Is Writing Only 20% of the Battle?

Malloriel

Malloriel

Creative Mastermind
Joined
Feb 26, 2008
Messages
435
Location
Malloriel tends to give very in depth and highly d
There's a phrase out there, "Writing a book is 20% of the work, marketing is 80%". I've stewed on it for a while, and I'm not sure I think it's true.

Of course I see the value in marketing, I see how involved in can be, and I see that a majority of our commercial success as authors comes from making our work not just highly visible, but appealing in its visibility. I see that without that visibility it really may not matter how well you've written the story, or how compelling the story may be, because if no one is finding it to read it then all your hard work remains lost in the shadows. But can marketing really be called 80% of the work?

If it can, what would you consider the reasons to be? Is it a subjective 80%, as in comparatively speaking to the effort it took to write the book, you find marketing to be four times as difficult? Or do you think it's a more objective split between everything that goes in to writing the story you want to tell vs. selling it to the public?

I'm curious how other writers feel about the subject, whether they've been through the whole mess or not. What are your thoughts?
 
For self-published authors that is probably true. Which is why the traditional route is so appealing ... you can keep writing, and the marketing department takes care of most of the rest. You still have to do some promotion, of course, but it may be a drop in the bucket compared to how much time you spend on your writing.
 
Most of the people I've read or listened to on the issue say marketing is particularly important now, as almost anyone can self publish on the Internet and get access to an audience of millions for nearly nothing, so the whole idea of success is just to get noticed.

I've not yet read a really unqualifiedly good review of the Shades of Grey books yet, but they're the bestselling paperbacks of all time already, (I think)
 
If the work I've done so far is only 20% of what I've got to go through, then I'm giving up now.:eek:
Whomever dredged that saying up probably was a overworked person in publishing who was responsible for marketing and thought 'oh yeah, those writers; they just have an idea and write it all down as a book, and I've got to do all the work to sell it'.

In the self-publishing route it's still insulting to those who self-publish after making the book the very best it can be, but I'm convinced it refers to the other 99% who write a book, and self-publish the first draft with no editing, critiquing, spell-chacking etc etc. There are so many examples of that in the e-book market, that you'd need 80% more effort to shift them...
 
They're applying what's known as the Pareto principle, in this case in relation to marketing. The argument goes that in a supermarket eg. 20% of the lines generate 80% of the sales.

In this case, I think it's being applied badly. There is no way of measuring this for a start - and Pareto is about measuring it, and identifying what is superfluous so that you can range manage/ focus more on your customer. Unfortunately without the base product - the writer's talent, the idea etc. etc. - you can't apply the other (so called) 80%...

Having said that, I suppose for a published book, if you count the editing, the production, the distribution and the actual pr, it could be argued if you stint on these, the book will certainly not do as well.

(what I'm coming to realise, on a sort of related theme, is this game isn't just about the nuts and bolts and putting the words down, and I'm struggling with the additional skills needed of plot, and pacing and characterisation, and all the stuff that keeps people turning and isn't the actual words on an individual page. So, in learning the basics of grammar painfully over the last months, there's another blinking mountain ahead. :))
 
I don't think even they are attempting to claim 80% of the energy goes on marketing, but that 80% of the results come from it. Like the Hollywood argument that half a film's budget should go on advertising, rather than making a good film. If you can persuade the author to commit suicide at the closing ceremonies of the Olympic games, that's great publicity (even if it makes sequel deadlines difficult to maintain).

I have to believe they're wrong, having watched a guy with enough money that he could personally buy himself into the top ten trying to market a record that was not total rubbish (he'd hired too many good musicians for that; I have actually worked on worse projects), but was not good enough, or pleasing enough, or memorable enough (there's an SF book that makes the rounds of conventions because it's so impressively bad no-one can read more than a few paragraphs aloud before breaking down and laughing; I bet someone here can remember what it's called) to make it, even when, after no record company would touch it (there being, at the time, no equivalent of vanity press for musicians) he bought out an already existing company, and got Kubrick to do his MTV video.

It is also an insult to all those determined, dedicated people who organise Websites, conference stands, newspaper reviews, signings, TV interviews and whatever other spectacularities they can manage on their shoestring budget from a selection of smaller publishers who haven't got the big names that sell automatically. And, for that matter the organisers of cons, book fairs, webzines… who do their utmost to make sure that people have the information to make choices about what they want to read, and not just assume that a pretty footballer, or a notorious mass murderer, or a crooked politician, must have something interesting to say (and be articulate enough to say it) just because their reputation has sold them huge numbers of copies.
 
The 80/20 "thing" crops up in all sorts of contexts.

I had a boss who used to say to me "are you sure you haven't reached the last 20% of the project which takes 80% of the effort"

Because I like doing things polished and he liked getting them in under budget.
 
The silly question from those of us without any real idea of what lies on the other side of a publishing deal - what is involved in marketing? I'm assuming as a published author, you'd be asked to attend conventions, book signings and stuff like that. Could anyone with coalface knowledge tell those of us still aspring to be writers just what we could expect?

A BIG thanks in advance for anyone kind enough to answer my question.
 
There's obviously more than a grain of truth in it. You may hope that if you just put your book out there, word of how great it is will spread virally. But that is more likely to happen if you help the process along by persistent tweeting and blogging, etc etc. even if you are Amanda Hocking. However the better the book is, or the greater its inherent popular appeal, the easier it will be to promote. It has to be good enough for people to be self-motivated to tell their contacts about it.
 
chrispenycate said:
(there's an SF book that makes the rounds of conventions because it's so impressively bad no-one can read more than a few paragraphs aloud before breaking down and laughing; I bet someone here can remember what it's called)
Click to expand...

The Eye of Argon.

Unfortunately unfinished.
 
Bowler1 said:
The silly question from those of us without any real idea of what lies on the other side of a publishing deal - what is involved in marketing? I'm assuming as a published author, you'd be asked to attend conventions, book signings and stuff like that. Could anyone with coalface knowledge tell those of us still aspring to be writers just what we could expect?

A BIG thanks in advance for anyone kind enough to answer my question.
Click to expand...


I'm still at the start of it (book isn't out till next year). No one has said I HAVE to do these things. However, I offered up front to do them - why wouldn't I? I want my book to do well. And the more I do, hopefully the better for me. How do you think Hocking got her sales? By promoing relentlessly (I think she details it on her blog). One of the reasons she took a trade deal was so that she'd have to do a bit less and could have more time to write! JK Rowling? She worked really hard for her success - she went round all the schools she could IIRC, did readings, got the kids excited about her book so they went home and asked their parents to buy it.

Word of mouth is all very well (and the best promo there is, and one you can't control), but enough people need to read the book so that they can recommend it, and they won't do that if they don't know the book exists.

Now yes, there are authors who do no promo, for whatever reason. And books that do very well with little promo effort from the author. But you've got to ask yourself, do I want to do the best for my book? What am I comfortable doing? For me, I'm a social person, I'll talk to anyone and everyone, I go to conventions anyway because I find them fun etc so it's not a problem for me.
 
Kissmequick said:
For me, I'm a social person, I'll talk to anyone and everyone, I go to conventions anyway because I find them fun etc so it's not a problem for me.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the answer. I've not been to any writing conventions yet but I may have a nose around one in the near future. I'd do what I could as well to get my book up and running. To be fair, if I ever get to the point where people are asking me about my book, they should plan an escape route first - I may be a while. I can easily work a room if required and in my job it happens once in a while. So I have the social skills, and I'm friendly as a matter of course. So I'd be ok with promotions. All I have to do now is write and get that first step out of the way.

Thank you again.
 
In regards to self publishing, you can argue either way. HOWEVER...

The epub market is an dynamic beast, with a hungry turnover. The easy accessibility to whole series at the touch of a button allows readers to swarm over novels. Sure, market your work to get it out there...but if you've planned a trilogy and spend 2 years marketing the debut, then the sequels aren't going to appear of their own accord.
 
I'd agree that writing is only part of the battle - responses from
Publishers take a LONG time & going it alone...well...I just put a short story on
Kindle a while back and have a massive FIVE reads - anyone fancy an autograph? ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
Ursa major POLL -- NOVEMBER 2024 75-word Writing Challenge -- READ FIRST POST! Writing Challenges 0
Ursa major Tie-breaker Poll -- 300 Word Writing Challenge No 55 -- MOSAIX WINS! Writing Challenges 0
The Judge DISCUSSION THREAD -- November 2024 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge Writing Challenges 80
The Judge November 2024 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge -- READ FIRST POST! Writing Challenges 27
N Writing battle scenes Writing Discussion 4

Similar threads


Back
Top