February 8, 2009

I sat down last night to finally go through a stack of writers’ magazines and other periodicals that had accumulated. I looked forward to browsing, flipping leisurely through the pages, stopping when a title caught my eye.

So why was I fuming within thirty seconds? All that infernal marketing done with post card-type inserts stuck into the center spine. I hate them! I ripped out NINE such inserts in one magazine alone. The stack of worthless garbage litters the floor as I fume.

Viral Marketing?

All those annoying ads make it impossible to leaf through your magazine. Instead of the pages fluttering nicely, they jerk by in clumps unless you take the time first to go through and yank the ads out. They’re tucked in everywhere! Am I the only one who gets annoyed by those inserts? It makes me want to boycott their products–not buy them.

Hawking wares–telling people about your product repeatedly–never works on me. I only find it annoying. I’m affected the same way by ads that pop up constantly for the same product when I’m Googling for information, or email campaigns even from my friends. I know that when a new book comes out, you’re supposed to blitz people with “see my new book!” and “watch my new trailer!” and “join me for a free teleseminar!” and “view my podcast!” and “meet the author!” and “read my guest blog tour!” Maybe it works for other people, but I just end up feeling nagged and put off.

Where’s the Balance?

I know you need to advertise. It’s important to be willing to help with marketing your books in this publishing day and age. And yet you don’t want to cross over from intriguing a buyer into annoying him. How do you decide where to draw the line?

April 21, 2008

Chip MacGregor of MacGregor Literary has some great marketing wisdom that he shared in two guest articles recently. I’d suggest printing them out if you keep a marketing notebook. There’s a a lot of great stuff here. Chip is a savvy literary agent, but he’s also a writer, and a former editor and publisher, so he can see book marketing from every angle. Here, then, are some great marketing insights from an industry insider, courtesy of the We Can! market out books blog.

“Words of Wisdom” gives you the first five steps with explanations.
“Words of Wisdom” Part 2 gives you steps six through ten.