Playing Nicely With The Business Kids
The Broadsheet (March 2003)
interview by Diane Silver
Many thanks to Broad Universe for permission to reprint this interview.
I first became hooked on Kelley Eskridge’s fiction when I came across the story “And Salome Danced” in Flying Cups and Saucers, Debbie Notkin and the Secret Feminist Cabal’s gender-bending anthology. Reading Kelley’s story, I was first riveted by the quality of the writing and then confused, infuriated and finally enthralled by the content.
This led me to seek out Kelley’s new novel, Solitaire, which led me to surf the web for reviews and interviews, which in turn landed me on a site called Women’s Monthly. Once there, I found this fascinating quote: “Because of my business and team-building experience,” Kelley said, “I became and stayed involved in the marketing process.”
If I was a bull, this would have been a red flag. As a hermit-like, business-phobic, terminally uncomfortable-with-corporate-types writer, I knew I had to talk to her, so I fired off an email. What follows is the resulting conversation, which proves that Kelley is as savvy about marketing as she is about the human soul. Once you’ve read this interview, check out accompanying story, “Tools of the Trade: Creating a Marketing CD,” where Kelley gives a blow-by-blow, right-down-to-the-code description of creating a CD-ROM to market your book.
DS: We all know that getting that first novel published is difficult, but these days it seems even harder to get a book noticed once it’s out. Even great books can get lost in the mass of books published every year. However, Solitaire seems to have broken out of the pack. There have been reviews in the New York Times and Washington Post, among other prominent media outlets. Solitaire was also named a NY Times Notable Book of 2002 and a Borders Best of 2002. Are you satisfied with the success of Solitaire? Why do you think this happened?
KE: I’m thrilled. I’m especially pleased that a not-perfect first novel received notice in venues such as the Times and Post where review space is tight. I’m aware, for example, that the reviewer at the Baltimore Sun had 80 books to choose from for a multi-genre round-up column of 6 books. I’m delighted Solitaire got so much coverage.
It happened because there was a clear strategy to bring the book to the attention of reviewers, media and booksellers. These are the publisher’s most important marketing targets. That’s the publishing business in a nutshell: produce a book, persuade booksellers to order it, persuade the media to notice it, and then hope the bookstores sell the hell out of it rather than returning all the copies. It’s a process that I don’t think writers can hope to manage better than publishers. I believe a hundred publisher dollars dedicated to this end makes more difference to the book than a thousand writer dollars spent sending postcards to SFWA members.
It also happened because I got involved in the process and stayed engaged with it. I didn’t pick up my marbles and go home when I was grumpy. I didn’t send the manuscript off and spend a year chanting “everything will be okay, everything will be okay” (or the converse, “all publishers are stupid, and they’ll fuck up my book no matter what I do.”) None of this is helpful behavior. Publishing is a business. I think a writer helps her book and her career when she plays nicely with the business kids, and does her best to understand and support the business process.
Good marketing (and the writer’s involvement in it) begins long before the book is published. It starts with internal notice, with the editor trying to ensure that a book has the largest awareness possible within its own house. Then comes external notice, where advance timing is also an issue. HarperCollins put a great deal of team effort (marketing, publicity and sales energy) into making booksellers and reviewers well aware that Solitaire was on the horizon and deserved their attention. That the book got so much early notice is a credit to the expertise of these folks and the efficiency of their process. The New York Times review was particularly significant because it appeared on publication of the book, as opposed to months later. My publicity manager was able to use this to generate a snowball effect. There’s no doubt that some of the newspaper reviews between October and early December were a direct result of the early Times review, including the one in my own local paper, which would not otherwise have given the book a stand-alone review.
HarperCollins did multiple mailings (bound galleys, publicity material, pre-publication copies) to ensure the book stayed on reviewers’ radar screens. I have less insight into the sales process, but I know that because Solitaire was a lead title, the sales reps will certainly have emphasized it to their independent bookseller accounts, as well as Barnes & Noble and Borders. Solitaire was a Borders Original Voices selection (unusual for a genre novel, and attributable to the corporate/business emphasis in the book as well as the light use of genre tropes). Borders gave the book front-of-store placement nationwide for a month and coverage in print and web-site newsletters, as well as newspaper advertising. It was also front-of-store in September at Barnes & Noble stores nationwide. Like the review process, these sales and promotional decisions were made by booksellers well in advance of publication (actually, well in advance of their placing orders), so that everything was coordinated and ready to go when the book was published. The sales and marketing folks at HarperCollins were instrumental in these outcomes.
DS:Authors hear endless tales these days about how their colleagues have had to shoulder the burden of marketing their books, while they were ignored by their publishers. Did you get the marketing support you wanted from HarperCollins?
KE: Yes, and yes: writers do have to take some responsibility, and HarperCollins gave me great support. I also gave them great support. I see marketing and publicizing my work as a collaborative activity with my publisher, not a combative one. It’s my responsibility to have realistic expectations about marketing and publicity, and then to do whatever I can to help create the best possible outcome.
I think every writer should ask, and be told, what the marketing strategy is for her book, and what kind of support she should expect. I would reconsider my relationship with any editor or publicist who was not clear and forthcoming with this information.
A lot of writers believe if a publisher throws more money at the book, it will sell better, and that hardcovers and trade paperbacks get all the money, and mass market originals get none. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Good publishers allocate marketing support (including bound galleys, ads, co-op marketing with bookstores, book tours, etc.) based on the marketing strategy, not the format. I’m not trying to sell writers on the notion that format doesn’t matter. It matters a lot, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish. If my book is a first novel squarely aimed at a core SF reading audience, then my publisher should make every effort to reach the booksellers and media that serve that audience. Mass market format may serve that book better than hardcover because more SF readers might be willing to take a chance on a new writer with 8 bucks instead of 25. A starred review in the Mass Market section of Publishers Weekly, enthusiastic representation from the sales force, and time spent targeting the right genre media (websites and print publications) may do more to sell that book, and build an audience for that writer, than hardcover publication and massive returns.
Solitaire is a ‘literary SF’ character-driven first novel. The original strategy was to publish it as a mass market original. This would make it cheaper for readers to take a chance on it (which I understood), but was an obstacle to getting the kind of review attention that could bring the book to a wider, cross-genre audience. That concerned me. It’s no secret that many newspaper and magazine reviewers outside the genre (and some within it) will not review mass market originals. It’s not fair, but it’s true, and I can understand why it happens-reviewers (like booksellers, readers, and everyone else) need ways to differentiate the enormous piles of books they get.
I asked my editor and my publicist for a clear description of what kind of marketing support I could expect, and got a direct no-bullshit response because I made it clear I was looking for information, not a fight. They told me that a realistic expectation was a pre-publication or on-publication mailing to reviewers and a basic level of follow-up. I didn’t like hearing this, but I can’t make good business decisions about my book or my career without all the information. It was clear that feeling shafted because I wasn’t getting what I wanted would not accomplish anything. Either I should influence the process as best I could, or find a publisher whose treatment of my work suits me better.
So what could I do to influence the process? A fair amount, as it turned out. My overall goal was to make Solitaire special to as many people in the system as I could reach. What could I do to make it stand out from so many other books? My very smart partner, Nicola Griffith, suggested that since I was particularly worried about getting reviewers to give the book a chance, I should focus on the things that make reviewers pay attention. Her idea was that I start by approaching established authors for blurbs before the book even went into copyedit (well before the usual time an editor would solicit quotes). And here’s the kicker: every advance blurb for Solitaire is one that I obtained myself. None of the writers that my editor approached later for quotes gave me one.
I only approached people I knew. I worked hard to make the request easy to refuse: each letter was personalized, but all contained some variation of the phrase “Our relationship is more important to me than a quote for this book, and I don’t wish to put you on the spot. If you don’t have time or inclination, I certainly understand.” And I meant it-no expectations, and no grumps for refusal. People are busy, and no one owes me this kind of help. Only when someone agreed did I send a manuscript. I spent time and money to format a user-friendly comb-bound “reading manuscript” in Times New Roman with 1.5 line spacing, double-sided, with an 80# paper cover with my editor’s contact information. And then I waited: no reminders, no hassling, and no hard feelings.
When the blurbs came in, my editor publicized them within HarperCollins. It made people curious: What was this mass market original that had so much quote power behind it? Eventually, through her persistence and skillful communication about the book, she persuaded two key people to read it: the Marketing Director, and the Sales Director. They liked it (and more to the point, they saw some ways to overcome market reluctance about first novels in hardcover). Soon after that I got the phone call about the format change to hardcover. I hadn’t expected it: I was just trying to do what I could to give the book the biggest identity possible within the business constraints placed upon it.
DS: You come to publishing with a background in business and marketing. Can you describe your experience in the business world? How did this help you when it came time to market Solitaire? Do you think a writer needs that kind of business experience to succeed in marketing her book? If not, what does a writer need to be able to succeed in marketing her work?
KE: I worked for many years at Wizards of the Coast, in various roles culminating in Vice President of Project Management. My corporate career was built on my skills in facilitation, communication, process management, team building, and organizational dynamics, and I still use all these in my writing career. I have a certain credibility with my publishing team because I’ve demonstrated that I can understand business constraints, play nicely with others, communicate clearly, ask questions designed to make me better informed about the process, and express my feelings and opinions professionally. I am good at building and maintaining business relationships.
This is not magic. It’s just behavior. I think anyone can learn it, and I think it’s the single most important factor for success in publishing and marketing my work. The second most important is to learn as much as possible about what the publishing business really is, as opposed to what I might like it to be.
In particular, a writer needs strong relationships with her editor and publicist. They are the people directly responsible for positioning the writer and the work internally and externally. (Sales reps also belong on this list, but writers are rarely given access to them.) I’ve been very fortunate: my editor, Jennifer Brehl, and my publicity manager, Jack Womack, have been communicative and collaborative. I’ve learned an enormous amount about how publishing works from these people, and this has made me better able to contribute to Solitaire‘s success.
Again, it’s all about the writer influencing the process where she can, and supporting it when she can no longer influence it. The writer may not always get what she wants, but she will almost certainly get a better outcome.
DS: When did you get involved in the marketing process for Solitaire? What steps did you take? What worked and what didn’t?
In some ways my marketing involvement started in 1988 when I went to Clarion and established my first contact with professional writers. Building relationships with the people who were kind enough to blurb Solitaire did not happen overnight and was not undertaken with the intention of “getting something out of them.”
Anything that a writer can do to build the identity of her book with her publishing team, with booksellers, and with media is worth her time and effort. Anything that builds her identity with readers is also worth doing. Where I think most writers lose effectiveness is by trying to market books directly to readers (those postcards….). Better to market oneself: readers who like a book often want to know more about the person behind it, and this is the writer’s chance to develop an audience for her ongoing body of work.
Fourteen months before my mass market publication date, I turned in the final edit and began the blurb process described above. That worked great, and I will certainly do it again. It’s a great way to help your editor build the identity of the book within the house. I have some suggestions about it. First, tell your editor. It is never good to surprise people with this sort of thing. If she has a problem with it, better you should know now when you have a chance of working out the disagreement. Second, don’t ask people with whom you have no connection, no matter how much you admire their work. Third, this is not just a volume game — it’s also about creating the right identity for the book. So make careful choices among the people you know. If someone’s endorsement won’t help you build the identity, don’t ask for it. In blunter terms, if Jimmy Joe Writer will not impress your target audience, then a glowing blurb from Jimmy Joe Writer will not help you.
About nine months before publication, I completed the HarperCollins author questionnaire in exhaustive detail. Lots of people read those questionnaires, and it is the first exposure many of them have to the writer and her work. At this point Solitaire was still scheduled for mass market publication, and so I saw this as my main chance to influence the identity of the book within the wider world of HarperCollins. If the author questionnaire was complete, interesting, and helped someone do their job more easily, then perhaps they would go a little extra way in supporting the book. How? Who knows? The interesting thing about staying engaged and playing nicely is that you never know exactly how it will pay off.
I then began work on a CD-ROM publicity and marketing tool that I hoped HarperCollins would mail out with the book’s press release. I discussed this idea with Jennifer, and we agreed that I could make a demo with the understanding that the marketing team might not go for it. A CD can deliver mountains of information for a low cost; it can be set up like a web site (which makes it easy to use); and it allows for a multimedia approach to marketing. I designed my promotional CD with media and booksellers in mind-what sort of information would be most useful to them? I saw this as my main chance to influence the identity of the book with reviewers and booksellers, perhaps enough to overcome the obstacle of mass market format. If someone liked the CD, maybe they’d take a minute to pick up the book, and maybe they’d like that too.
The CD took a long time and was a huge amount of work. When it was done, I sent it to Jennifer to evaluate. I made it clear that I would bear the expense of producing as many CDs as I could afford, if HarperCollins thought they would be useful. Purchasing supplies at retail (CDs, CD envelopes, CD labels, color ink cartridges, and large labels to put on the back of the CD envelope explaining how to use the CD) gave me a unit cost of about $1. As it turned out, the marketing and sales folks liked it and footed the bill for materials. However, I still did all the content development (with input from HarperCollins), design work, and production labor. I’ve heard anecdotally that booksellers and media people liked them. I don’t know how much direct impact they had on these people’s decisions about the book. I will do them again (much more time-efficiently, now that I’ve been through it once) if my publisher thinks they will be useful.
I used the skills I acquired making the CD to develop an author web site, which I regard as my main chance to connect with readers on an ongoing basis. It includes all my reviews and interviews, all my published short fiction available for free download, and a conversation forum called Virtual Pint that gives readers a way to connect with me more directly if they choose. I think author web sites with active content are essential.
Readings are another wonderful tool for connecting with readers, and I work hard at them. I rehearse. I write an introduction to set up the reading. I re-write my reading selection so that it reads aloud better. I think picking up the book and reading directly from it is almost always a mistake. There is much beautiful prose that sounds like sludge when read aloud with no smoothing out. I do everything I can to make the experience one in which someone can, if she chooses, put her head back, close her eyes, and just let me tell her a story for a half hour.
I’m always eager to give interviews — another great way of connecting. I’ve done online chats and find them not as effective (more noise than signal, as it were), especially when there is more than one guest. I dislike convention panels and don’t consider them a good use of my marketing energy.
And I’ve been able to travel to New York and meet many of the people at HarperCollins who were part of the team for my book. I’m more real to them now than I was, and that benefits both Solitaire and my future books that HarperCollins may choose to publish.
DS: I know that you’re hard at work on your second novel. Do you plan to do anything different in marketing your next book?
KE: The particulars may change, but not the basic approach. I’ll do whatever my publisher and I agree will make media, critics, and booksellers more aware of me and my work. I’ll continue to use my website and personal appearances to connect with readers. And I’ll attempt to maintain a balance between persistence and patience. This is a process, like everything else. It takes work over time. I’m in it for the long term, and I’m absolutely convinced it makes a difference.