Encore Month: Why Book Marketing Doesn’t Trump Writing Craft

Debbie Young (bottom right) conspires with fellow indie authors Alison Morton, Carol Westron and David Penny – great writers, every one of them! – at CrimeFest 2018

WELCOME TO ENCORE MONTH. For those of you expecting to see audio posts in July, they are coming, we promise. But we've moved audio month to August. Instead, July will see us feature some of our popular posts from over the years. First in, we have a post from Debbie Young, formerly our outstanding blog manager, who debates the importance of marketing vs writing craft.

When indieland is so full of advice about book marketing, it's too easy for writers to neglect or even forget what lies at the heart of all great books: great writing craft. Reading one of Seeley James‘s answers in the interview that appeared on this blog yesterday was like a breath of fresh air to me – his top tip to indie authors was:

Craft and marketing. One cannot make up for the other. Study both with reckless abandon.

As the organiser of two local writers' groups  and a small independent literary festival, as well as managing ALLi's blog and speaking at many litfests and author events, I meet a lot of aspiring indie authors at every stage of their game, and a growing number that are just starting out. Recently I have been becoming increasingly uneasy that far too many aspiring indie authors seem to be pinning all their hopes – or at least too big a proportion of them – on the effectiveness of marketing to turn them into a self-publishing success story.

As Seeley James suggests, effective marketing is an essential factor in determining an indie author's success – but there is no point in spending time, effort and money on marketing a book if it is not fit for public consumption.

How to Hone Your Writing Craft

This is not to say that authors ought to join writing critique groups or take creative writing degrees. Although I know many authors who swear that getting such a qualification kickstarted their career, I know just as many whose confidence and determination were set back by narrow-minded directives and poor advice in these settings. Only you can decide what works for you.

Nor is it essential to read all the writing craft books that you can lay your hands on. In fact, if you read too many, you risk either becoming confused by their contradictions, or you'll find your writing becoming formulaic as you apply the rules laid down by self-appointed experts . Stick to the handful of books that really resonate with you and add value to your writing. You'll know them when you find them.

Plenty of indie authors are getting it right, thoroughly self-editing their manuscripts before passing them to beta readers and professional editors for pre-publication quality control. But there are still too many who let their excitement and their impatience to publish their books suppress their common sense. The speed at which it's possible to publish books – at the touch of a button – ends up with the release of too many poorly written books, and with too many authors wondering why their massive marketing efforts fall flat.

I'm not for a moment trying to set myself up as a great example of writing craft. I still have much to learn, but my editor and beta readers tell me I'm getting a little better with each book – as we all should, because as with any activity, skill grows through practise. But I do know that I am trying as hard as I can, and I will not publish a book until I'm happy with every word.

Practising what I preach – one of many, many nitpicking passes through one of my novel manuscripts

Great Marketing Doesn't Trump Poor Writing

Even if you have endless financial resources to invest heavily in great covers, professionally-written persuasive blurbs and extensive advertising, readers who do not enjoy what's inside this enticing giftwrap will not come back for more.

I'm saddened when I read of yet another author complaining that the latest book marketing trend isn't working for them and a quick “look inside” on Amazon reveals an unpolished, hurried writing full of errors and inconsistencies. I don't want them to be hurt by poor reviews that say things like “it's amazing what rubbish can get published these days”.  I'd rather such a wake-up call wasn't necessary in the first place. I'd rather they realised from the outset that:

Even the biggest marketing budget in the world will not build you a long-term successful career if you've written a dud.

Love your book – you deserve your book to be the best it can be

Of course, no-one wants to think they've written a dud, myself included. And of course, not all books that don't sell are duds. Sometimes, and far too often, a brilliantly crafted book won't sell for reasons that have nothing to do with the writing quality. Just a few of these are:

• lack of discoverability in an overcrowded market
• an unalluring, inappropriate or obscure cover that doesn't immediately identify what it's about, what its genre is or draw the right readers in
• not fitting into an established genre for which there's a clearly identifiable market – creating an uphill struggle because you then have to sell the concept of your book, as well as the book itself (it can be done – just look at the adult colouring book phenomenon that grew from a standing start – but it's not easy or guaranteed)

So if you're having trouble finding readers for your books, despite exhaustive and appropriate marketing efforts, give yourself some tough love, and make sure that in your eagerness to get your book to market, you haven't cut corners on quality control.

Yes, we can all name books that we think are badly written that have made their authors rich. But, hand on heart, would you really want to be that kind of author? I know I wouldn't.

So do yourself a favour: make your book the best it can be. You deserve it.

USEFUL POSTS TO HELP YOU MAKE YOUR BOOK THE BEST IT CAN BE
From the ALLi Author Advice Center