Joanna Penn is so smiley and enthusiastic and knowledgeable that she always gets me inspired. This webinar was no different.
Got a sudden insight from Joanna Penn’s webinar on goals for the new year (2017):
Marketing is what you do to SELL a book.
Packaging, editing, and categorizing are what you do to PUBLISH a book.
This is almost guaranteed to be obvious to everyone else. Why was this such an eyeopener for me? Once I saw the difference, I could break down the process into smaller tasks.
A few years in the query trenches makes the difference between writing and publishing crystal clear. My idea of publishing was fuzzy: it included everything from literary agents and editors to book reviews and book signings.
Marketing decides who the likeliest readers are and sets out to win them over. When you pick out comp titles for your book, you are choosing an audience with particular tastes.
Publishing MAKES the packaging (including some baked-in marketing):
- edits the story
- chooses the right categories and keywords.
- writes a book description that ticks all the right notes.
- designs a book cover that appeals to readers and matches what your story delivers.
- chooses formats (audio, e-book, print) and distributors that reach the story’s audience.
- tinkers with packaging later on if the book doesn’t find its audience
Marketing USES the packaging to attract readers with:
- book reviews
- ads and promotions
- blog tours
- social media
- sales and offers
Rachel Aaron has a fascinating, detailed post on which marketing techniques work.
So now that we’ve gotten the difference between Writing, Publishing, and Marketing straight, we can go back to writing the next book. 😉 Because that’s the strongest Marketing* technique of all.
*If you want your work to be clear cut, take up something heroic, like logging with drafthorses.
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