Buy this, buy this, buy this, look at me

[Benjamin Sobieck]

Hey, you!

 

Buy this book, or buy this book, but definitely buy this book or just pay attention to this sentence and buy something later.

 

Does BSP work? Or do readers find authors organically through non-BSP means?

[Benjamin Sobieck]

That "stranger" BSP you mention, Pepper, is timely for me. Facebook sent me $50 in free advertising (how I won the lottery on that one, I don't know). The ad for "Cleansing Eden" ran this weekend. It got about 25 clicks out of 250,000 impressions. I knew this would happen, and I wouldn't've ran the ad had I not had the coupon. If anything, "stranger" BSP is more branding than anything. At best, it creates awareness for someone to say "Hey, I've heard of that novel before." At worst, it looks lame, desperate and delusional.

[Pepper Smith]

Definitely the second for me, for the most part.  I'm trying to remember, and I think the only times BSP works for me is if it's for an author I already know and whose work I enjoyed in the past.  I have looked at the information on books before due to BSP, but I don't know I've bought anything from a stranger due to it.

[John McFetridge]

A possible different message could be letting me know something specific about the book that sets it apart. So many books, especially in the crime genre, are just variations on a theme. I'd also like to know about the point of view of the book. In fact, I'd just like to know that the book has a point of view. I find so much writing today is trying too hard to be neutral so as not to turn off part of the audience it ends up with nothing to say. I am far more interested in a book that states its right-wing (or whatever) beliefs upfront and makes that a part of the story than one that's worried about turning me off because I'm a commie from Canuckistan.

 

(this may just be me because I work in TV and the whole industry is ruled by the fear of losing audience instead of the thrill of finding an audience).

 

I like the, "How I Came to Write This Book," feature Patti Abbott runs on her blog.

 

[Benjamin Sobieck]

Maybe if there was a different message other than "this book is great, buy it," the response would be better. But what other message is there?

[Dana King]

For me, it's definitely the latter, and I think most people are after a certain saturation point. I'm enough of a cynic to wonder, if the book is so damn good, why do you have to keep beating me over the head about it? Is there no independent buzz?

While BSP doesn't get me to buy a book, it can keep me from buying one. There are authors here on Crimespace (who shall remain nameless) whose books i wouldn't buy if they were a penny (an American penny, not the slightly more valuable British one) just because I'm sick of the author holding my nose so he can jam it down my throat.

[I. J. Parker]

My guess is the latter.  There is so much BSP, and all of it is based on little more than just the request to buy a book.  It becomes annoying.  But I have to say that I'm not easily influenced by TV or magazine ads either and I toss the advertising sections of the paper and the junk mail immediately.  What can get to me is something I need or want, or perhaps something that works better than something else. It's hard to apply that to book sales pitches.