Value-added is the new bookmark

Someone once told me that it was important to have an affirming word or two on your office wall so you don’t forget why you’re writing.  In four-inch turquoise letters (they match my Lilly Pulitzer) mine says ‘It’s all About the Money.’  Now I know at first blush that may sound like writing a good book isn’t my goal, it is.  Always.  But I haven’t forgotten those ten years I wrote and wrote and couldn’t make a sale.  So being paid for my work became one of my definitions of achievement.  Oh, and it looks good too – the color is perfect. I am not.  I am pretty darned greedy.

I’ve written 40 books and I’ve never given any of them away.  In fact, almost all of them have been revived and reside happily on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.  My entire backlist is already online, so I haven’t been paying as much attention to the eBook world as I should.  My gut reaction was probably like most traditionally published authors – why should I do all the work, formatting, cover design, buying an ISBN, etc.?  I’m very good at downloading to my iPad or my Sony or my daughter’s nook, but I must admit, I mostly download eBook versions of traditionally published authors and friends.  And before you think me a slob, the last time I read for pleasure was in August, 2011.  Deadlines will do that to you.  Reading for pleasure is one of the first activities to go.  Right after keeping a spotlessly clean house.

So I had dinner with my editor last Saturday and she started talking to me about the advantages of doing a short (novella length) Finley Tanner Mystery for release between my April and October books.  Luckily I didn’t choke on my food.  “So what’s the benefit?”  I asked.  Well, with more and more people buying eVersions, the go-to promo tool of bookmarks is fading into obscurity.  Good to know since I just ordered 250.  (Opps).  I’ve always spent a few hundred dollars on bookmarks, they’re easy and now with online sites, they take less than 15 minutes to design and order.  Only they have no place to go.  The chain stores want point of purchase impulse items near the register.  The number of indie stores is dwindling, so there isn’t much of a market for bookmarks.  So I just got schooled on how pointless it is to pay for bookmarks.  No benefit there, apparently.

My editor explained that I should always think branding.  It doesn’t matter if people remember my name, just that they remember Finley Tanner mysteries?  What better way to keep the series fresh than to give readers a little value-added content.  I was drinking the Kool-Aid.  Instead of me spending money on useless, outdated forms of promotion,  I should pretend I’m paying myself for writing upload-only content for my current readers as well as possibly picking up a few more here and there so long as the book is free.

I put down the Kool-Aid.  Now I have several friends who have gotten their rights back, scanned their books, paid someone to format the book, buy an ISBN and design a cover.  Remembering the editor and agent panels at Sleuthfest I kept hearing the same thing – don’t put up a sucky cover, that’s what you should focus on along with quality, professional editing.  Ca-ching is going off in my brain as I try to add up how much this special value-added freebie is going to cost me.  Not only do I hate working for free, I really don’t want to dig a financial hole to jump in so I can write the freebie.

My editor refilled my glass of Kool-Aid.  No, no, she tells me.  Gallery (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) will design your cover and do all the formatting and the other stuff.  You just have to write the book.  Now I’m gulping Kool-Aid.  My thinking was wrong.  Instead of dropping money on chachkis or bookmarks or whatever, in this market it’s worth a shot doing the between books book.

So now all I need is an idea . . .