Reasonable Book Promotion

I received an interesting piece of mail the other day. An author (who will remain nameless) sent a glossy, two-sided postcard, a glossy 5x7 photograph (signed, no less), a business card, and a "special extra" item related to his/her forthcoming book. A small press (with which I am unfamiliar) is releasing the book.

I was unfamiliar with the author or book before receiving the mailing.

I'm not going to buy it.

Yes, you have to promote your work for people to discover it. Of course. But take this anonymous author's work for example. The glossy, two-sided postcards aren't cheap. Add the photo, business card (glossy and full color), and the bonus item--not to mention the first class postage and envelope... Well, there was probably a good dollar's worth of stuff in that envelope (and that doesn't include the stamp).

Reasonable promotion? Not hardly--I don't know what anonymous author's percentage is, but considering a mass mailing will not have a very high success rate, I can't imagine it paying off.

Promotion should pay off. Writing is a business. Business is about making profit. If expenditures outstrip income, well... Find another business. I mailed a bunch of bookmarks, press releases, and review copies of Loathsome, Dark and Deep when it was released. You know what? With my latest royalty check, I've almost paid for my "promotion". I think the review copies (I mailed about ten), netted three or four reviews. Not good business sense, but I've learned.

Too many self-styled Indie-writers focus too much energy on the promotion of their books. Yes, promotion is necessary, but not as necessary as a good book. Are you getting what you "pay" for in terms of book promotion? Remember, your time has value, too. Time spent promoting is time away from writing. Or hanging out with your family. Or some other worthwhile pastime.

So I'll mention two new releases of mine, collections of stories (reprints from the small press with a few new nuggets tossed in):

The twelve stories in These Darkened Streets play on the foggy boundary between horror and magical realism . You'll find shivers here, dear reader, and other, more thought-provoking flights of imagination all set in small towns with dark, quiet streets...


A Feast of Flesh: Tales of undead fiends, bloodthirsty monsters, and hideous nightmare-ghouls waiting to rend and tear human flesh...

I'll mention them, but for now, that's about all. I have more stories to write.

Have a lovely day.

The Going Price for Lawn Service (and E-books)

Read KV Taylor's brilliant post about pricing to understand my inspiration.

Back in the summer of 1988, my brother and I started a lawn service. He'd taken care of several lawns when he was in high school in the late '70s/early '80s, and figured I needed a job. I was fresh out of seventh grade and wanted a Nintendo (original 8-bit variety).

Our base price? $5 a lawn. The going rate at the time started at $10. Of course we charged more for bigger lawns, but never more than $15. We worked together. He mowed around trees and did the trimming; I tackled the big, wide-open spaces. It was hard work. By mid July, I had my Nintendo.

Why charge less than competitors?

Volume, I guess. At the apex of our business, we managed something like 35 lawns a week.

Here's the e-book connection: volume = more readers. More readers means more potential fans. More potential fans means more potential "built-in" sales for your next book.

I've just released Borrowed Saints at $2.99. It's a YA novel, right around 50,000 words, and I spent plenty of time polishing it. Sales have been weak. Very weak. Sure, I need to so some more promotion, etc. Whatever one wants to argue about value and how much a consumer should pay--I believe e-book readers have come to expect $0.99 books from Indies. I didn't start it, and I sure didn't make it happen by myself.

Let's look at the math:

One e-book at $2.99 nets the author around $2 at 70% royalty rate. An author would need to sell six times as many books at $0.99 cents (35% royalty) to make (roughly) the same amount of money.

The math seems to argue for the higher rate, right?

But I think something else is going on, something more important. Even if you only make four sales at $0.99 to each one at $2.99, you've quadrupled your readers (or potential fans). Yes, less money now, but more potential money in the future. Like an investment, right?

When VT managed The House Eaters I sold one e-book at $4.99 in two months. Since they folded, I've sold more than 30 in a month. And yes, I'm only selling it for $0.99.

Volume can work wonders, even at very low prices.

Victorine E. Lieske has sold more than 100,000 copies of Not What She Seems at $0.99. That's a success story I'd take all the way to the bank. Granted, I don't write in the same genre and Victorine has spent a good amount of time marketing her book. But wow.

So what will I do with Borrowed Saints? What do you think I should do?

(Well, I did redo the cover. It will take a while to show on Amazon.)