I have yet to see any evidence that these Amazon rushes are accomplishing anything apart from making the author realize how ardent their fans are. “We’re going to make the suits at Amazon stand up and take notice!” seems to be the battle cry, but can you show me something that indicates Event Days for these books are anything more than a blip on Amazon’s radar (if that)?
– Kris Johnson, in a comment on Matthew Wayne Selnick’s blog
The Amazon rush is dead. I don’t think we’ll see authors getting the same kind of lift from it going forward.
When everyone is doing the same thing, audiences will start to ignore it. You start getting into “Yet Another” turf…Yet Another Podcast Novelist Twittering Their Release Date. There is a place for marketing and publicity, and yes, you need to hit it hard…there’s no doubt about it. When you’re planning for your launch date, observe what is going on around you. If other folks are flooding the community with their Amazon rush, perhaps it’s time for you to look at some other tactic to get attention. Think about it…if you were getting phone calls constantly about buying something, what would you do?
So, a word to all the podcast authors out there: find another “First.” Be creative, be innovative, take a chance. Do not rely on Yet Another Amazon Rush. People are tuning these out more and more now — it’s old news.
Update: Read the follow-up post, Beware the Magic Pony
29 Comments
An Amazon Rush seems to me to be one of the few marketing efforts that actually makes sense.
After all… that’s SALES. You’re actually getting people to BUY the BOOK.
Finding fresh markets is SO 2008. Quit living in the now, man!
Yeah, I don’t see what the problem is w/ the Amazon rush. Getting your book up on the charts at Amazon accomplishes two things: 1) Lots of Sales. 2) Lots of Publicity. What’s the problem w/ that?
Excellent post, Chris.
I don’t entirely agree with KJ’s assessment of the Amazon Rush (”We’re going to make the suits at Amazon … take notice!”), mostly because I think authors who state this are using it as a marketing smokescreen to generate solidarity and an underdog vibe within the community. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this — authors rolling out via indie presses are indeed underdogs — but make no mistake: the rallying cry is ultimately designed to sell more books.
Your post cuts to the heart of the matter: Amazon Rushes are brilliant, coordinated flash mobs … but the technique is now long in the tooth. Commenter Nobilis is correct — Amazon Rushes creates sales — but he’s far off-base when saying that it’s “one of the few” sales techniques that “makes sense.”
The Amazon Rush strategy is is not designed for sustainability. Authors must design new ways to promote their print releases for the long haul.
The flaw in the Amazon Rush strategy represents a “flash in the pan” phenomenon: a book will skyrocket up the charts, get noticed for a day or two, and then quietly slide into (relative) anonymity. As authors explore this space and experiment — and the Amazon Rush is a terrific experiment — we should never lose sight of the true success of a book’s sales: longer-term sustainable sales.
I have yet to see an indie podcast novelist continue to vociferously promote his/her print novel after its Amazon Rush date. A smart promotion strategy should not only embrace the early buyers (as Rushes do), but also include a plan to engage and attract latecomers or “fence sitters,” as well. The best way to do this is consistent, continual promotion of the book long after its release.
To be clear: I haven’t done an Amazon Rush for my fiction, so I can’t speak with full authority on this. But I’ve keenly watched this space since Scott Sigler’s early 2007 launch of Ancestor, and especially in light of August’s Amazon Rushes (for four book titles), this strategy needs to rest for a while.
As more podnovelists are discovered and published, they must take the very best ideas from experiments like the Amazon Rush and incorporate them into new, never-before-seen promotions — all the while remembering that the true success of a book is measured by long-term sales.
I tweeted this sentiment nearly a month ago and was roundly criticized for saying so, now I find J.C. Hutchins pimping this post.
I will agree that sales are sales, and that’s great, but I also identify with the whole “everyone’s doing it” bit. It’s the lemmings concept. Ultimately my concern is that people raise the Amazon run to the level of “making a statement.” You know, the revolution is here, and all that crap.
It’s the writing that gets contracts. Sigler did the Amazon run thing with Ancestor and got Crown. Hutchins didn’t do an Amazon run and got St. Martin’s. What I see is a lot of small-minded people going “Oh me too! me too! Oh me too! I’m a podcaster/writer just like them! Me too!”
If we look at it the way Nobilis does, as sales, then that’s fine. But exposure? Not really, other than among the Twitterati. A statement? Let your writing make the statement. The gatekeepers are not evil. If we see this as some way to circumvent them, i.e. “Let me write my book and to heck with what anyone else says, I’ll publish it and sell it myself…” we are still waiting for that contract like puppies eager for the biscuit.
We wear the mantle of revolution, all the while waiting for the gatekeepers–the very ones against whom we are revolting–to grant us the validation for which we salivate.
And don’t get me wrong–that was not a knock on J.C. I do love Hutchins. But people follow his pimpage and get on me for mine. Just sayin’.
While I agree that new strategies are called for I disagree that making ‘the suits at Amazon’ take notice was ever the true goal. The Amazon rush has been an excellent way for podnovelists to prove to agents or publishers that they have indeed built an audience that will buy the book. As J.C. Hutchins points out long term sales (and sales of additional titles) is going to be the ultimate proof of concept.
I don’t think the Amazon rush is quite over yet. What I do want to caution is the use of a rush when there is no existing audience.
What I think is being proven by the rushes we’ve seen in the past few months by podcast novelists is that they have the audience already and that audience is willing/anxious to support the author. Keep in mind that these podcast novelists have spent a lot of time and effort to create a product and promote it to build up that audience.
To simply do the Amazon rush because “Everyone else is doing it” is a waste of time if you haven’t already put in the effort to get a following.
I would also like to see the ‘Amazon Rush’ get leveraged into more publicity/press. Honestly, if it’s just about sales, I can think of far better places with better margins than Amazon.com. But if it is for the prestige of hitting the top of the list, then by all means, when you hit the top of the list, let it be known.
Do interviews, issue press releases, and continue the push AFTER the big launch.
One thing that remains frustrating is getting real news about the impact of buying someone’s books to help them out but not hearing about the impact on the sales, the notice by the press, and/or the increase in traffic through their websites.
Seriously, for those of us who would consider these kinds of tactics when our novels are released, it would be nice to know if it is really worth it.
It might be long in the tooth for podcast novelists whose listeners are also listeners of Lafferty/Sigler/Ballantine/Morris/Selznick.
I think that’s actually a fairly small number, when you look at it objectively. Yes, for those of us whose social circle consists hugely of those people, it seems to be “done” but applying a little creativity to the concept will reveal numerous variations and ways of making it interesting and fresh.
My next release won’t even BE on Amazon and I’m planning for my release day as a special event. Why not? Release day *is* a special event and having them pumped up and energized for it can only reap benefits.
I think the main problem with Amazon rushes is their greatest strength:they mobilize the community to buy your book. Everyone get a nice feeling of accomplishment, and we can all brag about the high numbers the book achieved.
But then what? When you’ve already pleaded with the community to buy your book on a certain day, it feels crass to ask them to do it all over again a week, a month, a year later. You have, for lack of a better expression, shot your load.
There’s nothing wrong with a huge opening day, but it shouldn’t end once the day is over. Amazon Rushes should be the first step in a larger plan of community building. After all, you do have a number of people who all bought the book at the same time; it’s a shame no one has capitalized on that yet.
Where’s the online communities dedicated to reading and discussing said book, a chapter at a time? Why has no one picked a day, a few months after the book sold, to do an en masse library donation? Or a “Give My Book Someone Else” day? In short, why has no one tried to continue the conversation about the book beyond the first day of sale?
The problem is not that the Amazon Rush is dead, or broken. It works to generate positive buzz and to mobilize the fanbase. The problem is that people have been using it as end unto itself, when really its the perfect launchpad for something more.
I’m not an author, I’m a reader/consumer. I see no problem with promoting the launch of your book. Traditional media does it all the time. Why else do we see commercials and ads for movies well in advance of the release? Authors need to say “Hey, my book is coming out on … go buy it” that’s how we know it’s available.
I agree it shouldn’t be a flash in the pan marketing strategy. You need to plan long term, but I see no harm in promoting release dates. The focus may shift from “help me get up the charts” to just “buy my book starting on (date)”
I personally liked the extra content authors like Mur and Matt Selznick released in advance of, or on, the release day. It was like book stores throwing release parties for the Harry Potter books.
What I hear you saying, Jared, is that the Amazon rush isn’t dead, but rather, it has not yet truly lived.
As such, people should KEEP doing them, in an effort to discover how to do them RIGHT, as an element of a larger marketing plan rather than as an end to itself.
I find myself most in agreement with Jared. The Amazon rush is not a bad way to launch your book. And for established podcasters with five figure fan bases, it may generate as many sales in one day as an average first time author gets in the first year. I haven’t heard any actual sales figures from any of this year’s rushers, so I can’t be sure.
So that is a good thing, but it’s only the beginning. And, to agree with Hutch as well, if an author can come up with a new and exciting way to either generate first day sales or create such first day excitement that it translates into sales over weeks and months, then that would clearly be superior to the standard Amazon rush.
Here’s hoping I have to make this decision myself at some point in 2009 or 2010!
@TerminusVox — Whether getting the attention of the suits at Amazon is the “true goal” or not, that’s certainly the way some of these rushes have been hyped. As Indiana Jim correctly points out, the rush is typically sold as a revolution of sorts: the independent going up againt the establishment and forcing (yes, forcing; I’ve seen that language used by the more ardent acolytes) the big wigs to take note.
@Jared — I can only speak for myself here, but the trouble with the whole podcast-to-novel situation is that I, as the audience and consumer of these works, have already read the book before the Amazon rush. I read the Lulu version of Playing For Keeps, listened to the podcasts for both Brave Men Run and Ancestor. I didn’t buy any of these books with the intention of sitting down to read them as soon as I tore open the box from Amazon. I bought them with the express intent of supporting the author. No offense to Lafferty, Selznick or Sigler, but I’m not going to do a chapter-by-chapter discussion of their book again. That was done on Twitter, on blog comments and in forums when they were podcasting their novels.
I didn’t do a “rush” when my collection dropped at the end of April for a number of these reasons. After getting my first royalty check in July I WISH TO EVERY DARK AND UNHOLY FORCE IN THIS UNIVERSE THAT I HAD BECAUSE THEY FUCKING WORK.
And you know what, dude? That’s all that matters. Ego and revolution share a very small slice of the overall pie chart here. Most of us are trying to build an actual career and this is a very slim first step with specific goals. We tend to be results oriented. Someone thinks it’s trite? Unless you’re going to cover my rent next month or you’ve got a BETTER idea (beyond, “Hey, you, be more innovative.”), honestly gotta say I’m not that interested. GASP. “You’re going to ask them all to buy the book on one day and then ASK THEM AGAIN?” No, actually, because they already own it. I am now speaking to the BILLIONS OF PEOPLE WHO DON’T. And if those who did are really that sick of hearing me pimp, as grateful as I am to anyone who has or would buy the book, if you can’t throw me a little understanding that I kind of need more than that one sale, I’m going to kindly ask you not to listen.
I love that the podcasting community is so tightknit and incestuous that approx. five authors using the same promotional technique is considered a trend of any kind. I also hate that the podcasting community is so tightknit and incestuous that approx. five authors using the same promotional technique is considered a trend of any kind.
I’m also a HUGE fan of this aspect of our culture that demands newer and shinier and better the SPLIT FUCKING SECOND after the glare from the last innovation wears off. There is no such thing as a solid promotional technique, just last-century technology someone is continuing to beat with a stick. THE IPOD MUST BE SMALLER, they cry.
Innovation is great. We should all strive for it in our own way. Not employing a method that yields results (and it does, far beyond any concerns of a book’s longevity. And considering virtually ALL of the books that have been marketed this way thus far have been small press releases, if your only concern is the longevity of one small press title you have got much bigger problems than any of this bullshit) because you’re worried there might be a thread on Chris Miller’s blog calling you out for it would be a level of mental retardation I can’t even fucking contemplate. And I live in the south.
Wow. This thread reminds me that I need to get off my ass and comment to all the folks over on my site who commented when I originally asked the question Chris linked to.
(See that last sentence? Yeah, that’s right. I’m a wri-tor.)
Anyhoo… Matt F’n’ Wallace is absolutely correct that we’re fishing for answers in such a small pool the hook is likely to get stuck in our own mouth. Also correct are the folks who point out that the street date / rush date of the book shouldn’t be the end of promotional efforts.
For me, promotion absolutely slowed down after the rush, but it hasn’t stopped. It goes on… outside of the podosphere!!! I’m told that there are full-page ads in several magazines pimping BMR, PFK, and other Swarm books. I’m appearing on a virtual panel at a University in a month or so. I did a streaming radio show waaaay off the genre podcaster map. And so on.
I do think the Amazon Rush is getting tired… but maybe that’s because I recognize that the thing I do for my next book release has to have sustainability, as many have said. That doesn’t mean I won’t continue to do things that engage the audience and attract new folks.
That’s what we, as authors, really need: larger and larger audiences willing to buy our content in whatever format they want, when they want. Our promotional choices must include the best methods to accomplish that. For some folks, it will be an Amazon rush. For folks who have already done that… I’m still not sure doing it again serves a purpose.
I find it interesting that no one who has actually done a rush on amazon has commented here, and that everyone is arguing on why any of us did it, or how we feel our results were. [edit, when I wrote this, MWS had not yet commented]
Here is what I wanted with the Amazon rush: I will be completely honest here, no ego, no humbleness.
1) I wanted to be able to say I hit a certain number. Bestseller on Amazon is a good thing.
2) The Amazon rush is *not* for the “Twitterati” despite what people may think - or at least in my case. I am not trying to get Established Listener/Twitter Follower A to buy the book so Established Listener/Twitter Follower B will buy it; I wanted the book to move up the charts so it would get more attention from NON-established listeners. Perhaps then people who would not have seen it on podcasts, blogs or Twitter would be interested in it. I’m not on bookstore shelves, the only way I have to grab ‘browsing’ types is to get my book cover on as many Amazon pages as possible.
3) More attention brings with it more sustained sales. My book peaked at #16 but it has stayed within the top 20,000 nearly consistently since the launch 1 month ago. That is the top .8% of Amazon books. If I can keep that consistently high, then it will be considered a success.
What did it lead to besides the spike? Continued steady sales; I signed with an agent two weeks ago; I got contacted for the sale of foreign rights to the book; There’s talk of a sequel with my publisher; interest from another publisher about my next property; interest regarding other rights that I’m not talking about until something is solidified.
Is it a sustainable marketing plan? Unknown. I think we won’t know until it fails - and the last time someone used it it worked quite well. I had fears that since I was doing it last of the authors this summer, my rush would suffer for it, but that didn’t happen. I don’t pretend to be able to predict how trends will go in the future; it’s not one of my strengths.
If anyone has any questions or further speculations, all you need to do is ask.
Thanks, Mur. I think that’s the first time I’ve heard hopes and results laid out like this. It does help clarify things quite a bit.
A couple of thoughts, after browsing the thread:
1. Clearly, a goal (if not “the” goal) of an Amazon rush, it practical terms, is exposure of an author and print novel to a broader audience beyond current fans or consumers of the work. A specific example proving the success of this is the fact that the “random Amazon email purchasing suggestions” have started to include the books that have been rushed to date and NOT based on the purchase by the recipient of other rushed books; I’ve specifically heard of this happening for Playing for Keeps, as well as Digital Magic.
It may be couched in more colorful (making the suits take notice) or emotionally charged (revolution) terms by some people (but most of the rushing authors, it should be pointed out, did not), but that broader exposure via numbers and sales - given that this is a business, after all - is the practical goal.
2. The primary target audience of the Amazon rush is NOT people who follow the author on Twitter. Rather, it is all fans and consumers of an author’s work.
Some people seem to think that since Twitter has become the epicenter of their own lives in terms of interaction of the community, that this is true for everyone - it very clearly is not. Twitter is A Very Useful and Important Tool to promote a rush, but the vast majority of the fans and consumers aren’t on Twitter… they came to the game and stay in by listening to these little things called “podcasts,” and read posts on author’s websites known as “blogs,” or perhaps “Facebook.”
Now, I’m sure that a majority of people who purchased books in said rushes are following those authors on Twitter (but whether that’s 51% or 99% is obviously unknown), but I’m equally sure that not all of them are. Those demographics would be interesting if impossible to know, because that could inform future creative promotional efforts for print novels, be they Amazon rush or not.
As a theory I think the Amazon rush works. Yes, it energizes a fanbase into action. It provides a specific goal that people can focus on, and requires minimal effort (buy the book) to do so. And it benefits the author, as Mur explains above.
The only issue I have is in how it’s presented.
We can no longer say we’re “showing the big boys how it’s done!” Authors have already been signed to deals: the idea is out there. It’s hard to be revolutionary when everyone else is doing it, too.
We also can not assume, as creators, that the Amazon rush is “the ticket”. Chalking up numbers on Amazon is terrific, but they only work insofar as they prove your ability to generate an audience. It works as a promise of better things to come. And, in fairness, as more people use this tactic, the power of a one-day, top-10 Amazon product will wane.
“Yeah, but can you stay top-10 for a week?”
It’s great to see all the input here, and thanks, Chris for posting this. It sort of seems like we’re getting multiple things confused - things that are related of course, but are separate nonetheless. The Amazon Rush is not primarily a tool to get a publisher. Other than indirectly, as the success of ground-breaking podcast authors may help future podcast authors get published. So the concerns about what publishers in general will and will not say about the Amazon rush relative to being published are not of major importance.
It’s a sales tool and a marketing tool for a specific book, that may lead to wider audiences over time. I can’t imagine any of those who have tried it wish they didn’t do it (I could be wrong). I’m racking my brain to figure out how it is really a negative. As several people have suggested, if a better alternative that is mutually exclusive with a rush presents itself - and it’s up to us as authors to get creative and seek alternatives - THEN it wouldn’t be wise to do.
This goes to the larger issue of podcasting leading to publishing deals. Of course most of us are thinking about that on some level. But the Amazon rush is not the reason we’ll get a deal. It’s almost more like a symptom of a successful model. Good to great writing, consistently building an audience over multiple books, and taking advantage of as many opportunities to market yourself as possible without being annoying. Those are what will give you the best odds in a tough business to break into.
Cmar - I think when I use the word “Twitterati” it’s kind of short for “podcast listenership in general.”
Mur - that was a great post. And your rush was, in fact, a great success.
or, at least, that’s my assumption
It’s awesome to see enthusiastic creators and fans come together to discuss a phenomenon that is new and, in the big picture, whose long-term effectiveness is relatively unknown.
I want to make a clear follow-up regarding my earlier comment to this post: While I do have legitimate questions regarding the long-term sales sustainability of an Amazon Rush, I have great admiration for the podauthors who have used this tactic. These writers brilliantly promoted their Rushes, and earned tremendous sales that validate not only their marketing efforts, but also their terrific fiction.
These are not “small-minded people,” as Indiana Jim incorrectly claims. They are hungry, scrappy, talented storytellers using a now-established technique to create a coordinated surge in sales. My comments regarding the short-term vs. long-term effectiveness of the Amazon Rush was not directed at the authors themselves or their judgment, but at the concept. My goal was to clinically address the phenom, and suggest that it can be improved.
It is safe to suggest that many podnovelists want to build the best-possible promotional machine for their art. Constructive conversations like this one — in which we noodle on, and dissect, the technique itself — can help create just that.
Jim - Nowhere in the word “Twitterati,” expressed or implied, is anything resembling the meaning “podcast listenership in general.” Hence, my points above.
The principle long-term utility of an Amazon rush is that it gives obscure and/or up-and-coming authors access to what economists call “The Matthew Effect.” - i.e. “the rich get richer.” In marketing terms, greater visibility attracts greater interest, which creates greater visibility and so on in a feedback loop which levels out at some point. There really is such a thing as momentum, and it’s measurable.
Podcasting is one way of building visibility. Blogging and promo swapping are other ways. All of these are limited in scope to the relatively small pool of people who read blogs or listen to podcasts - they’re big numbers compared with what small press authors used to have access to, but they’re still tiny ghettos in the the potential market. An Amazon rush is now a proven strategy for breaking out into the general marketplace, and thus for establishing the visibility to try to push past the audience-awareness tipping point and generate a Matthew Effect. Mur’s experience bears this out - so does Sigler’s. I haven’t heard directly about the long-term knock-on effects from other authors who’ve done this, but there are at least two examples of the strategy accomplishing what it’s supposed to.
Is Amazon Rushing the only way? I doubt it. One of us is going to figure out a new way to break through, and I daresay one of us will figure it out before too long. The more ways we can use the new media tools at our disposal to bootstrap ourselves into general-public visibility, the better off we’ll each be for creating our own Matthew Effects.
But as long as Amazon keeps selling small press books (I actually wonder how long that will be, considering some of their recent disputes with publishers), the Amazon rush will remain a viable avenue for brand-building, consciousness raising, market generation, and general population visibility. It may not be new and shiny and sexy anymore, but it’s solid economics.
Cmar - well I can’t argue with that.
Re: “small-minded people”
By this I do not mean to say that MWS, Tee, Mur, Pip are small-minded. There are people out here who WANT what Sigler got. Heck, I want what Sigler got out of it. I’m glad we’re having this discussion because it’s helping me see things clearly, especially if I’m going to join the rank of these authors.
There are people out here who want that, who are hoping for that to happen. They want to make the statement to the gatekeepers. They’re buying into the revolution, and are forgetting what Mur explained above: it’s about readers. Those are the small-minded people. The ones that haven’t done it yet, and think it will happen for them that way.
I have explained that people frame the Amazon Rush a certain way. It is clear, by what you authors are saying, that this view of the Amazon Rush is wrong. I have stated, I think, that viewing the Amazon rush that way is wrong. Where I was incorrect is in assuming the AUTHOR viewed it that way.
I love all the people on this board, but this is a retarded conversation.
- Your job as an author is to sell books.
- Amazon rushes sell books.
This is the most basic equation since See Dick Bang Jane.
Following the logic of this conversation, here are some other things we should stop doing because they’ve been done before:
- Author book tours
- Print advertising
- Broadcast advertising
- Getting cover blurbs from famous authors
And let’s get rid of cars while we’re at it. Goddamn noisy things have been around too long …
Everyone on this board who did a rush didn’t have a marketing budget. Go out and find all the marketing campaigns you can mount on $0. This isn’t a fucking Visa commercial, and there aren’t that many. Come up with new tactics, sure, but I’d say the Amazon rush is a tried-and-true method of free advertising that produces significant book sales and motivates your fans to spread the word to people that have not heard of you.
One last thing everyone seems to miss: the ability to say you are a “best seller is a mainstay of book marketing. Mur Lafferty can say she is a #1 SciFi Bestseller on Amazon.com for the rest of her life. That “#1″ will continue to sell books for her as she encounters the billions of people who have no idea who she is, and think “Twitter” is something their spouse does all goddamn day just to annoy them.
If you’re late to the party and your fans are also fans of me, Mur, Selznick, Tee, Pippa, etc., an Amazon rush is old news and won’t work as well. Too bad for you. Go find new fans and get them to buy on that day. Problem solved.
I didn’t mention Wallace, because outside of the penal system he has no fans, and I hear they still won’t allow Twittering from supermax facilities.
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