#publicity and marketing

[literaticat]

Is it true that most books these days are not getting many, if any, print ARCs? Does getting print ARCs made for your book vs. only getting digital ARCs say anything about how much of a priority you are for your house (especially big 5)? Would love your insight on this!

Definition for Newbies: ARCs (advance readers copies), also sometimes known as AREs (advance readers editions), or "Galleys", are those things that kinda look like paperback books, though they may have a different /plainer cover and they have stamped on them things like "UNCORRECTED PROOF / NOT FINAL / FOR REVIEW ONLY / NOT FOR SALE / PLEASE CHECK QUOTES AGAINST FINAL COPY".

ARCS are marketing material -- the making of them comes out of the marketing budget. They go to bookstores/buyers so they can see what the book is all about and hopefully bring it into their store or library, they go to publications that do reviews, newspapers and magazines who might want to talk about them, and "Big Mouths" who have influence, etc. This all happens some six months or so before publication.

But, in recent years, the use of digital ARCs (eARCs) has gotten much more widespread and normalized. (10 years ago, though eBooks definitely already existed, there's pretty much NO WAY that buyers or reviewers would have been looking at most ARCs in e-format. Now, lots are, for sure!)

Now for some history. Though e-ARCs already existed years ago, of course, everyone grumbled about them -- but they had their real moment to shine during the Pandemic lockdown times. If you will recall, publishers still had books coming out, but the publisher offices, review outlet offices, etc, were closed, and everyone was working from home.

So there was literally nobody in the office to SEND the ARCs out, and nobody in the places they might be sent to RECEIVE them. So, by necessity, it went to mostly digital ARCs at that time, just like we all started to do Zoom meetings instead of in-person meetings.

When business got back to a kind of normal, some decided to carry on with the digital-only. And others went to a hybrid model where they still print them but also have digital. (I can't tell you off the top of the dome which publishers are which - I just know that some still do physical, and others are very definitely NOT doing physical anymore.)

The thing is, as much as I do like physical ARCs, there are very real drawbacks to them. They are EXTREMELY expensive per-unit to print. They are a pain in the ass to ship. And most of them don't actually get read. So like... what are we doing? In a lot of cases, it's kind of a waste of money and resources, actually; that money could be put to better use.

In terms of reviewers and buyers -- I'm sure there ARE some that only want print ARCs -- but I'll bet most find that actually, it really is easier to just look something up on Edelweiss and read it digitally than to get boxes and boxes of physical ARCs that you then have to find a place for (and which will probably end up in the recycling bin).

In terms of marketing: It is less expensive to send finished copies of the book to influencers and whatnot, and they look better, too, so they actually might want to KEEP them and show them off for the camera, etc.

So, in all, I don't think it is surprising that some publishers have cut down or even stopped printing ARCs altogether -- just like the pandemic taught them that, hey, not everyone has to go into the office everyday or even live in NYC, and we can still get work done!

ANYWAY, to answer your questions:

Is it true that most books these days are not getting many, if any, print ARCs? Kinda, yes. Some publishers aren't doing print ARCs at all -- Some publishers are still doing SOME physical ARCs, but yes, probably fewer than in decades past.

Does getting print ARCs made for your book vs. only getting digital ARCs say anything about how much of a priority you are for your house (especially big 5)? I kinda DON'T think that, actually. I think it just depends who your publisher is. In other words -- if your publisher doesn't print ARCs for any books -- you aren't getting ARCs. If they do print ARCs, you probably will get ARCs (though yes, likely fewer than you might have in years past) -- unless they have reason to believe that the ARC money would be better spent in another way.

For example, they often don't want to print ARCs for later books in a series, because like, buyers at the bookstore already know if they are doing well with that series or not, they can look at the books that are already out if they want to know what the series is like. Some "Big Books" don't get digital OR physical ARCs because they don't want them to get pirated or leaked.

But in my experience (not universal obvs!) -- books at publishers that are still doing ARCs are mostly still getting ARCs unless they have specifically said "we're not doing a paper ARC for this for X reason" (series, etc) -- but in those cases they ARE doing other promotions to draw attention to the book/series, sending out finished copies to places for marketing purposes, etc

[dd-writes]

♡ Inappropriate touching in inappropriate places is a valid love language ♡

[lady-raziel]

Not to talk about the watcher thing again as I’ve already kind of said my piece, but one of the most batshit insane parts of this whole unbelievable situation is that for some reason they decided that for some fucking reason the BEST time to announce this highly controversial decision was literally DAYS before they would be going on an international tour and having to face irate fans IN PERSON. Guys. What the hell. At least have the sensibility to announce a move that you HAD to have known would make people upset AFTER one of the few times you actually interact in person with your fanbase.

I hope you’re ready to investigate the Tower of London for ghosts, because I have a feeling the Londoners will be more than happy to acquaint you with the building later this week.

Insane move after insane move. Truly.

[communistkenobi]

The deeply moralist tone that a lot of discussions about media representation take on here are primarily neoliberal before they are anything else. Like the shouting matches people get into about “purity culture” “pro/anti” etc nonsense (even if I think it’s true that some people have a deeply christian worldview about what art ought to say and represent about the world) are downstream of the basic neoliberal assumption that we can and must educate the public by being consumers in a market. “Bad representation” is often framed as a writer’s/developer’s/director’s/etc’s failure to properly educate their audience, or to educate them the wrong way with bad information about the world (which will compel their audience to act, behave, internalise or otherwise believe these bad representations about some social issue). Likewise, to “consume” or give money to a piece of media with Bad Representation is to legitimate and make stronger these bad representations in the world, an act which will cause more people to believe or internalise bad things about themselves or other people. And at the heart of both of those claims is, again, the assumption that mass public education should be undertaken by artists in a private market, who are responsible for creating moral fables and political allegories that they will instil in their audiences by selling it to them. These conversations often become pure nonsense if you don’t accept that the moral and political education of the world should be directed by like, studio executives or tv actors or authors on twitter. There is no horizon of possibility being imagined beyond purchasing, as an individual consumer in a market, your way into good beliefs about the world, instilled in you by Media Product 

[swampthingking]

andrew’s definitely gotten in trouble with his pr manager for tweeting things along the lines of:

“no mania inducing medication will compare to the euphoria i will feel the day donald trump drops dead”

[hacked-wtsdz]

Why do so many Americans, and non-Americans too, seem to think that slavery was a specifically American thing? Like, I presume that most people know that it wasn’t, but I hear so much discussion of American slavery and its impact, and so little of any other kind. It also makes slavery look like a strictly white-slaver black-slave dynamic, which, again, I presume most people know it isn’t, but nobody talks about it as much as about American-type slavery. The Roman slave market, which existed for centuries and had slaves of all races, the Korean slave market, which was gigantic, the Ottoman slave market, in which North Africans and Middle Easterners enslaved people of different races, including Europeans. My point being that slavery has existed for centuries, and has heavily impacted our whole world, and yet some people seem to believe that slavery existed only in an American-type way. At the moment, there are more slaves in the world than ever before, and yes, most of them are from Third World countries, but nobody talks of real-time slavery either. Not as much as of past American slavery anyway. I genuinely wanna know how that came to be.

[shinobicyrus]

One thing my brain keeps going back to about Pacific Rim (besides the rad giant robots) is the whole existence of kaiju organ harvesters and their implications.

Like, you have Hannibal Chau, a bizarre and interesting character, but we’re presented with a black market operation that seems mostly interested in the “alternative medicine” uses of kaiju parts.

But my brain demands to know: what does the corporate kaiju harvesting industry look like? Sure kaiju blood is toxic, but there are plenty of toxic materials that have useful applications. Are there chemical companies studying kaiju organs? Big-Pharma jumping on the kaiju bone-powder bandwagon? Are bio-tech firms studying kaiju hide to make tougher materials? Agribusinesses clamoring to acquire kaiju crap for fertilizer?

I’m picturing something like the age of whaling, when humans hunted giant animals and carved them up to feed insatiable industries. Whale-oil lighting lanterns for entire cities, whale-bone being used in everything from knick-knacks, tools, umbrellas, and corsets. Ambergris alone was used in perfumes, medicines, cooking. It was even added to wine as an aphrodisiac.

We glimpsed how kaiju affected pop-culture. Now picture a kaiju smashing a city, but the stock market going up for construction companies (rebuilding the cities), vulture real estate (buying the destroyed land cheap), and all the other corporations that profit from the systematic dismantling of a kaiju corpse and making money off of its parts. Sure, a city was roughed up and who knows how many thousands are dead, but it’s a better windfall when a kaiju makes landfall. It’s always less profitable when jaegers kill them too quickly; sea-based extractions are so much more expensive.

Imagine entire industries, entire economies that don’t just make money from the devastation of kaiju attacks, but grow dependent on them. And then the laws, the squabbles over those valuable, resource-rich kaiju corpses. If a kaiju attacks one country but keeps rampaging and is killed in the country next door, who has claim over the body? The party who was damaged more by it or the country where the corpse physically is? Bidding wars over “cleanup” contracts that cut corners and are only interested in collecting those sweet, sweet, kaiju parts as fast as possible, even if their official mandate is supposed to be the safe removal and cleanup of a toxic substance.

Once jaegers started getting efficient at killing kaiju, the people with all the money became less interested in solving the problem of kaiju attacks and switched to merely managing the industries that kaiju-killing feeds.

What? You want to put more resources into R&D to try and close the Breach? Whatever for? The kaiju comes out, jaegers kill it, and the “host country” gets the proceeds from the kaiju’s body. It’s a win-win for everyone. Why waste time, money, and effort solving a problem that isn’t a problem anymore?

Everything is under control.

[that-punk-adam]

This is not at all a new take on life here in the US of A however I feel as though I will peel my skin off if I don’t say it;

People are seeing death as a valid option to the current state of the world + the future and now I am fully understanding why.

There is no more ‘village’. There are no reliable social safety nets installed that are realistic or easy to access. You H A V E to drive EVERYWHERE if you’re even able to drive. If your area has a bus it has to fight on the road with every other driver. To get 9 miles away from point A to B takes 2 hour out of your day. No one is hiring or they are paying minimum wages for you to run their whole circus operation damn near by yourself. Average 1 bedroom apartments are $1.1k a month for 500 sqf and if you SOMEHOW get a roommate and get them to agree to split rent and utilities then y’all are going to battle for personal space. A 2 bed is out of the question bc there is no way in hell that you can save anything if you are spending more then half of your wages on rent. You want to go out and have a sense of what it means to be fulfilled as a human? Don’t even dream about it, you have your bills coming up.

Get a second or 3rd job? Wait… you were able to find one? They didn’t ghost? Lucky you; now you are better off & you can now sleep knowing that the 2nd job will be able to pay for the gas ($3+/gal), insurance (3X what it used to be but still making you open up ur wallet before they step in), and your car note! (Wayyy too much for a used).

What is fun? What are get togethers? What is a ‘cheap meal’? What’s a bucket list? What’s a vacation? What’s a hobby? Wait, you can afford to replace items and not get anxiety over it? You can afford more then an arm full of groceries?? Will you be able to retire by the time you’re 60 with enough money in the bank to not just exist, but to do the things you’ve always wanted to do during those working decades? What will elder and death care look like? Will your children be able to not live in poverty?

We as young people are seeing death as a valid option because we know we will NEVER see an adult life like those before us prior to the 90’s. Starting a family or adding on to your family will put you in poverty. Buying a house if you’re fortunate enough will put you in poverty. Renting will put you in poverty. Working more jobs will put you in poverty. Having a car will put you into poverty, not having one will keep you from ever getting one. We will just work and work to never ever have anything to show for it. This is not the lifestyle that I’d doom more life to do for the rest of their lives. Something’s gotta change sooner rather then later and it’s gotta be grass roots. We have to be willing to break some rules to get to where we need to be.

Things. Must. Change.

[literaticat]

Hi Jennifer, can you offer any advice/suggestions around managing marketing/ publicity as a picture book author who wants to write under a pen name and not do face-to-face interviews/ visits? Potentially happy to do some faceless social media, blogs, or podcasts but not interested in being publicly known due to privacy/ anxiety/ protecting my family. How would you recommend approaching this with agents/ publishers? Thanks

I don't want to minimize your concerns, so first let me say, if your fear is based around something truly scary (like you have an abusive ex who you are scared will come out of the woodwork or something like that?) -- or a privacy issue you worry will have blowback onto your real life (like your books are about being LGBTQ and you don't feel like you can come out because of your religion or day job or something like that?) -- Well, you just need to be honest with your agent and publishing team about what is going on, what you CAN do and what you CAN'T do, and let them help protect you and your privacy. Be candid with your agent from the time you sign with them, and they can handle having conversations with the publisher when the time comes that there is actually a book to promote.

WE CAN HELP YOU IF WE KNOW THERE'S A PROBLEM. We can't help you without the information! The good news is, your agent and publisher are not MONSTERS, and they don't want you to do anything that would put you in danger make you have a heart attack or anything like that!

Further good news: many opportunities you'd have to talk to people are NOT open to the general public. School visits and conferences and things like that are in controlled environments and would not really even be publicly advertised. So if you say ahead of time, look, I don't feel I can do public / open events because of this yikes situation, but I would feel OK, say, doing podcasts / blogs / talking to librarians / booksellers at a private luncheon during a conference, doing school visits on Zoom, or what have you -- they can totally work with that. Figure out what your comfort level is, and what you are willing and able to do, and ask for help if you need it.

That being said: If your problem is not quite as dire as all that, but is more about just general anxiety, well. I'm not saying "get over it" (OK, I am kind of saying that but hopefully nicer!) -- I just do think that perhaps, without an actual cause for concern, this is fear-based, as in, you are anxious, and your anxiety-brain is coming up with scenarios and rationalizing your fear rather than handling it. And if that's the case, there are ways around that. Perhaps it will help you a bit to realize that MANY authors have these feelings, and they are deal-with-able.

Because make no mistake, a certain amount of self-promotion, marketing efforts, etc, are pretty much mandatory. (As in, not only will they be expected, they might even be in your publishing contract.) Being an author is a public-facing job. Part of it involves promoting your work. School visits, bookstore visits, conferences, panels, signings, story-times, meeting kids, talking to teachers and librarians -- it's going to be tough to avoid all this stuff and also have a thriving career as a children's book author. Blog posts and podcasts are a start-- but they aren't going to move the needle a fraction in terms of sales compared to, say, meeting a bunch of booksellers at a conference or doing school visits and getting on state book lists because the librarians love you so much.

So see if you can get to the root of this. Where is the fear coming from?

If you feel like you can't things in public because of anxiety, see about managing your anxiety. (Therapy! Medicine! Meditation! There are things that can help!) If you are just nervous, like "oh, I don't love public speaking" -- MOST people are nervous, and few people DO love public speaking, you just get decent at it if you practice, and your audience can't tell if you feel like puking as long as you don't actually puke.

"I want to protect my family" "I want personal privacy", etc, are perfectly rational concerns to have. Of COURSE they are. But do you think, honestly, that every single author on earth who has a website and does school visits and book signings DOESN'T want to protect their family? That they DON'T care about their personal privacy? Of course they do. So how do they do that and still have a public-facing persona?

First, you already said you are planning to use a pen-name. Second, you also have control over your own image and you can curate your persona to be just what you want it to be. In other words, if you have a website that you create that is exactly how you want it, you choose the picture, you write the bio, you make the press kit, you choose what to talk about on social media, etc -- you can include or exclude whatever you want.

So if you are self-conscious, you can choose the headshot that makes you feel like a bad-ass, or the one where you are in a burrito costume, or whatever. If you don't want to talk about your kids or spouse -- DON'T! You don't need to mention them or name them. You don't need to say the town where you live (though the general region would be helpful). You don't need to say what your day job is or where you went to school.

When people write stories about you and your book, they will use the info and the headshot you've so helpfully provided, rather than digging up some random pics and info off the Internet. When you get invited to talk to some librarians, or do a school visit, it will be promoted using the info YOU have given them. Hopefully knowing that you are in control of your own narrative will give you a measure of comfort!

TL;DR: You don't have to do any promotion that makes you seriously uncomfortable or worse. But you do have to do SOMETHING. Talk to your agent!

[orb-the-watchman]

Bugsnax fandom open discussion: which bugsnax would you like to see become a marketable plushie, obviously excluding the ones that are already plushies (Bunger, Strabby, Kweeble, Cinnasnail)

[dandyads]

WWI Poster, 1918

[seattlefactsijustmadeup]

Pike Place is a legally designated Be Cringe In Public And Get Embarassed By A Cosplaying Stranger zone. Being cringe anywhere else within Seattle city limits carries the risk of a $350 fine and a court mandate to make eye contact with someone and say "Good morning! Lovely day for it!"

[geraskierfanficprompts]

Prompt 55

The man who gave Geralt a contract has no coin, but is willing to part with antiques from his collection. Fine. Alright. Maybe something in there will be worth coin when sold. Out of all the items and furniture, one stands out to Geralt. He has no idea why, but he's drawn to it more than anything else. It's a lute. With flower engravings on it, of all things. It has a paper note on it, instructing to never play it. It takes Geralt no more than a few weeks to accidentally run his hands over the strings and play a note on accident. The second he does so, the lute disappears from his hands, and a nude man now stands before him, looking at him with shock. I can see this going either one of two ways Either this is a curse put on Jaskier and they've already met and this is a reunion, perhaps Geralt took the lute because it reminded him of his friend who disappeared, or perhaps he was cursed to forget him as part of Jaskier's curse to become a lute OR The person who made the lute, enchanted it to "Create life with it's music", not knowing that the (*only) life it brought was the lute's personification, itself. *Or Jaskier can just sing birds and shit into being idc, it's up to you, my darling

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ ~!PROMPT FILLS!~

@the-mightier-pen https://archiveofourown.org/works/56427481

[pansyfemme]

smiles. grins even