The difference between "push" and "pull" marketing in book publishing

Having worked with hundreds of authors I can say there are few who understand the differences between marketing a typical small press book and one published by a New York publishing house.

First, a major New York publisher has the ability of placing huge numbers of books in brick n' mortar stores while smaller presses try to avoid all the hoopla and instead publish books that appeal to a distinct market niche. This is because the book business differs from most because it is an industry that allows retailers to return unsold books for credit. And since small presses use distributors (rather than selling direct as many larger publishers do) a book that is returned is generally replaced by one from another publisher while books sold by the big houses are replenished by books they themselves publish. That in itself is huge when it comes to a publisher's bottom line.

What large publishers do is "push" massive numbers of books into the marketplace with the hope a good number will sell. If they don't they can always replace one book title with another.

Smaller publishers instead try to create demand for a book prior to producing large numbers with the hope customers will become interested and order a copy. Classic "pull" marketing.

For pull marketing to work a book needs to create interest through events (such as signings and speaking engagements) or occupy a distinct market niche that is search friendly.

Both push and pull marketing are viable ways to market books. The important thing for prospective authors for them to determine which will work best in their own situation. For example, if you have written the next great novel, but do not want to be bothered with marketing it, then you will want to hire an agent and pursue a major publishing house. If, however, you like getting up in front of a crowd, have a way to engage the public and realize your book has its own distinct niche, then you might better pursue a small press or self publish because you will be far more successful than if published by a major publishing house.

Bottom line: There are viable opportunities with both the push marketing of a major publisher and the pull marketing of smaller presses or self publishing. Key is knowing the difference between the two types of marketing and not trying to force the wrong kind of marketing into the marketplace.

The price of chasing your dreams

There are over two thousand Olympic athletes gathered from around the world in Vancouver for the 2010 games. Each athlete has a story and most have involved great sacrifice on the part of their families, friends and themselves. One such athlete is twenty-nine-year-old pairs skater Mark Ladwig who, with partner Amanda Evora, placed tenth in this years' Olympics.

Mark Ladwig was born and raised in Moorhead, MN, just across the Missouri River from Fargo, North Dakota. Like many kids in his town, Mark first laced on skates to play hockey but switched to figure skating when he was twelve. While in high school he met future wife Janet and they attended prom together, but just as friends. After graduation they stayed friends as Janet went on to college at North Dakota State and Mark pursued his dream to become a Olympic skater and moved to Bradenton, Florida to begin training at the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex. They married in 2006 and their son Holden was born this past September.

Since leaving home ten years ago, Mark has worked as a busboy and server in several restaurants, driven the Zamboni at the ice arena and even was a part time disc jokey at a country radio station all the while training full time. A typical day finds him starting his training at 7 a.m. completing just in time to work at the Beach Bistro restaurant from 4 p.m. to midnight. Wife Janet worked as an interior designer until being laid off early in 2009 eventually taking a job at a local Target store. To pay for his training, which runs about twenty-thousand dollars a year, the couple has had to juggle finances and credit cards plus work odd jobs to make ends meet.

Mark and Janet Ladwig are just one example of what it takes to chase a dream.

In publishing, each day I receive several submissions from prospective authors. While some understand what it takes to achieve their dreams it is amazing how many have no idea that the road to publishing success is filled with hard work, sacrifice and even street smarts. Writing a book is just the beginning. Making the book content as good as can be requires a talented support team of editors, designers and proofers. Success in the marketplace is often dependent on the author's willingness to invest in and to work countless hours to get his or her book content in front of the right audience. It is every bit as difficult as the dream millions have of one day becoming an Olympian.

Take away questions:

• What are your dreams?
• Are they realistic?
• How are you pursuing them?
• Do you have the willingness and determination to chase your dreams?

Final thought:

Ray dropped out of school at fifteen. He had many jobs from ambulance driver to salesman. In his early fifties he decided to chase his dream and talked the owners of a California drive-in restaurant to sell him a franchise. Today the restaurant chain Ray Kroc founded, McDonalds, has over 31,000 restaurants serving 47 million customers each day.

Don't give up, it is never too late to chase your dreams.

How will the iPad affect book publishing

I don't know about the rest of the world, but this past Wednesday I was following the minute-by-minute reports posted by CNBC covering the announcement of Apple's iPad. As an Apple devotee and a Mac user since the mid 1980s, I have learned that Steve Jobs is a visionary leader whose company produces products that work right out of the box. Every Mac (or for that matter, iPod) I've owned has performed beautifully and held up nicely. As someone in publishing I also know that e-books represent the future of many genres of book publishing.

A couple years ago I was intrigued by the introduction of Amazon's Kindle book reader. I've followed published reports on the sales success it has had and have heard from many friends and colleagues who not only own one but also love it. Some of them thought they would never use it but soon found it to be indispensable. The only drawback for me is that the Kindle is a dedicated single-function device in a world that is increasingly wanting multiple functions in their technology products.

In contrast the iPad is a multi-use device combining a book reader with so much more. The iPad will also have an iBooks store that will operate much as iTunes does for music and videos.

The iPad display is full color with the capabilities of adding publisher content such as author interviews, study questions, videos, etc. This enhanced content will allow users to have an enriched book reading experience. Imagine, too, if audio were combined with the printed content so the user could switch between text and audio depending on what works for them at that moment. So, for example, let's say you are in the middle of a novel and needing to head to work. Imagine getting in your car and being able to listen to it? From a publishing perspective the capabilities are endless.

Bottom line: For book publishing the iPad represents disruptive technology at its finest. Roll over Guttenberg, the iPad is on its way.

Lessons from To Kill a Mockingbird

My favorite novel of all time is Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. I’m not alone in my adoration of her book. In fact a survey in 2008 in Britain ranked it above the Bible by respondents.

In the years since its publication in 1960 To Kill a Mockingbird has sold over 30 million copies, been translated into 40 languages and never has been out of print. Perennially it is on the New York Times top 100 books in terms of sales.

To put it mildly, To Kill a Mockingbird has been a phenomenal success.

From a marketing perspective what lessons can we learn from Harper Lee’s classic?

First, to provide a little context I’ve copied the following from its Wikipedia posting.

“Born in 1926, Harper Lee grew up in the Southern town of Monroeville, Alabama, where she became close friends with the soon-to-be famous writer Truman Capote. She attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery (1944–45), and then studied law at the University of Alabama (1945–49). While attending college, she wrote for campus literary magazines: Huntress at Huntingdon and the humor magazine Rammer Jammer at the University of Alabama. At both colleges, she wrote short stories and other works about racial injustice, a rarely mentioned topic on such campuses at the time.[3] In 1950, Lee moved to New York City, where she worked as a reservation clerk for British Overseas Airways Corporation; there, she began writing a collection of essays and short stories about people in Monroeville. Hoping to be published, Lee presented her writing in 1957 to a literary agent recommended by Capote. An editor at J. B. Lippincott advised her to quit the airline and concentrate on writing. Donations from friends allowed her to write uninterrupted for a year.[4]

Lee spent two and a half years writing To Kill a Mockingbird. A description of the book's creation by the National Endowment for the Arts relates an episode when Lee became so frustrated that she tossed the manuscript out the window into the snow. Her agent made her retrieve it.[5] The book was published on July 11, 1960. It was initially titled Atticus, but Lee renamed it to reflect a story that went beyond a character portrait.[6] The editorial team at Lippincott warned Lee that she would probably sell only several thousand copies.[7] In 1964, Lee recalled her hopes for the book when she said, "I never expected any sort of success with 'Mockingbird.' ... I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers but, at the same time, I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement. Public encouragement. I hoped for a little, as I said, but I got rather a whole lot, and in some ways this was just about as frightening as the quick, merciful death I'd expected."[8] Instead of a "quick and merciful death", Reader's Digest Condensed Books chose the book for reprinting in part, which gave it a wide readership immediately.[9] Since the original publication, the book has never been out of print.”

Discussion points:

• Note that Harper Lee took two and a half years to write her book proving the importance of dedication both in time and writing excellence manuscript. Marketing rule number one: there is no substitution for talent.

• Ms. Lee used her friendship with a well known friend, in this case Truman Copote, to gain access to a top literary agent. In return, her agent sold her work to a large New York publishing house. It is important to use whatever connections we have to reach our intended audience. Marketing rule number two: use your connections well.

• Her publisher was able to get her book into the hands of Reader’s Digest which, at that time, was the most influential publication in the book publishing world. From there the book went viral. Times have changed, today the blogosphere is the place to get the word out about a promising book. Marketing rule number three: going viral is key to sales success.

It would be presumptuous to think that the works written by most authors measure up to Harper Lee’s classic. But the takeaway points are instructive to everyone whether they are publishing a book or about to have a job interview.

In summary:

• Talent and determination are important
• Connections matter
• Getting the word out is vitally important

Big isn't always better

One of my favorite e-newsletters is Denny Hatch's Business Common Sense. Normally his newsletter is filled with great marketing ideas. However, his newsletter published this past week voiced his frustration with the self publisher he had recently signed with to publish his forthcoming book. He titled his article: Amazon.com: brilliant bookseller, lousy publisher. In his newsletter he shares his personal experience with BookSurge the self publishing unit of Amazon which is in the process of changing its name to CreateSpace. His frustration comes from the way Amazon.com handled the transition from BookSurge to CreateSpace in that his representative at BookSurge did not contact him personally to give him a head's up on the transition. Behind Denny's concern is the fact that the business of self publishing is huge and that the large players in the business (AuthorHouse, Lulu, iUniverse, etc.) are actually big impersonal companies who see authors as a commodity. While there is some merit to what these self publishing companies do many of their promises ring hollow.

In my opinion the reason so many authors are taken advantage of is that they expect their publisher to care as much about their work as they do. In reality most self publishing companies are only interested in selling their services and could care less about the quality of the author's work. Behind all their promises there is one driving force. It is greed, plain and simple. They lure an author with an unrealistic low price offer of some kind and then build a "relationship" over the phone and through email. They know exactly what the unsuspecting author is wanting to hear so they compliment the author on their work, tell the author how much money they are going to make and make the author believe that by publishing with them they will automatically sell their book to a waiting public. It reminds me of the old joke about the unsuspecting tourist buying the Brooklyn Bridge.

So what's an aspiring author to do?

From my experience there are many reasons to self publish a book. However, unfortunately, there are no short cuts to publishing success. A book has to be well written, expertly edited, wonderfully designed, perfectly printed and shamelessly promoted. To do this an author needs to partner with someone who can help them along the way to make good decisions based on facts not fiction.

Publishing a book is not rocket science. That said, publishing well is even more complicated in many ways. Using a formulaic program from a big self publishing corporation does not often end with good results. There is a reason for the "self" in self publishing. As a self published author you are the CEO of your own publishing venture. This means hiring the best for each aspect of the operation. You are not going to get what you intend by hiring amateurs to do the work of professionals.

Take away points:

• Self publishing can be a good thing if done well
• Never hire an amateur to do the work of a professional
• Don't believe what the salesperson at the self publishing company is telling you
• There are small niche custom publishers who can provide hands on professional help
• Always create a marketing plan before publishing so everyone involved understands your goals

Promoting my book is my publisher's job

When discussing the promotion of their book I've had several authors tell me that marketing is the responsibility of the publisher, not theirs. My response is that nothing could be further from the truth. Just look at what bestselling authors do to promote their books.

Mitch Albom author of the bestselling Tuesdays with Morrie, The 5 People You Meet in Heaven, For One More Day and the current New York Times Bestseller Have a Little Faith is a marketer's dream. Not only has he been a columnist for the past 24 years with The Detroit Free Press he also has his own syndicated radio program, is a regular contributor on ESPN and has founded three charities. Albom also has found time to launch his own website http://mitchalbom.com

Bestselling business advisor, Jim Collins author of Built to Last, Good to Great and the newly released How the Mighty Fall, started as a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He went on to found a management laboratory in Boulder, Colorado in order to conduct research and to train business executives. He uses his experience and connections from his management firm, articles he contributes to periodicals along with speaking engagements to promote his books. Collins maintains an active Web exposure at http://www.jimcollins.com

Novelist Nicholas Sparks was a pharmaceuticals rep writing in his spare time after being rejected from law school and a job working for a publisher. He was discovered by a literary agent who rescued his first novel from the slush pile. To promote his first book he traveled tirelessly around the country appearing at 56 events in 45 cities. The resulting word of mouth were instrumental in his novel moving up the bestseller list. Today he keeps his readers informed through his website and newsletter at http://www.nicholassparks.com

The truth is that behind the success of pretty much every successful author is an inspiring story of hard work, a bit of luck and tremendous talent.

Are there books that have achieved success without promotion on the part of the author? Yes, there are always exceptions to the rule. For example Walden by Henry David Thoreau which chronicles his two year experiment in living alone is an exception. So too, obviously, is The Diary of Anne Frank. But in most cases to be an exception to the rule requires an exceptional work coupled with exceptional circumstances.

Bottom line, if you are an author be prepared to tirelessly publicize your book. In fact, be prepared to take the lead role in the overall marketing of your book.

In future posts I'll discuss specific ways authors can market their books.

Takeaway points:

• Pretty much all bestselling authors take an active role in marketing their books

• It is essential to have your own book marketing plan

• Your marketing plan will determine whether you will maximize your income through traditional publishing, self-publishing or custom publishing