Escaping the Marketing Minefield

Whether you are fortunate enough to catch the eye of a publisher, or you decide to forego the long and potentially soul-destroying process and self-publish, sooner or late you will have to dip your toe in the seething waters of marketing.

Now, if you love pouring over comparison data, surfing the algorithms, and tweaking your campaigns, go no further. This blog is definitely not for you! However, if the mere thought of advertising fills you with loathing, perhaps what I have to say may be of some interest.

As a Brit, I have a love-hate relationship with advertisements. If possible, I avoid them. It’s worth recording a show rather than watch it live so you can skip the pesky things and get on with the good stuff. If I do end up suffering, many of them leave me bemused. My husband and I often share a look that means, “What on earth was all that about?” They are intrusive, annoying, and judgemental.

I remember one woman in a group I belonged to relating how her son told her in no uncertain terms that if she bought a certain floor cleaner, their kitchen would be much more hygienic. He didn’t realise it was the brand she was already using.

Adverts lie. They try and reach us on an emotional level, so that we believe if only we drove that car, wore this perfume and ate those nutritional bars, we will be happy, fulfilled, irresistible, and slim. I often ended up criticising them when my son was around, so that he would become more discerning about the messages big companies were trying to push on us.

Having said that, some of the best and most memorable ads have had me laughing and crying in equal measure. From my childhood, I watched out for the Humphries, listened for that snap, crackle and pop, laughed with the metal aliens as they described cooking potatoes, and was quick to ask people to tell Sid. One advert from Cancer research made me blub every single time it came on. As soon as the music started, I had to turn the channel over or leave the room.

So, here we are, our brand-new novel edited and fine-tuned until it is ready to be published. We know that Cousin Tilly, Great-Aunt Flo, your BFF’s, and the woman at work who loves a good story will likely buy it. The question is, how can you get your name out there, so that people who are not close friends and relations get to hear about it?

The obvious answer would seem to be marketing.

Be warned. Once you start down the rabbit hole of social media platforms or pay for campaigns on Amazon/BookBub etc you may get well and truly lost, as well as broke. My author email is bombarded by cold callers trying to get me to hand over the measly £0.99 per paperback I get in royalties to them with the promise of making me the next big thing in the literary world. Facebook is constantly shoving offers at me to take out adverts. Talks and summits are dedicated to educating us lowly writers in savvy marketing, with claims of making us hundreds of pounds with very little effort.

Let’s pause there for a moment. I’d like to ask you something.

When was the last time you ran out to the shop to buy that product you saw advertised last night that you just can’t live without?

How long is it since you actually clicked on an advert on social media, rather than complaining about having to scroll down for an age before you see a familiar name or post from a group you belong to?

Think about the last book you read. Did you buy it because you saw an advert on Amazon, or was it recommended by a friend? Perhaps the blurb seemed interesting as you browsed the shelves of your local bookshop, charity shop, or library.

I would bet good money that most of your purchases are made because you know you like the brand, or someone you know loved it and urged you to try it for yourself.

I don’t have money to waste. My career as a writer is carried out on a shoestring budget. For me, paying to advertise my books is not on the cards. But even if it were, I probably wouldn’t bother.

I will also say, that if you are not a fan of social media, don’t put yourself through the hell of trying to navigate it. We are told we need a huge presence on multiple platforms if we are ever going to start making money. When I started out, I thought I should get myself a Twitter account, which has ended up being a total waste of time and effort. The fact is, I don’t get it. It makes no sense to me, and I rarely log in.

Facebook, however, is something I get. Most of the people I know are on it and I am comfortable there. That is why I created an author page for myself. I check it every day and respond to comments as quickly as possible. As for Instagram, TikTok, (insert the latest fad here), I’m not interested. I create my own ads and ask my friends and family to share them on their own feeds. That is it. Social media doesn’t sell books. You do.

Instead of wasting all my time, effort, and money on pointless ads, I am slowly growing my monthly newsletter and nurturing the people who are interested in me and my books. If they love my brand, they are more likely to tell their friends about me.

I won’t reach thousands of people straight away (if at all). But I realise that. I am in this for the long haul. I am in this for you.

The readers I already have are the key to attracting the readers who don’t yet know me. They will share my books, tell their friends about it, even give it as a gift to someone they think would enjoy it.

They will market it for me.

So, if you are overwhelmed by the idea of marketing, horrified by the pounds leaking from your bank account, spending way too much time on social media instead of writing, I encourage you to stop. The world won’t suddenly implode because you decide to step off the roundabout. Instead, pour your energy into creating great stories that people will love and want to share.

The rest, I believe, will follow naturally.