Contents | Start | End | Previous: Chapter 29: Understanding Ebook Formats and Platforms | Next: Glossary
by Harriet Smart
Your book exists. You have toiled over it – now you need people to know about it. Easier said than done. There are a lot of people shouting and waving their books out there. How are people going to know about you and what you have written?
Of course you know what your book is about. But can you describe the contents briefly and in an understandable and enticing way? Look at the blurbs on the back of printed books or the descriptions on Amazon and see how it’s done.
Here’s one for a Young Adult novel by Michael Pryor:
“Aubrey Fitzwilliam is the son of a prominent ex-prime minister. He’s also brilliant at magic, but he’s stuck at military school. At least he has his best friend, George, there to back him up. George would follow Aubrey anywhere – and with Aubrey’s talent for thinking up daring schemes that will get them both in trouble, that’s no easy thing to do. At a royal hunting party, the boys discover a golem, a magical creature built to perform one task: to kill Prince Albert. Aubrey and George are hailed as heroes for foiling the murder attempt – but who sent the golem, and why? Aubrey is far too curious to let the authorities handle this one, and he and George start investigating...”
Here’s one for Phil Rickman’s latest novel, The Bones of Avalon:
“It is 1560, and Elizabeth Tudor has been on the throne for a year. Dr John Dee, at 32 already acclaimed throughout Europe, is her astrologer and consultant in the hidden arts... a controversial appointment in these days of superstition and religious strife. Now the mild, bookish Dee has been sent to Glastonbury to find the missing bones of King Arthur, whose legacy was always so important to the Tudor line. With him – hardly the safest companion – is his friend and former student, Robert Dudley, a risk-taker, a wild card... and possibly the Queen’s secret lover. The famously mystical town is still mourning the gruesome execution of its Abbot, Richard Whiting. But why was the Abbot really killed? What is the secret held by the monks since the Abbey was founded by Joseph of Arimathea, uncle of Christ and guardian of the Holy Grail? The mission takes Dee to the tangled roots of English magic, into unexpected violence, necromantic darkness, the breathless stirring of first love... and the cold heart of a complex plot against Elizabeth.”
This is the Amazon description for a very famous self-help book:
“THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE is recognised as one of the most influential books ever written. In this seminal work, Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centred approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty and human dignity – principles that give us the security to adapt to change, and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates. Translated into thirty-four languages and with phenomenal sales, THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE has been the key to the success of legions of business leaders and individuals the world over.”
And finally the description of a new biography of Georgette Heyer by Jennifer Kloester:
“Georgette Heyer remains an enduring international bestseller, read and loved by four generations of readers and extolled by today’s bestselling authors. Despite her enormous popularity she never gave an interview or appeared in public. Georgette Heyer wrote her first novel,The Black Moth, when she was seventeen in order to amuse her convalescent brother. It was published in 1921 to instant success and ninety years later it has never been out of print. A phenomenon even in her own lifetime, to this day she is the undisputed queen of regency romance. During ten years of research into Georgette Heyer’s life and writing, Jennifer Kloester has had unlimited access to Heyer’s notebooks and private papers and the Heyer family records, and exclusive access to several untapped archives of Heyer’s early letters. Engaging, authoritative and meticulously researched, Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller offers a comprehensive insight into the life and writing of a remarkable and ferociously private woman.”
All of these are between 150 and 190 words long and yet they all manage to say an awful lot about the book. They are little masterpieces of copywriting and you should strive to create a little masterpiece for your own book. It’s not easy, but it’s worth taking the time to do – because then you will have a ready-made and persuasive description of your book readily to hand.
When writing, try to remember what the reader is looking for and emphasise those elements. In the case of a novel you want to suggest to them that this a good story with intriguing characters and lots of possibility for drama. You will notice that both the novel descriptions contain questions – the central meat of a drama is a question. Will the prince be able to save the princess? Will the heroine be able to overcome the obstacles and find the man of her dreams? Make sure you draw attention to the sexiest, shiniest parts of your novel: the glamorous setting, the dreadful things at stake or the potential for deep emotional involvement.
Non-fiction descriptions are a little more utilitarian but they are still in the business of making an offer the reader can’t refuse. They emphasise the authority of the writer and the unique angle that the book offers on a topic that is of general importance and interest. Notice how words like “offers” or “reveals” are used to suggest that the book is treasure-chest of useful and authentic information.
One way to look at such descriptions is to imagine them as a slice from the beautiful cake that is your book. You are not telling them all the ingredients or how you laboured to mix them up, but merely presenting the overall effect. You want them to eat the whole cake, of course, so give them a slice that makes them hungry for more, in no more than 200 words.
Writing your book description and studying other book descriptions is a very good way to see what it is that makes people interested in books, what excites them. You will have a much clearer idea of what your book is and who might be interested and indeed what is special about your book. The next thing to do is to refine that description even further – into a sentence or two you can use when you meet people and they ask about your book. The latest evidence suggests that word of mouth is one of the most important drivers of ebook sales. Word of mouth begins with a conversation, be it virtual or in real life. When people ask you what your book is about, you need to have an answer ready. Even better, have several answers ready to suit the sort of person you are talking to.
Never apologise for your book – be bold and talk it up. Share the passion you felt in writing it. Don’t say “Oh, it’s just a romance novel” say “It’s a love story inspired by a set of old letters I found in a thrift shop. It made me cry when I was writing it.” Don’t say: “It’s a rehash of some research I did on stress” – but “It’s a book about how you can manage your stress levels.”
Now I am not saying this is easy. It isn’t. Writers are naturally shy and retiring and like to hide behind a wall of comforting text. But to get people to know your book exists you have to have a pithy description at your finger tips.
Practice saying in private and aloud, “My book is about...” Refine what you say. Evolve it into a neat phrase that you can say as easily as your name.
Books and blogs on pitching and log-lines for the screenwriting industry have lots of helpful hints on expressing the idea of a thing in a succinct and appealing way.
The next question to ask yourself is: what is your area of unique knowledge and how is it connected to the book you have written?
Why is a special subject important? It gives you a voice: it is an excuse to speak, be it on an online forum, a blog, in the local newsletter, even to the person at the bus stop. You are no longer just someone with a book to sell. You are instead an interesting person who happens to have written a book which might be equally interesting.
How do you find your special subject? If you have written a collection of gluten-free bread recipes because you have a gluten allergy then it is easy to see that you are well qualified to take gluten-free cooking as your special subject. Historical novelists have a head start here as they are usually deeply involved in historical research and have a burning interest in the past – that’s what drove them to become historical novelist in the first place. They are often de facto experts.
However, sometimes it can be difficult to find your specialist subject. Perhaps you are writing contemporary fiction or a memoir and it doesn’t seem at all clear. Your subject seems too general. Don’t despair – ask yourself some more questions and try to tease out your special subject.
For example, look at the setting – does your work have a regional flavour? Is your romance set in France? Why did you choose France? Is it because you live there and know it well or because you love the very idea of France, all that style and elegance. If the first, think: “Living in France – all you need to know – notes from an expat” or if you don’t know France that well except through research and imagination, you can go the “I Heart France” route, and explore the style and culture of the country. Chances are that people who also love France in the same way may be interested in reading your wonderfully romantic love story set in their favourite country.
Both of these approaches give you plenty of angles for blogging, participating in relevant forums and generally getting the word out there.
Get yourself known online. Gather a tribe. The word is that traditional publishers are making it a stipulation that newly signed authors already have a blog or are at least prepared to start one. Others are suggesting that their existing authors get onto Twitter. For an indie author an online presence of some description is even more essential.
The good news is that nowadays you don’t need an elaborate or expensive website with flashing graphics. In fact I would advise strongly against a static, classic web page that is difficult to maintain and update. What you need is a simple dynamic site where you can talk about your special subject and hopefully create some interest about your writing. Fortunately there are lots of free, very easy to use blogging platforms, such as WordPress, that make the process a whole lot less painful than it used to be.
The secret to successful blogging is to have frequently updated, quality content. It is hard work and it takes some time to pay off but it is also good writing practice. Preparation helps a lot so focus on your special subject and brainstorm out a list of topics for future blog posts. If there is something in the news that links to your special subject seize the moment and blog about it. Make sure each post you create is well tagged so that people can find it easily. And keep everything as fresh and interesting as possible – post videos, pictures and make podcasts just to keep everything lively. Have a blog roll of other blogs that connect to your special subject and engage and comment on those blogs. You will find this drives people back to your blog if your comments are relevant and not overly self-promotional. Make sure you have clear links to your books on the site so that if you have written a good piece, people can find out more about you and your writing easily – but again the key is to make the blog more about the content than the promotion. You can also create an author’s page on Facebook and invite your friends to become fans. There it is all about engagement with users.
Now you have a blog. Where do you find readers?
One place to look is on the book-lover forums – for example Kindle Boards, Amazon reader forums. Again the message here is do not over-promote – become part of the community. Share your own enthusiasm and participate in the conversations that are taking place. People are very turned off by relentless self-promotion. It pays to be discreet.
And then we have X (Twitter). X gets a lot of flak. Its former name seems to suggest triviality but in fact it is a very useful tool in building an online presence. It is easy to find like-minded people supplying you with support and lots of information, especially about indie publishing and marketing. It is also a great book promotion tool if used correctly. Once again the advice is: be subtle. Do not go on and on about your book. Try to be interesting and supply interesting information related to your special subject. Find the people who are interested in your special subject and follow them.
Many authors swear by newsletters, where you offer a freebie such as a short story in return for signing up. You can then update your subscribers every now and again with book progress or new publications. This may work better for frequent publishers! Amazon also helps with promotion of new books by notifying your followers on Amazon when you release a new book.
Consider promotional give-aways. Giving your book away can be a very effective tool for getting publicity and reviews. On Amazon, you can give your book away for a few days, so long as your book isn’t for sale via a different retailer. Often a free book will rise to the top of the free book charts for a particular genre, giving it visibility that it may never have had before. If your book has already garnered a fair number of good reviews, consider buying a BookBub promotion to coincide with a give-away – if they accept your book, thousands of BookBub subscribers will see it, and your sales could rocket and keep high for several months. (Note that BookBub performance is not what it was and the Amazon algorithm has also changed to make returns less certain.) This works best for the first book in a series since people who are hooked by the freebie may buy your other books. BookBub is generally acknowledged to be the best of its kind – they are used by conventional publishers as well as indies, and they reject a lot of applications – but there are others you can try.
There is still a role for traditional media in marketing your book, be it a local newspaper or a special interest magazine. They are looking for stories, but once again be creative. Find a hook and an angle that is fresh. Create a story from your special subject rather than pitching a piece about an indie-published novel.
Another area worth exploring is: can you do an event? Is there a tie-in with a local event that you can devise and pitch to the organisers? Would local societies be interested in hearing about your special subject? They may become willing readers if you give a good performance.
This is barely scratching the surface of what you can do. Often these things don’t cost money but they do cost time and imagination. Think laterally and be creative. Allow time to do the job properly and don’t be discouraged if it takes time. Overnight best sellers are black swans – exceptional events. But there is a lot you can do to help your beloved book along the way.
Since ebooks don’t always have a page count that will be displayed alongside your book description, you might like to include one in your description so that people know they will be getting value for money. Use the book word count in the Document Properties dialog and divide by a reasonable word-per-page figure, say 600.
To avoid separating your book from the description(s) you write, you can store your book description, and perhaps a publicity plan, in a text document under the ‘Scraps’ folder in your project. This information won’t be included in your book.
You should consider getting an ISBN number for your book – this is necessary if you want to get on the premium Smashwords catalogue, for example. You can buy a block of ISBNs yourself or obtain some from Smashwords or other book distribution site.
Consider getting a small number of your books printed using low-cost print on demand – with KDP, for example, you can buy author copies at cost. You can then use it as a sales tool, sending them to journalists and bloggers, selling them at events, and even donating them to your libraries to raise your profile.
Make a little money from promoting Jutoh! You can sign up as an affiliate via www.jutoh.com/affiliates, and take a percentage for every copy of Jutoh that is sold as a result of visiting your site.
We’ve covered some common-sense approaches to publicising yourself and your books. If you have further ideas, do write in and tell us so we can include them in a future edition of this book.
We’ve also come to the end of the book – I hope you enjoyed it; if so, do pass the book around to your friends and colleagues. If you don’t already have a copy of Jutoh, why not visit www.jutoh.com and give the demo a whirl. We support Windows, Mac and Linux, and one purchase is good for all platforms so you don’t have to worry about migrating to another operating system later. We’re also quick to respond to technical support requests, and even if you haven’t yet bought a copy of Jutoh, we’re happy to discuss your needs.
We wish you the best of luck in the exciting world of ebook publishing!
Contents | Start | End | Previous: Chapter 29: Understanding Ebook Formats and Platforms | Next: Glossary