Bad Book Publicity

[jimhines]

I’ll probably be talking about book-release stuff next week when Mermaid’s Madness comes out, which got me thinking about some of the really bad publicity strategies for authors.

I’m not claiming to be perfect.  In the past five years, I’ve tried any number of things to promote my work that make me wince to think about ‘em now.  Bad home-printed

Comments

[dornbeast]

The worst in ineffective book promotion I ever saw was a person who spammed a USENET group with an excerpt from his book which was apparently chosen for its use as an insomnia cure. The response from the group was so negative that it should have produced antimatter.

He then proceeded to insult the taste of anybody that spoke negatively, post material claiming that he was a Great Writer (including positive comments from another writer who, as far as I know, hadn't written anything worth using for kindling in at least fifteen years), and put in more excerpts, none of which were any improvement on the original.

In short, an author should let the fans be the fanatics. It's right there in the etymology, after all.

[jimhines]

Arguing with fans and reviews is just a generally bad idea. But yeah, if you barge in and fling your stuff out there, you surrender any right to protest when people read it and respond.

[bearhand]

If that author had multiple personalities, would it have been a little better? Especially if those two personalities refused to speak to each other?

[jimhines]

Oh, wow. Way tacky.

If you're gonna do that, just go all the way and be done with it:

"Jim C. Hines calls 'The Mermaid's Madness' his best fantasy novel since the last one!" -Jim C. Hines

[alanajoli]

Well, unless it's clear that they're in on the joke and they're doing it to be funny. It's totally open that Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb are the same person, so if one blurbed the other, I'd giggle rather than be turned off. (There's one book they "co-wrote" that had the photos of both of them on the back, because she has different wardrobes for the two author personalities. I thought it was hilarious.)

Of course, I think the blurbs on the cover of the new "Richard Castle" novel from James Patterson and Steven J. Cannell are extremely funny, two, because it's totally clear that the pair were paid to blurb it as part of the promotion. (They've both been guest stars on the show.)

[allaboutm_e]

Print materials that only list one source for purchasing your book and then try to distribute them to other booksellers, indie and chain...

I actually find book cover stamps kinda charming on correspondence...

P.S.

[allaboutm_e]

"your book" not meaning Jim's work, just echoing the phrasing of his five examples...

[sixteenbynine]

I'm glad I avoided most of these. Actually, the postage idea isn't all that bad, as long as it's, you know, LEGIT POSTAGE.

[b_writes]

I would do the postage stamps to make my mother happy. But I'd do it for fun, and not mistake them for a good use of my promotional budget.

[alanajoli]

I agree -- I think they'd be fun, but don't think they'd get a lot of sales. (And I'm glad that someone posted the $20 version you can do yourself in that thread!)

[deire]

Don't have your friends post multiple positive reviews in recognizable and repeated phrasing even if they use different names.