Marketing Question

[Jude Hardin]

Do you think readers would be more likely to buy a $25 hardcover from a debut author if it included free ebooks on CD from a well-known author? Discuss.

[J. Kingston Pierce]

As one who doesn't read e-books, I would say "no." I think the $25 hardcover has to stand or fall on its own merits.

Cheers,
Jeff

[Jude Hardin]

Yes, of course it has to stand on its own merits. I'm just trying to think of a way to entice readers to give it a try.

[Robin Spano]

I'd say no. As a shopper, I'm suspicious of marketing gimmicks. I'd be more likely to think the book wasn't so hot because it had a free giveaway. Kudos to the promotional creativity, though. It's a hard market to break into, and definitely worth looking for unconventional marketing ideas.

[Jude Hardin]

But everyone is attracted to the word FREE, Robin. It's a gimmick, but one that works.

[Bob]

People are suspicious of FREE. The comic book industry has Free Comic Book Day the first Saturday of May every year. We promote that and set up at local events to draw more people to the stores. I'm amazed when the people want to pay for the free comic books - duh, there are dozens of signs that say "Free". Yes - they are free. No, you don't have to buy anything. No, you don't have to leave your name. No, I don't want your e-mail address. That's right - it's 100% FREE! Well, it's your choice if you don't want to take one. I assure you there is no GPS tracking device in any of the free books.

[Camille LaGuire]

I think a better promotion would be to include a CD with lots of new authors with the hardback of a well-known author.

[Jude Hardin]

That would be good too, Camille.

[Jude Hardin]

If there were only more like you, Thomas!

[Jon Loomis]

A CD would be kind of a clunky vehicle for ebooks, at least with my setup. I'd have to either read them on desktop/laptop or figure out how to transfer the files in a readable format to my iPad.

The thing that would get me interested in a hardcover by a debut author is a great review in a prominent venue. But I'm kind of old school.

[John McFetridge]

Yeah, I had to check and see if the cd drive in this computer still opened.

You could give away a code that allows people to get the e-book however they usually get e-books so that way it would be forKindleor the Sony reader or the iPad or whatever they use. When one of my novels came out there was a promotion at Amazon where if you bought the new Elmore Leonard you could get mine for half price. I don't think very many sold.

Jon is right, a great review is still the main thing that sells new books.

[Jude Hardin]

It wouldn't have to be a CD. Maybe just a coupon for a free download.

And what's a prominent venue? The NYT Book Review? What percentage of debut genre authors have a snowball's chance in hell of getting a bad review in a prominent venue, let alone a great one?

[Jon Loomis]

NYTBR, WaPo Bookworld, ChiTrib, LA Times (sad remnant of its former self, but still), etc. And that's the whole point, from a reader's perspective--the reviewer/venue does the gatekeeping so I don't have to.

From the writer's point of view, the calculus is pretty grim, you're right. As a debut author, your biggest enemy is obscurity; nobody's ever heard of you, and nobody cares to find out. You're starting out miles and miles behind the last place dog; the little electric bunny of best-seller fame and fortune is completely out of sight. That said, the "trick" to getting reviewer attention as a debut author is to write well, IMO. A sexy hook doesn't hurt, either.