Deborah Cooke: Author

This is an article I wrote for the newsletter of Toronto Romance Writers, my RWA chapter. I’ll be teaching a full day workshop for them on writing and publishing in January 2012.

Let’s Get Visible
By Deborah Cooke

How do readers know when an author has a book available? How do readers know when a new work is published by one of their favourite authors? How do readers know when a new author has a new work published that might interest them? Visibility for books is the constant challenge of publishing, and it’s not new.

It has, however, changed in recent years.

Once upon a time, readers went to brick-and-mortar bookstores. New books were displayed at the front of the store or they were pointed out by the owners and staff. These booksellers often knew the tastes of individual readers (because they were regular customers) and could make recommendations. They also could make recommendations on the basis of the declared tastes of a reader whose habits they didn’t know. “I like Author X, but I’ve read all her books” might prompt the bookseller to say “Ah! Then you have to try Author G!” The ability to do this kind of matchmaking, particularly in certain niches, was often the key to an individual bookstore’s success. Independent bookstores, as a result, were often focused on a specific genre, in order to ensure that they could offer the expertise that readers wanted.

Over the past twenty years, though, bookselling has changed and these changes have had an impact on the ability to make any newly released title visible to its potential readership. Let’s explore those changes before we talk about what authors can do to improve the visibility of their own titles.

Perhaps the most significant change is the dominance of chain bookstores as book retailers. There have always been bookstore chains, but they have become bigger – bigger stores and bigger companies. There are fewer chains now, and each one is a huge industry player. Big bookstore chains have cost advantages – they can negotiate for better volume discounts from publishers, for example, which they may pass along to consumers – and they provide uniformity to the marketplace. This last is both good and bad, as big bookstores tend to be generalists. On the one hand, consumers can go to a single bookstore, independent of what they want (romance novels or dictionaries) and find a selection. On the other hand, the kind of specialization and expertise characterized by the independent genre bookstore is far less common than it once was. Certain stores in the chain may have more expertise in one genre or another, but this is more a variable of the employees at that store than a corporate policy.

This ascendance of big chain bookstores has had other implications for the marketing of books. For example, prime positioning in these stores is sold space. Publishers must generally pay to have a book displayed at the front of each store in a specific chain, or placed on a New Releases table, or even for that title to be given display space on an endcap in the appropriate section. This was not organized easily in the past when there were literally thousands of individual stores with whom the publisher would have to negotiate – so most booksellers arranged the stock on whim, as a reflection of their own taste and sales expectations. No more! Of course, publishers can’t afford to buy position for the majority of their lists, which means that the reliably bestselling authors get the positioning for their new releases and the rest of the list does not. There is still some possibility of a bookstore employee giving any book a more advantageous position than has been bought for it, but this happens less frequently than was once the case.

In fact, the majority of new and midlist authors have their work racked in the appropriate genre section only, perhaps a single copy of the book spine-out, filed alphabetical by author. Unless a reader is specifically looking for that author and that title, he or she is not likely to notice it. Although this is distribution of a kind, it certainly doesn’t offer visibility. When that one copy sells, it is by no means guaranteed that the title will be re-ordered for that store. It might not be stripped after several weeks in the store, either.

The second change in bookselling which impacted the visibility of new books is the popularity of consumers buying books online. A great many bricks-and-mortar bookstores have disappeared – because it is easier to order from your desk at work or at home, instead of going to the actual store (especially when the online retailer offers free shipping). Physical bookstores have tried to counter this trend, but making themselves “destinations” with coffee shops and reader groups etc. Although they have had some success in some markets, bookstores are steadily disappearing from the retail landscape.

The independent bookstores were mostly closed first, but now the big chains are also restructuring, closing physical stores, and focusing on online sales. Big physical stores also have big expenses, perhaps expenses that can’t be sustained in a recession. The big chains all have websites to sell books, and some of them only stock certain titles at the warehouse for online stores – not in their bricks-and-mortar stores. Again, the focus for complete distribution is on the bestselling titles.

Similar dynamics are at work on these bookseller websites as in their bricks-and-mortar stores – the prime real estate of the index page or main page for each genre section tends to be paid space, which publishers buy for the reliable bestsellers. All other titles are buried in the database. It’s unlikely for the reader to find a new title by a midlist author without searching on that author’s name. It’s just about impossible for a potential reader to stumble across books from debut authors while browsing the online site.

It must be said that online booksellers are trying to replicate the “if you like this, you’ll like that” model of bookselling. This is usually called “handselling” in physical bookstores, and is one of those powerful forces that can’t be easily digitized. Originally, these algorithms worked best for bestselling authors but they are becoming more sophisticated all the time. The integration of tags for searching and Amazon’s ability for readers to make lists also help with this propagation of “word of mouth”.

The third trend in bookselling is for other retail outlets to sell books. This is not an entirely new pattern – drugstores and grocery stores have sold books for a long time – but what is new is the involvement of big box stores, like Walmart, Costco and Sam’s Club. Again, these retailers are not specialists, they are not hand-sellers and they are not really booksellers – they sell books, along with toothpaste, T-shirts, ammunition and coffee makers. When it comes to books, they are interested in moving a great many copies of a small number of titles in a short period of time. Again, this focuses publishers’ marketing efforts on the new releases of a small number of bestselling authors.

These retailers are also interested in selling more expensive physical formats, in order to obtain a higher dollar return per foot of floor space. They have almost single-handedly drive the re-emergence of trade paperback as a viable format, as its size and price fits best with their market. This coupled with the diminished overall dollar volume of the physical book market in recent years has made mass market format difficult to distribute effectively.

This is a romance newsletter, so it’s necessary to note that most romance novels are published as mass market originals. The impact on our genre by these market changes for physical books is not to be underestimated. We now see erotic romance in trade paperback format, in order to target that big store market, as well as historical fiction and women’s fiction or mainstream fiction with romantic elements. There is an ongoing experimentation with the trade format, as it’s never entirely clear what the consumers in these outlets specifically want – other than bestsellers.

The final market change is the new popularity of digital books. As digital editions of romance novels are often priced at close to the same price point as a mass market edition, consumers can choose easily between formats. As this market niche has exploded, it had compounded the effect of the other changes on the viability of the mass market format.

The bookstore chains and their online websites have tended to create alliances with specific digital book readers (e-readers) either as a proprietary piece of hardware that can only be bought and supported only at their outlet, or a licensing basis (which may have some exclusivity attached to the deal.) The idea here is to build the consumer’s commitment to shopping at one specific outlet – once you buy a Kindle, for example, you will buy e-books from Amazon. Once you buy a Nook, you will buy e-books from Barnes and Noble. Interestingly, one of the features B&N offers to make their stores destinations is that a consumer with a Nook can read any Nook e-book for free while physically in the store.

This combination of market factors has had a number of ripple effects in publishing Here, we’re talking about how it has adversely impacted the visibility of new releases, regardless of format, when the author is not already a bestseller.

So, how does an author get to bestsellerdom from debut?

Well, that is the million dollar question. There is an element of chance to the whole thing – we are all waiting for lightning to strike, in a way – but there are still some things an author can do to increase the possibilities of his or her success.

1/ Make the best deal possible.

This is the first and most important thing any author can do. While the relationship is not absolutely linear, generally a publishing house will do more to promote a book in which that house has invested more money. Ensuring that this happens requires some persistence and planning on the part of the author – in making the work the best it can be; in delivering to the reader expectations of a specific niche; in having good representation knowledgeable in the author’s chosen niche etc. etc. Although we all get excited about the possibility of being published, sometimes the first deal offered isn’t the best one to accept.

2/ Participate in the cover process.

Quite possibly the most important factor in marketing any book – and the one promotional expense that any house will undertake for every single title in its list – is the cover. Although the cover design is technically beyond the control of most authors, there are things every author can do to contribute to the process. It is worth spending some time looking at existing books in the market, making lists, clipping images that seem appropriate, and generally thinking about what elements of the story can be graphically interpreted with success. Just because you prepare this data doesn’t mean that the house will follow your lead, but your investment and interest often feeds theirs.

3/ Guarantee frequency of publication.

While each market niche has its own expectations, romance readers as a rule are voracious and enthusiastic readers. They expect a new release from an author every six to either months – in shorter formats, like category or digital, they expect more frequent publication schedules than that. Having a consistent stream of new releases is the best way to build audience for your work. If you can’t write two books a year, think about writing a book and a novella – and ensure that your option clause allows you to do that, particularly if your publisher doesn’t publish novellas.

If you can’t write a book a year, then romance may not be the niche for you. Women’s fiction, YA, mystery and historical fiction, for example, all accommodate slower release schedules than romance.

If, on the other hand, you write very quickly, series might be a good fit for you. It’s not uncommon for series authors to publish three titles a year, if not more. As an added bonus, in series, authors are expected to do less promotion,  so there is more time to write. Series, because of its consistent distribution pattern and subscription sales model, can be a great way to build audience.

A final option for the prolific author is writing for two houses. This generally works best if the author can write 4 full length novels per year, and writes two different kinds of work. Often these two kinds of work are published under different author brands. This means that the author gets doubled up on promotional obligations, as well as writing ones – by keeping two websites, for example.

4/ Focus your work.

This is an easy way to create visibility at the beginning of your career. Essentially, you build a brand in a small pond first. If you have, for example, two books coming out in a year, they will really only build on each other in terms of sales volume if they are released under the same author name and are in the same genre or subgenre. Over time, you can diversify, but focus initially to build your audience.

5/ Create your own visibility.

The popularity of the internet hasn’t just changed bookselling: it’s made it possible for authors to cheaply self-promote and provide information directly to readers on a 24/7 basis. A website is an important part of your online presence, and one that echoes the mood and tone of your work will be most effective. Many publishers also expect authors to use social media – like Facebook or Twitter – or to keep a blog. One chitty chatty interface to readers will suffice. Again, this works most effectively if it is consistent and professional.

You can spend a great deal of time and money on promotion and publicity, covering the entire range of having a small website to arranging your own book tour. The possibilities are almost infinite, but should be driven by your personality, your schedule and your budgets – both for money and for time.

6/ Protect your writing time.

There’s an old saying in publishing that frontlist drives backlist. This means that a new release will stimulate interest in backlist titles – in other words, it will increase their visibility to readers. A reader who has read a new book in a day or two and liked it will often seek other books by the same author. You need to protect your writing time to ensure that you have frontlist. It’s very easy to spend entire days doing promotion and ensuring the visibility of your releases – make sure that you set a time budget and try to stick with it. If you don’t have new books coming out – or if they’re perceived to be sloppy and not as good as your backlist – you won’t build audience over time.