Anyone who has tried to market a book has come across the issue of finding a functional, cost effective marketing strategy. There are plenty of promotion services out there, and if any of them could guarantee one dollar and one penny of sales for every advertising dollar spent, the issue would be solved. However, most advertising services do not produce massive sales, and publishers are left losing money through their advertising efforts.
A novel is a sharing of ideas, and in order for a novel to come to life it must be discussed. Reviews are the best way to get people talking about a book, but there are no honest, independent, evaluation entities out there that comb through the massive number of books released daily in order to discover the unheralded gems. The fact that our media is controlled by just a handful of conglomerates (many of which own publishing houses), suggests it could be argued that there’s actually an effort not to discover small-press masterpieces, because any uncovered gems would only take business away from the big-budget releases.
Reviews are wonderful, but they cannot be purchased. Only honest reviews have any value at all, and a purchased review means the reviewer is essentially a contracted employee of the writer or publisher. Additionally, the fact that the works of major media conglomerates are allowed to purchase reviews, with a budget subsidized by theme parks and major films, means this is a dead end for the independent or small press writer. Most importantly, Amazon strictly prohibits purchased review, except from Kirkus, but Kirkus is essentially just a money making scheme these days (the platform changed about 20 years ago), and authors should be discouraged from wasting their money there.
So, the objective of getting attention for a book is a daunting one as reviews are hard to come by, and newspapers and publications are too invested in promoting the work of their parent corporation. But take heart, we live in an exciting time of multiple social media platforms, and there are individuals who exist on these platforms that are capable of reaching huge numbers of people.
The term for social media platform experts is Influencers, and there are web pages such as Intellifluence.com that put individuals who wish to sell a novel, or any product, in touch with the individuals that have enough social media reach to get the word about you out there.
Now, this isn’t free, as anyone who has taken the time to develop a massive social media platform that is capable of generating sales for a product deserves to be paid when that platform is utilized. However, the good news is that social influencing is a more effective way of reaching people than traditional advertising. The days of taking an advertisement out in a newspaper are long gone. These days, the objective is to identify thought leaders who can appreciate your product and give it a sincere evaluation, perhaps even at the risk of a negative evaluation. The potential for a negative reaction to your product is essential, because that indicates it is a true evaluation platform. In terms of book promotions, you could arrange interviews or guest posts because, as I said before, you should never attempt to purchase book reviews.
Influencers utilize various platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc., and each one of these platforms has its own set of superstars. Obviously, celebrities have massive social media followings, but celebrities can be very expensive to target in terms of Influencers, and it’s possible to find smaller, social media stars, that can provide a much more effective service than famous names. I find it absolutely fascinating that the iron control of major media conglomerates can be effectively circumvented by kids who simply have a talent for posting funny videos on their personal Facebook wall or YouTube channel.
The purpose of this article is just a very brief overview of Influencer marketing as this is a massive subject which basically takes everything that’s currently known about media promotion and turns it on its head. A good book to get you started on this subject is The Ultimate Guide to Using Influencer Marketing by Joe Stinkwitz and Dave Snyder. This guide is a collection of articles discussion various facets of the concept of Influencer marketing. All of the articles include extensive bibliographies and links to further articles, so this book represents a massive resource for studying the concept.
The book is divided into two parts, the first part discusses forming an Influencer campaign, and the second discusses becoming an Influencer yourself. The second half of this book should be of particular interest to writers, since publishers have been stressing for a couple decades now how important it is for writers to have a social media presence. I know from personal experience, that when you submit a novel to a publisher, your social media presence and platform is as least as important as the quality of the writing, perhaps more so.
As a small press, or independent writer, you’ve probably discovered that the traditional media is completely closed to you and has been for quite some time. However, the concept of Influencer marketing has been developing over the last few decades, and is only now starting to really take off as a viable marketing philosophy. Since Influencer marketing is still relatively new, there is a huge opportunity for getting in at the floor level and getting a head start on competitors who are left scrambling to understand how narratives and messages, are encouraged to spread in the area of social media platforms.
In a relatively short period of time, the major media conglomerates will have probably bought up all the social media platforms, and then adapted their terms of service so that this marketing loophole can be more easily controlled. However, it’s also possible that the internet will remain something of a wild territory with potential for small individuals to have a significant voice. I found The Ultimate Guide to Using Influencer Marketing to be useful for further wrapping my head around the subject, but as a first step, I’d recommend heading over to Intellifluence.com and just playing around there to see how things work. You can register as either a Brand or an Influencer (or both), and as a writer, you need to understand as much about this new trend as you possibly can. If you already have a voice, you might as well say something.
