. I don’t know the name of the local newspaper in every town in the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada, etc. I can provide press releases, flyers, posters, bookmarks, etc., etc., but if the author doesn’t want to contact their paper about an interview, contact their local bookstores and libraries to set up signings, find out about local book clubs, check out local fiction conventions, etc., etc., then it’s all in vain. If they won’t even set up a website or blog, or an author page on Amazon.com, what can I do?

Nothing. Nothing effective, anyway.

Because I know that for people to try — to BUY — a new book from a new author — it’s takes people. A personal touch, so to speak. I have authors who make the calls and keep a website and a fan e-mail list and sell books like gangbusters because they engage with their potential audience. And I have recluse authors who expect me/VT to sell their books, and they won’t even set up a basic author website on Author’s Den.

So that’s why I’m here. That’s why I’ll be blogging. Even if you’re a new author — even if you’re not MY author — a VT author — you CAN personally do something — do MANY things — that will sell copies of your fiction novel. No matter the genre, no matter that you don’t have a contract with “the majors” — you can sell books and gain a following for yourself.

I’m going to share what I know — what I’ve learned — from 25+ years of “conventional” marketing, plus the first 3 years of publishing marketing. That’s right. I’m a newbie at this, too. I’ve never worked in the publishing industry. I’ve marketed products — from software to hardware to jewelry to heavy equipment, usually B2B (business to business) rather than B2C (business to consumer). So this has been a stretch for me as well.

During the past 3 years, I’ve learned what works. I’ve witnessed it with my own eyes, by the B&W results on the sales numbers we get from our distributors.

So I’m thinking that maybe if I write some of this down — spill my guts about what I’ve seen that works — I’ll have some place I can point my authors to. Somewhere to send people who are reviewing our publishing contract so they can see what VT expects to see from them to drive sales.

We will do what we can to support them with materials and contacts and distribution, but we can’t drag them into it, kicking and screaming. It’s something they have to want to do, or else they just won’t do it.

And then their book doesn’t sell, and they get discouraged, and they think they are a sucky writer (or that VT is a sucky publisher) and they don’t want to write any more and nothing changes.

If you want to change things — if you want to start building an audience for your fiction — then please follow along. 

Sheri

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