Buzz, Balls & Hype

THE DOCTOR IS IN

UNPACKING PERFORMANCE ANXIETY

 

About three-quarters of the way through my singing class, I found out that the final class was to be a recital, in which each student would perform all of the songs worked on that semester in front of an audience consisting of classmates’ family and friends. If I had known about this requirement, I’m not sure I would have signed up for the class.

Auditions aside, I had never before performed a song alone for an audience. If you give me enough wine, I’ll sing at parties, but that’s just for fun. And auditions don’t count—they’re business, a means to an end. For me, that end was always the opportunity to back up the real singer. I’m good that that, and I enjoy it, which is probably why I’m now a professional listener and supporter.

The idea of standing up by myself in front of a roomful of strangers and singing just for the hell of it, as though I thought I were worth listening to, paralyzed me. I didn’t want to chicken out—part of the reason I had signed up for this class was to push past my comfort zone. Yet I didn’t see how I could go through with it, either.

I tried reasoning with myself. I used to act, I reminded myself, and now I teach seminars and give readings. I’m used to handling myself in front of strangers. I don’t fall apart. How was this different?

But it was. I made good use of the “fourth wall” when I was acting, the invisible boundary between the audience and the actors that allows the actors to relate to one another in intimate ways, as though alone. And when I read and teach, the material is paramount; when I’m passionate about what I want to communicate, I’m seldom self-conscious. I’m concerned about getting through to the audience, not about what they think of me as a person—and if I’m fascinated by a topic, I seldom imagine that it will bore or annoy others. (I’m not always right about that, but the belief serves to protect me.)

Thanks to the Internet, though, nearly everyone has access to any kind of music they want to hear, performed by musicians of the highest rank. What sort of hubris would enable me to command a roomful of strangers to listen to me sing “Bewitched” when with a few clicks they could watch Ella Fitzgerald sing it on YouTube? I had no new information, nuance of feeling, or subtlety of pitch or rhythm to convey. What was our teacher thinking? Why should I go along with this?

Jimmy, the composer/performer friend who has served as my unofficial coach throughout this process, tried to reason with me, too. “You’ll be fine,” he told me. “You have a good, clear voice and an excellent ear.”

Jimmy spent hours rehearsing with me, suggesting gestures and line readings that would help communicate the essence of the songs. We had a great time playing with them, and I knew his suggestions were first rate. Yet every time I imagined the recital, my throat closed up and I became functionally tone-deaf.

At home, I tried relaxation exercises. I tried visualizing myself as Ella Fitzgerald, opening my mouth and hearing smooth, perfect notes flow effortlessly. And I just got more nervous.

Which, finally, clued me in to what was really worrying me.

When I was growing up, one of the worst crimes an adult could accuse me of was showing off, or getting too big for my britches. “Pride goeth before a fall,” my grandmother used to say, intimating that this was the proper order of things.

Back in those dark ages, girls were discouraged from putting themselves forward, from competing with boys. (This never happens now, as we all know.) In my mother’s WASP culture, a lady’s name was allowed to appear in the paper under only five conditions: when she was born, when she came out, when she was married, when she had children, and when she died. If she was noticed by the media for any other reason, she was clearly not a lady.

My father’s parents were Irish immigrants. They had definite ideas about the separate roles of boys and girls, too. Furthermore, there was a general cultural prohibition against getting above oneself; nails that stuck out were handily hammered down.

I was a precocious reader and writer. Several of my elementary school teachers pushed for me to skip a grade, but my parents resisted. I would have no friends, they said. Nobody likes a smarty pants. They didn’t come out and say so, but I got the strong feeling that they would have preferred a child of more average abilities and interests. So I did my best not to stand out—and a funny thing happened. I started losing confidence in my thoughts and opinions. When I had something to contribute to a class discussion or even an informal conversation, I tended to second-guess myself: How good could my idea be if no one else had thought of it? Often, by the time I worked up the courage to express myself, the conversation had moved on.

It wasn’t until I went away to college, where pretty much everyone was smart, that I started to feel comfortable expressing my thoughts again. But even in graduate school, I was reprimanded for “apologizing for my brains.” I had no idea what that meant at first, but then several people pointed out that I offered my best ideas in such a soft, tentative voice that their first impulse was to dismiss them.

I had thought I’d dealt with all of this long ago, but apparently I need to keep learning the same lesson over and over again in different settings. I asked myself why it was that I could relax and open my voice with Jimmy, who was ten times more accomplished than anyone else I was likely to sing for, including my teacher. If this were simple insecurity, why wouldn’t I be more intimidated by him than by these imagined scary strangers? Because I couldn’t possibly threaten Jimmy. The idea was laughable. Whereas if I got up and sang like Ella, wouldn’t my classmates hate and resent me?

Probably not. Of course, I’ll never know, but they are kind, supportive people, and their kindness extends to both the least accomplished and the most gifted singers in the class. If I had suddenly outshone them, chances are they would have reacted with joyous excitement.

I changed the theme of my visualization. I populated the room with Jimmy, Ella, Frank, and a host of other way-out-of-my-league performers. I sang to them, and my voice and heart opened.

The night of the performance, I did not sing anything like Ella. I doubt I wowed anyone except the friends and family I had brought, who always give me a charitable exemption. I was shaky, especially at first. I went off the rails on one song, accidentally skipping to the end and stumbling through a dark forest for a minute or two before I found my way back home. But I sang with a full heart, and in pretty good voice, and when I finished my classmates, and my friends and theirs, erupted into enthusiastic cheers, hoots and whistles—just as we all did, for everyone who was brave enough to stand up and sing.

I’ve re-upped, and there are some real superstars in my new class. I’m hoping they will motivate me to push myself harder. And I’m looking at how I hold back in my writing, too—at who I might be afraid of threatening. Because there I really could compete. I think.

Susan O'Doherty, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist with a New York City-based practice. A fiction writer herself, she specializes in issues affecting writers and other creative artists. She is the author of Getting Unstuck without Coming Unglued: A Woman's Guide to Unblocking Creativity (Seal, 2007). Her Career Coach column appears every Monday on Inside Higher Ed's Mama, Ph.D. blog. Send your questions to her at Dr.Sue at mindspring dot com.

The Ad Man Answers #64

Thursday + Gregory Huffstutter = The Ad Man Answers

Continuing our Ex-Ad Guy/Gal interview series, this month we’re thrilled to bring you a chat with Louise Ure.

 

Louise began her advertising career in Account Management at Ogilvy & Mather/New York, then moved west to open the fledging O&M office in San Francisco under Hal Riney.  She then moved to Foote Cone & Belding/SF, leading the accounts for Alaska Tourism, Clorox, Pacific Bell and the unforgettable Dancing California Raisins.

 

Her work at FCB continued in other cities, including stints as Vice President/General Manager of the Seattle and Singapore offices.  She also had the distinction of holding the position of Vice President/Group Management Supervisor in FCB’s Sydney office while also acting as the Director of Marketing for their client, Time Warner, at the same time. She was, in fact, her own client.

 

Her first novel, Forcing Amaryllis, won the Shamus Award as Best First Novel.  The next, The Fault Tree, has been nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award, Nero Award, and the Macavity.  The latest book, Liars Anonymous, has been named one of the Ten Best Crime Novels of 2009 by Booklist.

 

Take it away, Louise…

 

 

For people who aren't familiar with ad agency life, account executives are the link between the outside client and the rest of the agency (which means they often take abuse from all sides).  AE's tend to be extremely organized, politically savvy, and deadline-driven.  Does that describe you?  If so, how did that help your writing career?

 

Extremely organized?  Politically savvy?  Deadline driven?  You make us sound like Rahm Emanuel clones. Come to think of it, he probably would have made a pretty good AE.

 

I’ve always thought of Account Management as the place where all the other elements – creative, media, research, budget, clients – come together.  And that’s not such a bad description of an author either.  Sure, we spend the bulk of our time on the “creative” side, but we also need to call on those other talents to get the book researched, edited, marketed and sold.

 

In a more direct answer to your question, yes, I’m deadline driven.  To a crazy-making fault.

 

Most AE's I know are good with short form writing -- PowerPoint presentations, business e-mails, newsletters -- why did you gravitate to novel writing?  Was that an imposing leap for you?

 

I had never done any creative writing before (unless you want to count a couple of particularly imaginative IRS submissions) so it wasn’t the long format that stunned me; it was the attempt to write anything fictional at all.  And believe me, a business plan or a Power Point presentation on branding is no help in learning character development and good storytelling.

 

But I do remember telling a copywriter friend of mine how liberating it was, after all these years of evaluating billboards and headlines and copy for thirty-second commercials, to be able to take as much time and space as you wanted to get the message across.  Imagine!  Eighty thousand words instead of six!

 

Why do you think advertising provides such a fertile training ground for novelists?

 

All great advertising tells a story, don’t you think?  From Tabasco’s “Mosquito” ad and the original Got Milk “Aaron Burr” commercial, to this classic spot with Brad Pitt for Levi’s. Characters developed in a heartbeat.  Conflict described with one image or line.  Resolutions – of a sort – by the end of the ad.  So maybe a career in advertising is like a life spent in flash fiction – with whole worlds wrapped up in :30 bites.

 

While copywriters and art directors are the ones most likely to directly translate their skills to a longer print format (or film-making), I think those of us who toiled in account management or media or research have the same love of a good story and have learned to recognize it when we see it, whether it’s in a :30 spot or a 400 page novel.

 

But there’s a second and equally relevant piece of training we got in advertising.

 

We’re using to selling our ideas, exciting the client with a rough drawn storyboard or magazine headline, getting them to imagine the finished product using only a tagline or a key image.  And that’s exactly what writers are supposed to do in crafting a query letter and seeking an agent.

 

So maybe advertising doesn’t teach you how to write; instead it teaches you how to sell what you have written.

 

Given your background, how involved did you get involved in marketing your books?  Was that encouraged by your publisher?

 

We’re all deeply involved with marketing our books, aren’t we?  I don’t mean sharing the decision-making with our publishers (both of mine have been supremely uninterested in my advertising background), but in actively participating in any way that we can.

 

Sometimes it’s with additional funding to extend a tour.  More often it’s helping with flap copy or using our email lists and social networking to get the word out about a new book.  I blog and write newsletters, I print bookmarks and postcards, I speak at libraries, I create video trailers, I talk to booksellers.

 

It’s a partnership for sure.  My publisher can’t do the kind of hands-on person-to-person marketing I can do, and I can’t replace their international sales and marketing efforts. Together it works well.

 

So far, what has been the most effective use of your advertising dollars?  And if you had a Steven King budget for your next book release, how would you spend it?

 

The most effective use?  That would have to be (in order): 1) my website, 2) participation in national organizations like Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers, and 3) book launch tours. Of course, none of the three ever pays out in immediate book sales, but I think they’ve given me fairly robust visibility with readers, reviewers, booksellers and other authors that I could not have otherwise attained as quickly.

 

And if there were Steven King dollars available?  I’d probably put it all in co-op toward product placement (table top and end of aisle displays in stores, email and home page visibility on Amazon).  But I’m still enough of an advertising slut that I’d love to do TV, as well.

 

------------------

 

In our next column, we’ll ask the ex-advertising slut – I mean, Louise – about her website, cover art, and branding her books.  Don’t miss it!

 

Gregory Huffstutter has been punching Ad Agency timecards for the past dozen years, working on accounts like McDonald's, KIA Motors, Suzuki Automotive, and the San Diego Padres. His first mystery, KATZ CRADLE is on submission while he's working on the sequel. The first 100 pages of his novel are linked here. For general advertising questions, leave a comment or send e-mail to katz @ gregoryhuffstutter dot com with 'Ask The Ad Man' in the subject line.

Why Not

Judge Page usually scours the web for interesting marketing information with the idea being that those of us writing (and doing more of our own marketing) need to come up for air once a week and see what the rest of the business world is up to so we don’t get left too far behind.

Today there are no Linktopia links, but an interesting idea for our interesting times.  Read on and see whether you are asking yourself, well, why not?

M.J. and I will more often than not lament the sometimes bizarre world of publishing and marketing.  This started with an email that covered the states of works-in-progress, the Spy Museum in D.C. (a good place for promotion), Thrillerfest and well, you get the idea, typical writer stuff.  But, it also included this:

I wondered (apparently when it comes to marketing and publishing wondering happens all the time) about publishers, the economy and libraries. It would seem that this would be an ideal time to not only help but to generate good public relations by simply donating books.  But, doing it with a twist.  

Here’s the idea, and this would work best if more than one publishing company (pick two or three, I know there aren’t many more than that, but let’s say two) and they would select the three largest cities in each of our states and from there select a library branch.  Each of those libraries would select a smaller library in three of the smallest cities in their state.  Fifty states, 150 large libraries, and 150 small ones. (Depending on the tone publishers wanted to take, they could get started in the form of a contest to get to this point and that would be fine, maybe fun,  not completely necessary, but could be helpful depending on how much lead time and buzz they wanted to generate) For the sake of brevity, let’s say publisher marketing contacts their 150 libraries and tells them they are coming to town in the fall with authors in tow and pick a number but  let’s say they will arrive with $2000.00 in books (paper and digital) to be donated for their library and the same amount for a sister library in a smaller community.   

Each visit in each city becomes a bit of a media event for the library (Publishers could tie-in with FEDEX or UPS and have the books delivered or there could be five different motor homes (with graphics) traveling the highways of ten states each (I know, I know, Hawaii, it's a pain, but someone will have to tough it out and make the trip), loaded with publishing representatives, and books to deliver.  

Libraries are facing budget issues, and library use is soaring in the recession.  Every stop in a large city would bring TV, radio, and newspaper coverage, and stops in smaller areas, while not bringing as much media coverage does exactly what the idea is meant to do, benefits communities that need help and just might endear some folks to an author since they aren’t on the usual tour stops.  Many might make stronger ties when they realize that most authors are essentially working two jobs, their day one, plus writing their books.  Not much celebrity in that, but it’s a good reminder that most authors aren’t wealthy.  

So, let’s take Ohio for instance, Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland.  One library in each and three smaller libraries in smaller Ohio towns.  $12,000 in books for Ohio.  Multiply that for every state for a total of $600,000 in product.  You don’t often see publishers teaming up with other business, but this type of promotion would benefit from a group effort. 

 What fun if during the fall of the year, representatives of the publishing companies, and groups of authors appeared in six cities in each state.  It would be a tour like none before it, make a lot of noise and benefit authors and sales with books coming out for the holidays and most importantly do good.  

Let’s see, which other company in America would not want to be behind helping this one happen?  I can’t think of any that wouldn’t reap good will from coming together on a project like this. From Holiday Inn to McDonald’s they could all promote “The Great Book Day Tour” coming to their state.  If Barnes and Noble or Amazon got in the game, they could offer matching amounts of dollars in books for the libraries.  ABC with their show Castle would be a natural for promotion.  

What comes of it? Big business spends a few dollars they were going to spend anyway, just in a different way, everyone involved gets a lot of PR, holiday sales get a bump, but all of that’s just frosting on the cake, because in the end what it was meant to do was help out each state by getting books to readers.  

THE DOCTOR IS IN

Hi, Dr. Sue,
I'm a writer - unpublished, so I do it because I love it and because with practice, I hope to be able to write something worth publishing. My problem isn't being blocked - I know that I go through creative and non-creative times and take the ups along with the downs. My problem is my day job. I make decent money, but I'm not happy where I'm working. I understand that I'm obviously not at the point where I can write full time, and I don't know when or if I'll ever get to that point, but I don't know what to do with myself in the meantime. I really don't like where I'm working now, but I wonder if my problem is that I'm in an office environment and don't want to be and I don't know if getting a shiny new office job will necessarily solve my problem. I've thought about going back to school, but I'm having trouble figuring out what I want to do, not to mention that taking classes and the time for research and homework would take away from writing time.
So here are the loaded questions for you. Are there any careers that you would recommend looking into for writers who aren't writing professionally? Do you know any writers who are happy with their day jobs, and if so, what do they do?
Thanks for your time,
Christine

 

Dear Christine,

You are not alone. Most writers, published or not, have day jobs, and my admittedly unscientific research suggests that about 35% actively loathe them and another 35% merely tolerate them. (Unfortunately, of the 30% who love their work, 10% are teachers of writing, who obtained their jobs in the first place because they were well published, and 10% are people like me who are passionate about a separate vocation; if this were true of you, you probably would not have had to write this letter.) Understand that I am making these numbers up, but they are fairly representative of the reports of friends, clients, and colleagues.

This is not to say you should despair of becoming one of the lucky 10% of writers who enjoy work that is neither the fruit of a successful writing career nor a career in itself; just to reassure you that your struggle is far from unique.

There does not appear to be one particular type of work that suits writers as a group. However, most of the jobs that fall into the "loathed" category seem to entail wearing a suit and pretending to care about corporate goals. (If you actually support your company's mission, that is great, but writers in particular seem to find the pressure to project a false persona excruciating.)  

The jobs that range from "tolerable" to "great" vary according to the writer's personality and temperament. The three major divides seem to be: writing vs. not writing, solitude vs. company, and money and prestige vs. freedom.

 

Writing vs. not writing:

Writers are divided in their feelings about paid writing assignments. Some find that the discipline of writing to prescription, on a deadline, stimulates their creative juices; others that it drains exactly the faculties they need for their own work. If you fall into the former camp, you may wish to hone your skills by writing, for example, fundraising material, catalogue copy, or technical material. (If you are well connected and lucky as well as gifted, you may get magazine assignments as well, but again, if that were the case, you probably wouldn't be writing me.) Writing-for-hire can be done either at home or onsite.

 

Solitude vs. company:

Some of us prefer to work in silence and solitude, and to have enough flexibility in our schedules to enable us to throw down our paid work for an hour or two when an idea hits us. Freelance work, either in the field (editing, proofreading, or writing as discussed above) or in other congenial areas (web design and maintenance, pet-sitting, doll repair—I have known of people who have made their living this way) works for them.

 

Others hunger for companionship to balance the solitude of writing. Friends and clients who work in video stores, libraries, and bookstores report quirky, interesting coworkers and interaction with the public that is at times frustrating and at others stimulating. Some have found such jobs to be rich sources of material.

 

Money and prestige vs. freedom:

It is easy to dismiss concerns about vocational status and prestige as frivolous. If we are serious about our art, we should not care what we have to do to support it. After all, Tennessee Williams worked as a shoe salesman. Et cetera.

 

The reality is, though, that most writers endure repeated rejection of their work, for years on end. For some, working at a low-status job during the day, and then coming home to a shabby apartment and a mailbox filled with rejection letters and alumni newsletters detailing the fabulous achievements of less promising classmates is too much to bear.

 

Imagine yourself five or ten years down the line, still unpublished, working as a grocery clerk. Will it bother you to tell people what you do for a living? Will you dread family get-togethers? Will it depress you to sleep on a mattress on the floor, and to eat out of cans instead of shopping in gourmet or health food stores, or even eating out once in a while?

The dedication to art that enables some writers to live this way into their old age is admirable. It is not for everyone, though, and it's best to know your limits and accommodate them, even if it means a more regimented and possibly artificial existence.  

Try breaking down your responses to your current job according to these axes and any others that seem relevant. Interview friends and interesting acquaintances in depth about their work experiences, and try to imagine yourself in the environments they describe, both now and in the future.

In this economic environment, of course, most of us feel lucky to have any work at all. But you're wise to start thinking now about the path that will suit you in the long run. Please keep me posted on your progress.

 

Susan O'Doherty, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist with a New York City-based practice. A fiction writer herself, she specializes in issues affecting writers and other creative artists. She is the author of Getting Unstuck without Coming Unglued: A Woman's Guide to Unblocking Creativity (Seal, 2007). Her Career Coach column appears every Monday on Inside Higher Ed's Mama, Ph.D. blog. Send your questions to her at Dr.Sue at mindspring dot com.

Linktopia

Linktopia (with the help of Judge Page) checks in with what youth publishing is doing right when it comes to marketing according to ypulse.com, and a favorite TV ad that leads to a look back at book ads.

This week there has been a flurry of announcements out of the YA book publishing world concerning technology nicely summed up in this USA Today piece. In a nutshell, Harper Collins is using mobile to promote LC's new book (Lauren Conrad's L.A. Candy), Simon & Schuster launched a YA social network called Pulse It and Penguin launched YA Central, aggregating interviews with popular YA authors.

It's ironic that some of the smartest youth marketing is coming out of an industry many pundits have already written off — book publishing. Here's what I think these publishers get right:

Continue reading here. 

A favorite ad for thinkingalaud.com can be found here  and that brought back memories and a bit of history to be found  at the NYTimes.

THE DOCTOR IS IN

WHY WE DO IT

I recently began working with a filmmaker on a series of videotaped interviews with writers, musicians, and visual and performing artists. Before I came on board, the focus was the artists' day-to-day lives, their struggles, and their techniques. I was asked to help explore the emotional aspects of their creative process.

We are now immersed in the first project I have been part of. The subject is an actor and university teacher who incorporates the Japanese discipline of Butoh into her work. We have several hours of video so far, and we all feel we have barely scratched the surface. We have talked about her childhood love affair with ballet, her father's WWII experiences in the Imperial Japanese Army, and a host of other influences on her work. We have discussed the origins of Butoh in postwar disillusionment and its current relevance to a frightened and alienated society. Last week the camera ran out of whatever the digital equivalent of film is, and the subject and I couldn't stop talking; I kept asking questions and she answered them until the filmmaker told us firmly to cut it out because "this stuff is too good to waste."

All of this has been causing me to wonder, once again, what it is we're really talking about. Why is art so compelling that people build their lives around it and then spend their free time trying to describe and share it? Previous artists profiled in the series have ranged from the celebrated to the obscure. None of them have been paid for their participation, and chances are slim that they will ever be compensated. I'm not getting anything out of the project, either, except the chance to interact with brilliant and articulate people and ask them anything I like—and that feels like plenty.

But why? Art does not go far in addressing hunger or the needs for warmth or shelter. It doesn't get most of us anywhere in the real world. Some have likened the creative impulse to the desire to procreate—but that doesn't explain why those of us with children continue to need to make art.

Freud had many theories about art. One of the most attractive, to me, at least, is that is an extension of children's play. Our ancestors initially learned important life skills by acting them out safely in imaginative play in imitation of adults, before actually going out into the wild to hunt or defend their territory. We can see traces of this utilitarian play in modern children's games of house or school. Storytelling can also be seen as having evolutionary value in that it enables us to benefit from the real or imagined experiences of others.

These speculations make sense, and may even be true—but they're not "it." They don't explain art any more than the hunger drive explains dark chocolate mousse. The force that pulls us to create something from nothing; order from chaos; beauty and meaning from the banal may be inexplicable. Or maybe we're better off not knowing.

Susan O'Doherty, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist with a New York City-based practice. A fiction writer herself, she specializes in issues affecting writers and other creative artists. She is the author of Getting Unstuck without Coming Unglued: A Woman's Guide to Unblocking Creativity (Seal, 2007). Her Career Coach column appears every Monday on Inside Higher Ed's Mama, Ph.D. blog. Send your questions to her at Dr.Sue at mindspring dot com.

The Ad Man Answers #63

Thursday + Gregory Huffstutter = The Ad Man Answers

Thanks again to Marshall Karp for his Q&A last month.  The winner of a signed copy of Karp’s latest Lomax & Biggs’ mystery – “Flipping Out” – is Debbie (no last name posted).  If you haven’t been contacted yet, Debbie, please e-mail me your contact information at katz@gregoryhuffstutter.com.

 

Next month, we’re featuring a two-part chat with Louise Ure, author of "Liars Anonymous" and “The Fault Tree.” 

 

But in the meantime, we’re lucky to be able to check in with Buzz, Ball & Hype’s patrona, MJ Rose, who weighs in during our Ex-Ad Guy/Gal interview series.

 

 

So – no pressure – when are we going to see the third book in the Reincarnationist series, MJ?

 

Yeah… no pressure.  It’s written though.  I’m still editing it, and think it will be out in March or April 2010.  My publisher is rescheduling it and the re-release of “The Reincarnationist” and “The Memorist” as we speak.  Something to do with something happening with some TV show and trying to coordinate it all.

 

For every ex-Ad Guy/Gal we interview for this column, we hear about two more authors that have agency/PR backgrounds.  As a former Ad Gal yourself, why do you think there's such cross-over?

 

My guess is that if you’re in advertising writing 30-second little stories (even if they involve products), you either wanted to write longer stories but had to make a living, or you start thinking about longer stories without those products after you’ve written… oh, about 300 little ones.

 

At least that’s what happened to me.

 

You've been doing book marketing for a long time... for your latest release, “The Memorist,” what layers of advertising did you employ?  How did your media mix break out by percentages?

 

Including the money the publisher put up, we did 40% in TV and 60% on internet advertising.  Of the internet stuff, 80% was consumer and 20% was trade.

 

Least you think it was a huge budget… it wasn’t.  The TV money was basically the same exact dollar amount they were going to put into one small USAToday ad that was going to run once, one day, to about 2 million people. Which meant about 150,000 people would actually notice it.  Which meant about 10,000 people might be interested in a book at all, or even be in a book store in the next two weeks.  And only about 25% of them might be interested in any one genre.  Which meant about 5 people might buy the book based on that ad.  Really.

 

Instead… we reached 2 million people, twice each, who were watching the History Channel.  And more specifically, watching shows about archaeology/ancient history.  Which meant about 250,000 people noticed the ad – all of whom would have had some interest in the subject of the book.

 

On the net, we were able to reach about 6 million people over a period of 3 weeks – each of whom were exposed to the ad over 3 times.

 

We had over 6,000 people click over to the book at an online bookstore or my site.

 

It’s too soon to tell – we don’t have all the numbers yet – but it looks like it did better than a lot of other books that came out Oct/Nov 2008.  Which happened to be the exact at the time of crash – when hardcover sales fell about 40%.

 

What's your experience been with in-store Co-Op?

 

My experience is that if a book has Co-op, it sells better than if it doesn’t, but Co-op alone doesn’t do it.

 

Co-op is complicated, too.  It isn’t something an author can buy or demand – or even something a publisher can buy or demand if the store isn’t interested.  And I think this is one of those misunderstood facts about the publishing biz.

 

Publishers request Co-op.  The stores have to agree to the request.  And they don’t agree to every request.  There are way more deserving books than there is Co-op space.

 

So how does the store decide?

 

The stores won’t give Co-op to books that they don’t think will sell.  It’s only natural the stores would give prime real estate to books with the best shot of succeeding.  That means the books by bestselling authors, and books the houses are going all out for – both categories usually come with the biggest ad budgets.

 

It’s one of those chicken-egg things.

 

Does Co-op make the book big?  Or do the big books get the Co-op?  The answer is – yes to both.

 

Occasionally (and we have an example of this at Authorbuzz.com now) via marketing, you can get so much interest going in a book, it will start selling so well the stores will give it free Co-op.  You can sometimes create a real demand for a book.  In this particular case, by the end of July, the book we’ve been marketing will have gotten endcaps, wall space, and table placement in the big stores – all for free.

 

But back to the advertising or Co-op question.  You want both.

 

Why?  Most books on the table have an advertising budget behind them, and are written by bestsellers, so they’re known quantities.  The ones that aren’t written by recognizable authors –  and don’t have ad budgets – won’t be as visible to the person walking into the store.

 

Think of walking by a movie theater… you see three movies listed on the marquee.

 

Two had ad budgets blasting for 6 weeks – you’ve heard of the titles, you already know something about the plot (Fast – think of Pixar’s “UP” – if you haven’t seen it yet, think about how familiar you are with that movie.)

 

The third movie is unknown to you.  Never heard a thing about it.  Which one of the three are you most likely to plunk down your hard earned cash on?

Sure 5% of the people passing by will gamble.

But 95% will go to the movie they’ve heard of.

 

Here’s a nightmare scenario about Co-op.  It actually happened to me this fall with “The Memorist.”

 

It had two weeks on the Barnes & Noble front table when it came out.  On the table with it – it was a very busy season – were new titles by: Jeff Deaver, David Baldacci, Vince Flynn, Katherine Neville, Nelson DeMille, J.D. Robb, Anita Shreve, James Patterson, Denis Lehane, John Grisham, Wally Lamb, Dean Koontz, P.D. James, Rita Mae Brown, Marie Higgens Clark, Laura Lippman, David Morrell, and I’m sure I’m forgetting at least three other authors.

 

I kid you not.

 

If my book had no marketing at all –it would’ve had no chance of selling any copies up against all those household names.

 

Most people buy one hardcover at a time.  And over 90% of people are brand loyal.  And the chances were, with all that bounty, 100% of the people who walked into the store had read at least one of the authors on the table.

 

Plus, there hadn’t been a DeMille for two years.  A Lehane for more years.  Ditto with Wally Lamb.

Our marketing budget for “The Memorist” was less than 10% of any of the other books on that table.  Patterson and Koontz alone had over a million dollars each in marketing. 

 

Without our marketing dollars put into very cost effective efforts, no one looking at that table would’ve even noticed “The Memorist.”
 

 

If your next book was "anointed" by your publisher and granted a substantial budget – say $350,000 – how would you recommend it be spent?

 

I’d spend 20% on trade advertising – starting 12 weeks before the book comes out, and continuing through publication.  I’d spend the other 80% on consumer advertising.  Included in that would be some kind of free sampling – as much as I could afford – on ebook devices, cell phone apps, and actual printed samples.

 

I’d spread the consumer effort over 10 weeks – starting 2 weeks before the book comes out through its first 8 weeks on sale.

 

Buzz takes time to build.  You need early adopters to read the book, talk about it, and still have ads running when they are talking.

Every book Authorbuzz has marketed for 6 weeks or more has outperformed and surprised its publisher.  Sales have been double or triple of what they expected.

 

So back to spending.

 

Of the consumer dollars, I’d spend it concentrated on sampling, and then on extremely targeted TV and internet ads.  If it made sense based on the book, I’d consider radio – but only if it was the right book. (Radio can be iffy if you don’t have the right subject matter).

 

I’d avoid print unless it was special interest stuff – for instance – Archeology Magazine might make sense for a thriller set in ancient Rome.

 

If the author was willing and the right personality type, I’d put $20,000 into a tour and $20,000 into a top top publicist to make the tour pay off.  Tours are not about the size of the crowd, but rather about getting the author and the bookseller together, garnering local media, and putting signed copies on tables.

 

I’d forgo the glitzy $76,000 color NYT ads and the even more expensive USAToday ads that so many authors/agents covet. Those buy 1.2 million impressions one day, one time.  Chances are, you’re only going to be noticed by about 200,000 people, of whom probably only 20,000 are even interested in your genre, of whom probably only 2,000 will be in a bookstore in the next two weeks. 

 

For that $76,000 alone, I could reach 25 million people about ten times each, over 6-8 weeks.

 

I’d totally avoid all the online ad packages that ad agencies tout to publishers. They come up with one-size-fits-all campaigns and spread impressions evenly over generic sites.

 

I’m all for hand picking sites and running different ads to different markets.

Demographics matter.  But it takes time and effort to find the right ones.  Too often publishers don’t have the time to make that effort.  And it can make all the difference in a book’s success.

 

You’ll notice none of the dollars are allocated to Co-op.  Co-op dollars come out of credits the publishers have with stores, so it’s not a dollar-for-dollar proposition.

 

What's the latest news on shooting for "Past Life," which was picked up by FOX for the fall schedule?  As consulting producer, does that mean you get to be new BFF's with Kelli Giddish?

 

And with Richard Schiff – one of my all-time favorite stars from my all-time favorite TV show ever – West Wing.  It seems “Past Life” will have a real sweet time slot, starting in March, Tuesdays @ 9pm, right after a show you might have heard of called “American Idol.”

 

Shooting will be in Atlanta, from August-November.

 

Looking ahead to the ThrillerFest conference schedule, it seems you're going to be on a panel with Lee Child and Jeffery Deaver.  Does this mean no mimosas this year?  Won't Barry Eisler and John Lescroart be insanely jealous?

 

I’m doing everything I can to make them jealous.  A girl’s gotta have some fun! MJ

 

Gregory Huffstutter has been punching Ad Agency timecards for the past dozen years, working on accounts like McDonald's, KIA Motors, Suzuki Automotive, and the San Diego Padres. His first mystery, KATZ CRADLE is on submission while he's working on the sequel. The first 100 pages of his novel are linked here. For general advertising questions, leave a comment or send e-mail to katz @ gregoryhuffstutter dot com with 'Ask The Ad Man' in the subject line.

The Perils of Being Connected

Over at Murderati  Toni McGee Causey asks writers how they internet - twitter? Facebook? Myspace?

It got me thinking...  I've got pages everywhere but I've found that the more social networking I do the more my writing suffers...so now  I don't do hardly any social networking.  Being inside the net is bad for my writing.

It makes it harder for me to be imaginative. It's constricting.  Ttaking its toll creatively. Dreaming time is disappearing.

The more I cut back the happier I am and the better I'm working. Anything is better for me than being online- taking a walk, going to museums, reading a book on paper, listening to music...

I also have a love/hate relationship with my iPhone for the same reason. I used to stand on line in the bank/supermarket/starbucks and stare at people and make up stories... now I pull out the phone and check email that I don't need to check and find its making me so much less imaginative... so I'm fighting that too.

Linktopia

Linktopia (with the help of Judge Page) stops at the farm on this soon to be summer day.  Sometimes there’s one bit of information that makes you stop and pay attentnion. Seth Godin’s blog did it with the following:

 If you own a lot of acres but just have a few bags of seed, you might be tempted to spread out what you've got and cover as much territory as you can. Farmers tell me that this is wasteful and time consuming. You end up with less yield and more work.

Marketers face the same dilemma.

The number of media channels available to you keeps growing. The number of places you can spend time and money is almost endless. Yet your budget isn't. Your time certainly isn't.

Continue reading here.

THE DOCTOR IS IN

MORE SELF-DISCLOSURE/ENOUGH WITH THE SELF-DISCLOSURE

I understand that last week's column raised some eyebrows. I got concerned email, and I heard that someone is going around telling "everybody" that I advocate (and presumably practice) no-boundaries therapy,in which contact of any sort is permissible. Gleeps, as Trixie Belden would say.

For the record:

I do not socialize individually with my clients. I do sometimes see them outside the sessions, though.  Because I am a writer who works with writers, some extra-therapy contact is inevitable. Sometimes, for example, my work appears in the same anthology or journal as that of a client, and we find ourselves reading on the same bill. Sometimes we end up at the same parties or post-reading get-togethers at restaurants or bars.

There is an ethical model for this type of contact, called the "small-town model." The principle is that in small towns, or in situations that mimic the conditions of small towns (kids in school or Little League together; spouses who work in the same field; therapists treating therapists; or artists working with other artists) some elbow-brushing is inevitable. When we are aware that we are scheduled to meet this way, the client and I talk it through first, and do a post-mortem afterwards. If the prospect of such an encounter were to make the client uncomfortable, or if I had any other reason to believe reading or eating at the same venue would be harmful, I would pull out, if feasible--but this has never happened. Generally, we behave as friendly acquaintances, though the client is of course free to make our connection public.(This has never happened, either.)

When in doubt, I consult an ethics expert with whom I have an ongoing relationship.

Fiction is so much easier. Naturally, there is still that huge differential between what I think I'm writing and what others think they're reading, but the ramifications are less intense.

Okay? Enough about me. Send questions. Please.

Susan O'Doherty, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist with a New York City-based practice. A fiction writer herself, she specializes in issues affecting writers and other creative artists. She is the author of Getting Unstuck without Coming Unglued: A Woman's Guide to Unblocking Creativity (Seal, 2007). Her Career Coach column appears every Monday on Inside Higher Ed's Mama, Ph.D. blog. Send your questions to her at Dr.Sue at mindspring dot com.