Where To Throw Your Spaghetti
Every once in a while I’m asked to blurb a book. An author I’ve met or communicated with asks if it would be all right if they can send me their manuscript and then, assuming I have time to read it and I like it, I write something complimentary, a recommendation that will be placed on the cover for potential readers to see. I don’t have time to do this very often but when I do I take the task and the manuscript seriously.
There’s only one problem:
I don’t believe blurbs help. Not unless they’re written by the likes of Stephen King.
And yet almost every publisher asks authors to get some blurbs from other authors to place on their cover. They ask this even though there is zero evidence, as in zero market research, to support the assumption that these blurbs actually sell books.
But then again, in publishing, there’s close to zero market research to support anything.
Before a movie or TV show is released it usually goes through some test screenings. The test audience (be it a focus group or a friends-and-family screening) are asked to fill out a form once they’re done watching and tell the studio exactly what they liked and didn’t like about the movie. Edits are often made in accordance with the feedback.
In publishing it’s more of a spaghetti against the wall approach. If a small handful of the “right” editors fall in love with your manuscript and that love triggers an auction you’ll probably have a good chance of getting a good contract and advance. But the problem is those editors are frequently from similar backgrounds demographically (and I’m not just talking about race but also educational background, age range, urban vs rural background et.al). They think they know that the book they’re buying will appeal to broader demographics but since no one’s specifically asked anyone from those different demos that belief can’t even be accurately called a hypothesis. It’s just a straight up guess.
Likewise, as an author you don’t know what promotions will work for you and what won’t. God knows I’ve tried all sorts of stuff. I’ve been on all the various platforms at one point or another (except TikTok), There were times when I posted a lot of photos with celebrities in an attempt to increase engagement in the lead up to a new book release. While writing romance I tried posting pics of a lot of hot, shirtless male models. I’ve tried posting book reviews of others work with my dog in between releases. I’ve tried hosting online book-launch parties on Facebook that required me to be at my computer posting and engaging from morning to night.
These were things I did because I was either advised to or because I observed other authors doing them to what appeared to be some success. That’s what writers do now. We try to find our “brand” and post certain things on certain platforms because of anecdotal, not statistical, evidence.
Let’s go back to Hollywood for a minute: Outside a certain number of select theaters you will find people holding clipboards. If you are willing to give them a few minutes they will ask you about the movie you just saw on its opening weekend. Those clipboard folks want to know the cinema score (what audiences think of the movie). They want to know the age range of that audience and maybe even what brought them to the theater to begin with.
There is no one with a clipboard outside of your Barnes & Noble asking if it was an Instagram post that alerted you to the book you just bought. No one is asking, was it a blurb that convinced you to buy that title?
That’s scary. At least it is for me. Because when it comes to marketing and publicity we’re all just throwing spaghetti at the wall…except this particular spaghetti isn’t store bought. You have to make it from scratch. You gotta clean off a surface of your kitchen counter, ever so gently mix the ingredients, knead the dough, give the dough time to sit, buy a rolling pin and pasta maker…make real investments of both time and money.
You understand what I’m saying?
Marketing your novel is like spending every day trying to make this perfect spaghetti just so you can throw it at the wall knowing damn well that it’s probably just gonna slide right off and leave a big mess on your floor.
And every year publishers are asking authors to take on a bigger and bigger share of the marketing burden of their own book. Blurbs are a perfect example. Publishing houses have the names and email addresses of thousands of authors. Yet most of the time they don’t ask any of them to blurb anything. Instead they ask each individual author to find someone who could do that for them even if that author is just starting out and doesn’t know anyone else in the industry let alone have their email. It’s still on them to work it out. It’s also on the author to figure out how to put together a newsletter or decide which book fairs and festivals are a best fit for their specific subgenre and how to get into them. Without market research working that out can be daunting.
So what do I recommend?
Well, personally I’ve come to think of marketing a little like exercise. If you absolutely hate the workout you’re doing you probably won’t stick to it. You find what it is that will keep you going to the gym/running-trail/studio and you do it. Some people will want to do power lifting with muscle men others will be happier doing yoga with goats. There are no wrong answers here.
Likewise you should market yourself in the way you find easiest and most enjoyable.
If Instagram is easier for you to deal with than TikTok, Insta’s the place to be. If you only want to post about books on your social media, do that. If you want to sprinkle in little posts featuring the parts of your personal life you’re comfortable sharing, go for it.
I know there are authors out there who are absolutely sure they know the right way to do all this and will tell you so. But at best, they only know the right way for them.
And the authors who have real marketing success are the ones who do the stuff no one before them saw as valuable. Not long ago people were told the last thing a serious writer should be doing is writing online fan fiction.
Until E.L. James became a multi-millionaire after doing just that.
TikTok wasn’t known as a great author place until a few people made it so (looking at you, Colleen Hoover).
So you have an idea on how to make Youtube Shorts into a major book promo plan? Do it. Is there a new social media platform that you think will be the next TikTok for books? Go all in. Be a trailblazer
Assuming your marketing strategy doesn’t require you to hurt anyone, be extremely offensive or lord help us, obnoxious you’re not doing it wrong. You might even be doing it right. Who knows? The answer is No one. No one knows.
So try to have fun with it.
It’s your spaghetti. You should throw it at any wall you like.