Are literary fiction writers getting bad advice about publishing?
by Mike Sahno
I’ll go out on a limb right off the bat and say that most writers get at least some bad advice somewhere along the way. Literary fiction writers are no exception.
Now, I’m an indie author who formed his own company to publish his novels, and I categorize them as “literary” – I’ll let future generations determine whether they’ve really reached that lofty stratosphere of literary fiction. But I can say for sure that I did the best I could on all three of them.
I haven’t received all the bad advice listed below, but I’ve been on the receiving end of a few bits and bytes over time. Here are the worst:
1) “Just Hang in There Until You Find an Agent or Publisher.”
If there’s anyone subject to Death By Committee in writers’ groups, those of us trying to write classics must be the most vulnerable. If we keep taking chapters to a group before an editor ever sees them, they keep getting marked up.
Literary fiction writers know that the market for our work is not as big as, say, Mystery or Paranormal. So we often figure we need one of the Big Five publishers.
I almost made the mistake of “hanging in there” until I found an agent or publisher. In fact, over a period of 20+ years, I hung in there, sending out query after query. Once, I got a request for my manuscript from a VP at the William Morris Agency. I was beyond excited – this could be the Big One!
I not only sent the entire manuscript, but also took the step of going to Fedex and overnighting it. This is going back twenty years, and I had a job that didn’t pay all that much, so it was a heavy lift. But I wanted to make sure this VP got the manuscript right away and saw that I was serious.
Then I waited.
Every trip to the mailbox was torture.
Finally, the letter came. It was a personal reply from the VP, but it was a rejection letter. He actually encouraged me to send something else, which you don’t always get, but this rejection still devastated me. The only way I can describe it: soul-crushing.
I almost gave up on publishing after that. It still hadn’t occurred to me to self-publish, because it wasn’t considered “respectable” then.
But when I finally published, I formed my own company, hired an editor, made my books available in e-book and POD, and gained an audience online and in person.
2) “Don’t Worry About Building A Platform – Readers Will Find You.”
Oh, yes. If there’s one thing I wish I’d really, truly known before I published, it’s this: you must build a platform before you self-publish…especially literary fiction.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit, it’s pretty tough to build an audience for your novel if you don’t have anything but a novel. I mean, I’m primarily a novelist, not a short story writer. So when I was putting out pre-publication messages to build my platform, I didn’t have a clue how to do it.
The other aspect of my pre-publication I wish I’d done differently is what I now call the Big Marketing Gimmick. I’d written three novels over a period of 20+ years, and I figured the best way to get attention for them would be to put out all three of them at the same time. After all, what a story! Who has ever done such a thing?
Well, now I know why no one’s ever done such a thing. Ouch.
I also put out a press release about the launch of the company and the three novels, in an effort to get journalists around the globe to beat a path to my door (see the section below on press releases).
I’ll also be the first to admit that marketing is not an exact science. Even with 15 years of marketing writing experience under my belt, I still didn’t know whether I’d hit a home run or strike out. And let’s face it, home run hitters (to beat the analogy into the ground) strike out a lot when they’re not hitting home runs.
So start building your platform well before you launch. Have a social media presence in places where literary readers are likely to visit. I use Twitter and Goodreads, but don’t be afraid to experiment.
3) “Go on an Expensive Book Tour.”
You can do a blog tour without spending a ton of money, but if you think you can go on tour like U2 and fill stadiums, er, bookshops, I’ve got some property in West Texas to sell you.
I hope no one has actually undertaken such a thing to promote any novel, much less a work of literary fiction. Of all the mistakes I’ve made, this is luckily not one of them.
Rather than trying to do an expensive book tour, why not go on a blog tour? You can pay for one, or do what I’m doing and contact people yourself.
Many bloggers who are also authors love the idea of hosting each other; I’ve already done this with fellow literary fiction author Jay Lemming, I’m hosting best-selling author Marie Lavender on her upcoming blog tour, and I plan to do more in the future. (This is one more way that networking through blogging can help your career…Anne)
4) “Send Out Plenty of Press Releases.”
I doubt authors of literary fiction are sending out too many press releases, although it might not be a bad idea to send one for a debut novelist…two, at most.
In my own case, I launched my company with my first three novels on the same day, so I figured it only made sense to launch it (and them) with a press release, on that day. I think it might have gained me a few sales…though probably not enough to cover the actual cost of the press release!
The problem with press releases in general is that the audience for them is not the same as your audience. It’s mainly business people who read them, and if your literary novel is the topic…well, let’s just say the response is likely to be, “Eh, who cares?”
So, I wouldn’t recommend sending out more than one or two press releases, at most. If it helps, great; if not, find other places to invest your marketing dollars, like Facebook or Twitter ads, or book giveaways.
Should you decide to send out press releases, the most useful ones are probably with your hometown radio or newspaper. I didn’t try that, but if I’d thought of it, I would have.
5) “Invest Most of Your Time Working on the Next Book Instead of on Marketing.”
This sounds like a no-brainer, right? A novelist will write those novels, and let the marketing take care of itself, right?
If you’ve got the budget to pay other people to do it all for you, then by all means, go for it. But unless you’re King Croesus, you’re probably going to have to invest some of your time and energy in that icky world of marketing.
By the way, this isn’t just the reality for self-published authors. Even novelists who have contracts with traditional publishers report that they’re now expected to roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty…you get the idea.
See, the days of having the good old publishing company do it all for you disappeared a long time ago…kind of like the days when a company took care of you for 25 years and then gave you a gold watch. (Remember those? No? Well, anyway…)
So that means that you, the author – whether traditionally-published, self-published, or some hybrid in between – have to take some responsibility for your author business. And it really is a business. Not really such a bad thing, when you think about it that way.
Since I self-published my three literary babies and launched them on an unsuspecting world, I’ve had ups and down, but I have made – and continue to make – book sales. In fact, my current re-launch of novel #3, Miles of Files, is reaching my widest audience yet.
So go ahead and start working on your next book, but make sure you start marketing, and don’t stop. For me, the most effective marketing strategies were:
- My email list
- Networking/cross-promotion with other authors
- Goodreads
So, What’s the Bottom Line?
In a 2015 article by Jane Friedman, agent Ayesha Pande was quoted as saying, “I see writers of literary fiction making increasing use of digital platforms to access and communicate with their readers.”
I think it’s increased even more since then, especially since we now have an entire community of writers like Dan Holloway, author of Self-Publish With Integrity, who writes literary fiction but is also very active online.
Award-winning novelist Jane Davis, who wrote an article last year called Why I Self-Publish My Literary Fiction, made some great points about the safety and sterility of books under the traditional publishing model. Jane had some real problems with the traditional model, and says, “Self-publishing is the mechanism that freed me to be more ambitious in terms of where I wanted to take my fiction. Instead of being dictated to, I am free to write about the issues I’m passionate about and fascinated by – the big subjects.
Remove the pressure of trying of to mold something to fit the current market – which agents admit is risk-averse and overly-commercialized – and it grows wings. For authors of literary fiction, creative control isn’t just a plus. Increasingly it’s becoming a must.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
by Mike Sahno (@MikeSahno) March 12, 2017
Mike Sahno is the author of three novels: Brothers’ Hand, Jana, and Miles of Files and the founder of Sahno Publishing.
He’s a former marketing executive and college English instructor. His marketing articles have appeared in Fortune, Entrepreneur, Bloomberg Businessweek, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, and Woman’s Day as well as many other publications.
He’s available for professional speaking engagements upon request.
What about you, scriveners? I admit I generally advise literary authors to go for a trad. contract. But I was intrigued by Michael’s approach, so I wanted to give it equal time. Have you read any self-published literary fiction? Have you published some yourself? What was your experience? Do you have any questions for Michael?
While Michael is at the helm here today, Anne is visiting the blog of Stephen H. Provost, novelist, memoirist and editor of The Cambrian. She’s talking about the Camilla Randall Mysteries series.
BOOK OF THE WEEK
When Paul Panepinto finds out that his boss is stealing from their Tampa company’s 401(k) plan, he has to make a decision: try to stop the criminal at the risk of losing his own job, or keep his mouth shut and try to live with himself.
Available at Amazon and Sahno Publishing.
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Thanks, Mike.
Property in West Texas? How about a swimming pool on Mars instead?
Solid advice here, not just for writers of literary fiction. I hate marketing but have accepted it as a necessary evil.
Thanks, Kathy. I’m going to hold onto that property a while yet!
You need to build a platform before the release and be prepared to market regardless of whether traditionally published or self-published. And I’ve never paid for a book tour. Do your research and establish contacts and a platform early and you’ll never have to.
Congratulations on the books and your company, Mike.
Appreciate your comments, Alex. And no, never pay for a book tour…unless by “pay” you mean buying gas for your car and driving somewhere.
Thanks, Mike, for sharing your insights and observations! I’ve noticed that the definition of Literary Fiction has expanded and is now more inclusive and wide-ranging than narrowly defined genres like Horror/Romance/Paranormal/SciFi etc. One of the more effective promo sites, Bargain Booksy, shares a useful definition of LitFic: “The genre category for Satirical, Historical, Women’s, World, and Contemporary fiction.”
Thanks so much, Ruth. Love that definition!
For a while there, when people asked me what genre I write in, I would say “None of the above.” They really didn’t like that answer.
I would not limit the wisdom of what you have written to literary fiction. It applies to indie authors in general, both fiction and non-fiction, in multiple genres. Thank you for sharing it.
Thanks for reading, Temple, and for your kind comments as well. Good to know that these suggestions can be applicable to multiple genres!
This is excellent advice. Writing is a calling but publishing is a business. Unfortunately, sometimes we do have to remember the business aspect of this thing we do, or else we won’t have readers.
Thank you, Michael. Writing is a calling indeed! Whenever I was down about sales not being strong enough, I reminded myself that Van Gogh never sold a painting…then I went right back to work on platform-building!
Thanks Mike (& Anne) — There certainly is a lot of bad advice out there. Thanks for offering us the opposite.
My pleasure. I like to think that I can help others avoid making some of the mistakes I made, and I’m glad to know other writers are helping each other in similar ways. Last week’s post here on the topic of author bios inspired me to go to my Amazon page and tighten mine up. It reminds me of that Hemingway quote. “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
Great points, Mike, but don’t give up on press releases. I worked for a local magazine (we have many in our area) and we used press releases to fill holes… even if we had to cut them down.
I always encourage writers to send press releases for book signings, speaking engagements and new releases. Yes, a lot of work to keep up but as you said, what have you got to lose? Often radio Dj’s are looking for something to talk about. Your book might be it!
Leave no stone unturned when it comes to getting your name out there. ????
Hi Jess. Thanks so much for your insight! You’re right, a local magazine or newspaper can be an excellent resource. When I did my launch – company and novels together – I went right to the extreme. I did a PRWeb release that would get thousands of impressions. Local is a totally different animal, and nowhere near as expensive.
Radio and podcasts are also potentially great outlets. I did my first radio interview (well, first radio interview since the 5th grade) right before my books came out. It was near my hometown in Connecticut, and hosted by one of my high school classmates. That was a great way to get used to being on the radio, so by the time I had a “real” radio interview here in Florida with someone I’d never met, I felt like an old pro.
Local is good!
This is solid advice that applies to any author. I appreciate your examples for your own marketing as mine are somewhat aligned. Do you run Facebook ads? I have found some success with my latest offering. I read two marketing books this weekend that suggest marketing is useless without at least 10 reviews. What are your thoughts and how to get over this hurdle?
Great questions, and thanks for stopping by!
I have not run Facebook ads myself yet, but the company that did the cover design for Miles of Files ran some for me as part of the package. I actually took a whole course in Facebook ads, but just haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
I WILL say that one should never “boost” Facebook posts, unless you just like giving Facebook your money. I go into some detail on that in my freebie “Marketing for Authors” e-book, available at msahno.com.
As for reviews, I have mixed feelings about their importance. Of course, it’s good to get reviews, but even the great ones are of mixed value. Do they say anything, or are they just “This book is really good?” Even Amazon can’t root out all the fake good reviews, and I read an entire article online last week about how bad reviews can actually be good for sales (e.g., “Why did the author have to use the F word?” “Oh, my kind of humor!”)
The one thing about reviews I can think I can definitively say is that when someone A) Buys your book and B) Gives it a good review, that has obvious value. Amazon lists it as a “Verified Purchase,” and of course, the reviewer probably takes time and care with it. Even this doesn’t show the whole story, though: I have had people buy a paperback novel directly from me and then review it on Amazon, so naturally Amazon doesn’t list it as a “Verified Purchase.”
Hope that helps. Have a great week!
MD–I’ve discovered that a lot of the people who say you must have X number of reviews to succeed are outfits that sell review services Yes, it’s important to get some pre-launch reviews, but I think authors obsess about them too much.
Many of my books have no reviews at Kobo or B&N, and yet they sell well in those retail sites. And Mike’s right that negative reviews sell books. I first hit the Amazon bestseller lists the week I got “swarmed” with one-stars by the Goodreads Bullies.
Wow, Anne, “swarmed with one-stars by the Goodread Bullies?” I would probably cry…at least until those Amazon ratings went through the roof. That is amazing.
Hi, Mike, I did the same thing last week. Ran to my Amazon Author Central account and spruced up my Amazon page profile. Really good post here. I don’t have any stats on it but I always try to do guest posts on blogs that match my genre. (Sometimes even out of it for a change. You never know.) Recently I edited an anthology and was lucky to meet someone connected to the publisher who offered her authors a great deal on creating a video for our books. All I had to do was supply some of the photos and video snips from public domain sites. Plus she did a ton of work as well. What a great marketing tool! Thank you for a great post.
Hi mindprinterpaul (great handle, by the way). Thanks for your post. It’s good to know I’m not the only one who thought “Holy moly, what does my Amazon profile say?” I especially liked the advice to update it once a year. Not sure I am in a hurry to update my head shot yet, though. It’s about 15 months old, and I do NOT look better.
I love the idea of trying to do guest posts on blogs that match my genre, although I have to admit, I don’t necessarily know how that would work in my case. I’m still wrapping my head around the idea that my novel Miles of Files is a “crime thriller,” according to the CIP people at Donohue. I tend to think of myself as not writing within any genre, but, as Ruth mentioned above, the LitFic category can really be quite inclusive, encompassing contemporary fiction and all sorts of other good stuff.
Love the video idea, too. I’m just putting my toe in the water on that one, and, to quote Lou Reed, “The possibilities are endless.”
Big thanks to Anne and Ruth for hosting me this week. I am really enjoying the comments and the exchange of ideas. In fact, I was enjoying replying to comments so much, I forgot the most important comment of all: saying thanks for having me on.
Have a great week.
Thanks for guesting, Mike! And thanks for your thoughtful responses to all our commenters!
Thank you for all of this valuable advice. I am about at the stopping point with your first “don’t”. Waiting for that perfect agent, or any agent that isn’t out to scam, is beginning to feel like a slog through forever. Good luck with your endeavors!
Thanks you, Christine. I think the agent hunt is really contingent upon what you’re offering. In my case, I just don’t think any of them saw my work as something they could sell. Interesting, because I have been able to sell it myself, and without having the privilege of giving an agent 15% of what I earn.
I’m sure there are plenty of authors out there with great, honest, wonderful agents, and they feel happy to have that relationship…but I suspect that’s more common in the trad pub world (though I don’t know this for certain, of course). For myself, I have to say I am no longer willing to take that chance; if an agent gets me a million dollars in sales, I’d be happy to pay them 15% of that, once my check clears the bank! 😉
Best of luck to you with your endeavors as well.
Great advice here and lots of good ideas. And yet another confirmation (as if there were any need!) that marketing is key to selling your books. Yes, you do need an Internet presence. But blogging? Yes blog networking does help for sure. But there are others things one can do too. One needs to remember that most blogs do not have the reach our Anne does here. Here blog is fantastic and VERY widely read. But most blogs aren’t. Check the Alexa ranking of any blog (including this one) and compare. You’ll see how well Anne is doing!
Yes, few can compare with her. So I think you need to make your presence known in other ways. There are many opportunities out there (some mentioned here on Anne’s blog). I write for an online magazine that has some very broad interests (ranging from culture and society to philanthropy) and that has immensely helped me make contacts with new people and move beyond the “echo chamber” of writer circles. In short: meet readers. Believe me, it works!
Hi Claude, and thanks for your comments. Writing for other platforms is a great one, and something I didn’t even think to mention. My own background includes a fair amount of marketing writing for magazines, on a variety of topics. Connecting with readers is the key!
Have a great week.
“Now, I’ll be the first to admit, it’s pretty tough to build an audience for your novel if you don’t have anything but a novel. I mean, I’m primarily a novelist, not a short story writer. So when I was putting out pre-publication messages to build my platform, I didn’t have a clue how to do it.”
That quote is a great start-off point for a question I’ve been having, and since you alluded to it, I thought I’d ask. I’m writing a fiction novel, and working on building my platform on Facebook, Twitter, and thru blogging. I know lots of writers message on how to write, but writers aren’t really my long-term audience, so I’m struggling through figuring out what fiction writers post about besides how-to-write or besides short stories. Is there any recommendations you (Anne or Mike) have for fiction authors and how to message their platforms while building a readership?
Hi Amy,
Great question, and thanks for posting. Just between you and me, I’ve got a free collection of short stories I’m going to offer this year to “enroll” people onto my email list and get them interested enough in my writing to take a leap and spend that big two bucks on a novel.
Here’s a link to an article about blog posts for writers. It’s not new, but it’s a pretty good jumping off place, I think:
http://authorunlimited.com/blog-post-ideas/
I suspect others here who are better bloggers than me will have some other suggestions as well!
Love the idea of short stories to get people into your email newsletter. I’ve been toying with that idea, since I have some short story ideas that would complement my work-in-progress well but also could be standalone. We’ll see how that pans out 🙂
And hooray, a whole blogpost of ideas for blogposts! Just what I needed, thank you!
Glad we can help, Amy. This is what it’s all about: you have to give to get!
Amy–That’s one of the most common questions writers ask me–with good reason. Unless you’re selling a book like, ahem, “How to be a Writer in the E-Age” blogging only for writers doesn’t make sense. Tune in same time next week (Sunday, 10 AM Pacific time) for a post on “What Should a Novelist Blog About?” I have a lot of suggestions.
There we go. Ask and you shall receive! Thanks, Anne.
Thanks Anne and Mike! I’m so grateful for your insights.
Good tips for writers, no matter what genre, I think. Thank you.
Thanks, Patricia. My pleasure. Thanks for posting!
I think one or two other folks posted something similar, which I find immensely reassuring. I think certain strategies that apply to genres like Mystery and Romance might not work for me, such as writing a series. But I really don’t have the experience with them, so I’m thrilled if this article is helpful to a wide range of folks.
Happy Monday!
Congrats to Mike and his success. I admit I would have advised a literary writer to go for the traditional too. Glad to see the indie market is open to everyone.
Thanks so much, Susan. It wasn’t for lack of trying on my part. I figured I’d like these novels of mine to be read around the world while their author still around! Doing it all myself has availed me of that opportunity, and the.
The greatest challenge was making sure my books look like they can stand on a shelf right next to books by the big 5 publishers. I invested in their preparation – editing, graphic design, etc. – and I hope I’ve succeeded!
Have a great week.
Mike, in your post of multiple great points, I think your greatest is emphasis on the fact that your online writing is really your online writing BUSINESS. Authors of literary fiction may have to treat their writing as a business even more so since, as you allude to, other genres of fiction would seem to have broader audiences, including for self-published fiction. There is a shift in independent authors of literary fiction; there does seem to be some traction in getting more visibility among readers. But that trend is only going to continue with more literary authors focused on their writing business rather than crying woe is me because of the long uphill climb. I hope other authors take your advice and make good choices for writing and publishing their own work in the future. Thanks for the mention. Jay
Jay! How are ya? Thanks for your comments. Indeed, we do have to work a lot harder than some, it seems…but what’s the alternative? Should I have “hung in there” for another 25 years? I think not.
You’re right about the shift, in terms of greater visibility, and I think part of that is just the hunger for good stories. Not all good stories come with an easy-to-categorize label on them. Was Dickens a Psychological/Suspense novelist? Is Faulkner’s Sanctuary a Crime Thriller? No, classics simply fell under the category of Fiction. Many of us who don’t set out to write in a genre believe that our work would be considered “literary,” but don’t want to be limited by that notion, either.
Of course, it’s also worth emphasizing that we all have to do some of the work, whether we are indie or trad pub…and from everything I have read, the big publishers now expect that effort out of their writers now, too. So I don’t have a choice when it comes to marketing and PR — if I don’t do it, it doesn’t get done – but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love the creative control of being an independent.
Have a great week, and thanks again for stopping by!