The word is not enough

Manpriya Singh

Well, only one can be the first and not everyone can be the best. For the rest; who cannot create their own radio network, adopt a library or even be on Oprah; methods of marketing a book galore. Close on the heels of two-day Non-Fiction Festival and impending literary festivals all across the country; authors share their take on what it is like to first write and then to publicise.

“It is extremely important to market even a very well written book for the simple reason that we have so many authors,” observes Sujata Rajpal, author of The Other End of the Corridor on the current literary trends. “Let alone first timers, even established authors need to have a buzz around their latest book. And how to tell them to, ‘Read my book.’ On an average, every day I come across a person telling me that they want to write a book.”

Little wonder that wine and cheese parties, bookstore promotions, literary festivals and alumni promotions that have been heard of and dealt with since forever; aren’t enough anymore. Accordingly, there’s no dearth of the books themselves on how to sell your books. Moving on, Internet galore with100 (or even 1000) innovative ways to market your books. At several points, imagination does meet reality.

Everyone’s a writer

Many of the ideas come from the issues dealt in the book itself. Ranging from the religion, politics, modern workplaces, cricket, fashion, films, autobiographies, memoirs et al. Sujata recalls a book reading session that turned into a musical evening.

“The author had included so many visuals of his recordings and his life and with music playing in the background that actually nobody wanted the evening to end.” She adds, “Then authors like to host theme parties like thriller, romance held in sync with the subject of the book, especially during its launch.”

Self help

Blame it on the audience raising the bar, rife self-publishing arms of major marketing houses or short public memory needing constant reminders. At times surprising and at times simple; book promotions get inventive and escalating by the day. So much so, it pays to begin before. Even before the book has come into being and continues thereafter. Like Navrisham Kaur Grewal did with crowd funding for her debut book The Mysterious Disappearance of 5 Rivers. “After your project has been listed, for which they have a long criteria for short-listing. Once approved, is the literary project listed for public support,” shares the Pune-based author herself having a background in marketing.

“A lot of these self-publishing arms print a book after they’ve received an online order.” Free chapters, samples, even first book in a series is a given.

Opines Anuranjita Kumar, author of Can I Have It All, “Any good product needs marketing, the same holds true for books! With so many books out there, their importance cannot be emphasised enough. In fact, marketing is also a critical component of ensuring that readers understand the key messages.”

What’s in content!

Even having as many as five books to the credit isn’t enough to escape the marketing rigmarole. Sachin Garg, out with his sixth, after It’s First Love!: ...Just Like The Last One!, Never Let Me Go..., I'm Not Twenty Four... I've Been Nineteen for Five Years..., Come On, Inner Peace: I Don't Have All Day! and A Sunny Shady Life: An Icy Hot Love, is already gearing up for the next. “My own is coming out soon and I have some out of the box two to three ideas for its promotions,” he assures, while refusing to divulge further.

“It doesn’t need a lot of money, is more about creativity and collaborations,” he shares. “Some senior person from the publishing industry tells me that marketing of any book is about three times more important than its content.” Well, got a clever marketing strategy in place? How about writing a book then?

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