In the February 3rd edition of the New York Times Sunday Book Review, Rachel Donadio writes in “Waiting for it” about the delay between turning in your finished manuscript for publication and the actual publication date. This delay is not measured in days or weeks for most authors, but in some cases is measured in YEARS!
“It’s not only buzz, it’s a product introduction — but with nothing like the advertising or marketing budget that a piece of soap would have,” said David Rosenthal, the publisher of Simon & Schuster. “With the Internet and blogs, word of mouth travels more quickly today, but there’s a glut of information. To help a book break through the static, publishers have to plan months in advance.”
In other words, it takes time to build buzz, even when you have the budget and the right “connections.”
Donadio continues about the “timeline” of a traditionally published book. Notice the “path” the manuscript must navigate to earn a piece of the publisher’s publicity budget:
As soon as a literary agent has sold a publisher a book, and even before it’s edited, copy-edited, proofread and indexed, the publicity wheels start turning.
While writers bite their nails,
- the book editor tries to persuade the in-house sales representatives to get excited about the book,
- the sales representatives try to persuade retail buyers to get excited,
- and the retail buyers decide how many copies to buy and whether to feature the book in a prominent front-of-the-store display, for which publishers pay dearly.
In the meantime, the publisher’s publicity department tries to persuade magazine editors and television producers to feature the book or its author around the publication date, often giving elaborate lunches and parties months in advance to drum up interest.
The competition for promotion “juice” for the traditionally published author begins internally, before the content has even been edited. Which titles will be aggressively promoted by the publisher? Which titles will be allowed to find their own audience?
WHEN YOU HAVE YOUR OWN AUTHOR WEB SITE, YOU ARE IN CONTROL OF HOW MUCH PROMOTION JUICE YOUR BOOK RECEIVES! Your web site can be a powerful tool in promoting your book… no matter what path your book is taking to reach the marketplace.
You’ll find author web sites featured on this web site in the Author Web Sites category. Whether you’re looking for inspiration for your first web site, or inspiration on what to include on your next web site, check out the books that use the web to create buzz.
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