An Interview with Ruth Seeley

Book Marketing for Newbies

An Interview with Ruth Seeley

The one thing all novelists, whether self published or backed by a major label have in common is the fact we need to market our books in order for people to learn about and hopefully buy them. I've had friends think I'm crazy because I've jotted down marketing ideas for my WIP since before the plot was fully formed. They usually say things like, "Good books will sell themselves, you know," or "publishers have marketing people to take care of that."

I don't agree. There are thousands of really good books out there that never sold more than a handful of copies, and I for one want to get the maximum possible number of people to part with their cash for my novel. Although big publishing houses do have marketing departments, the sheer volume of titles they produce means your book might not get the attention it needs to hit the public awareness. We all know the power of good marketing or a good add campaign for everything from holidays to hand soap. Books are a consumer item. They need good marketing, too.

Love it or loathe it, marketing is now part of being a writer, and looks set to become even more important. Ruth Seeley is a public relations practitioner with a special interest in the marketing of authors and their books. She is also Canadian, which automatically makes her cool.

Hello Ruth, thanks for agreeing to interview. Can you start off by telling us a bit about yourself and what you do?

Probably the first thing anyone who knows me realizes is that I'm an avid and committed reader. When people tell me they don't read, or that they don't read fiction, it's all I can do not to say, 'I pity you and your impoverished life.' (I'm also a Sagittarian, which has posed many life challenges for me on the 'telling it like it is' front.)
I'm also a public relations person with a background in book retailing and book, magazine, and newspaper publishing. After I got over a childish Audrey Hepburn-film-inspired desire to be a simultaneous Spanish-English translator at the UN (I still don't speak Spanish), I wanted to be a literary fiction editor. At the time I graduated from university, there were no post-secondary courses available in North America for people with this ambition. And it was very difficult to break into fiction editing in Canada by working one's way up the ladder. Most of the Canadian publishers were doing their own warehousing at the time and were located in the back of beyond. I not only didn't have – and couldn't afford a car, I didn't even have a driver's license. I finally got a job with a two-person publishing firm that was on its last legs. It was fascinating but frustrating, and I didn't last long. That was when I made the transition to first magazine, then newspaper publishing.




What made you move into PR and marketing for authors?


When I first established No Spin PR in late 2008 I planned to focus on clients in the clean energy and nanotechnology field, because that fit nicely with my high tech and corporate communications/issues management/corporate reputation management background. In the course of my research on nanotechnology and its issues, I began to learn about the power of social media. I also saw that marketers were increasingly trying to claim social media as part of their 'territory' – despite the fact that social media is no more 'all about marketing' than public relations is. One branch of public relations – marketing communications – is about supporting marketing aims.


As I continued to study and learn more about social media, I got a message from an old friend (ironically the same woman who had helped me get my first job in publishing). She knew an author in Toronto who needed help with a social media strategy for his self-published novel, as well as traditional PR. I hadn't quite believed that authors needed help from PR people – or that they'd be willing to pay for my help. They do, they can, and they will. Not to have pursued these opportunities and changed the focus of my consultancy would just have been self sabotage. It also neatly solves one of my biggest dilemmas: how can I remain a solopreneur without feeling completely overwhelmed by the work I used to be able to funnel down to juniors? The answer: by working with authors and publishers, they can create the first drafts of much of the copy and I can 'tweak' it to turn into a media release, a backgrounder, a more effective email interview – I get to act as a true consultant, rather than a dogsbody. I used to say, 'Oh the glamour of public relations – one's days of stuffing press kits at midnight will never end.' I think they have, actually.


Do you think marketing and PR is becoming more important for novelists? Why?




As I worked with more and more authors, I began to discover that what had always been true in the publishing business is still true: there are too few marketing and promotional resources stretched over far too vast an area. When you combine this with what's happening in mainstream media - book review pages getting less and less space in newspapers (or disappearing completely), newspapers and magazines folding at a fast and furious rate, I realized authors and publishers were in trouble. When you think about the fact that more and more books are being published every year, and that mainstream media outlets have an obligation to their readership to review 'the big books' that get the bulk of publishers' promotional and marketing dollars, you begin to see that first-time novelists, novelists whose work is praised but doesn't sell like Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, are getting the short end of the stick.


Here's the reality: there are so many novels in print at the moment most authors remain 'unknowns' till they've published not one novel, but three or four. Most novels – even those put out by the big US publishers – sell less than 100 copies. This is extremely depressing. If you've spent a year (or two, or three) writing a novel and it's good, you deserve more. Given the realities of the industry, however, unless you have a patron or spouse who's willing to support you and invest money in your career as a novelist, you probably have to work for a living as well as work at your true vocation, writing. How much time and energy do you have to invest in public relations in addition to the other two or three full time jobs you're doing? Behind every overnight success there's usually two to 10 years of hard work behind the scenes, slogging away. It would be a shame to miss out on your share of success because you just don't have the time, the energy, or the money to invest in yourself at the final stage of the process.


Word of mouth marketing has always worked for books. There really are some customers who walk into bookstores and consult the staff about what they should read next. Those who read fiction always make a beeline for their friends' bookshelves to see what's new and exciting there – and ask them what they thought. Social media in particular allows you to exponentially increase the chances of getting that word of mouth happening online as well as in person. And let's face it, there are fewer and fewer brick and mortar bookstores stocking fewer and fewer of the grand total of available books. I'm trying to think of the best way to put this: it's not that fiction readers are fickle. It's just that when they go to the bookstore or go online to buy a book, if they one they set out to buy isn't available, they still need and want something to read. They will buy someone else's book if they can't find yours. That's the single biggest difference between fiction book consumers and non-fiction book consumers. If I want to read Tom Peters' latest business book, I'm not going to buy the latest Jim Collins if the Peters isn't in stock. The subject matter is different and I'm looking to learn something rather than to experience something. If I want to read the new Ian McEwan, however, and it's not in stock, I probably will buy the new William Boyd instead.


At what stage should novelists consider using a marketing & PR consultant? Isn't marketing and PR a job for the publishers?


Marketing and public relations are jobs publishers want to do and try to do. Whether they're doing it any better now than they ever have is moot. I hear different stories from different authors about the efforts made on their book's behalf. One told me that part of his publishing deal was two days of PR and after that he was on his own. Auditing the work done by another publisher, I discovered that a lot of press releases had been sent out for a book, but there were some truly glaring omissions regarding who'd been sent review copies. One author was lucky enough to have a publisher who engaged a top notch London firm that specialized in entertainment PR and got him interviews with everyone and anyone when his book appeared.


What I do know is that the 'minimal traditional effort' - sending review copies to all mainstream media outlets – is not and has never been – enough. And if you'd ever seen a newspaper book editor's work space, you'd know that. In a million years and with a newspaper devoted solely to reviewing books, there's no way any newspaper could review all the books they've been sent.


I've helped authors write their initial proposal – which has resulted in their getting a publishing deal. I've advised authors on which publishers they should approach. I've done some virtual handholding with authors, where my role was primarily to assure them that the novel they'd written deserved and would get a publisher. I've also worked with authors and publishers on books that weren't 'new' and have succeeded in getting them the kind and quantity of reviews the book deserved, after the publisher's failed to do so.


When working with publishers or self-published novelists, I want to be involved from the 'book jacket back copy' and 'who to get to blurb' stage. I need to read the book in order to be able to promote it. That means I need a copy of the final edit before it gets even to the advance review copy stage. I like to have some input into the cover – or at least get to see potential covers before the final decision is made. I don't insist on getting my own way – but it's nice to be consulted and my suggestions are worthy of consideration. It also never hurts to have another pair of informed eyes from the typo and elegant variation standpoint when it comes to what is, essentially, copy writing.

So I'm afraid there's no one answer to the 'when should you engage me or another PR person?' A good rule of thumb is no later than three months before publication date in order for me to do an effective job. A year in advance is even better, but the sad truth is that most clients perceive the need for public relations and engage someone later than they should. We're used to it. I'd like to be involved from the finished first draft stage. After all, reading your novel isn't considered 'billable hours.' (Pity, that, even though I'm a fast reader.)


Social networking provides some brilliant opportunities for writers to engage with their audience (and potential audience) – but we've all seen some spectacular Authorfails as well. What do you think are the most important things authors should keep in mind when using social media for promotion?


I could write a book of my own on this topic (but I'll stick to just the occasional blog post and the individualized training I give the authors and publishers I work with).
There are three major things authors should keep in mind when attempting to harness the power of social media.


1. Social media can be an incredible time suck. One of the best Twitter author profiles I've ever seen is Hari Kunzru's: 'Novelist, skilled user of social media as work avoidance tool.' A little work avoidance is a fine thing. Missing submission deadlines and/or staying up all night every night to attend that party going on in your computer 24/7? Not recommended. A lot of authors invest too much time in the wrong areas of social media. I told one author a year and a half ago to stop investing time and energy in MySpace and focus his efforts on Twitter and on creating a blog. I was right. But that's the sort of the thing a PR person can help with. I make it a point to chase down trends and explore new forms of social media. I can then help you determine the ones on which you should focus your efforts. Since good writers are also avid readers, I try to push authors and publishers to take advantage of access to millions of readers on sites like Goodreads, Library Thing and Shelfari.


2. Social media is a wonderful way to provide incremental updates in terms of marketing and promotion. Neither your publisher nor your agent is going to issue a media release for every foreign rights sale of your book, or to indicate that your book's now back in stock at the Waterstone's in Coventry. But that's not what your blog – or your Facebook fan page – or your Tweet stream – should be all about. Talk about the authors and the books you love, the trends in publishing. Share great reviews of others' books – throw things out there for debate – let people know what's going on in your life, while keeping in mind there's no bigger turnoff than someone whose attitude is 'It's all about me, me, MOI!' The writing and publishing process is mysterious to those on the outside of it. Try to share some of that process in your blog posts if it feels appropriate – let the reader see some of the challenges you've successfully overcome.


3. Engagement is the key word. There is no bigger turnoff than an author on Twitter who never checks his/her @ messages, who doesn't respond to blog comments (or doesn't allow comments on their blog), and who's 'out there' in social media but doesn't understand that it's a two-way medium, not a broadcast medium. If you don't understand and accept this, you really need to rethink whether you, as an author, should be attempting to use social media at all.
At what stage in their writing career do you think writers should start blogging? What should they be blogging about?


Again, I think this is a very individual decision, based on the particular writer's time constraints and way of working. Just remember that Julie and Julia was a blog before it became a book. And a book before it became a film. Actually, I think I can answer an earlier question now: ideally, writers should engage a social media-savvy public relations person to design a social media strategy for them before they begin to use social media for professional, writing-related purposes. But it's never too late.


More important than the 'when to start blogging question' is having a blog strategy. Just as you wouldn't just sit down at the computer to write a 300-page novel without doing some research, thinking and note-making about plot, setting, structure and characterization, having a blog strategy at the outset makes it easier to generate content – which is part of what keeps people coming back to your blog.


I often read of authors using marketing ideas – e.g., paying actors to read their work in public, elaborate launch parties, blog tours, etc – but very few of these stories include hard data on how much sales were influenced. If someone is planning a marketing strategy for their new novel, how can they weigh up the potential outcomes, and measure the success of their marketing ideas?


The only true measure of success is sales: how many copies did we sell? And the only way to measure the success of an individual tactic's influence on sales is to build in some form of measurement metric – usually in the form of an incentive that can be tracked: 'if you bought this book after seeing the Julia Moore/Liam Neeson reading, let us know and we'll give you a dollar off.' There are always some people for whom the incentive won't actually be an inducement though. There's a wonderful article in Publisher's Weekly about how Rebecca Skloot (aided and abetted by her father, who is, in my view, both a hero and a saint), plotted her book tour for her first creative non-fiction book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. You can do it entirely on your own. It will be more than a single full-time job though. And you're more likely to succeed on the book tour front if you're a non-fiction author than a fiction author.


As a very general rule of thumb, here's what I think: the more time and effort you invest in 'fishing where the fish are' the more your efforts will pay off. In other words, if you can create the opportunity to do a signing of your book in an actual bookstore – where there's already an audience of folks looking to spend money on books – the more you will sell. This will involve time and travel costs of one sort or another, and it doesn't hurt to spend some money on professionally designed posters and bookmarks or printed invites that can be handed out in advance of the event. Those costs are significant enough for most writers that the elaborate launch party will have to go on the back burner.


Most of the rest of your promotional budget should be spent on getting books into the hands of those who'll review them. Given postal rates these days (January 2011), and the still relatively low adoption of eBooks and eReaders amongst reviewers, that will be about all you can afford.


Blog tours are free, so I think they're a great idea. They also give you that incremental content over a period of time that you can tweet, blog about and post to your Facebook, Goodreads, and other book social networking pages.


Do the things that don't cost money before you re-mortgage to have a launch party at the Savoy. You'd probably be better off investing in a little video camera so you can create a book trailer for your blog than paying for appies for 500 (who may or may not show up).


Introduce yourself as an author every time you go into a bookstore or a library. Have a copy of your book you can show the staff. Have something you can leave behind – even if it's only a bookmark or a card with your blog or web site. That's how word of mouth begins: 'you know who I met today?'


Is it possible to pull off a comprehensive and successful marketing campaign for a novel on a seriously limited budget?


Absolutely. If you're prepared to invest a fairly small sum in designing an effective strategy that you can execute yourself (see my comments above re stuffing press kits at midnight) and are prepared to do the leg work and treat your marketing and PR consultant as a consultant and strategist while you do the bulk of the leg work, you can probably execute a very successful campaign over the course of three months for less than £2500.


And finally, if there was just one thing you could make aspiring novelists do so they could increase sales, what would it be?


Remember that readers are curious about and grateful to writers for the joy they bring them. When you're marketing your book, wear your reader hat: think about what makes you buy a book, and make it as easy as possible for someone to buy yours. This may well involve your doing things you don't think are part of your job. Accept that your job is really only beginning when the printed copies arrive in their cartons.

Ruth Seeley is a public relations practitioner with global agency, corporate, and solopreneur experience. A skilled social and media relations strategist, her background in corporate communications. She's developed proactive and reactive media relations programs, built stakeholder communications plans, and designed and executed issues management strategies.

Ruth has a Bachelor of Arts (English) from Glendon College, York University, and a background in book retailing and book, magazine and newspaper publishing. She's also worked with aboriginal Canadians on the Ontario Native Justice of the Peace Program. She now operates No Spin PR, working globally with authors, publishers, scientists, and scientists who are also authors to develop effective, results-driven public relations and social media strategies and social media training.

Connect with Ruth on Twitter, Linked In, Goodreads , Library Thing, or Shelfari . Because first and foremost, she is an avid reader.