Does bigger novel marketing mean better sales?Not necessarily. An editor told Utsudo that a work has its own inherent value, and marketing can only boost it within a certain range. If ads overreach but quality isn’t there, readers lose confidence after hitting a few duds. The best approach is to raise the work’s quality and get it in front of the right readers.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

Push novel marketing harder and it’ll sell big?

　　A while ago I chatted with an editor about marketing and works in the novel world, and it overturned my previous views on marketing.

　　I don’t know whether this theory applies only to “light novels or publishing” or is “limited to Taiwan,” but I think there are some points worth sharing.

　　Most people, including me, initially believe that as long as marketing is strong enough, a work is sure to sell big. But in fact,no matter how big the ads, it ultimately comes back to the value of the work itself.

　　Suppose a book can sell 1,500 copies. Marketing might push it to 1,700 or 1,800, but breaking 2,000 isn’t so easy. In other words,a work has its own inherent value, and marketing can only boost it within a certain range.

The consequences of over-marketing

　　But if the ads overreach while the work’s quality doesn’t measure up, consumers are more likely to hit a dud, and after enough duds they naturally lose confidence in that publisher or author.

　　For example, a company launches a new product, boasting how delicious it is — even Arab tycoons charter planes just to buy it. As a consumer you might want to try it, but after one sip you find it awful.

　　Next time, this company releases another product, again with huge ads — supposedly it’s so tasty aliens would invade Earth to grab it (what a bizarre example?). Having already hit one dud, you’re a bit wary, but think you’ll try once more — and sadly it blows up again.

　　After that, no matter how much this company advertises, consumers who’ve been burned a few times are much less likely to bite. It’s probably a similar feeling.

　　Of course, everyone’s subjective feelings about products differ, and this discussion is a bit general. I believe works that get commercial publishing opportunities all have their strengths — if a publisher is willing to invest in buying the rights, someone judged they could make money.

　　Back to the point: after the same tactics are used for a while, consumers lose confidence in that publisher or author. Heavy advertising works in the short term, but as everyone knows, novels are a long-game product. If readers lose confidence before you’ve managed to get the product in front of the right audience, so you can’t reach them anymore — isn’t that putting the cart before the horse?

Only good works spread by word of mouth

　　But of course, leaving it entirely to chance isn’t possible in this era of information overload either, since readers very likely won’t even notice the book was published… and it’ll sink into the vast sea of books.

　　Marketing is something you can’t skip, and overdoing it isn’t right either. So the focus should be on the work itself — raise its quality as much as possible and promote it appropriately. A work’s reach matters, but whether it gets in front of the right audience may be the most correct and clever marketing approach.

　　Only good works have a better chance of spreading through word of mouth, andit’s been proven that no ad, however big, can ever beat a sincere recommendation from friends and family.

　　What do you all think?

FAQ

Further reading (in Chinese)

• Previous: #72 (in Chinese)
• Next: #74 (in Chinese)
• Start from the beginning: #01 — Utsudo’s debut
• Column introduction
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.

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