Welcome to the final installment of this preorder package series for my debut full-length collection, Head of a Gorgon (you can catch the previous segment if you missed it).
You can’t manage what you can’t measure, ye olde marketing saying goes.
With that in mind, I want to kick off this last post with these two questions:
- How many authors you personally know can say they have any real, tangible sense, besides perhaps educated guesses, of the demographics of their readers and where their readers “live”?
- Similarly, how many authors you personally know can say which of their or their press’s/publicist’s marketing efforts seemed to have yielded the most/best results?
Because my publisher, Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, was as flexible as it was, I was able to gain a ton of insights most authors are generally not privy to. Specifically with respect to my preorders, whose packages I personally prepared and mailed, I know exactly who my readers are, where we connected, and even some of their interests (based on the preorder package quiz and what they share online). And these are some of the most important lessons/takeaways you can get from this kind of effort!
The bulk of my readers (almost 70%) personally self-identify online as women, and those women are primarily folks I’ve connected with on Twitter (almost 29%). I’ve known 48% of my readers less than two years — roughly the time I started my marketing effort for Head of a Gorgon — and I have never met anyone from this group in real life (so you can effectively sell books to relative strangers!). Writing colleagues I know outside social media accounted for 11.5% of my preorders, family and family-adjacent (folks who were connected to a family member) accounted for 19%, coworkers (interestingly, all former) accounted for 17%, and childhood friends accounted for .5%.
While I have personally promoted my collection on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram — so, this is not counting any of the podcasts, interviews, YouTube videos, and other placements I’ve landed with outlets I don’t personally manage — Twitter has been where I’ve experienced the most success in connecting with my readership (46%), though Facebook was responsible for the family purchases. Keep in mind that Twitter is also the place where I’ve invested the majority of my social media efforts, so the “you’ll get what you put into it” idiom stands, and I’m fairly confident that if I’d chosen some other platform — say, TikTok — I would’ve done decently there too. It’s all about where you feel comfortable and where you want to direct your efforts.
Again, I will circle back to the joy component: Do what brings you joy, and do what brings others joy. Currently, for me, just the thought of being on video constantly (TikTok) is exhausting, so that’s a good indicator that I probably shouldn’t focus my efforts in that direction. (No offense, TikTok; it’s me, not you.) But I will keep focusing my efforts on Twitter, since that’s been productive, and I will probably delve into Facebook Groups a little more now that I have a bit more time, seeing where I can engage more deeply there, as that particular area has led to some high-value connections that have gone beyond just book sales (i.e., reviews, promotions/teaching of my work in classes, etc.).
After the preorders concluded and packages were sent, I reached out to my publisher to request an every-other-month-or-so update on who’s ordering the book. But here’s where the data gets a bit more opaque moving forward. Because the book is now available through more outlets than just my publisher and myself, there will be data I don’t have detailed insight into. Inevitably, every author will reach this point — and, in fact, many start out at this point and remain there — where you will not know who your readers are as thoroughly as you might have (or, at least, I did) during the preorder phase. But, in many ways, that’s also the goal: to get your book beyond the folks you do know, however casually, and have accounted for and into the hands of to those you don’t, those you have no real way of tracking — unless you’re Amazon, in which case, hook me up with your data folks so I can know too!
I think that pretty much covers this particular section of my publishing journey. Thanks for going on this little preorder package analysis adventure with me! Please feel free to ask about stuff if there were aspects I didn’t cover that you’re curious about. Otherwise, hope you’ll check in down the road for more on my publishing journey, which will cover my initial hunt for a publicist and more!
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If you like what you’re reading and want to support my effort to bring this info to you and our fellow writers, please consider ordering my latest book for yourself or, if you already have it, for a friend! I don’t have a tip jar, but the link to the book is right here; your order will support me and the small press that believed and invested in my work. Or you can order directly from me by reaching out through the Contact Me page if you’d like a signed and/or personalized copy.
Raegen Pietrucha 