Thursday 8 September 2011

Author promotion by Scott Nicholson.

Scott Nicholson http://hauntedcomputer.blogspot.com/ has a new way of promoting his books. Check it out and see what you think. I thought it was a great concept - and could bring him new readers - because spreading awareness of your work widely is really the only way to glean new readers. Cause not everyone wants to read what we see fit to write. Here is my response to Scott on David Gaughran's blog. http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/crowdsourcing-book-promotion-scott-nicholsons-social-experiment-with/#more-1211


'I’d love to read your books, Scott. I’d like to read Joe Konrath’s books too. But they are a genera which doesn’t entertain me. Lots of readers are reading suspense and thrillers and gory accounts of ghastly paranormal things but this kind of book simply scares me. Being afraid doesn’t entertain me. Whereas it is plain that some people enjoy those feelings. So while your marketing concept is an excellent one it omits this particular fact – that not everyone can handle reading the kind of books you write.
As a reader, I have to seek out the kinds of topics that do entertain me, the writers who intrigue my mind, who make me think and don’t scare me. It is a part of the challenge of both being a writer and and a reader – to connect the two and realise that we can only sell to a part of the market. To the readers who like to read our work and enjoy it. This isn’t everyone.
Trade publishers would always reject books which did not have a wide enough appeal. Now as authors we can find readers for generas which did not exist previously. Yet the numbers of people which are in those reader groups are limited. This is why such books would be rejected – not enough readers.
Now with Amazon and Smashwords we have a much larger readership potential – and it is world-wide, not simply in our own country. So the chances are we can sell more books – yet those books will sell only to people who want to read that kind of book.
I don’t think there is any kind of book which I can say has universal appeal. Afterall there are still lots of people around who simply do not read. My family is full of non-readers.
I’ll be interested to hear how your promotion goes for you.'

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