Marketing – Trepidation, Trials but some Wonderful Triumphs

By Jemima Lawrence – Octangle Media Consultancy.

Despite a career in front of corporate clients, Alexander found the experience of marketing his book one filled with trepidation.

“Is it any good?”, he would mull. “Feels strange asking anyone to part with their money and time if it’s a dud!”

“And how do I describe what it’s about in a couple of sentences?” he continued in a tone shrouded in doubt.

As with the beta readers, all the initial reader feedback had focused on different facets of the plot – a psychological thriller, a study in manipulation, an angst-ridden breakdown, the brittleness of love, a tour of colourful global locations, a deep insight into corporate motivations..

“How do I capture all that?”, Alexander would muse, “and try to guess which aspect would appeal most to a customer, without making it sound like all too much.”

Alexander got his first taste of talking to new customers when the local bookstore offered to host a launch event. More importantly, he sold out all his copies. This led to a handful of further events locally, and invitations to book clubs. He also featured in local publications and was invited to a radio interview.

After a few months the first print run sold out, and with his confidence growing, he started to approach other bookshops, always somewhat timidly expecting to be given short shrift.

However, his success exceeded his expectations, and he would be flattered to see his book in many independents as well as in a number of branches of Waterstones, Hatchards, Foyles, Daunts, and Blackwell's. He was even able to persuade some outlets across Europe.

Sometimes they also invited him to do a signing. He started to develop his marketing spiel and enjoy talking to customers and readers.

“So how do you feel now?” I asked.

Pretty good, he said, adding he wished he had had the confidence to have started the personal marketing earlier. But he noted there was little consistency in who stocked his book and who declined. In fact, the same shop could give a different outcome on a second or third visit with a different manager.

“Now rather than being elated with a yes, I’ve actually started to feel a little disappointed when someone says no,” he smiled, “especially if they say the book has been on release too long, or that it didn’t have a big corporate marketing machine behind it.

“Even with the book on shelves in store, other than with signings, it is hard to see why anyone would select it amongst other much more famous works. There are these blogs on social media but it's impossible to know what, if anything, works.”

Some marketing experts and bloggers had approached Alexander, but again it was impossible to know which investment would be worth it. And the whole industry is not helped with the prevalence of scammers.

And trying to get readers to post positive feedback as reviews wasn’t so easy either – at times it felt like desperate pleading, he would mutter.

“It’s been a lot of hard work – all the book shop visits, the signings, the book clubs, the blogs, buying coffees in exchange for a potential review. All fun but at times, also quite tortuous.”