I am thrilled to announce that Dream Derby: The Myth and Legend of Black Gold has been named as a semifinalist for the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award for books related to the world of Thoroughbred racing and breeding that were released in 2023. It is a great honor to be included among the six semifinalists, in a year with some extremely tough competition. Some of the other honorees are Kim Wickens's Lexington: The Extraordinary Life and Turbulent Times of America's Legendary Racehorse, John Paul Miller's False Riches, and Kathleen C. Mooney's Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Jockey, all of which have been reviewed in previous posts. It is a measure of the depth of this year's field that such excellent works as Jennifer Kelly's The Foxes of Belair and Fred Kray's Broken: The Suspicious Death of Alydar and the End of Horse Racing's Golden Age did not make the cut. While I cannot speak for all the books I haven't read and reviewed, the sterling quality of what I have read suggests that this year's judges had a difficult task indeed. I am glad that my own effort was judged worthy of such consideration.
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Last week, I touched on the concept of opportunity cost in relation to book promotion efforts---the fact that every such effort consumes resources (such as time) that cannot be used for alternate purposes (such as writing). Awareness of such tradeoffs is necessary in making decisions about how to allocate your available time, energy, and money. Let us suppose that you are on the other end of the stick, however---you have already made a decision, perhaps some time ago, and now are finding that the results you are getting from a particular course of action do not seem to be worth the trade you have made. What then?
Sometimes perseverance is a winning strategy. If you have considered your position and have reason to believe that you may turn the corner with a little more effort or investment, staying the course can be worthwhile. On the other hand, if you find yourself thinking more about the loss of what you have already put into your promo effort than about taking an objective look (well, as objective as possible---we're all human) at whether or not it still has a reasonable chance of getting the results you hope for, you may be falling prey to the sunk-loss fallacy, which can keep you pouring money, time, and energy down a rat hole. A sunk loss represents a resource that is irrevocably gone, regardless of what you do next. For example, if you buy a meal at a restaurant, you are out the cost of the meal whether you ate all of it, half of it, or one bite of it. For many of us, this represents a challenge to eat the whole thing so that we don't feel we've wasted money. But what if you find that you don't like the food even though it's decently cooked and presented, or you're on a diet and eating the entire plateful would blow your calorie count or your sodium count or whatever sky-high? (For the moment, let's drop the option of taking the leftovers home.) The wise thing to do would be to simply eat no more than is wanted and leave the rest. The problem is that most of us will focus on how much money we're "losing" by not eating the whole thing and then proceed to eat as much of it as can be stomached, which doesn't bring the money back and has a good chance of adding an upset stomach to the evening's woes. Now, a single meal is generally a pretty small thing, and the worst we usually face from falling for the sunk-loss fallacy in this case is an unpleasant encounter with the toilet later in the evening or with the bathroom scale the next morning. When it comes to an ongoing promotional effort, however, focusing on past investment rather than on a rational look at future expectations can result in failure to cut losses and modify or ditch a strategy that clearly isn't working out. An irrational fear of loss is often a factor, even though the actual loss has already occurred; it's as though the brain doesn't recognize the loss as real until confronted with the need to decide to let it go. Pride is also often a barrier to cutting losses; who likes to admit that they made what's turned out to be a poor decision? (I sure don't.) Marketing a book inevitably costs money, time, and energy, and completely balking at these costs is a strategy that's almost certain to result in poor sales. At the same time, every promotional effort needs regular reassessment to examine whether it's worth continuing to pursue. Awareness of the sunk-loss fallacy isn't perfect insurance against making further decisions that don't pan out as hoped, but it can at least get your decision-making focused on where it should be---on the projected future rather than on an unchangeable past. During my recent book tour in Kentucky, I did a lot of chatting with fellow author Kim Wickens (Lexington: The Extraordinary Life and Turbulent Times of America's Legendary Racehorse). Naturally, the topic of promoting books came up. If you've read material from a lot of sites on authors and writing, you've probably seen advice to the effect that you should take every possible opportunity to get out there and promote your book, no matter what that opportunity may be. Having recently been through the grind of making appearances and trying to keep a book in the public eye, Kim and I both found ourselves with the same conclusion: that advice is, well, flawed. I have a strong hunch that we're not the only authors to have figured that out.
Whether you like it or not, the need to promote your book is inescapable if you're going to make sales. That being said, not every opportunity to promote a book is equal in terms of the resources you have to put in or the results you're likely to get from investing those resources. Some "opportunities," to be blunt, just aren't worth it. Take book fairs and festivals. What could go wrong? The fees for participation usually aren't exorbitant, and the whole purpose of the event is to put you and your books together with a large group of potential buyers and readers---many times the number of people who would normally visit even a large bookstore in a single day. In addition, you'll have opportunities to network with other writers and with professionals in the book industry. So, why not go to every one you can reach? The answer is simple: not every festival will offer the same bang for the buck regarding your book or books. Some festivals are slanted heavily toward children's books, or toward certain genres; if your book isn't a good fit for the market the festival is best known for, you may spend all day at your table to sell only two or three books. Some simply aren't in the right location to attract the kind of audience that might want to buy your book; a book on some aspect of horse racing that would be attractive in Lexington, Kentucky, might be a much harder sell in Miami, Florida, or even in Louisville, Kentucky. Some festivals do a better job of attracting people who want to sell you their marketing expertise, writing classes, seminars, etc., than they do in attracting the audience you want to make contact with. What can be said of book festivals can be said of other promotional opportunities that involve personal appearances. There is always a tradeoff between the potential benefit and the amount of time and money you'll have to sink into making the appearance, and that tradeoff can be harder to justify if significant travel is involved. Opportunities that don't involve in-person experiences are generally less expensive, and as a rule of thumb, I'd say that if you have an opportunity to be interviewed by phone or Zoom for a piece in a periodical or website, or you have a chance to "appear" as a guest on someone's podcast or YouTube channel, go for it unless something about the party offering the invitation raises a red flag in your mind. These things typically cost nothing but your time, and most periodicals, podcasters, and YouTubers aren't going to waste their time on talking to someone they don't feel will appeal to their audience. That's a win-win; you get publicity, and they get an interview that they have reason to believe will help grow their audience. I'd be much more cautious with people who want you to pay for whatever their writing-related service may be. Exercise due diligence with these and check around with people you trust, because people offering paid services range from excellent professionals to slapdash or overly optimistic amateurs to scammers. (A good clue: if results are "absolutely guaranteed," take a long and skeptical look at more than the testimonials such services often rely on to sell themselves---even the best agents, editors, instructors, and marketers out there can do no more than improve your chances of success, and the good ones will be honest enough to admit that although they're confident in in their ability to provide value with service, they cannot promise great success every time.) Promotion is important, but don't forget that there is an opportunity cost attached to the time and money you spend on marketing your book. Unless you're in a "one and done" situation as far as writing goes, time and effort you spend on marketing is time and effort you can't spend on getting your next book written, and over the long haul, creating a sizable body of work to keep engaging older fans and bringing in new ones is at least as important if not more so than relatively short-term marketing endeavors. Keeping an eye on both the forest and the trees is the needed strategy in developing a successful writing career. |
AuthorI'm Avalyn Hunter, an author with a passion for Thoroughbreds and a passion for writing and storytelling. Archives
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