Hi, everyone:
A friend of mine recently blogged about the spate of articles working their way around the news and blogosphere. I stumbled across one on The Verge called "How authors are buying their way to the top of the bestseller lists" by Carl Franzen. I'm not going to link to my friend's blog, because on this rare occasion she and I disagree, and I would never want to use our differing opinion as a point of discussion. Rather, I'd prefer to point out the issue itself.
In Carl Franzen's article, he points out that some well-to-do authors and many publishers often arrange large purchases of their books upon release. These purchases can happen through corporate contacts, other private parties, the authors themselves or even companies that specialize in getting books a position on the NY Times, Wall Street Journal or other popular bestseller lists. One such company "ResultSource" will accept payment to then go out and buy up books all around the country in whatever quantity they have determined will get that book on one or more particular bestseller lists. My friend pointed out that this is "cheating" or gaming the system, and she is of course right. However, when it comes to marketing there really aren't a lot of rules.
I think we indies are at a disadvantage specifically because we somehow imagine that publishing is different than any other industry. That we somehow imagine there is such a thing as fair in the world of marketing. For an author to be successful, she or he must first be noticed and then turn that notice into a ton of book sales. Big publishers and wealthy/connected authors, like John Locke, absolutely do have an advantage in that they can afford to use "self-purchases" to buy themselves notice via bestseller lists...but in the end they only make money if they can hold an audience.
I read a part of the original article a day or two ago, and it went on to say that many of these "purchased" bestseller spots go from thousands of copies one week to basically nothing the next. What that means is that many of those rigging the system are losing money doing it. Only those books that earn word-of-mouth sales actually go on to establish themselves in the long-term.
So, what I fail to understand is the outrage. Celebrities also rig the system with their name-recognition as do the subjects of news and crises stories. What about Aaron Ralston, the man who cut of his arm after being pinned by a boulder while hiking? He has book and movie deals stretching from now to the end of time. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger is another prime example. He crash landed his US Airways Airbus A320-214 plane on the Hudson River, saving all 155 people on board. Though obviously not intentional, he became an instant celebrity with more book offers than most of us could ever dream of.
What I'm saying is that I think we automatically lose by assuming that any author launching pad is "cheating." Wouldn't it be much more constructive if we accepted that getting a large audience to notice us is part of our job? Wouldn't it be more advantageous for us if we chose to learn from all successful methods of getting that notice? Rather than demonizing those wins, maybe we should share ideas on how we could achieve the same thing with lower budgets and less connections. Of course, it is perfectly acceptable to earn our stripes, as most of us are currently doing, but I don't begrudge any author who has found a way to leap to the top by an alternative method.
Maybe we could all use a dose of "how can I replicate that" rather than "that is cheating." I have no doubt that some of us are good enough that if we found an alternative launching pad, our work would hold an audience thereafter. Of course, I absolutely respect alternative opinions.
'Hope the comments are helpful, even if only to secure the opposing point-of-view :-)
A friend of mine recently blogged about the spate of articles working their way around the news and blogosphere. I stumbled across one on The Verge called "How authors are buying their way to the top of the bestseller lists" by Carl Franzen. I'm not going to link to my friend's blog, because on this rare occasion she and I disagree, and I would never want to use our differing opinion as a point of discussion. Rather, I'd prefer to point out the issue itself.
In Carl Franzen's article, he points out that some well-to-do authors and many publishers often arrange large purchases of their books upon release. These purchases can happen through corporate contacts, other private parties, the authors themselves or even companies that specialize in getting books a position on the NY Times, Wall Street Journal or other popular bestseller lists. One such company "ResultSource" will accept payment to then go out and buy up books all around the country in whatever quantity they have determined will get that book on one or more particular bestseller lists. My friend pointed out that this is "cheating" or gaming the system, and she is of course right. However, when it comes to marketing there really aren't a lot of rules.
I think we indies are at a disadvantage specifically because we somehow imagine that publishing is different than any other industry. That we somehow imagine there is such a thing as fair in the world of marketing. For an author to be successful, she or he must first be noticed and then turn that notice into a ton of book sales. Big publishers and wealthy/connected authors, like John Locke, absolutely do have an advantage in that they can afford to use "self-purchases" to buy themselves notice via bestseller lists...but in the end they only make money if they can hold an audience.
I read a part of the original article a day or two ago, and it went on to say that many of these "purchased" bestseller spots go from thousands of copies one week to basically nothing the next. What that means is that many of those rigging the system are losing money doing it. Only those books that earn word-of-mouth sales actually go on to establish themselves in the long-term.
So, what I fail to understand is the outrage. Celebrities also rig the system with their name-recognition as do the subjects of news and crises stories. What about Aaron Ralston, the man who cut of his arm after being pinned by a boulder while hiking? He has book and movie deals stretching from now to the end of time. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger is another prime example. He crash landed his US Airways Airbus A320-214 plane on the Hudson River, saving all 155 people on board. Though obviously not intentional, he became an instant celebrity with more book offers than most of us could ever dream of.
What I'm saying is that I think we automatically lose by assuming that any author launching pad is "cheating." Wouldn't it be much more constructive if we accepted that getting a large audience to notice us is part of our job? Wouldn't it be more advantageous for us if we chose to learn from all successful methods of getting that notice? Rather than demonizing those wins, maybe we should share ideas on how we could achieve the same thing with lower budgets and less connections. Of course, it is perfectly acceptable to earn our stripes, as most of us are currently doing, but I don't begrudge any author who has found a way to leap to the top by an alternative method.
Maybe we could all use a dose of "how can I replicate that" rather than "that is cheating." I have no doubt that some of us are good enough that if we found an alternative launching pad, our work would hold an audience thereafter. Of course, I absolutely respect alternative opinions.
'Hope the comments are helpful, even if only to secure the opposing point-of-view :-)
The problem with this kind of cheating is that it cheats not only the non-cheating writer, it cheats the reader who gets cheated out of his money. That helps none of us. If we all started doing it, then publishing would be chaos, and we'd all lose.
ReplyDeleteOops, I keep forgetting to hit reply. So, here's my post a second time:
DeleteRichard, I think your point is well-taken. I don't disagree with your assessment. Unfortunately, this kind of cheating has been going on for decades if not longer. I just wonder if maybe we indies should accept that this form of "jumping to the top" exists and that we are ceding the field to those "cheaters" by claiming outrage rather than taking advantage of the situation as it is. For instance, maybe you or I cannot afford to buy a gazillion copies of our books next week, but maybe we can start a charity, paint the side of a four-story building with our bookcover (and make the news), march across four states with a parade float advertising our book(s) and so on. Again, you and my friend are correct...but being correct doesn't change things. I say we should go out and create our own ladder to be noticed rather than worry that someone else's ladder wasn't fair.
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ReplyDeleteI have no problem with ligitimate advertising. Advertise away. That's not cheating. But doing those other things, buying a million of your own books to jump to the top of the best seller list, that sort of thing, is deceptive. Of course, you can find fine lines in which we all maybe exaggerate a bit, things of that nature. No one's perfect. But there is a difference between those things and the things you described in your post. I see nothing wrong with painting the cover of your book on the side of a building, or building a parade float around your book. Go for it. Just don't say on the building that a million people have purchased this book when in fact it was you or your publisher who purchased them. This is a bit rambling. It's not so cut and dry.
ReplyDeleteI like your designated line, Richard, and I really do agree. I suppose my argument isn't so much that you and I should be "buying a position on the bestseller list" so much that our energies might be better focused on finding a method to be noticed that works for us. I similarly defended John Locke and others who built buzz with purchased reviews and by pretending to be more than one person on social networking sites, solely for the purpose of building "buzz" and sales for their books. I was not angry when I heard it. At the same time, I would not do either of those things. In short, you're right. Wrong is wrong. I just think we should ignore whatever is wrong and legal and focus our energies, instead, on creating right and legal opportunities for ourselves. Thanks for taking so much time to flesh out the issue, Richard :-)
DeleteThe "how to replicate" is the problem - where is that launching pad? Wish I had the answer to that.
ReplyDeleteDarlene: In that simple statement, you have summed up my entire thought about this. We all would do much better spending our time sharing ideas about proper launching pads versus worrying about improper ones. One earns us success, while the other just muddies our time and energy...and sometimes can do us damage.
DeleteA perfect example would be the tagging on Amazon books in the US. Some people abused the option and started posting negative or other improper tags, so Amazon removed them...while also removing yet another tool indies had to get noticed. In other words, people got concerned about "the other guy" and wound up losing for themselves. Maybe an upcoming post should be about marketing ideas, the more outrageous the better. It might be fun to see how many get shared and tried :-)
Oh heavens yes, this has been going on forever. Either sleeping a way to the top, or buying your way... but the wheat is always separated from the chaff over time, whether it's acting, writing or what have you.
ReplyDeleteI like those ideas -- might have to look for a "caboose" to paint with my book cover. ;-)
Meg, I want to be the first one to promote your big marketing push. Let me know the whens and whats :-) Thanks for stopping by!
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ReplyDeleteTim, it is a very interesting topic. If we just lay aside the "cheating" or "gaming the system" issues, we come down to the simple question of what authors can do to gain an advantage in the market place. I think it is obvious that many marketing models simply don't work in the digital world. I know because I have tried a lot of them as have many other Indie writers. What does work are targeted email promotions. A handful of people and companies are experimenting with ways to crack that nut. It takes time, work and money to do it. But at the end of the day it is a way to put your book in front of the readers most likely to buy it. Without celebrity to fuel sales the old fashioned direct mail approach is still the best thing going. And the sales from direct email marketing accomplish the same thing as gaming the system, i.e., they bring the Amazon algorithms into play so that Amazon helps you sell books.
ReplyDeleteI suppose some might say that even the targeted email approach is not a purist one in which authors' books rise to the top because of some notion about cream. But the truth is, as you point out so well, that without marketing books are invisible. The key is to build a launch pad that you can use time and time again to keep the buzz going about your books instead of utilizing a one-shot strategy. That one shot may elevate book sales for a short time, but the effect will soon wear off. What happens then? Nothing unless you have the infrastructure in place.
Stephen, both you and Meg really highlight the main point I was trying to get at: if we focus on positive marketing rather than negative views of other people's marketing, we are bound to come out ahead. I'm especially fascinated by your mention of targeted emails. I hope you'll share details as you learn more. I'd also welcome you for a guest blog to let us all know about it. In any event, I really appreciate you weighing in on the debate. If we stay positive and engaged, we're destined to win :-)
DeleteThanks, Tim. My partner at Venture Galleries, Caleb Pirtle, and I are working on the email approach now with some testing, etc. Once we have the system in good shape, I will give you an update. I suspect it will take us a couple of months to get the kinks worked out, but I am confident that it will be a winning approach to marketing because I have already seen it at work on a limited basis. We want to give authors a tried and true method with a good track record before we begin touting it. Drop me a note at sw@stephenwoodfin.net and I will make a note to keep you in the loop. SW
DeleteThanks, Stephen. I just sent you an email. I think too many of us get into the mindset that marketing is bad or taboo and somehow degrades our art and product. In truth, as has been stated so many times here, art for art's sake is fine but marketing is required if we want our art to be appreciated. I hope your mail list approach turns out to be a big key to success :-)
DeleteGreat post and comments.
ReplyDeleteCheating is cheating. Did Locke's books go on to success after he was found out?
I've read some books by popular authors that must have sold on momentum of name alone.
Marketing seems to be unavoidable.
One more challenge.
So be it.
louise3anne twitter
Hi, Louise. Thanks so much for stopping by. John Locke is a pretty huge success and continues to do well. He was the first self-published author to sell 1 million ebooks on Amazon. He has since received a contract to sell print books through a major publisher, yet still publishes the ebooks himself.
DeleteI think you really have hit on an important point. Big name authors can kick back once they have an audience (unless they really screw up and disappoint those readers). The rest of us have to gather an audience first.