I Can’t Market a Dreadful Book—And Neither Can You
When you think of marketing, what comes to mind? Maybe . . .
- Social media
- Email list
- Blogging
- Speaking
- Book reviews
- Book promotion sites
- Book ambassadors (fangirls)
For most authors, there are some other things that come to mind:
- 101 questions about social media: “Why do I need hashtags?”
- Money flying out the window: “Is this Facebook ad even working?”
- Beads of sweat running down your forehead: “Is a 7% open rate on MailChimp good? That’s good, right? Right?!”
- Sheer panic: “I am not a marketer. I have no clue what’s happening. SOMEONE HELP ME!”
It’s okay — I hear that often. And so far, I’ve been able to keep my clients very happy when it comes to marketing their books.
But do you want me to tell you a little secret about marketing?
Even if you master Facebook ads, land a BookBub every other week, have 10,000 email subscribers, flaunt a thousand views a day on your blog, and have that coveted blue checkmark on your Twitter account . . .
Even if you have the master marketer Seth Godin himself launch your book, it won’t matter if your book stinks like rotten eggs.
You must have something that’s actually marketable — something desirable, worthy of being read — if you’re going to drive down Marketing Freeway.
So why would I turn down certain marketing projects that could keep my bank account cushy?
Because I cannot market a dreadful book.
And neither can you.
It is a complete waste of money and time to market something that no one wants.
So how do you know if you wrote a bad book? That’s not really something that follows a formula, exactly, but there are some things to consider:
1. What experience do you have in writing? Is this book the first thing you’ve ever written in your entire life?
2. Has anyone other than your mom read the book? Any beta readers? What did they think of it?
3. Was it ever edited — again, by anyone other than your mom?
4. Did you “borrow an idea from another book and make it your own”? Cough. Plagiarize?
5. Is the entire book a mishmash of madness, with underlining and all caps and gigantic blocks of unreadable text awaiting the reader? (AKA: Amateur stuff.)
6. Have you ever studied up on your genre?
7. Do you eat up as many books as possible in your genre?
8. Are you open to criticism? If not, that might be a problem.
9. Do you think what you wrote is the greatest book ever written? That there’s nothing wrong with it?
If you want to know if your book smells like rotten eggs (or maybe you don’t), send it to a few beta readers who read in your genre. Or if you’ve already published your book and everyone on Amazon keeps telling you they hate your book (ouch), then let’s talk, okay? I can help!
An expert editor, seasoned writer, and author-centric coach, Shayla Eaton works one-on-one with self-published authors, having edited three hundred books. She is the president of Curiouser Editing, where she offers top-notch publishing guidance for authors and their books.
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(Note: This originally appeared on Curiouser Editing’s weekly emails.)
