Austin Camacho About Branding, Trailers & Publicists

Acme Authors Link Again Welcomes Austin Camacho, who has more questions to answer for our readers.

Austin is the author of four detective novels in the Hannibal Jones series plus a great marketing book, Successfully Marketing Your Novel in the 21st Century.

http://www.ascamacho.com/sfmyn.htm

Hello, everyone,

I’m back to respond to a few more of your comments left from my marketing-oriented
blog last week.

Marvin asked about branding, which I think a 2-sided issue. For us fiction guys it’s about giving our characters or our series an identity. I do it with this logo that should make everyone think of the Hannibal Jones Mysteries. The logo goes on mugs and tee shirts I use as giveaway incentives. Hannibal, as a character, is branded by a pair of Oakley sunglasses, black gloves and the Sig Sauer P-220 he carries.

But if you want to be known as “THE GUY or gal when it comes to such and such, which you just happen to be an author on the topic” then I suggest you give your expertise away. Write articles and offer them to all the free posting places on line and all the appropriate blogs. Start your own blog answering questions sent in. Maybe start a podcast on which you give some valuable info every week. And consider linking your name as much as possible to more recognizable people in your field, if there are such.

Brian mentioned his success with book trailers, and introduced the idea of updating them regularly. This may have the same effect of doing a video blog – new content regularly does hold an audience. That could be as simple as setting up a camera and talking to it about your book or your writing every week. I hope we hear more about this new idea.

Helen’s comment about the look and feel of self-published books made me want to expand a little on my camouflage principle. She’s probably right that many consumers are just as likely to give a new author a try whether they’re published by Random House or self-published. But first they have to see it. If you want your books to be in bookstores, the bookstore manager needs to be comfortable stocking them. If they look amateurish to him or her, they won’t get ordered.

There is also the matter of genre. If you look in the different sections of your local bookstore you’ll see that SF books just don’t look the same as mysteries and romances have a whole different look. Each genre has a predictable range of page count, typeface, margins, the way chapter headings are set up, cover style, price – a number of little indicators that are almost subliminal to readers. If you want strangers who are looking for a new thriller to pick up your book, it needs to carry those little clues that say “thriller” to that reader.

L.J asked the big questions: Have I ever spent money on a publicist. Well, yes I have and mostly regretted it. I soon learned that anything they can do, I can do just as well or sometimes better. But I made the mistake of expecting someone else to drive my success. Today I would not hire anyone to do anything without some sort of guarantee. Then I can see if what I’m paying for is worth the money. So, for example, if you’re too busy to book your own blog tour, don’t pay someone to do it unless they commit to getting you on a minimum number of blogs within a predetermined timeframe.

I do believe in hiring independent contractors to do publicity support work. For example, you might pay someone to do the research on which magazines reach your chosen audience best if you plan to invest in print advertising. I pay someone to schedule bookstore signings for me. I pay her a set amount for each manager she contacts and an additional amount for each event that she schedules. I suppose that makes her my publicist, and I find that managers respond differently to a call from your “publicist” than they do to call from an author.

But as they say on TV, your results may vary. I’d love to hear from anyone who has had real success that they attribute to a publicist’s work.

Again, thank you all for being such good hosts. And keep writing – that’s the best way to promote yourself as an author!
Austin


Austin S. Camacho
http://www.ascamacho.com/
Purchase Link:
http://www.ascamacho.com/sfmyn.htm

He's back - Austin S. Camacho is Here to Answer Your Questions

Acme Authors Link Again Welcomes Austin Camacho, the author of four detective novels in the Hannibal Jones series plus a great marketing book, Successfully Marketing Your Novel in the 21st Century


http://www.ascamacho.com/sfmyn.htm
Signings, conferences and good word-of-mouth.

First, thanks to everyone for their questions and comments. You’ve really made me feel welcome here!

Morgan asked what single marketing action has sold the most books for me and I admitted it had to be book signings. I’m pretty extroverted and do best face to face, but I hope that doesn’t discourage the wallflowers among you. My book, “Successfully Marketing your Novel in the 21st Century” divides tactics into “active” and “passive” marketing. I’m more an active guy, but both are important.

However, you can’t just show up at a bookstore and expect to sell books. You need to make sure the manager knows you’re there to help him or her, not just yourself. Send bookmarks and posters in advance. Posters announce that something special is coming. Bookmarks dropped in every bag are good reminders. When you arrive have a table sign or wear a button that says, “Author” so people don’t think you’re just the Wal-Mart greeter. And speak to every person who comes thru the door. I like to link myself to the store name, since they already know the store. Something like,

“Hi, Borders is featuring my mystery novels today. Are you a mystery reader?”

Newt asked about a different face-to-face interaction: conferences. I love them, and I go with an agenda, and it’s NOT selling books. On the one hand, I want readers to remember me and my books, so I get on panels if I can and between panels I walk around, making myself available for people to talk to.

The other side of conferences is networking. You want other writers to remember you too. At Bouchercon I got commitments for blurbs for my next book from 2 guys who said nobody ever asks them for blurbs. Bob Randisi founded the Private Eye Writers of America. Jon Jordan publishes Crimespree Magazine. You might not know the names but their titles sure will look good on my book. And I didn’t meet either of them at Bouchercon. We had met at previous events. They know me as part of the community.

New writers should be networking too… with editors and agents who also hang out at cons. At writer events they’re like scouts at spring training. I’m not sure buying a 10-minute chat helps, but sharing a coffee with an agent between panels can separate you from everyone else. When your manuscript lands on their desk it helps if they recognize your name.

Newt also asked about making the writer’s name stick in people’s mind. I think repetition is the key here. (Remember the Saturday Night Live skits written by “Me… Al Franken.”) So blog. Do guest blogs. Send a newsletter. Sit on panels at cons. Review other peoples’ books. Just toss your name around like confetti and it will stick.

And if you want word-of-mouth for your books, ask people to do you the favor of mentioning your books to others. And consider giving something in return. The official members of “Austin’s Army” might get a Hannibal Jones T-shirt or mug. How about a contest? Maybe free books for the winner, but to enter people have to send in two links to social media web sites where they mentioned your book. I plan to try that with the next book.

Be creative, and don’t be shy about asking readers for their help.

I’ll address more of your questions on tomorrow’s blog. Meanwhile, keep writing!

http://www.ascamacho.com/sfmyn.htm

MEET AUSTIN S. CAMACHO, THIS WEEK'S MAN OF MYSTERY AND MARKETING - and see him again This Coming Sunday & Monday!

Acme Authors Link Extends a Warm Welcome to

this week's guest, Austin Camacho, the author of four detective novels in the Hannibal Jones series -

Blood and Bone, Collateral Damage, The Troubleshooter, and Damaged Goods, plus two action thrillers, The Payback Assignment and The Orion Assignment. Active in several writers’ organizations, Camacho is a past president of the Maryland Writers Association, and teaches writing at Anne Arundel Community College. After a career as a military news reporter on the American Forces Network, Camacho is now a public affairs specialist for the Defense Department.

Austin has sold thousands of his novels as a Print-On-Demand author, a self published author, and as a writer published by a small press. He also wants you to succeed as an author, and he shares everything he has learned in a decade of self-promotion in his new book, “Successfully Marketing Your Novel in the 21st Century.”

PURCHASE LINK:

http://www.ascamacho.com/sfmyn.htm

And now...Some words from Austin About Marketing....

Basic Principles for Book Marketing

My latest book, “Successfully Marketing Your Novel in the 21st Century” is filled with the specific details of what has worked or not worked for me since I first published a Print on Demand mystery in 1999. I’d love to share it all with you here, but that would take me 240 pages. So instead, I decided to share three basic principles I use to guide my marketing decisions.


Planning

Step one: decide what tools and techniques you’ll use for promotion and write a marketing plan. Map out the timing of your marketing strategy. Study what the big publishers do. For example, why do they say the release date is in November when they have books to sell in June? It’s because reviewers want the Advance Readers Copies that far in advance. If your book looks like an ARC and they get it that far out, reviewers might mistake it for a big publisher’s book and review it. That’s how my Collateral Damage ended up in Library Journal. My book contains a sample marketing plan to help get you started.

Camouflage

First, your book needs to look like the others in your genre. Big publishers ensure this as a matter of course, and small presses usually do pretty well too. Their experienced book designers, artists and marketing teams create the standard look and feel. But if you’re self-published or a POD author, it’s up to you.

Why must your book look, feel, and smell like everyone else’s? Because readers decide to buy based on a large number of subconscious signals a book sends them. They’ve been trained by publishers to expect certain things. They’ve also been conditioned by those same publishers to believe that any book worth reading will be published by them. We know that’s not true, of course, but a book that says “self-published” to the consumer also says “amateur.” The same applies to booksellers. Your focus should be to make your book look as professional as possible, from the layout of the words inside to the cover art you choose.

And of course the author needs to look, sound, and act like a professional writer too, but that should not be camouflage. That’s what you are, right? So solicit blurbs and reviews the way the pros do. Approach speaking and signing engagements like the pros do. For example, I don’t think James Patterson makes those calls for himself, so I don’t either.

Evidence-based Marketing

Put simply – Don’t spend money on any marketing technique unless someone can show you proof that somebody has made money doing it. There are a lot of predators out there hawking radio interviews, blog tours, web site advertising, and who knows what else. But unless you can speak to a satisfied customer don’t plunk down your dollars. Besides, there isn’t much some publicist can do for you that you can’t do yourself.

Book trailers are the hot new thing, but I don’t know anyone who has told me they saw a spike in sales when they put on out on the internet. I won’t pay to have one produced until I do. However I was able to barter some writing work and exposure to get a tech-savvy friend to video tape me introducing one of my books. Then I posted it on about 30 web sites - for free. If you e-mail me thru my web site - http://www.ascamacho.com/ - I’ll send you the list.

Those basic concepts will take you a long way in marketing your fiction. If you have specific questions, about book signings, readings, internet marketing or anything else, leave me a comment and I’ll be happy to respond to them in a later blog.

Thanks, Austin.

READERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO RESPOND WITH QUESTIONS FOR AUSTIN. HE'LL BE HAPPY TO COME BACK ON SUNDAY AND ON MONDAY TO ANSWER THEM.