Indie Publishing Guide: Book Marketing Tip #2—Set Some Initial Distance Limits
Last June (2016), I had an open weekend available in my schedule and decided to register for a table at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC. I was fresh off my experience at Awesome Con (which lives up to it's name), and didn't want to lose the momentum I'd built. Plus, Charlotte is out of the area, and I saw it as an opportunity to expand my audience.
The conference was fantastic. Great people, well-planned, and really fun. Charlotte is a beautiful city, too, and one of my favorite memories from that trip was standing outside the baseball stadium right next to my hotel and watching a minor league baseball game for an inning. I won't wax poetic here, but it was a warm summer evening, not a cloud in the sky, and the sun was slowly setting as the game went on.
After that, however, I decided that I needed to set a limit to how far I was going to travel, at least initially. I'd be willing to make the twelve hour drive (round trip) if I knew I'd be able to break even, or if I knew the experience was of massive benefit to the brand in terms of networking, building an email list, or being on a popular panel. At this point I typically sell between fifteen to twenty seven books, which is great, but just enough to cover the table.
At first I was going to limit myself to 2 1/2 hours, but quickly added an extra hour to it because it was too restrictive. That's not to say that I'll never drive more than four hours away. If I ever get into Dragon con or the San Diego Comic Con, I'll take the hit and chalk it up to a marketing experience. But as much fun as I have at these events, I have finally come to terms with the fact that I am running a business, and in order to keep doing what I love, I need to turn a profit. So if I can't make my table and cover my gas and food, I have to take that into consideration.
Fortunately, I'm within driving distance of three very large metropolitan areas, so the 3.5 limit allows for plenty of reach. The strategy is to establish my local audience first and then gradually build out. If the event is for one day, driving home is a no-brainer, even if it's at the end of my reach. If the event lasts two or three days, the limit lets me save on hotel and food, because a lot of the venues are within an hour or an hour and a half away, and I'll save money by packing food and going home for the night.
When I was younger, I viewed writing from a very romantic perspective. Ah! The life of the artist! Traveling the world, thinking deep thoughts, experiencing LIFE, and being a writer. To me, art was not commerce, and if someone wanted to have something I wrote without paying for it, I'd give it to them. It's a lovely worldview, but a bit stone-headed and not at all realistic. Accepting the necessary collusion of art and business and embracing my inner entrepreneur has been one of the most important lessons I've learned in this process.
Yes, creating interesting, awesome new stories and producing amazing work is at the core of what I'm doing. It's the reason I got into this in the first place. But there needs to be a practical, business-oriented component, too, because without it, all I'm only writing for an audience of one. If I want this to go farther than my own front door, then money matters. Turning a profit matters. Making decisions based on a budget matters.
--JN
Next up: Book Marketing Tip #3: Get on a panel
Are you a fan of horror or post-apocalyptic fiction?
CLICK HERE to join my email list and receive a free short story, audio book, and theme song for "Beta":
A monster terrorizes an isolated village in the mountains of Eastern Europe, draining the blood of its victims, leaving them frozen in the snow. The villagers hunt wolves, decapitate “vampires,” but the murders continue. As each new body is found, the residents grow more and more paranoid. The cobbler's son decides to investigate, putting himself in grave danger. Who will be next? Will it ever end?
Sign up here!
www.jamesnoll.net
--JN
The conference was fantastic. Great people, well-planned, and really fun. Charlotte is a beautiful city, too, and one of my favorite memories from that trip was standing outside the baseball stadium right next to my hotel and watching a minor league baseball game for an inning. I won't wax poetic here, but it was a warm summer evening, not a cloud in the sky, and the sun was slowly setting as the game went on.
After that, however, I decided that I needed to set a limit to how far I was going to travel, at least initially. I'd be willing to make the twelve hour drive (round trip) if I knew I'd be able to break even, or if I knew the experience was of massive benefit to the brand in terms of networking, building an email list, or being on a popular panel. At this point I typically sell between fifteen to twenty seven books, which is great, but just enough to cover the table.
At first I was going to limit myself to 2 1/2 hours, but quickly added an extra hour to it because it was too restrictive. That's not to say that I'll never drive more than four hours away. If I ever get into Dragon con or the San Diego Comic Con, I'll take the hit and chalk it up to a marketing experience. But as much fun as I have at these events, I have finally come to terms with the fact that I am running a business, and in order to keep doing what I love, I need to turn a profit. So if I can't make my table and cover my gas and food, I have to take that into consideration.
Fortunately, I'm within driving distance of three very large metropolitan areas, so the 3.5 limit allows for plenty of reach. The strategy is to establish my local audience first and then gradually build out. If the event is for one day, driving home is a no-brainer, even if it's at the end of my reach. If the event lasts two or three days, the limit lets me save on hotel and food, because a lot of the venues are within an hour or an hour and a half away, and I'll save money by packing food and going home for the night.
When I was younger, I viewed writing from a very romantic perspective. Ah! The life of the artist! Traveling the world, thinking deep thoughts, experiencing LIFE, and being a writer. To me, art was not commerce, and if someone wanted to have something I wrote without paying for it, I'd give it to them. It's a lovely worldview, but a bit stone-headed and not at all realistic. Accepting the necessary collusion of art and business and embracing my inner entrepreneur has been one of the most important lessons I've learned in this process.
Yes, creating interesting, awesome new stories and producing amazing work is at the core of what I'm doing. It's the reason I got into this in the first place. But there needs to be a practical, business-oriented component, too, because without it, all I'm only writing for an audience of one. If I want this to go farther than my own front door, then money matters. Turning a profit matters. Making decisions based on a budget matters.
--JN
Next up: Book Marketing Tip #3: Get on a panel
Are you a fan of horror or post-apocalyptic fiction?
CLICK HERE to join my email list and receive a free short story, audio book, and theme song for "Beta":
A monster terrorizes an isolated village in the mountains of Eastern Europe, draining the blood of its victims, leaving them frozen in the snow. The villagers hunt wolves, decapitate “vampires,” but the murders continue. As each new body is found, the residents grow more and more paranoid. The cobbler's son decides to investigate, putting himself in grave danger. Who will be next? Will it ever end?
Sign up here!
www.jamesnoll.net
--JN
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