The Art of Profiling
With the US edition of Vroom with a View coming out in May I’ve been looking at various ways of raising my profile in the States. I’ve tried contacting Oprah, but until she lifts the restraining order I’m having to resort to the less spectacular options of signing up to Amazon Connect and MySpace.com.
MySpace.com is the networking site that famously launched the Arctic Monkeys and their gazillion-selling debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. Whether my MySpace page will help shift similar numbers of copies of Vroom is still to be seen.
Amazon Connect, however, is an unproven concept. Heralded as a tool for authors to communicate with their readers, it was only launched last week. And so far, seems to be the domain of ‘authors’ who write self-help books called ‘Livin’ La Vida Low Carb’ and have sales rankings of 1,786,288 and lower. I feel right at home.
The most painful aspect of all this shameless self-promotion has been all the profiles I’ve had to fill in. I’ve been asked my age, marital and shoe size as well as my favourite bands and books. (Like my ongoing championing of The Sunnyboys is going to convince someone to by my books!) Worse, I’ve had to sum up my hopes and fears and how wonderful I am in 250 words or less.
As I mention in my Amazon Connect blog, I’m sure Americans are taught at school how to sell themselves succinctly and without self-consciousness. But as an Aussie it goes against every grain of my being. I know that if I sell myself too hard there’ll be any number of people waiting inline to bring me down a notch or two. And give me a swift kick up the arse to boot.
So, here’s the $64,000 question. How do I let Americans know about my books without invoking the ire of the folk back home? Or should I even care?
The Blog!
February 12th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
A competition of some kind, utilising the tall-poppy-knocking skills with the promise of a complete collection of your books as a prize …
Prize for … well the best idea for breaking into the American market, of course.
You know, stunningly enough I’ve had over 1000 people through my site in 2 months without any promotion (since the neo counter started counting first time visits by people – return visits aren’t counted) Americans made up 290 of those visitors … have you wandered in that particular blogging world? I came from msn spaces, unsatisfied with it for reasons inexplicable maybe but I like my new site and I keep some fine company.
Anyway … Crocodile Dundee, Steve Irwin and that Outback Jack creature have given Ozzies a profile in the States … everyone asks me about those 3 and I’m a Kiwi for godssake … can’t they tell by my accent
Even more stunning, people ask me about them because they think they’re cool.
All the best!
Di
February 13th, 2006 at 2:25 am
Peter, best wishes to you on promoting and marketing your book on the Internet. But don’t quickly judge my book “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” as a sales bust on Amazon.com.
While I know you were trying to be funny stating it is listed with a “sales rankings of 1,786,288 and lower,” the fact is my self-published book about my 180+ pound weight loss success has done remarkably well against similar books in the same genre that are with major publishers.
This “author” (is putting it in quotation marks supposed to diminish my relevance as a writer?) has accomplished exactly what he intended when he wrote his first book: writing a book about my weight loss that will motivate and inspire others to do the same for themselves.
If you want to get your book out there for people to read, then you might try using your blog as a tool. I have an audience of 30,000 that visit my blog on a monthly basis and enjoy the information I provide to them. It’s a FREE way to promote your book and gets your name out there if you desire to be “discovered” someday.
Best wishes to you!
Jimmy Moore, author of “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb”
LivinLaVidaLowCarb.com
livinlowcarbman@charter.net
February 13th, 2006 at 4:11 am
All you have to do is wear khaki and fight a crocodile, or say things like “you call that a knife?” It could also help if you edited our your wife and made her a kangaroo that you took around Italy on a Vespa.
February 13th, 2006 at 8:04 am
Hi Jimmy,
Thanks for your comment and advice.
Please understand that no slur was meant towards you personally – I chose your book because of the memorable title. To an outsider the American obsession with self-help books seems strange, that’s all. Part of the cultural differences I was talking about.
Indeed, as someone who has difficulty moving even a few extra pounds when I’m not travelling I can only say how impressive your 180 pounds weight loss is. As are your sales – your book is currently a very respectable #44,190 not the random phone number I quoted.
Cheers
Peter Moore
February 15th, 2006 at 11:34 pm
Hi Peter,
I’m Canadian and although we haven’t achieved much (as we’re doubtless proving at the Winter Olympics right now) we do know a bit about appealing to Americans. It seems to me the biggest mistake a lot of people make in this regard is that they conciously gear their work towards the US market, as if assuming that the tastes of 300 million people are somehow radically different than the rest of the world. British music, for example, has long had trouble cracking the States and I think a big part of it is that they try to go for something American sounding rather than doing their thing.
A problem you might have early on is that your style clashes with their tradition of journalistic travel writing. Maybe your publicity should talk about how you’re first and foremost a traveller and that your laid-back approach allows you to discover far more than someone always playing the roving reporter. (I have a particular dislike for titles that use the word ‘dispatches’)
When you posted the news of getting an American publisher I thought to myself, “bloody hell, they’re going to make him change the title of No Shitting in the Toilet” because that’s just the sort of thing that happens down there. All I can say is, don’t cave in. Sometimes outsiders are best able to thwart convention.
Starting small is probably the best thing for you. Need inspiration? Look no further than Seinfeld which is one of the ultimate word-of-mouth success stories and they certainly weren’t going out of their way to appeal to the good citizens of Duluth.
I think you’ll catch on!
Paul
PS Even playfully mocking the American obsession with self-help books can work, as evidenced by Geoff Dyer’s Yoga for People who can’t be bothered to do it which has been a pretty steady seller.
March 1st, 2006 at 5:36 am
Peter,
I would agree with the comments of Paul, above. I have recently emigrated to Vancouver from UK, and have noticed a distinct style of travel literature writing in my hours poring over the shelves of bookshops (stores!!). As Paul mentions, travel books that i have picked up over here tend to be more journalistic writing accounts rather than ‘real travel’. Your adventures have a freshness that some can relate to and others can aspire to one day relate to. If someone is not riding a train the length of a continent, they are reccounting their year living abroad. I definately know your humour and style of writing would fill a niche in the North American travel writing.
I keep looking to see if any of your stuff appears (and cant wait for Crikey!)- and am happy to report Shitting! was spotted in Chapters (Chapters.ca) bookshop in Vancouver last week.
One way to go (advertising yourself over here) is through the free weekly papers that each city produces. E.g. Vancouver (and i know American cities such as San Fran also have them) produces a weekly paper The Georgia Straight (www.straight.com) which features articles with authors, book reviews etc as well as all the other cities events, nightlife etc. It is widely distributed in hard copy (i know the Vancouver paper gets emails from all over US) as well as on the web, published each Thursday, and very popular. I know that if i havent got a copy by Saturday, i will struggle to get one.
Good Luck. I am doing my part Peter!!! I always point people in the direction of your books, esp Wrong Way (my favourite ever book).
Ps. Apparently Michael Jordan got cut (dropped) from hid high school basketball team at aged 14. So if at first you dont succeed………..
Craig
March 2nd, 2006 at 5:32 pm
Peter,
I can not tell you how excited I am that you are being published in the US! I fell in love with your writing about four years ago when I was in Australia and then two years later had to buy more of your books through Amazon.co.uk. This past July I was back in Sydney so I got to pick up Vroom with a View. I agree with the folks above that I am a little worried that US publishers might try to censor you to “better fit” the PC audience that we have here but I cross my fingers that it doesn’t happen. I hope you are coming to Chicago when you are here promoting, I will definitely be in the audience!
Kelly
March 6th, 2006 at 1:16 am
Here’s a suggestion to help promote your books in the US and everywhere else. Register on http://www.43places.com/ (no need to tell them your age, marital status, what you like, dislike, etc) then do what you do best: write entries about all the places you’ve been to. I am sure you will quickly get people interested. This way you will promote your books, not by saying “hey look how good I am” but by sharing facts and anectdotes. So the Aussies should still speak to you while the Americans will be in awe of your travel experience.
My $0.02