Caren Johnson Literary Agency

Having gotten sidetracked from reading Legacy of Ashes (I can only take political books in small doses and this one is a doozy), I picked up the ARC (Advanced Reader Copy in publisher speak) of Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer. I’ve had it on my shelf for the past two years and haven’t gotten around to reading it until now and that’s a shame since it is such a great book. Two thirds of the book are spent leading the reader quietly along with Bella who is getting used to a new school, making friends, and generally surviving being the new girl. It is the last third of the book that is the most exciting. By then the hero, the gentlemanly vampire Edward, has already declared his fascination and adoration for her and has to prove that he means it when a new vamp comes to town and sets his sight on Bella. I can just imagine me as a teenager devouring this book and the other two (New Moon, Eclipse) and swooning over Edward. A google search says I’m not the only one with those thoughts; I counted more than a few fan fic sites dedicated to the couple.

What interests me most in Stephanie Meyer’s books isn’t really the content (wonderful as it is), but the reaction to it. There were two Wall Street Journal pieces earlier this month talking about the phenomenon of Twilight and the reaction it has created among its fans and booksellers. The one that interests me the most touches on why Twilight has done so well. To promote Twilight, Stephanie has an official website and she also maintains a MySpace page that helps her stay in touch with her fans. I think by putting the bulk of her time into promoting and marketing her book online, she created a solid fan base that actively promotes the book for her. It is viral marketing at its best.

Stephanie is really smart and she’s not the only one using the web to promote her work. Most of my own authors maintain a website and have MySpace pages (I tried to put together a MySpace page as well, but found I liked maintaining a blog like this better since its straightforward; I don’t need to know coding or anything else so I don’t have to do a lot of manipulations). They also use LiveJournal, a blog hosting site, as well as blog spot. What I think we can all learn from Stephanie is that by playing to her base (very George W. Bush of her) of teen fans, she has cracked the code to building a branded product with loyal followers. Mari Mancusi and Liz Maverick do this as well. I was on a panel with Mari at the Romantic Times book conference this year and she had some amazing things she does to maintain her readership like keeping her blog in the voice of her character, which means there is original content for fans to continually read at all times. Serena Robar has street teams of dedicated readers who, in exchange for a goodie bag of stickers, bookmarks and other things, promote the book to their friends and family. It is the new way of selling girl scout cookies.

Even if you don’t write teen fantasy novels, there is a lesson to be learned here and it is one that I’m going to talk to all of my authors about: all books need to be promoted. With so many on store shelves, your reader needs to know that yours exists. To do that identify your target market (and don’t say everyone because as much as you’d like to believe that everyone will love your book, this probably isn’t the case). Once you know or think you know who will buy your book, go after them. For example, if you write romance novels as so many of my authors do, your target market is romance novel readers (usually women in their 30s to 50s who regularly purchase books for entertainment purposes). To reach your readers you have to know where they shop, what they buy, and why. Then go to the outlets where they shop and push your product (your book).

I personally love when an author maintains a website and does it well. I worked in a bookstore before (eons ago) and I know what a signing is like. It is usually difficult to get a big crowd unless you’re a known writer. I like the web because you can look through it at any time, day or night and at your leisure. I also am a fan of soliciting reviews from friends and family. When I worked in retail, I heard the most fascinating factoid. If a person likes a product, they will usually tell 3 people. If a person doesn’t like a product, they’ll usually tell 7. If this is a numbers game, you want as many people to talk about your book as possible. I’d rather have someone tell me why they liked a book since it is better for the author to not have their pride and joy talked about negatively, but I’m very likely to google a book or pick it up in B & N if someone told me they didn’t like it out of curiosity.

Now I guess the thing to do is get and read New Moon and Eclipse, the next books in Stephanie’s series. Just when I thought I made a dent in my reading pile there springs up more books to look for.