If you're marketing books on the Internet you're looking for an audience of potential readers. You want to tell those potential readers about the book and why they should buy it. This is not exactly selling the book. In the offline world, marketing and selling are separated by the fact that the marketer promotes the book to the right audience and entices them to visit a retailer, and the retailer makes the sale. The retailer may have to do nothing more than set the book out for display. But many a bookseller has had to pitch books or make recommendations based on customer questions in order to sell books.
On the Internet, the marketing and sales processes become mingled. Once you find the right audience and tell them about the book, you have to convince them to make the purchase. The ease with which a customer can purchase and receive a book goes a long way toward determining whether a sale occurs. Some people will go the extra mile, but they are not going to make or break a book's sales.
If you're an author trying to promote your book on the Internet, you need to focus on three marketing goals: finding your audience, approaching your audience, and informing your audience. If you are selling books directly yourself, then you also have to make the sales pitch and close the sale. That makes your job harder but not impossible.
Finding your audience on the Internet is not the same thing as making it easy for people to find you. You need to identify resources where you can initiate contact with potential readers. The available resources include Web sites, Web forums, mailing lists, Web advertisements and email advertisements, and news groups.
"Approaching your audience" translates to advertising. And you are advertising two things: yourself and your book. You have to advertise yourself because you need to build up name visibility. You have to advertise your book because people don't have any idea it exists, or that it might be something they want to read. Name visibility (for your book) is important because it lends your book credibility and gives people a reason to look for your Web site.
Informing your audience about your book goes well beyond building a Web site and submitting it to search engines and directories. If you have promoted a book offline then you know authors need to get interviews, reviews in newspapers and magazines, talk show visits, book signings, convention and conference panels, readings, and advertising in print media. Promoting a book is a time-consuming and expensive process. Many people are turning to the Internet to cut corners, costs, and time. You need to understand right now it still takes hard work and patience.
How effective is Internet marketing?
The jury is still out on this issue. Entire fortunes have been bet upon the Internet and lost because the business community is still trying to figure out what it takes to succeed online. Some people have, in fact, made their fortunes on the Internet. There is always someone who gets rich in every field. But if history is any indication of who the most likely online winners will be, keep in mind that most of the gold rush fortunes were made by the people selling shovels and pans. The miners usually ended up broke.
The publishing world is in a mad scramble to get onto the Internet for many reasons, but the potential for getting rich is not one of them. Protecting intellectual property rights and developing effective marketing tools are the two chief reasons large publishers and authors are now involved with the Internet. The Internet is fast becoming the most popular entertainment medium of all time. And in the world of books, promotion now includes the Internet.
A traditional marketing campaign takes advantage of the extensive industry of book stores which actually stock books. The publisher (or the author) can send out promotional materials to help booksellers inform their customers about the books in stock. But booksellers don't want to promote books they don't offer. They usually don't mind taking special orders, but an online bookseller can promote each and every book it has access to with a dedicated Web page.
So, the real challenge with marketing anything on the Internet is that there are now over 3,000,000,000 indexed Web pages and the number is growing. To complicate your challenge, pages from online book stores are now being filtered out of search results by the larger search engines. So not only are there more pages than ever competing for the attention of only a few hundred million surfers, the pages an author most needs to be seen are less likely to be found at all.
By itself, a web page is not an effective marketing tool. Virtually no one will see it even if it's listed in many search engines. The odds against any Web page being viewed more than 10,000 times a year are pretty high. And when you think about how many books people pass by in a book store as they browse the shelves, the number of people who have to see a book just to sell one copy is very high.
Internet marketing depends on a complex and evolving selection of advertising services: banner ads, email ads, press releases, and more. But even the professionals cannot agree on how effective these marketing tools are. The advertising services provide conflicting data on who is seeing the ads and how effective they are, the press releases are largely ignored by the news media, and so on. Online marketers have the thankless task of building brand recognition in a medium where they cannot agree on what constitutes a "brand". So the lowly self-promoting author is really caught in a wild storm.
Who is selling books on the Internet?
There are many myths about online book promotions. Sadly, professional authors and publishers from the traditional publishing industry are helping to spread the myths. Their ignorance is being accepted as credible knowledge. In a news group devoted to writing, one science fiction author told people that ebooks don't sell, that the best sellers have "downloads in the hundreds". Nothing could be further from the truth. That is not to say eBooks sell as many copies as printed books. They don't. Eventually they may, but right now there is a great disparity between eBook sales and print book sales, and though the gap is closing it's not closing as fast as many people would like. Nonetheless, the average well-promoted eBook is expected to generate sales in the low thousands, not "in the hundreds".
It is easy to distribute an eBook on the Internet. In fact, if you want downloads in the tens of thousands, just offer your eBook for free. Free eBooks are downloaded approximately 20 times more often than those offered for sale. The inconveniences of eBooks have been the chief reason for why they are not breaking into the New York Times Bestsellers lists. Many people don't want to read books on a computer screen (although most people who spend 20 hours a week online read the equivalent of several books every week). But just because people download your free ebook doesn't mean you'll accomplish your goals. One doctor reported that, after generating 20,000 downloads of a free eBook he hoped would promote an eBook he was selling, he had not realized one sale of the second book. So, you need to understand what you are getting into, and what people are looking for on the Net (in a phrase: free stuff).
Are there any success stories in eBooks? Sure. Leta Nolan Childers' The Best Laid Plans, a Romance novel, sold more than 16,000 copies within a matter of months. Childers is a well-known syndicated writer, however, with a large readership. And, of course, most everyone has heard about Stephen King's The Plant He sold more than 500,000 copies of the first part of this online novel in six installments. The publishing community became divided over whether the book was a success after King announced a two-year hiatus on the project. And, of course, he is Stephen King. His earlier text release, "Riding the Bullet", was offered both for free and for pay and it made a couple hundred thousand dollars. Another major author to step into the waters of eBook sales is Suspense/Mystery author Frederick Forsyth
By contrast, Scott Adams claimed to have the top-selling eBook for 2001 with God's Debris, which sold over 4500 copies. However, Adams also claimed that "it's rare for any eBook to crack a thousand (sales)". He did not seem to be aware of Leta Nolan Childers's previous sales record. Some eBook publishers claim an average of about 1,000 copies per year of annual ePublications. And in the middle of 2002, eTextbooks started earning mention in the news media.
The most conservative estimates of eBook sales put their revenues at something like $9,000,000 for the year 2000. Conservative projections show an increase to $414,000,000 by 2004. Print book sales through traditional outlets are measured in billions (9 zeros) of dollars annually. So eBook sales have a way to go before they really start threatening print sales. But if $9,000,000 was brought in by eBooks in 2000, where did the money go? Who is selling the books?
The problem with tracking eBook sales is that there are four sources for eBooks: self-published authors, small eBook publishers operating over the Internet, publishing services providers (vanity presses), and traditional presses. Rarely does anyone report actual sales figures, and there is no central clearing house for information. The traditional presses tend to report percentage increases in sales over previous years. For example, in 2002, McGraw-Hill reported their eBook sales were "up 55% over the same period last year". Well, is that 55% of 1,000 sales or 55% of 100,000 sales? It makes a difference.
The makers of the Palm microcomputer reported over 180,000 eBook sales for 2001. Those sales, in their proprietary format, are an aggregate number for ALL eBook titles sold in Palm format. Probably, major publishers and distributors like Palm sold in total fewer than 1,000,000 eBooks in 2001. And yet, those sales must be regarded as only the tip of the iceberg, since no one is collecting data on the thousands of eBooks being sold by individuals and smaller companies. But who is really making any money through eBook sales?
Discounting the fact that most eBooks will sell at least a few copies, a lot of the money is being made by businesses. That is, technical manuals and "How to make money..." books sold as eBooks over the Web generate a lot of money. Technical manuals have a pretty limited market, but the "How to make money..." industry has always made a bundle off gullible readers who answer these ads in magazines. There are more and more people people "How to make money..." books off the Internet every year. And eBooks satisfy that immediate gratification demand all that much more quickly.
If it's not apparent by now who is selling the most eBooks, it should be. People with name-recogniton and established readerships are selling the most eBooks. By extension, the people with the greatest name-recognition and established readerships are selling the most books online (and online book sales total more than $2,000,000,000 annually -- they comprise more than 40% of all online purchases).
How can unknown authors market their books online?
Don't despair. Although your chances of duplicating Stephen King's success in today's market are virtually nonexistent, you can still work toward achieving a measure of success. It doesn't matter if you are promoting an eBook, a print-on-demand book, a book you've printed up yourself, or just a title that isn't getting much of a promotional boost from a traditional (or an online) publisher. There are things you can do to help your online book sales.
First, you need to build some name visibility. Name visibility differs from name recognition in that recognition is established by visibility. Or, look at it this way. Stephen King has name recognition because people know who he is. Edward Mulberry III only has name visibility because his name is mentioned on this Web site. After you leave here, you'll forget his name unless you encounter it over and over again elsewhere.
For example, there were times when no one knew who Stephen King and Frederick Forsyth were. They achieved name recognition through building name visibility. Of course, they are good authors. Good writing will get more and better word-of-mouth referrals than bad or mediocre writing. You are the worst judge of your own writing abilities. You are at the mercy of the cold and impartial marketplace. If people don't like the way you write they are not going to recommend your book to others. No matter how well you feel you write, if other people disagree with you, you need to get back to work and improve your skills. Heck, even if you are good, improve your skills anyway.
Building name visibility on the Internet is not easy. You have to really work at it, and it may require more time and effort (though less money) than building name visibility through the traditional means available to authors. You can begin by participating in news groups, mailing lists, and Web-based forums. Unfortunately, once you begin posting to these discussion forums, you run the very real risk of encountering childish, narrow-minded people who will attack you if you don't agree with their points of view. And sadly, many so-called professional authors and publishers are among the first to deride people who don't agree with their ideas. These are the very people whom new writers turn to for help. So pick your communities carefully and prepare for the worst. If you're lucky, no one will attack you, but eventually most people get involved in flame wars.
Name visibility also comes from providing content to Web sites. Not your Web site, but other people's Web sites. Professional authors balk at the idea of providing free content. They have attacked the idea in more than one forum. On the one hand, they are making a living from their writing. They would not expect a housepainter to paint houses for free, so why should anyone expect them to write for free? That's true. But unfortunately if you're serious about building name visibility on the Internet you have to accept that most commercial Web sites are not making money. They cannot afford to pay people to write for them, beyond their own staffs.
Yes, there once were thousands of sites which do pay. But these sites pretty much died out with the dot-com meltdown. Some sites do continue to pay, and there are occasional new startups. There is one rule on the Internet that professional writers haven't yet come to grips with: people do not pay you to promote your Web site on their Web site.
You have to sort your priorities. If you're just going to write for paying markets, then there are some on the Web but they come and go. And the competition for their money is fierce. You'll be going up against experienced professionals who have a better shot at getting paid than you do. By excluding free content from your list of marketing tools, you virtually sign off on 99% of potential marketing opportunities. You stack the odds against building name visibility for yourself. Think long and hard before you do that. You've made the decision to market a book on the Internet, and the rules are different here.
And yet, a desire to build name visibility doesn't mean you should answer the call for free fiction every time someone announces a new Web site. Free content doesn't have to consist of stories or long How-to articles. Consider writing letters to editors of popular Web sites, where mentioning your book is relevant to the topic. Consider writing book reviews for popular online stores. Think about contributing lists and tidbits to newsletters or other services.
Anything where you can add the plug, "Michael Martinez is the author of Visualizing Middle-earth and Parma Endorion" or "Michael Martinez, http://www.xenite.org/" is helpful. People will notice.
Write guest editorials, even if they are for free. Don't be an unpaid snob. Make yourself a visible writer and don't tell people whether you got paid for that review or not. In some cases it's obvious you've been paid. In other cases it's not. But it's no one's business if you have or haven't been paid. (As an aside, many paying contracts don't even grant you name visibility -- there is a lot of work-for-hire writing on the Internet. I know this from experience.)
Name visibility can be achieved by helping to edit a section of a popular Web site. You may get nothing but a lot of compliments in way of payment, but you are putting yourself out there where people will see your name.
Name visibility is also achieved by some fan fiction authors. That is not to say you should start writing fan fiction to build name visibility, but if you already write fan fiction, you should consider writing it under your own name. Xena fan fiction writer Melissa Good built up name recognition while writing for fun. She went on to publish a book, Tropical Storm, which has performed well (more than 1,000 copies were sold within a matter of months when the book was first published in 1998). Missy didn't write to get rich, or even to sell a book. She just loved to write. But she kept writing and eventually she had the readership she needed to make the transition to being paid for writing.
Do you need a Web site to market your book? Absolutely. It's a necessary part of the process. But if you haven't got the name recognition of Stephen King, you cannot stop at creating a Web site. Traditionally published authors have huge marketing machines working for them. Even a non-performing book should sell a few thousand titles before it's done. The Internet may help the author of a low-selling book move more copies, but only if the author builds name visibility.
The Internet is not really an alternative to other means of promoting books. If you're self-promoting and you have no money, the Internet may be your only option. But once you start getting some money from your book you need to look at other means of promotion. The Internet is still being built. The most effective promotion for Web sites is still offline promotion: print and broadcast advertisement, including URLs on business cards, stationary, brochures, flyers, etc.
What does it take to build name visibility?
The first step is to create your Web site. Check out the Web design and promotion tutorials at ePubnews.com for more information about this. You have to give people reasons to visit your Web site, which means you have to design it so that it ranks well in search engines for important (popular) search terms, you have to join Webrings, and you have to promote your Web site in your signature if you participate in discussion forums.
As part of the process of building traffic, sign up for a free banner exchange (or two) on your Web site. But don't submit banners to the exchange until you have earned at least 1,000 credits. 2,000 is better. You want to come out with a bang, not a whimper. The more often people see your banner, the more likely they are to remember it. And if your name is on your banner, all the better. But you need to make sure that banner is seen all over the place when it first starts showing. And also be sure to target where the banner is displayed, so that it is more likely to reach potential readers.
Consider purchasing banner ads, but don't do so without doing careful research. Target the banner ads to specific Web sites which address the audience you are approaching. And you may want to wait until you have earned some money from your book to do this. Banner ads can be purchased for as little as $50.00 for 5,000 (rates vary). Some people can easily afford to lose $50.00, but that's still a big expense for many of us. Be sure you understand what the banner is supposed to do: build your name visibility. Don't worry about click-through rates. Chances are only 1 in 200 that people will click on that banner. You're not going to make money by buying banner ads. The big corporations aren't so don't expect to do it yourself.
Consider purchasing keyword placements at services like Overture and Google. You only pay for click-throughs, but it's important to pick a good keyword, title, and description to pre-qualify click-throughs. You don't want to pay to have disinterested people click through to your site. And, again, wait until you've made some money from your book to reinvest. And if Amazon is still selling book exposures, consider paying them (but choose your keywords VERY carefully -- if they are too broad, you'll burn through a LOT of money quickly and ineffectively).
Any promotion you engage in should always mention three things: your name, your book's title, and what the subject or category of the book is. Whether you pay for the promotion, get paid for it, or just do it for free, if you have an opportunity to discretely tell people you have published a book, do so. Even if you cannot include the URL of your Web site, make sure they know your name and the book's title so they can search for it. No one else is going to tell them about you and your book. You have to do that yourself.
