Do I really need a platform to sell my novel?
Every piece of writer's advice I see will include something about "building a following" online, so that a publisher will be more likely to pick you up. The problem is, I don't have any idea how to do this! Besides that, I don't really have the time, what with working a full-time job and fitting writing in
Is a "platform" really necessary in this day and age to sell a book?
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Do you HAVE to? Of course not. But how many copies are you expecting or hoping to sell?
I've self-published 4 books. All non-fiction, which I think is rather a different market from fiction, but whatever.
If your book is listed on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or some other online bookstore, some number of people may stumble on it. But I wouldn't count on that being many. I may sell 2 books a month that way.
If you want more than that, you have to do SOMETHING to bring your book to people's attention. It would be nice if you could write a book and people would somehow just magically hear about it and rush out and buy a copy, but sadly, it doesn't work that way.
I have a website for my books, but I've found that has generated very few sales. Maybe it's not well enough done. Well obviously there's SOMETHING wrong with it or it WOULD be generating sales.
Mostly I rely on advertisements in magazines or websites related to the subjects of my books.
My father wrote a book and his sons are in a country band, so he sells books at a table at their concerts.
There are many ways to advertise. Print ads like me, a web site, email blasts, radio, selling at conventions, etc. The trick is to figure out what's appropriate for your book. You will likely find that some forms of advertising or publicity that work for others don't work for you. Some things that might work may be out of your budget. Like, prime-time TV commercials might be great, but there's no way I could afford it. Find what works for you and then keep doing it.
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If you want to self-publish, then probably you do need a site.
If you intend to find an agent that finds you a publisher, then probably not. If anything, you can rely on your publisher to handle any kind of online promotion or site for your book or books (as part of their own site).
Although many people think self-publishing and getting 50% or 60% of sales after expenses is the way to go, it also involves running a business, devising and maintaining a website, dealing with sales, production, buying artwork, devising and running ads, blogging to sustain reader interest, visiting and bargaining with bookstores, and on and on. Selling your work becomes a full time and exhausting job.
Agents are professionals that bargain for you, and publishers are professionals in running the business of selling books. Agents don't just find and bargain with your publisher, they know how to protect your other rights, bargain with movie studios, find and bargain with foreign publishers, deal with translations of your work, make sure they wring every dollar from your words.
I say let them do the work for you. Writing well, and running a business well, are different skills; you can be great at writing and suck at business, especially if business doesn't interest you that much. You can write a compelling story, and write truly awful ads, or produce artwork that doesn't sell your story much at all. (Remember, even if you hire awesome artists, what they produce is up to you, and you are an amateur at selling books through cover art).
I say go pro. By which I mean "use the professionals". In fact, most writers of best-sellers use the professionals, they have agents and publishers and just write. As far as I am aware, all the wealthiest authors of fiction have agents and use publishers, and they just write. I know there are a few millionaires coming out of the self-publishing industry, but so far they are a tiny percent. Most (over 50%) self-published novels loses money; the author spends more in hosting fees, software, artwork, production and advertising than they ever earn in sales. Not to mention the time-suck all of that is, if you try to do it yourself instead of paying for it.
Even if it becomes profitable, it becomes a full-time job besides the writing, so their writing remains in "hobby" mode, a few hours a day after dealing with tech issues, production, bills, accounting and service providers all day. For writing to be your full-time job, get an agent, get a publisher.
So you produce the word art, the story, then leave business to the professionals. They can do all those things better than you, faster than you, and cheaper than you, because they are not amateurs, in each discipline they are pros that have done it for their whole career. They deserve their cut, and you will hopefully make all that up and more by the volume in sales they produce, and your own greater productivity, doing the part you like, creating the stories.
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