A Bad Choice

"That goat's milk was a bad choice!"

You don't have to watch my granddaughter's first comedy video to understand this blog post, but it will help.

Well, okay.  Watching the video won't help, but it's kind of fun, anyway.

This post is about bad choices.  Specifically, bad marketing choices.

Two years ago, almost to the day, I wrote to John Kehne, author of the official website for December 21, 2012, asking if I could place an ad for Zinovy's Journey with him.  It seemed like a great idea at the time.  His site was about the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it and so was my book.  People interested in that topic were already flocking to his website, even though the fateful end-of-time date was over two years away.  He confirmed, in our e-mail correspondence, that his site was receiving, at that time, over 6,000,000 page hits a month!

That's a huge target audience. 

Even considering that only a few of those six million readers would notice an ad, and not all of them would hit the view button, and even fewer would actually choose to buy the book, that's still a sizable market of potential buyers.  I was excited about the possibilities.

I gave John Kehne my elevator pitch, and he seemed to think Zinovy would fit in with other products he was selling, so I stashed the idea away in my file of marketing ideas and plunged on with the publication process.

Now, two years later, the book is published and ready to sell.  A few days ago, when I decided the time was right, I clicked into the 12/21/12 website and applied for a $150 banner ad. I'd already created a banner to the specs he required.  I was ready to go.

But the timing was not so right after all. 

The end of the world is now three months away. 

The topic is hot, and getting hotter all the time. 

And all the ad spaces in the website have been sold.

Now you might think, at this point, that my bad choice was to wait so long to place the ad.  That was my first thought.  But deeper in my consciousness an uncomfortable idea had been squirming around for quite some time.  

Almost from the beginning, I'd wondered about the wisdom of advertising a book set at the time of the coming of God's rule on earth on a website that said the world would end on December 21, 2012, just because the Mayan calendar ended on that date.

In my author's notes in the book I say that anyone who predicts a specific time for the end of the world is either deceived or deceiving. Strange bedfellows, my book and the December 21, 2012 website.

Sometimes what looks like a good idea, from a human perspective, is not a good idea from God's.  I believe my book has a future.  I believe it will find readers.  But I'm actually relieved this marketing door has slammed shut.  There will be other ways to get the word out.

I suspect every writer is confronted with the temptation to prostitute her work, or herself, at some point in the process of writing, publishing and marketing a book.  Perhaps at many points.  What that looks like will be different for every person.  What I might feel is prostitution might simply be good sense to someone else.  But the issue needs to be considered, for every honest writer.  

How much personal integrity am I willing to sacrifice to make my book a success? 

We need to consider that what appears to be a very sensible idea could end up being a bad choice.

Thinking Like a Publisher: Hot Button Topics

Self-publishing authors need to think like traditional publishers. 

AN EYE FOR GLORY

A couple of years ago I met a writer at the ACFW conference who had just finished a novel set in the time of the American Civil War.  We talked about the book, and it sounded interesting enough that I asked if I could read the manuscript.  He graciously consented and gave me a copy. 

The story idea was intriguing, about two soldiers, strangers on opposite sides of the war, meeting just before one of them dies at the hands of the other.  In his last moments, the dying man asks his killer to deliver a Bible to his loved ones back home. 

The story sounded like a winner, but I could tell from even the little I knew about fiction writing at that time that the manuscript would need some major revisions. I sent it back to my friend with suggestions about how he should change it and wished him well, but, in my great wisdom, I didn't think he'd succeed in his search for a publisher.

Within a few weeks he sent me word that the Zondervan editor he'd met at the conference had loved the manuscript and had offered him a contract.  Two years later, in 2011, An Eye for Glory came out and sold well.

The manuscript did need major revision.  I'm sure both Karl and his editor worked hard to make it publishable.  So why was the traditional publisher so keen to go with the book?

Because the Zondervan editor was alert to hot topics.

AN EYE FOR HOT TOPICS

In January, 1861, the south seceded from the Union and the American Civil War began. January 2011 was the 150th anniversary of that historical event.  Small towns all over the southern U.S. would be putting on pageants to celebrate the battles; museums would be setting up special book displays on the topic; and tourists would be streaming into the area all year.

Sue Brower, the savvy Zondervan editor who loved my friend's book, was looking ahead.  She knew, back in 2009, that by 2011, when the book would be published, they'd have a specific target audience big enough to make publication profitable.

Traditional publishers think into the future.  They have to, because publishing takes time.  At least two years if it's done right.  This is true for both traditional and self-publishing.  Though the actual publishing process can happen in days if you do it yourself, the editing, manuscript preparation, and marketing plans--all essential elements of a marketable product--take time. 

Zondervan's timing was perfect.  So was the editor's visionary eye.

A LITTLE MORE THAN A SHOT IN THE DARK

Such perfection doesn't always happen.  It's hard to predict trends and future events accurately.  But looking ahead is useful if you're wanting to produce a book that will appeal to enough readers to make your efforts worthwhile.  And gearing both your story and your marketing strategy toward that predicted trend or event can pay good dividends.  

Sometimes the marriage of story and hot topic happens without planning.  When I started writing Zinovy's Journey over 35 years ago, I had no idea what environment the book would be birthed into.  I wasn't even thinking ahead to publication.  I just knew I had to write this story about life on earth after the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it. 

The book was published in October of 2011, sliding neatly into the hot button atmosphere of end-of-the-world, doom-and-gloom predictions.  Two years ago, there were over 6,000,000 page hits a month on the official December 21, 2012 website.  I'm sure there are more today.  I'm preparing a strategic marketing blitz on that target audience between now and December 21st. 

PLANNING TOWARD HOT TOPICS

If you're planning to publish a book it makes sense to spend some time researching genre and reader market trends.  If you've got a manuscript ready to publish, even a few editorial tweaks could steer the story into more marketable directions.  

Google makes it easy to do this research, as usual.  In just a few minutes I found the following two websites.  There must be many more.  If you find some let me know.  I'll re-post any good sites you comment on.

Eleven Hot Topics Sci-Fi Isn't Afraid to Engage. 

Pew Research of Social Trends.

HOT ON THE TRAIL

We writers have to tell the story that's in us.  But if we want the story to resonate with readers, we need to spend a bit of time hot on their trail.  Hot button topics will help us find pathways that will benefit both ourselves and our readers.