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Self-publishing doesn't count. Discuss

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  • My experiences with Marketing are generally poor. Large publishers in particular seem allocate a week or so to promote a particular book and then move on the next. It's a production line and naturally they have no personal stake in the success or failure of a book the author has lived with for (possibly) years.

    I was once sent by Marketing to an event in a bookshop (I had to pay my own train fare) and arrived after a four hour journey to discover that the shop had no copies of my book in stock. The publisher had forgotten to liaise with the shop.

    And don't get me started on agents. I've been told so many times that that book I've written doesn't exist as a genre or that readers "don't like that kind of thing." What they really mean is that they haven't read – or haven't heard of – the bestselling authors in that genre.
  • I've had good marketing. Posters, book marks, adverts, Tweets, lovely postcards, in little packs with an orange band round with pictures from the book, all different. i've had postcards from all my pulishers of all my books bar one. These are replenished if I want more. We've had offers of train fares for all sorts of thing, visiting the publisher to discuss stuff, I've had a hotel booked in Cheltenham for me and my writing partner and our editor and a meal booked in a nice restaurant (told this morning) and my train fare will be paid and any expenses... what i thought was, the books must be making money! Maybe that's the thing. you have to make enough to make it worth their while.
  • GeraldQ said:
    I've been told so many times that that book I've written doesn't exist as a genre or that readers "don't like that kind of thing." What they really mean is that they haven't read – or haven't heard of – the bestselling authors in that genre.
    Perhaps it's not quite hitting that genre target, Gerald?

    GeraldQ said:
    I was once sent by Marketing to an event in a bookshop (I had to pay my own train fare) and arrived after a four hour journey to discover that the shop had no copies of my book in stock. The publisher had forgotten to liaise with the shop.
    Unacceptable! Presumably they compensated you? I'm surprised the shop didn't query why an author was attending an event for a book they didn't stock.
  • You do have to wonder whether they are actually any goos at the rest of their job, don't you. 
  • Absolutely. If they've gone to the trouble of advertising the event, printing posters and sharing it on social media, the least they could do is deliver the books. I really am shocked that the store didn't alert the publisher. 
  • In the case of the bookshop, they didn't even know I was coming. They were very apologetic

  • Perhaps it's not quite hitting that genre target, Gerald?

    It's a mystery to me. My last book was turned down by a lot of publishers before finding a home and it was interesting how the eventual readers praised everything the rejecting publishers didn't like.

    Sometimes I question how well publishers know their market. My first book ten years ago was published alongside a book that had received a million-dollar advance. That other book received the kind of publicity most of us dream of – TV, radio, reviews galore – but vanished without a trace. Apparently nobody liked it. (My own first novel didn't set the bookshelves on fire, but it did sell more than Gary Barlow's first biography and his advance was enough to buy a house).

  • GeraldQ said:
    In the case of the bookshop, they didn't even know I was coming. They were very apologetic
    Well, I know it's too late now, but I would never leave the house without confirmation from the venue. Also, I would want to have shared their publicity on social media before the event. That would have highlighted the problem. 
  • Yes, I always liaise with the bookseller about books or the publisher to check they have been sent. 
  • Hindsight, eh? In G's defence, I would probably have done the same as him and trusted my publisher.
  • I've heard similar from another writer. Came down to the person who was supposed to coordinate not doing it.
  • Claudia said:
    Hindsight, eh? In G's defence, I would probably have done the same as him and trusted my publisher.
    I wouldn't have. At the very least I'd expect a confirmation email fowarded from the publisher they'd received from the book store. I often visit different venues to deliver courses and it's the same thing, wouldn't dream of setting off without being 100% sure where I was going and why. 
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